WARHAMMER 40,000 CONQUEST: SOLO VARIANT v0.

SET UP

AI Deck:- Space Marines + Tau

Cato Sicarius plus all sig cards

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3 x 10th Company Scout
3 x Blood Angel Veterans
3 x Daring Assault Squad
3 x Honoured Librarian
3 x Tactical Squad Cardinis
1 x Raven Guard Speeder
1 x Deathwing Guard
1 x Ultramarines Dreadnought
3 x Void Pirate
3 x Rogue Trader
3 x Vash’ya Trailblazer
3 x Ion Rifle
3 x Iron Halo
3 x Drop Pod Assault
3 x Indomitable
2 x Fortress Monastery

Do not deal a hand for the AI – just shuffle their deck and leave it face down. They start with 7 resources as usual.
The AI always starts with initiative.

The AI will aggressively try to win the game through gaining matching icons on planets. At the start of each new
round, identify which three planets the AI would need to win in order to achieve the fastest victory. This may or may
not include the first planet and could change each round, depending on combat results in previous rounds. These are
referred to throughout these instructions as “key planets”.

If at any time the human player would win the game by winning the first planet, the AI will deploy its warlord and all
new units at the first planet to try and prevent this.

RUNNING THE AI DURING THE DEPLOY PHASE

On the AI’s turn, reveal the top card from his deck. With the exception of event cards, the AI will always pay its cost
if it can afford it and put it into play. If the AI cannot afford to pay the cost, replace the drawn card face down on top
of the deck then take a number of wound tokens equal to the remaining resource tokens in the AI’s stockpile. These
wound tokens will be used by the AI to act as shields during combat.

1. If the drawn card is an event card, take a number of wound tokens equal to the number of shield icons on
that card and place them in the AI’s stockpile next to its resource tokens, then discard the card and draw
another card.

2. If the drawn card is an attachment follow these steps:-

a. If it is the Tallasarian Tempest Blade, pay its cost and attach it to Cato (discard any other Relic
attachment from Cato if necessary).
b. If it is an Iron Halo and Cato has no other attachment, pay its cost and attach it to Cato, otherwise treat
is the same as an event card in stage 1 above.
 c. If it is an Ion Rifle, pay its cost and attach it to a unit. Priority order would be:- Librarian, DW Guard,
Blood Angel Vets, Sicarius’ Chosen. If no eligible target, treat as an event card.

3. If it is a Support Card, pay its cost and put it into play. If it is a second copy of the Fortress Monastery, treat it
instead as an event card with 1 shield.

4. Unit cards are split into capping units and combat units. The combat units are all the Space Marine Army
cards, and the capping units are all the Tau and Neutral Army cards. When deciding where to place the AI’s
units, follow the guidelines:-
a. The AI will place its combat units at the first key planet unless it already appears that it will win the
combat at that planet. If this is the case it will place it at the next key planet. (this is probably the most
difficult part of running the AI because you have knowledge of what is in your hand, and how you can
counter any moves the AI makes – use your judgement and try to think as your opponent might! ).
b. The AI will place its capping units at each non-first planet, starting with the last planet and systematically
working backwards until there is at least 1 capping unit on each non-first planet. It will however avoid
placing capping units in obvious danger so it will skip a planet if that unit has no chance to survive.
c. Sicarius’ Chosen will always be placed to drag over and kill one of your units if possible.
d. Honoured Librarian will always be placed at a key planet with another unit that has the highest HP, if
possible (eg DW Guard would always be first choice!)

5. If the Fortress Monastery is in play, it will be used at the first opportunity in each round. Similar for Cato’s
Stronghold.

RUNNING THE AI DURING THE COMMAND PHASE

After you have chosen which planet to commit your warlord, roll a 6 sided dice to see where the AI will commit his. If
the number on the dice is higher than the number of planets in play, the warlord will go to the first planet.
EXCEPTION:- if the AI’s warlord is close to being bloodied or close to death, it will commit to a key planet where it is
safest (use your own sensible judgement here!)

When the AI wins resources, add them to its stockpile as per the normal rules.

When the AI wins cards, take wound tokens instead of cards and add them to its stockpile. (example: draw 2 wound
tokens instead of 2 cards)

RUNNING THE AI DURING THE COMBAT PHASE

Before combat begins, the AI will always attempt to move its Vash’ya Trailblazers away from danger using its Mobile
ability if able.

In combat, The AI will choose its targets in the following order:-

1. If the AI owns any units that can kill your warlord or send it into a bloodied state with one attack, it will do so
without hesitation.
2. All ready units that it can kill instantly, choosing those with the highest attack power first. (Use good sense
here when matching attackers against defenders. Don’t use a high attack unit to kill a low HP unit when
there is another unit that could do it more efficiently!)
3. All exhausted units that it can kill instantly, choosing those with the highest attack power first.
4. All ready units that it can wound, choosing those with the highest attack power first
5. All exhausted units that it can wound, choosing those with the highest attack power first.
6. Your warlord.
When you attack the AI, it will use its stockpile of wound tokens instead of shields to defend. The maximum number
of tokens it can use against any attack is 3. If the defending unit cannot be saved, the AI will spend no tokens,
otherwise it will ALWAYS use as many tokens as necessary up to its maximum of 3. Cards or abilities that prevent the
use of shield icons will also prevent the use of wound tokens in this way. There is no maximum to the number of
wound tokens the AI can hold in his stockpile.

PLANET BATTLE ABILITIES

IRIDIAL:- AI’s priority choices for removing damage: Cato, DW Guard, Dreadnought
OSUS IV:- follow card instructions as normal
BARLUS:- Discard top card of AI’s deck
ATROX PRIME:- AI will choose whichever option will deal the most damage
ELOUITH:- AI will add 1 shield (wound) token
CARNATH:- AI will trigger ability of last planet
TARRUS:- AI will always opt for 3 resources.
PLANNUM:- AI will move one unit from HQ if advantageous – otherwise ignore.
Y’VARN:- Look at top card of AI’s deck. If it is a unit, the AI will trigger the ability and add it to HQ. If not a unit,
replace the card. The AI chooses not to trigger the ability.
FERRIN:- AI will choose your unit with highest attack value.

HQ PHASE

The AI will draw 2 wound tokens instead of 2 cards for use as shields. It will draw 4 resources in the usual way.

ON A FINAL NOTE....

Due to the fact that the AI player has no hand of cards, you won’t find this variant very useful for testing your Dark
Eldar denial/choke decks!

As before, this is work in progress and any comments/suggestions for improving it are welcome