Competitive Innovations in Conquest: Q4 2025 Meta Snapshot

Since the September 2025 update to Conquest, three months of event play has seen new competition winning lists emerge for most of the game’s factions. In this article, we’ll take a look back at event results from this quarter, covering major event winning lists in Europe, Australia and the USA to get an idea of what’s performing in Conquest ahead of the anticipated January 2026 update.

Before we dive into the specific lists, there are a few broad trends that we can observe in the list below and general tournament results over the quarter. Firstly, while we’ve focused on winning or undefeated lists in the events we could find and therefore necessarily have a sample size small enough to exclude some factions, a review of the available tournament data has shown that every faction has at least some representation in podium positions over the last three months, which is optimistic for the game’s overall health.

Secondly, to the extent that there is one clear emergent trend from the lists below, it’s a gentle drive in the game toward a Monster Mash list style. While being able to play this kind of list - making heavy use of monstrous single entities - isn’t a necessity for winning events, every faction that can play a viable Monster Mash list, has begun to do so. The W'adrhŭn, Sorcerer Kings and Yoroni lists in particular showcase the strength of the trend, and we’ll have a chance to discuss what makes those lists strong when we discuss them below.

Hundred Kingdoms

Robert Cantrell - HeroCon 2025 – 1st Place

== Mounted Noble Lord [145]: Weapon Master, Eccentric Fighting Style

• Household Knights (3) [170]:

== (Warlord) Noble Lord [105]: Mask of Eaklides, Elysian Fragment, Weapon Master, Graceful Combatant

• Men at Arms (8) [275]: Seasoned Veteran
• Men at Arms (3) [110]:
• Household Knights (3) [170]:
• Household Knights (3) [170]:

== Theist Priest [90]: Dynastic Ally

• Archangel (1) [240]: Aspect of the Redeemer (Shield & Spear)
• Militia Bowmen (3) [80]:

== Noble Lord [70]: Weapon Master, Graceful Combatant

• Men at Arms (5) [185]: Seasoned Veteran

== Chapter Mage [80]: School of Water

• Mercenary Crossbowmen (3) [110]:

The September 2025 update saw a spate of small points adjustments to Hundred Kingdoms that are all taken advantage of by this list, which is a straightforward, high-activation Theist Feudal combination that presents a solid, dangerous, shields-raised and at ‘em build that’s slower out the gate than an Imperial or Orders list, but faster over the long game thanks to Divine Purpose. Layered buffs are provided by the characters to increase the army’s durability, punch and speed to create a whole consistently greater than the sum of its parts.

Most significant, though, and something that differentiates it from historically tournament-winning Hundred Kingdoms lists, is the sheer depth of the infantry presence. Men-at-Arms received an increase to their support value in the September update, which has enabled that 9-strong block of brave humans with swords.

The damage output of a unit like that isn’t colossal (they are still just Men-at-Arms), but it’s consistent, very durable, and Elysian Fragment lets it deliver exactly one (1) absolute haymaker punch per game. That one punch is often enough to secure a decisive advantage in a given part of the battlefield and, importantly, is built into the list in a way that helps prevents it over-indexing into solving for Dweghom armour only to play into something like oops-all-E2 weavers or Nords, (or oops-all-E3 Yoroni) and find itself mechanically unsuited to the fight at hand.

Subsequent testing has decisively shown that this list could be improved by cutting the enormously inefficient Mounted Noble Lord, but it was sufficient to achieve an undefeated record and take first place at HeroCon 2025.

Hunkleberry Smash (who has insisted I inform readers his list is called ‘Barf Factory’) – iCon – 1st Place

== (Warlord) Errant of the Order of the Shield [115]: Art of War

• Men at Arms (3) [110]:,
• Men at Arms (3) [110]:,
• Order of the Ashen Dawn (5) [420]:,
• Order of the Ashen Dawn (5) [420]:,

== Mounted Noble Lord [135]: Dynastic Ally, Laurean Lance, Weapon Master

• Household Knights (4) [225]:,
• Household Knights (3) [170]:,

== Mounted Noble Lord [120]: 

• Household Knights (3) [170]:

On the other end of the Hundred Kingdoms spectrum, this list decides that ‘horse’ is a verb and that it will therefore do it as much as possible. Ten stands of Ashen Dawn is the standout here, banking almost half the list on those two units being able to grind their way through anything in front of them.

