Hello guys,

copy paste from my bgg post. want to hear some thoughts.
first off a little introduction before i get to my question(s):
i picked up Conquest a few weeks ago because i really wanted to pick up a LCG even so i dont have a ton of people to play them with.
Since i played MtG in my youth and really enjoy deckbuilding and strategic cardgames. Obviously i came along Netrunner but it seemed like to hard to teach to some of my friends who had never played any CCG/LCG before. When i saw some of the Conquest content on youtube however it felt to me like this game was easy to teach with the potential of having a deep strategy part.
So first off i asked my brother if he would like to play with knowing he does not like 2-player games that much anymore and CCGs were kind of burned for him aswell. His answer was "No".

So i picked up the game anyways without having anyone to play with at first but i had such a strong feeling about the game being fun.. i couldnt resist. I bought one core set knowing it does not offer a lot of deckbuilding but it was easy to set up for play.
It arrived and i got my brother to play a game with me. What can i say? He LOVED it. I didnt expect that reaction from him. He liked it more than me. I gotta say both of us dont connect much with the 40k universe so the theming wasnt doing much for him. It was the game itself.
It went that far that he bought another core and 2 warpacks a day later.
I went over to a friend of mine who never played any CCG/LCG before and i would not consider him as a board gamer at all. Dont remember ever playing a board game with him and when invited he always declined. Played like 3 games against him. He liked it aswell. Asked me to play again the next day. I was surprised again. He didnt even know about the warhammer universe. It was the game itself again.
So when the second core set arrived along with the warpacks i really hoped the game would finally get me aswell because i didnt had as much fun with the single core as i expected.
But it did. The first game was like a 6th planet game with two huge armies fighting each other and even so i lost because of some basic mistakes someone new to the game makes i still remember it as a total fun match which was on the edge.

SO this was a longer introduction than i was willing to give but anyways:
This game is a lot of fun. Easy to teach. Cheap to pick up. Kinda cheap to expand. People who dont play games at all like it. Strategy is deep. You can easily create 3+player rules aswell.
And still when i browse forums and such it seems like its not exploding like it should. Why is that? Is the game lacking support? I dont think so. Some people talking about not having anyone to play with. And i ask myself: How? The game is so good.
What am I missing? How can we help? I know some of you guys will say: In my area i have enough people to play with. So do i. But i dont want to have people leave the game because they dont have anyone to play with. And i want everyone to give that game a try at least. People who dont even know about it yet.

What content could help the game grow? Do you even agree with me?
I would like to know.

Greetings
Voll

I'm fortunate in that I live in the Twin Cites (where FFG is based). We have a pretty strong Conquest community here.

I think this game is REALLY well designed. And I think it is a lot of fun. In brief, it is at present my favorite LCG.

All that said, the game hasn't really taken off the way I think it could. It seems like a lot of potential players dismiss it as "too simple" without giving it enough of a chance. The strategic depth the game offers isn't always immediately obvious to everyone.

If anyone doesn't have a strong player base in their area, fortunately there is a pretty strong community for the game on OCTGN.

Papa

I really like Conquest and think that it is one of the best card games I have ever played. The main problems it faces are:

1. Games like MTG and YGO, etc, will always be more popular, because they are already popular. What I mean is, you can pretty much go to any game shop anywhere and get a game of either of those two. Conquest on the other hand is something of a niche card game.

2. It is also overshadowed by other LCGs. Netrunner has been popular for a while now, and in my limited experience most Netrunner players are unwilling to try out another LCG (there is nothing wrong with loving a game, but it does sometimes blind you to other games). Game of Thrones 2nd edition is just around the corner as well, and Star Wars is exploding at the moment which may drive some people towards that LCG (which even with the Star Wars theme did not seem that great to me, YMMV).

3. The lengthy gap between the release of the last pack in the Warlord Cycle (Descendants of Isha) and the Deluxe set The Great Devourer has caused some enthusiasm to wane. For six months we got a new pack each month and this four/five month gap has made a lot of players look elsewhere for entertainment (I've been hammering X-Wing recently, for example). In some regard we have only got ourselves to blame; nearly all of my local players (myself included) are new to LCGs and also MTG/former-MTG players, and are accustomed to certain things (rigid, pre-advertised release schedules for one). Perhaps we should temper our expectations a bit.

4. Speaking as a player in the UK, our Organized Play finished with our Nationals back in May, literally a week or two after the last of our Regionals. While games stores will be running events (we have an excellent league at our locals), it is nice to take part in grander official ones, as they have more 'weight' to them (or at least perceived weight anyway). To be honest, I think that we will try and organise a 'big' event to fill the void, but it won't carry the weight that an official event would and we'll also have to drum up some prizes from somewhere.

5. This one is going to sound a bit pretentious, but Conquest has a steep learning curve. Newer players may get put off by suffering some crushing defeats. These can happen all too-easily as making a poor decision can be extremely costly.

This all sounds like doom-and-gloom, but hope is on the horizon. The Great Devourer will hopefully reinvigorate our players and also encourage new ones to start. Time will tell of course!

I will admit to some of those problems. LCGs are lifestyle games. I play Netrunner, and it eats my life, and it relegates Conquest to a casual game for me. I'm not unwilling to play Conquest, I think I think it's a fabulous game, and I want to play GoT 2nd ed too, but I only have time and money enough to play one game seriously/competitively. I simply can't learn the metagame/cardpool for more than one at a time.

I'm fortunate in that I live in the Twin Cites (where FFG is based). We have a pretty strong Conquest community here.

I think this game is REALLY well designed. And I think it is a lot of fun. In brief, it is at present my favorite LCG.

All that said, the game hasn't really taken off the way I think it could. It seems like a lot of potential players dismiss it as "too simple" without giving it enough of a chance. The strategic depth the game offers isn't always immediately obvious to everyone.

If anyone doesn't have a strong player base in their area, fortunately there is a pretty strong community for the game on OCTGN.

Papa

I have been playing this game for about 6 months now and locally it is still growing.

The last local tournament had 14 players, which was not even all of the community.

It is mostly the W40K tabletop gamers that are picking this up.

The EXTREME delay of The Great Devourer did however cause people to loose interest and I really hope FFG does something about this in the future.

I agree it is a niche game, but it is one of the best tactical card games I have played in years.