Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings - The Hundred Kingdoms Household Knights

Not so long ago the Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy, to which I am a subscriber, had a promotion for a free (not including shipping) box of miniatures from Para Bellum Game’s Conquest range. The choices were between one of two boxes of infantry or the Household Knights. I chose the knights because, firstly, there are less miniatures to paint, and secondly because horses. 

Assembly

Assembly was… interesting. I’ve been building models on and off for nearly twenty years now, usually Games Workshop miniatures in some form or another. And Games Workshop themselves have been making kits for nearly fifty years. Building these Household Knights it became clear just how much more experience Games Workshop has in making model kits. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that Para Bellum Games has made a bad kit full of warping and bubbles like the old days of Finecast. But their inexperience and possibly budget limitations, are plain to see. For a start, there are no instructions in the box you have to get them online. Secondly, none of the parts on the sprue are numbered so you have to figure out which part is which based on the grainy image in the instructions. And lastly, the placement of some of the sprue gates (the bit that attaches the model to the sprue) was truly bizarre. Ordinarily you would want your model part to join the sprue at a relatively flat part of the model or on an edge that can be easily smoothed flat once you have clipped your part off the sprue. And this kit from Para Bellum Games mostly adheres to that idea. Mostly. But in more than a few cases there has been a large chunky sprue gate right in the middle of some detailed part of the model. The most egregious example is on the banner for the command sprue, there are sprue gates all around and in amongst the tassels that border the banner. It would have been an exercise in frustration in trying to remove them without accidentally shaving off some of the detail. 

On the plus side, I did enjoy that the riders effectively clip into place. They might need to be glued in place eventually, but it was a nice change from the balancing act of Games Workshop riders. Or worse, riders that are moulded into whatever they’re riding. 

For ease of painting, I left the riders separate from the horses and the horses separate from the bases. As I was going to be painting a lot of metallic colours, I primed all the bits with black primer. 

Base coats and washes

To start this off I used Vallejo Metal Colour Magnesium on all the areas that would be metal. Which ended up being most of the model, unsurprisingly. For the few areas that I might have missed I tidied up with some Leadbelcher. Aside from some gold trim with Scale75 Dwarven Gold there wasn’t much else to do on the armour just yet. 

Initially, I wasn’t sure what colour scheme I was going to go for. In the end I settled on blue and purple. I chose these because I had recently gotten hold of Celestial Blue and Runic Purple from Duncan Rhode’s Two Thin Coats range. I got these two specifically because they complimented the Macragge Blue and Xereus Purple that I already own. In essence, I got them purely to be highlight colours. And as I have mentioned before, my skills at layering and highlighting need practice. All the flowing cloth on these miniatures presented ample opportunity for the practice that I needed. With that in mind, I basecoated the mantle and cape (on both the rider and the horse) with either Macragge Blue or Xereus Purple. The other bits of fabric on the mode, such as the saddle cloth and the rider’s undersuit I painted with Vallejo Khaki. I also used Khaki for the reins and the wraps around the horses’ legs. The pole of the lance and the fur on the cloak I painted with Dryad Bark. For the horses themselves, I painted one with Corvus Black, one with Mechanicus Standard Grey and one with Rhinox Hide. For all three, the hooves and tail were painted with Corvus Black. 

With the base coats done I could move onto the washes. I kept it rather simple: anything gold got a wash of Reikland Fleshshade, anything brown got a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone and everything else got a wash of Nuln Oil. The latter I did in sections, rather than attempt to wash almost all of a model in one fell swoop. Had they been stuck down to a base I might have attempted it but as they weren’t I didn’t. 

Details

With the washes done and dry I could crack on with the layering and highlighting that I was harping on about earlier in this article. I started with the metallics; for the silver parts I first layered with Leadbelcher and then did edge highlights with Runefang Steel. For the gold, I layered with Scale75 Dwarven Gold then added highlights first with Auric Armour, then a very fine highlight with Runefang Steel. 

With the metal done I could move onto all the fabric on the models. For the blue, I started by first layering back up with Macragge Blue. Next I mixed Macragge Blue with some Two Thin Coats Celestial Blue in a fifty-fifty ratio and used this for my first highlight. For the second I used pure Celestial Blue. I then repeated the same process for the purple cloth using Xereus Purple and Two Thin Coats Runic Purple. 

With the armour and cloth done, these Household Knights were mostly done. Effectively, the last bits I needed to do were the horses themselves. For said horses, I first layered with the respective base coats. For the highlight layer, I used Dawnstone for the grey horse, Mechanicus Standard Grey for the black horse and for the brown horse I mixed some Rhinox Hide with Dryad Bark. Lastly, for the Khaki parts (i.e. the wraps on the legs and the saddle cloth) I just gave them a quick edge highlight with Khaki so they didn’t detract too much from the blue and purple cloth. 

Bases

For the bases I stuck down some bark and actual rocks and primed them black. I then basecoated the rocks with Mechanicus Standard Grey. For a texture I finally decided to unshackle myself from the bonds of Citadel’s Stirland Mud and got a massive tub of Vallejo Brown Thick Mud. Honestly, I should have switched ages ago as this stuff is great. Where Stirland Mud is pretty much just gritty paint, Thick Mud has a variety of tiny rocks and even I think of fibrous bits. The only downside is that it’s a bit more sticky than Stirland Mud so you have to kind of smooth it down otherwise you end up with a load of meringue-like peaks in your mud. In any case I spread the paste over the bases and around the rocks, then left it overnight to cure. Once it was rock hard I washed the entire base with Army Painter Strong Tone and then gave it a drybrush with Tyrant Skull. To finish off the bases, I thinned some PVA with a bit of water and splotched it down on the bases in rough patches. I then stuck down some Army Painter Meadow Flowers and Lowland Shrubs tufts, and sprinkled on some static grass. 

Final Thoughts

Despite what I was saying about assembly these guys were a lot of fun to paint, the details are crisp and chunky. Made for a far easier time practising my layering and highlighting. I definitely need more practice though, some of those highlights are still way too chunky and some of the layering could be a bit more smooth. Overall though I had fun with it. I may have to get myself some more Conquest, they do have that taster set for the Hundred Kingdoms afterall…