The wall of Defense 4 this list presents (even before the Feudal buffs and activated Order Supremacy) is not to be underrated and can mechanically no-sell armies that aren’t prepared to deal with it even before the Ashen Dawn start rolling up the field. However, the list is probably the most susceptible to being countered at the list-building step of the game of any of the lists on display here; a classic example of a skew and the kind of list you want to break out for exactly one tournament then move on to something new before people figure out how to stop it.

 

Dweghom

Ewan's Dweghom

Note: Dweghom player Mass of Bonktable also picked up a win at Canadian event The Last Argument of Fall with a Tempered Creed list, in his case featuring a full dozen Steelforged. You can guess the list name already, can't you? Well done, Mass.

Ewan Bailey-Thiele  – HeroCon 2025 – 2nd Place (undefeated)

== (Warlord) Tempered Sorcerer [135]: The Crown of Ushkelodh, Magma School

• Hold Warriors (4) [165]:
• Hellbringer Drake (1) [180]:

== Tempered Sorcerer [110]: Magma School

• Fireforged (3) [160]:
• Magmaforged (3) [190]:

== Lost Ancestor [130]: Litanies of Victory, Magma School

• Lost (3) [180]:
• Steelforged (3) [210]:

== Lost Ancestor [120]: Steel School

• Fireforged (4) [210]:
• Steelforged (3) [210]:

While Tempered Dweghom are enjoying something of a renaissance of having a full three and a half viable spell schools, which has created some unprecedented variety at the top end of competition lists for Dweghom (Tempered are still the best creed though, so not that much has changed relative to the majority of the long history of the faction), Ewan’s list reminds us that Magma was the most popular school for a long time and for good reason.

While this list does take a lot of advantage of some of Dweghom’s mechanically strongest units (Fireforged and Steelforged being the standouts, and although while they’re both outstanding, neither regiment is wildly over-performing to the point of deciding games by their mere presence - they’re just very, very good), the real danger of the list is its threat projection and force concentration.

Thanks to the ability to arc spells out of awakened command stand, this list only needs a single awakened regiment anywhere on the battlefield to be able to create an Eruption marker that can be used to generate further offensive spells, and as early as round two the Hold Warriors’ sprint up the board means this list can be dropping 20+ dice of offensive spellcasting into an enemy unit that itself moved 13” up the field. This ability to direct a subterranean death-laser onto anything your opponent extends forward typically nets the list either a bunch of free kills that start an attrition death spiral that wins the game in the long run, or buys the Dweghom time to set their formations up and take scenarios zones. This list went undefeated at Herocon, matching into the Feudal Theist Hundred Kingdoms list above in a finals game that ended in an ultra-high-casualty, battered and bloody draw at the end of the tenth round, and it’s top-shelf stuff.

 

Spires

Karl Swanson – Golden Rhino Games October CWE – 1st Place 

== (Warlord) Biomancer [150]: Sensory Augmentation, Master of Flesh

• Desolation Drones (3) [150]:
• Siegebreaker Behemoth (1) [210]:

== High Clone Executor [140]: Marksman Variant, Overtax Nervous System, Disperse, Attracting Pheromones

• Force-Grown Drones (3) [110]: Catabolic Node
• Force-Grown Drones (3) [110]: Catabolic Node
• Marksman Clones (5) [250]:
• Marksman Clones (4) [200]:

== Pheromancer [100]: Avatar Projection

• Stryx (3) [120]:
• Stryx (3) [120]:
• Brute Drones (3) [170]:
• Pteraphon Surveyor (1) [170]:

Most spires list can be described as ‘classic’ at this stage in the faction’s pre-update lifecycle, and in any case what constitutes a classic spires list is more often informed by what Karl Swanson is playing than the other way around. Still, tautology notwithstanding, this represents a classic spires list that’s extremely well-optimised and being piloted by almost certainly the best Spires player in the game, taking win at the Gold Rhino Games October Worlds event in the USA.

