While Conquest may be a very complicated strategy game, I'll do everything I can to make it as easy to understand as possible. Although it may seem like a lot of work to get up and running, I assure you that it’s well worth the effort.

Conquest was created by a few average guys who only ever wanted to do one thing: create a cool, strategy-focused card game. And even today, seven years after that first vision, I can honestly say I love to play this game. (So, if you ever see me at a card shop or trade show, flag me down and I’d love to accept a challenge.)

The inspiration for Conquest arose from both a love for in-depth, complex war games and a passion for the exciting, community-building environment collectible card games bring. While most card games center around simplicity, portability, and convenience, Conquest is very much space consuming, complex, and mind-intensive. (I don’t recommend playing in a car on a road trip, though I’d love to hear of anyone who has tried.)

In brief, Conquest is a game intended for two or more players (best played with four, IMO) that revolves around building the best army and conquering opposing locations. When you ruin your opponent’s encampment (the location that each commander has at the beginning of the game), you’ve achieved conquest, or won. There are, of course, plenty of different ways to do this.

To be successful in Conquest, you will need to do the following:

• Build locations and upgrades, which will provide income for using all other resources
• Deploy units to defend your locations and upgrades
• Launch well-timed assaults to ruin enemy locations, especially the encampment

Whether you choose to slowly cripple your opponent’s resources or build up a massive army for one well-timed assault is up to you. However, as you play Conquest, you will realize that despite the deck you’ve built, you must adjust your strategy at every turn, based on your opponent’s decisions. Most importantly, you will learn that no matter how much you play, there is always more to learn. (I’ve only begun to scratch the surface in my education.)