Conquering Lost Worlds Part 3

The European forces had returned to camp after the bloody battles of the day before. Major General Sir Watherston Carruthers was 'bloody annoyed'. How dare those tribal people hold Europe's finest in battle. He was drawn from his quiet reverie by the commotion from outside his tent. He rushed forth to see. arrayed before his camp, the same forces he had battled the day before: tribal warriors, soaring pterosaurs, bellowing tyrannosaurs arrayed ready to attack the camp .. what was this?? He strode purposefully from his tent and began to bellow orders for deployment, watching as his force's airboat began to rise from its tethers, and units of riflemen began to deploy forward of the camp ready to fight in its defence.

Carruthers rushed forward into the battle line, inspiring and cajoling as his riflemen pushed clips of ammunition into their rifles.

The tribal warbands clashed with the lines of riflemen and Carruthers, always in the thick of it, swung round onto the flank of a block of the warband, hoping to drive the warriors from the field. Riflemen fell around him, and Carruthers was last seen yelling at the top of his voice as he disappeared beneath the troop airship.

The Martian allies were perplexed as panic set in amongst their erstwhile masters who had just seen their valiant commander disappear from the battlefield.

The remaining British riflemen realised that this was possibly not the best position to be in on any battlefield, and there was much commotion as they prepared to make a dignified exit from the battlefield. "Bessie's crew hurriedly pushed up the steam pressure in the behemoth's boilers hoping to pull back with the remainder of the force ready to defend the beachhead itself.

All was not lost, but this was certainly a set back. Would Carruthers be seen again? Was his disappearance a temporary thing? Where could he be? Who would lead his valiant forces as they fought for their survival on this 'Lost World' if he wasn't found?

Stay tuned....

Conquering Lost Worlds Part 2

Game 2:

General Carruthers watched as his valiant troops pushed on past the still pulsating bodies of the thousands of dead spiders. There was a land to be conquered; no room for squeamish stomachs here, eh wot?!!!

The peace of the jungle returned as his troops left the battlefield behind, but more was in store. The spiders weren't alone in wanting to keep outsiders from this land. The British and German troops shared sideways glances as towering dinosaurs, and dark shadowy figures emerged from the jungle undergrowth. Bellowing dinosaurs, small and large, flying pterosaurs, and willowy tribesmen advanced on the Europeans.

The Lost Worlds army consisted of:

1 x magician

4 x blades (one was the general)

1 x behemoth

1 x God

4 x warband

1 x flyer

1 x beasts

Carruthers decided to try to hold the main defenders to his front, while flanking the defending line with his elite British riflemen; the supporting Martian horde followed in support.

Action heated up quickly as bright bolts of magic hurtled through the air. In a blinding flash Carruthers disappeared, ensorcelled by the fiendish magician shaking bones and entrails from behind the lines of tribesmen.

Action was joined as the warbands of tribesmen threw themselves against the lines of riflemen, supported by the bellowing tyrannosaur and beasts. Pterosaurs flew in and attacked the riflemen from behind while the tyrannosaur struck form the front, destroying a unit of riflemen.

But "Bessie" the steam tank struck back, ripping a yawing hole in the Lost People's lines.

A swirling melee developed along the line, which resulted in Bessie and her crew being left immobilised in the battle. A roaring bellow announced the arrival of the great Ape God, but in the very next game turn the God disappeared again, clearly not too interested in supporting his worshippers today (boy, not my day with the Gods!!. the spider God didn't even show!!)

Both sides withdrew to reorganise after this hectic battle, Bessie needed attention, the Lost Peoples clearly needed to make further sacrifices to please the great Ape God. This wasn't over yet....

Conquering Lost Worlds Part 1

Creating a series of themed games is always great fun. My collection of HotT armies includes my Lost Worlds army, and those creepy spiders. Good friend Andy Gorman recently used his new European Union Victorian Science Fiction army in our HotT tournament ('A HotT Winter's Day 09), and this inspired me to propose a series of themed games based around a European Union army invasion of a strange 'Lost World', some distant previously undiscovered tropical island inhabited by dinosaurs and giant spiders, by lost peoples worshipping an Ape God. Imagine the Island setting of 'King Kong' and you have the right idea.

So that's exactly what we did.

Game 1

The invading European army consisted of:

1 x hero general

1 x airboat

1 x behemoth steam tank

5 x shooters

1 x horde of Martian allies (strange, that!!)

The European general pushed inland from the landing beaches, but his troops were unnerved by the eerie quiet, disturbed increasingly by a strange rustling in the surrounding jungles. As his troops emerged into a more open area of the jungle there, arrayed before them, was a horde of spiders, hordes of small spiders rattling and scuttling, with two massive spiders towering over all around them. The Spider army before them consisted of:

1 x hero general

1 x behemoth

1 x God (Spider man, of course!!)

10 x hordes

2 x lurkers

Over to their left they could see the spider lair, a stronghold fashioned into the very ground on which they walked. The general had a plan.

Both forces advanced towards each other.

The spider hero went straight for the European airboat, it's long spindly legs reaching up to grab the dangling ropes and hoses hanging from the airboat. The massive spider behemoth advanced in support of its hero.

The spider hordes scuttled forward towards the riflemen. However, in a display of disciplined fire, the riflemen alternated ranks, kneeling to pour forth rapid fire as another rank dashed back, repeating the drill and successfully keeping the hordes at bay.

The airboat was pulled tumbling from the sky and the spider hero raised its legs in triumph... sending an eerie howling across the battlefield.

Now for the riflemen.... yum.

However the European forces hero general pushed on with his flanking force of behemoth and shooter.. intent on capturing the spider stronghold.

And victory was theirs as the hero lead his special detachment to capture the spider stronghold...

Their foothold on the island was secure, the spider God had forsaken his worshippers ... but what terrors awaited the valiant European Union forces as they pressed on inland?

Stay tuned for the next exciting episode...

'A HotT Winter's Day 09'

It finally came around again "A HotT Winter's Day', for 2009... yes, it's the middle of a pretty miserable winter down here in the Antipodes!! I managed to gather 8 HotT players together for a memorable day of HotT goodness, with a delightful array of armies, playing over pre-set terrain, using the Berkeley tournament format.

The tournament was won by Kevin O'Neill, using his nicely balanced Caveman army, against opponents that included a beautifully painted 28mm VSF army (a confederation of European troops, with some Martian support.. wow!!), a great bunch of Dwarves, and a fantastic concept army using WW2 Germans (including a Tiger II as a behemoth, a couple of flyers, and an artillery observer as a magician.. cool!!).

Here are a few photos from the day. More photos can be found here.








Nick Grant has been posting some details on his own Raetian Goblin army here

and is posting more photos and comments on his blog.