Combining high volume attacks with stacked force multipliers (able to increase volley and clash, march, grant deadly attacks, and reduce enemy defense by up to 2) and the Spires responsive deck manipulation, this is a list that’s never exactly gone out of style but which slots very well into the Dweghom high-defense metagame, able to aggressively bring down units like Steelforged at long range. This is exactly the kind of list that answers the defense skew question posed by the Ashen Dawn Hundred Kingdoms above, capable of stalling out those Ashen Dawn with disposable lights, dropping their defense, and lighting them up with high-volume shooting.

While the list is good at projecting force across a wide radius if it needs, particular attention should also be given to how well those Marksman Clones can concentrate force if they need to, especially against all the larger regiments they can easily draw line of sight to that appear elsewhere in this article. Being able to not just injure but decisively put down monsters is one of the keys to overcoming monster mash archetype lists, for example, and we can see that ability present here.

 

W'adrhŭn

Conquest Wadrhun Magos Sockbert

Note: Wadhrun player Hanna also picked up 1st place at Last Argument of the Ländle, a five-round event in Germany, but I don’t have access to their lists. Well done to Hanna!

Podwys – Conquering from the Fjords to the Alps - 1st Place

== (Warlord) Thunder Chieftain [150]: War

• Thunder Riders (3) [220]:,
• Thunder Riders (3) [220]:,
• Quatl (1) [180]:,
• Quatl (1) [180]:,

== Winglord Predator [220]: War

• Hunting Pack (3) [120]:,
• Apex Predator (1) [190]:,
• Raptor Riders (3) [180]:,

== Winglord Predator [220]: War

• Hunting Pack (3) [120]:

The platonic ideal of a pure Speakers list, this list is the first in the article to showcase the strength of the Monster Mash archetype and, in W'adrhŭn, the Thunder Chieftain warlord and Winglord Predators that enable it. There are absolutely no frills here; thanks to two of the three warbands being led by powerful monster characters that comprise a regiment in their own right, the list has a full ten regiments that are all powerfully combat-capable and highly mobile or with long threat ranges, meaning it enjoys a strong matériel advantage over lists that don’t or can’t take non-Monster characters. Couple this with the general quality of the units present and the response and reliable reinforcement curve generated by a good mix of unit types and multiple flank heavies, and you have a top notch W'adrhŭn list.

At this point we should also talk about one of the other benefits of the Monster Mash archetype, which is the resilience that monster lists are afforded. While Quatl and to a lesser extent Winglords aren’t hugely durable monsters, a Quatl with a single wound remaining is still fully effective, which means that despite not having an especially high points to wounds or defense ratio, the list simply doesn’t suffer attrition in the same way as a more conventional force. Fifteen wounds sunk into an infantry or cavalry regiment is very different to the same amount of wounds sunk into a Winglord (or any other monster), as it doesn't impact their damage output or scoring weight and can’t cause breaks or shatters, meaning that if the monster isn’t finished off, that damage effectively doesn’t exist.

And this list is capable of exploiting that advantage as part of its broader playstyle, which is flexible, mobile and aggressive. It can claim scenario zones very early in almost any scenario with the aerial monsters arriving from a Raptor Rider reinforcement line, and the Thunder Riders arrive with flank round three to project march+charge threat ranges that cover any midfield zone in the subsequent round. If it needs to cool its jets, it can play a highly effective poke and skirmish game with five regiments capable of making ranged attacks, and while there are some factions with faster individual units, very few factions can match if for force-level mobility. Overall, a top-notch list and one with the tools to truly excel in the hands of a player of Podwys’ caliber.

 

Old Dominion

Theokrator - Credit: Deadlytrout

Arkadiusz Tarkiewicz – Amulet D20 Grant Tournament – 1st Place

== Warlord Xhiliarch [160]: Vexilla of the Lost, Cuirass of Hazlia's Shadow

• Centaur Prodromoi 3 [150]:
• Varangian Guard 4 [255]:
• Centaur Prodromoi 3 [150]:
• Legionnaires 3 [100]:

== Archimandrite [140]: Unholy Sacrament

• Legionnaires 3 [100]:
• Moroi 3 [180]:
• Moroi 3 [180]:
• Cultists 3 [90]:

== Theokrator [280]:

• Legionnaires 3 [100]:
• Legionnaires 3 [115]: Optio

With the removal of the Strategos Warlord from the game in the September update, the Xhiliarch has unsurprisingly emerged as the most popular warlord in the Old Dominion (with the Archimandrite remaining fine but falling out of style, and the Fallen Divinity remaining a choice viable only for die-hards willing to put the work into really figuring out how to make her tick, although she’s seen podium results that didn’t quite make it into the article). Xhiliarchs are powerful characters in their own right, get stronger with upgrades, and have a clean, powerful active supremacy that requires a little building around but which is easy to use and generally just a strong value play.

