HomeReviewsSongs Of Conquest
Songs Of Conquest 1.0 review: occasionally demanding but often rewarding fantasy warlorderyFrog factions
Frog factions
Image credit:Coffee Stain Publishing
Image credit:Coffee Stain Publishing
Two years of early access have been kindSongs of Conquest. Itsstrategyfundamentals were already strong enough to impress mein 2022that it’s been quite tricky to even remember what’s changed. But there’s more of it, and although after much reflection I think it’s not quite,quitefor me, more of a good and unusual thing is definitely enough to push me into a very nearly wholehearted endorsement.
This full release is more a case of offering more for your money than dramatically expanding how it plays. Two new story campaigns take us to four (one per faction), each with four very long and elaborate levels. There are now multiple skirmish modes with preset or randomised maps (with an interesting option to have “find the object” as a win condition, tilting a game’s focus towards exploration and fighting side battles over the traditional direct massacre), and a set of challenge maps that - no thank you, my life does not need more challenges. Thanks to its editing tools, there are already a few player made campaigns and maps, too.
These are all centred on one concept: to gather a handful of magical warlords (wielders) and have them alternate between hoovering stuff up on a big world map, using that stuff to build and raise armies, and taking those armies to tell the other wielders what stupid ugly jerks they are via interpretive stabbing. Players of Heroes of Might and Magic probably don’t need the reference, but it’d be remiss not to make it.
Image credit:Coffee Stain Publishing
Image credit:Coffee Stain Publishing
Image credit:Coffee Stain Publishing
Between which skills and magic your wielders level into, their equipment, what troops you focus on, and what opposition you’re up against, Songs of Conquest is very much a game about learning all the combinations. But as each unit has only one or two quirks, and the rules are generally clear and straightforward, it doesn’t get too overwhelming or pedantic (although the battle log is disappointingly uninformative, and it’s sometimes hard to see a hex behind a line of huge monsters, and with no order confirmation and such condensed battles, an occasional misclick can cause serious damage).
The game rewards learning your way around, but it doesn’t demand scholarship. You might, however, stack your chips all wrong and not find out until quite some way into a match (pro tip: protection against spell damage is priceless). The level up options being partly randomised works less well than in e.g.Wildermyth, partly because some skills are dramatically worse than others. A little extra wood, or more powerful magic? Are you joking.
But that variety means that taking a few knocks while you learn how to plan your forces in advance is part of the fun. And Songs of Conquest is aheapof fun. I even enjoyed the story, as each faction’s campaign centres their own conflict and throws some fresh light onto the wider one. I appreciate that there’s no bog standard Human Empire or goddamn elves. Even the undead faction are a blend of cultists, rats, and spirits, with more interesting motivation than “hey let’s awaken the Dark Lord lol oh no my soul” again. The Baryans, who could have been generic evil slavers come across like a forward thinking, curiously legalistic culture in contrast to the old kingdoms, but with a mercantile bent that means that, yeah, even their main campaign wielder was enslaved.
I like Songs of Conquest a lot. I may not quite love it, but it’s colourful and rich in flavour and has more strategic depth than at first appears. Its main inspiration is clear, but it more than earns its own place in the sun.
