Welcome to this Hundred Kingdoms Mounted Squires Review. For those of you just after Conquest models at a good price, there are links and a voucher code at the end of the article. For the rest of you, let’s get into it.
These miniatures by Para Bellum Wargames are part of their Conquest series of games. I found them to be a pleasure to build. They come on round bases, but come with individual square movement trays so you can easily use these figures for either skirmish or rank-and-file miniatures games.
Why does Para Bellum give you a way to use these miniatures for both skirmish and rank-and-file miniatures games? Well, they have two game systems. Last Argument of Kings and First Blood. I believe that we will be seeing some changes to First Blood soon, but I really like that Para Bellum based these miniatures on rounds and gave you square movement trays.
Now, on to the actual models. The subject of this review. These Hundred Kingdoms Mounted Squires are nice. As you would expect from Para Bellum, the miniatures come in a standard box with some great artwork of painted minis.
Let’s open this up and see what is inside.
Inside the Box
Upon opening the box, I found a sprue and a half of plastic parts, three large bases and three square movement trays. I love that they give you round bases with square trays.
It doesn’t look like there is a lot in there compared to some other kits by Para Bellum, but these parts make up the three miniatures in the box, and I had parts to spare.
Sprues of Para Bellum’s Hundred Kingdoms Mounted Squires
The Sprues inside are the nice, thick and chunky plastic of the new Para Bellum Miniature’s designs. The older figures are designed differently. I like how sturdy these new frames are as it makes the models feel substantial while you build them.
Believe it or not, there are enough parts on here to make three miniatures and have some pieces left over for your bits box. Here is the pile of parts to construct one miniature.
And here is the pile of spare parts that I had left over after constructing three miniatures.
Some Thoughts on the Build – Instructions
The build was fairly straight forward. I received an early release copy of these miniatures, so sometimes things change in future releases of the product. Why this matters is because some parts were misnumbered on the assembly sheet. Perhaps that will change.
I reached out to Para Bellum about the mislabeled parts and they told me that they plan to fix their online instructions. To be honest, these figures are very straightforward to build. Many people might not even need the instructions.
The human bodies are labelled as A, B and C so you put the two pieces together correctly without directions. Some of the parts seem interchangeable between the riders and the horses. The only two things that I was not 100% sure about in this kit was the face armor for the horse and how to glue one of the horses to the base. More on that later.
Building the Miniatures – Para Bellum Mounted Squires Review
After separating the pieces from the sprue and organizing the parts, I decided to build the horses first. These go together easily and you get an extra horse head too.
After building the first rider, I made two observations.
- It is easier to glue the shield to the rider’s arm while the arm is not attached to the body.
- The horse stands up easier if you glue it to a base before attaching the rider.
So, I decided to glue the horses to the bases. Two were simple to do, but the third I puzzled over.
How do I Get This Horse Mounted Properly onto the Base?!
In came the next challenge. One of the three horses was not straight forward to me on how to attach it to the base. Compared to other models I built in the past, this is a small question.
I think the miniature would work well in any of the three methods that I investigated to attach it to the base.
In the end, I decided to go with the third option that I tested. I think the model would be fine no matter which way I went, but I wanted to have three legs on the base for the best level of support.
The other two horse poses were easy to attach to the bases.
The Completed Miniatures – Para Bellum Mounted Squires Review for Conquest
Below is how the miniatures looked after I completed the project.
To me, they look great. A nice level of detail on some big and chunky miniatures.
As mentioned earlier, I was uncertain about the armor for the heads of the horses. Looking at the box art gave me a clue on how to do it.
I could not fit the head armor on for the horse on the left. This is an optional piece and the instructions that I followed didn’t even use the piece on the model.
I noticed that the part did not fit too late in the build. The box comes with four horse heads and three horses. That part would fit on the fourth horse head, but I used this one instead.
Oh well. The way I look at it is the difference in the models I built might be another way to tell which model is the leader. This is akin to how Space Marines in charge for another game system don’t tend to wear the helmets, so why should this horse be any different. Lol!
How big are these miniatures? Let me show you.
Scale Comparison – Para Bellum Mounted Squires
What Mounted Squires review would be complete without a scale comparison image?
These miniatures are big. If you were to assign a gaming scale to them, they fit in at about 38mm, which is something I believe unique to Conquest at this time. I took a couple of scale comparison images to show you their size in more relatable terms.
To give you an even bigger idea of how ginormous these miniatures are, check them out versus some fantasy figures. I have an old-school GW Undead Knight and a Reaper Miniatures Hill Giant.
If you are using these miniatures for games by Para Bellum, their size should not matter. If you plan to use them with a miniatures game like Frostgrave, be forewarned that they are bigger than most other manufacturers of fantasy figures.
Where to Purchase
Para Bellum seems to keep gaining momentum with their game Conquest. I have seen this game popping up on more and more online stores and some brick and mortar game shops too. Feel free to try your local gaming store if you want to support their business.
If you are open to online shopping, you can buy directly from Para Bellum [affiliate link] or from Wayland Games [affiliate link]. Both online stores have programs where Must Contain Minis receives a small commission from them if you make a purchase after using an affiliate link from this site. In the interest of full disclosure, those links are labelled.
You using them helps support what I do on this website, and also gives you the opportunity to get something nice for yourself at no additional charge to you.
To check out the Para Bellum Store, use this link here [affiliate link] and the voucher code MCM. The Voucher code will get you 10% off your first purchase from them.
You can also look at Wayland Games. You can go directly to the Mounted Squires page [affiliate link] or check out the store in general here [affiliate link]. They run some great prices on some great games.
Wrapping it up…
Thank you for joining me in my Mounted Squires Review of Conquest miniatures by Para Bellum. These miniatures for the Hundred Kingdoms faction look really nice once you build them.
So far, I constructed three different kits for Conquest – the Stryx and the Centaur Avatara for the Spires, plus this kit here. Of the three, this one is the easiest to build.
Personally, I am happy with the quality of the miniatures and enjoyed building them. That said, I feel it is worth noting that Para Bellum’s earlier miniatures were designed differently than their newer stuff. To me, this looks like a company that keeps improving with each new release.
Special thanks goes out to Para Bellum for sending me these miniatures for review.
Until next time, Happy Gaming Everyone!!!