This build represents a version of the Xhiliarch-led archetype that doesn’t try to overdo the supremacy turn and instead plays a more well-rounded style with considerable early zoning potential form the Moroi, coupled with regular late-game Old Dominion power augmented by the ability to cast multiple Hazlia’s Touch healing spells (representing potentially 10 points of healing per round; very significant on Old Dominion models that are naturally durable).

If you’d like to see the list in action, full recordings of two games including the finals against an earlier iteration of Podwys’ W'adrhŭn are over on the AmuletD20 youtube channel.

 

Sorcerer Kings

Trinaverta Chandavat - Credit: Para Bellum Games

Tevž Delak – IGT Brno Vol.II 2025 – 1st Place

== Warlord Maharajah [120]: Court of Air, Court of Water

• Dhanur Disciples 3 [140]:
• Trinavarta Chandavat 1 [240]:
• Trinavarta Chandavat 1 [240]:
• Ghols 3 [110]: Court of Air

== Raj [130]: Prijm Khanjar, Court of Air, Bound to the Elements

• Steelheart Djinn 3 [170]:
• Trinavarta Sabhagrih 1 [230]:
• Dhanur Disciples 3 [140]:

== Sorcerer [125]: Dancing Scimitar, Court of Earth, Favored of Hormus

• Ghols 3 [110]: Court of Air
• Mahut 1 [240]:

A triple-court Monster Mash list enabled by the ubiquitous Maharaja warlord, this list enjoys access to the power of Air and Water rituals (Spiteful Winds, Call Forth the Deep and Violent Geyser in particular) in combination with high quality shooting, long threat ranges and the general power of the Trinaverta-class monsters to showcase a Sorcerer Kings take on the Monster Mash with many of the same advantages we discussed in Mateusz’ W'adrhŭn list above.

Notable about this list is the combination of the intense ranged and ritual pressure it exerts (combining infinite-range offensive rituals with high quality long-range firepower from the Danhur and excellent quality medium-range firepower from the Chandavat) with the ability to brutally stall enemy melee offensives thanks to the ability to create Water terrain with its rituals. While the Mahut being protected by water is particularly obnoxious (as Dread prevents you from Inspiring, making the water penalty to clash truly pernicious, and the Earth Sorcerer can heal it – or any of the other monsters – with Reincarnate), Chandavats also synergise excellently with water as they can splash about in it freely, since all their offensive output comes from ranged attacks and spellcasting even when they’re in melee.

The blender-Raj’s Steelheart Djinn and a single Sabhagrih provide highly mobile melee spikes to complement the ranged pressure, and you have a list that’s overall excellently placed to impose its game plan on almost any enemy force. It does need to leave a little money on the table as all three Trinaverta want to activate after Air rituals to trigger their abilities (generally the most important Chandavat will be prioritised), and can struggle a little into a very small number of hard defensive counters like an entire army of loose formation monsters, but how common could something like that be, anyway?

 

Yoroni

Saxon King – Cyrptic Siege 2025 – 1st Place

== Jorogumo Geisha [260]: 

== Jorogumo Mahotsu [280]: 

== (Warlord) Jorogumo Mahotsu [280]: 

• Modular Regiment (2) [150]: Tengu Bushi (L), Tengu Bushi,

== Jorogumo Geisha [260]: 

• Modular Regiment (2) [160]: Tengu Ayakashi (L), Tengu Ayakashi,
• Modular Regiment (3) [220]: Oni Ayakashi (L), Oni Ayakashi, Origami Warriors,
• Modular Regiment (2) [160]: Oni Ayakashi (L), Oni Ayakashi,
• Dai Yokai (1) [230]:

While the plurality of Goonhammer authors considered Yoroni to be just barely on the losing side of the September 2025 update, I am on record as saying I hoped everyone was ready for four to five months of spiders and, indeed, I wish I had been wrong and everyone else had been right.

