Jeremy Zwirn Recounts the Warhammer 40,000: Conquest Tournament at Gen Con

Gather your armies and battle for the Traxis sector in Warhammer 40,000: Conquest! In this new Living Card Game®, you take on one opponent in interplanetary battles, fielding armies and fighting for the future of the sector.

At Gen Con Indy 2014, we hosted the inaugural Worldeater tournament, which was won by none other than Jeremy Zwirn, a World Champion of three other LCGs. Today, Jeremy Zwirn shares his experiences from the tournament, including the choices and strategies that led him to victory.

Jeremy Zwirn on the Worldeater Tournament

Hello, Warhammer 40,000 fanatics! I had the pleasure of participating in the inaugural tournament at Gen Con Indy 2014 for FFG’s newest LCG, Warhammer 40,000: Conquest. After an entire day of epic battles and victories, I was fortunate enough to come out on top and I’d like to share my experience with you.

Choosing My Factions
 
The Worldeater tournament at Gen Con had a unique restriction: only cards from one Core Set could be used when constructing your deck. This restriction created a different environment from regular constructed decks: higher cost curves, fewer multi-shield cards, and a higher degree of randomness were all things that I considered when choosing which factions to play in the tournament. Because each faction can be paired with one of two allied factions – resulting in fourteen completely different pairings – there were a lot of intriguing deckbuilding choices.

With only one Core Set, I had to build a 50 card deck out of roughly 56 possible cards, so every card mattered. In the tournament, I played Space Marines allied with Tau, and I was very pleased with how it played: it provided great depth and consistency, both of which I value highly in a deck. Captain Cato Sicarius (Core Set, 1) has a great resource-generating ability and his signature pack is full of solid cards. Combat tricks can win battles and Space Marines has a good selection of them: Drop Pod Assault (Core Set, 24), Eager Recruit (Core Set, 20), Indomitable (Core Set, 25), and Veteran Brother Maxos (Core Set, 19) all provided the surprise factor. Sicarius’s Chosen (Core Set, 8) was definitely great all day – more on that later.

Splashing Tau gave me inexpensive units like Vash’ya Trailblazer (Core Set, 153), Earth Caste Technician (Core Set, 157), and Vior’la Marksman (Core Set, 151). These units, along with neutral units Void Pirate (Core Set, 170) and Rogue Trader (Core Set, 171), allowed me to deploy multiple units on the first turn and win or prevent my opponent from winning several command struggles. Two copies of Experimental Devilfish (Core Set, 161) were valuable both for their high attack and for their ability to ready after committing to a planet, keeping pressure on my opponents. Fire Warrior Elite (Core Set, 154) is a stellar card that helped protect strong but fragile units, like the Devilfish. Tau complemented Space Marines well with a low unit curve and enough command icons to win command struggles.

Eating the World

The sold-out Worldeater tournament had 96 participants and featured six rounds of play before cutting to the Top 8. Space Marines, Astra Militarum, and Eldar were well represented while the Orks and Tau were less so. On the day, I battled against every faction but Orks and Tau. Sicarius’s Chosen was my MVP; he picked off low-health units like Void Pirates or lured important units away from the first planet before a crucial battle. Pulling a Vicious Bloodletter (Core Set, 85) away from the first planet before he decimated my units with Area Effect 3 was amazing. I played several truly intense and epic games against challenging and friendly opponents. My games were full of tough decisions and tense situations which gave me a very satisfying experience.

After a grueling eleven-hour day, the most important piece of advice I would give is: choose your battles wisely. Many games were essentially decided when one player made a suboptimal choice and committed their warlord to the wrong planet.

In one game, my opponent had a couple mediocre units at the first planet and both of us had only a warlord in HQ. With only one icon, the planet wasn’t crucial for either of us to win the game, but I decided to fight for it anyway. I deployed a Blood Angels Veterans (Core Set, 15) and a Tactical Squad Cardinis (Core Set, 13) there and we both committed our warlords there. Having the initiative at a battle with several units is a huge advantage. In this instance, my opponent had initiative, and I quickly realized my mistake. My Blood Angels Veterans was destroyed and I wasted a couple cards with shields trying to salvage a bad situation. I retreated with little to show for the battle and gave my opponent the momentum to take control of the game. I poorly chose to fight for a planet that I should have conceded to my opponent, and I paid for it. Luckily, he also made a mistake later on by committing his warlord and two units in HQ to the second planet, preparing for next turn instead of further defending the first planet. I sent my warlord to the first planet and played an Eager Recruit to win the planet and the game.
 
During another game, I quickly fell behind and lost the first two planets to my opponent’s aggressive start. At the beginning of the third turn, I realized I needed to go all in at the first planet. Although my opponent wouldn’t immediately win if he claimed the planet, I could prevent either of us from winning via planets until the last turn of the game if I won the battle there. I deployed several strong units to the first planet, and since I had initiative, my opponent committed his warlord elsewhere and let me have it without a fight. From that point on, I focused on protecting my warlord and winning the final planet by saving several key cards, like Daring Assault Squad (Core Set, 16), until the last turn. If I hadn’t pushed so hard to win the third planet of the game, I would have had my back against the wall and given my opponent several chances to win the game (which I’m sure he would’ve done). Even though I depleted all of my resources and had few cards remaining in my hand, I chose the right time to battle and was able to buy myself enough time to recuperate for the epic final battle.
 
Warhammer 40,000: Conquest is a highly strategic and tactical game and balancing these aspects creates a deeply compelling game experience. Do you focus on winning battles in the present or plan for future conquests by gathering the resources to smash your opponent? Experience will help you decide which to choose and how to command your forces.
 
Thanks to FFG and Eric Lang for creating another excellent game to add to the outstanding LCGs. I highly recommend giving this game a try and I hope to meet you on a future battlefield!
 
Claim Your Planets

Thanks, Jeremy!

Jeremy Zwirn is an avid card gamer and has been a World Champion for three different LCGs. You can look for more Warhammer 40,000: Conquest guest articles from other writers in coming months!

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