Until you’ve actually seen this list on the table, it can be difficult to fully parse what it does. Certainly, it takes significant advantage of Yoroni activation flexibility. Certainly, it combines all the already significant benefits of a Monster Mash list with the ability to heal and buff those monsters if they are in any actual danger. Certainly, it concentrates force like an absolute bastard, making winning a localised victory against two or three spiders in the one place near-impossible when supported by dangerous MSU regiments and with the mobility to re-orient and push toward other parts of the table when a flank is overwhelmed.

But the big mechanical advantage here is that the list presents an oppressive closed-loop defense. Because the card count is so low, it almost always has advantage on the Supremacy roll, which means it fairly reliably goes first (or at least that you cannot plan on going first against it). The first activation of any given round will be a Jorogumo Geisha activating with the Mu card, who will trigger the Monster Inspiration draw event to give every other regiment (which is to say, two or three other Spiders) within 8” of her either +1 evasion or Loose Formation.

This means that, generally before the opposition get to activate, the bulk of this list is Evasion 3 (or D3 or D4 Loose Formation), Tenacious 1, Fearless, Resolve 4 monsters with 18 wounds and healing. Killing even one of them at that point is shockingly difficult as there’s almost nothing in the game that attacks them efficiently.  Couple that with Saxon’s world-class instincts for deployment and force concentration and you have one of the most mechanically fearsome lists in this article.

 

Aaron (Just Roll Ones) – Broken Banners – 1st Place

== (Warlord) Jorogumo Mahotsu [280]:

== Jorogumo Mahotsu [280]:

• Modular Regiment (3) [240]: Oni Ayakashi (L), Oni Ayakashi (2),
• Modular Regiment (2) [160]: Oni Ayakashi (L), Oni Ayakashi,
• Modular Regiment (2) [150]: Kappa Bushi (L), Kappa Bushi,

== Jorogumo Geisha [260]:

• Modular Regiment (2) [150]: Tengu Bushi (L), Tengu Bushi,
• Modular Regiment (2) [150]: Tengu Bushi (L), Tengu Bushi,
• Modular Regiment (2) [160]: Tengu Ayakashi (L), Tengu Ayakashi,
• Modular Regiment (2) [160]: Tengu Ayakashi (L), Tengu Ayakashi

While much of this list is similar to the one covered above and shares many of the same strengths, this version makes changes to accommodate the fact that a person cannot reasonably be expected to own $560USD worth spiders and may not be able to borrow the necessary extras, and so makes up the difference with a higher activation count bulked out with high-quality Yoroni MSUs.

With two spellcasting and one melee spider, the monsters are less capable of engineering a local breakthrough but still very capable of holding a large force in place while supporting everything around them, and the forces orbiting them are as dangerous and flexible as ever. Otherwise, it shares many of the same strengths as Saxon’s list above.

Nords, City States and Weavers

 

Event photo - credit event organiser Tom N.

While they aren't featured in the lists above, reviewing event results for this quarter showed that almost every faction in the game has been able to achieve at least podium results in an event with reasonable consistency.

City States lists have been dominated by the recently improved Polemarch Warlord, but otherwise showcase a reasonable amount of versatility around him as the core element. Chariots remain extremely common in all City States lists (to be expected given the unique role they fill), and the Fluid Formation change has seen Companion Cavalry begin to edge out competing infantry regiments like Agema for the mobility role, but City States otherwise remain well-rounded and capable.

Nords continue to lean heavily on Blooded Warband regiments like Trolls, which gained Dread in the most recent update, and which benefit heavily from the +1 Evasion granted by Volva or Shaman warlords. Flourishes appear in lists in the form of unit mix beyond this core, with some lists experimenting with a small monster presence, or larger units of Trolls.

Weavers are the newest kid on the block and performing reasonably despite an extremely constrained roster. Right now they need to do most of their work with high volume, primarily ranged attacks which matches up well into some armies (Nords) but poorly into others (Hundred Kingdoms, Dweghom, Yoroni), with Draics being relied upon to brawl and deal damage in the space created by Moth and Kern units. Draics are good, but not perfectly suited to that kind of role, and the arrival of units like Gemred in December promises to give Weavers a more purpose-built unit to capitalise on some of the strengths of their faction.

 

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