More HotT stuff .. I am NOT addicted

Is there no end to this addiction? No, no, I'm not addicted, I can stop any time I choose.. honestly, I can, .. nah seriously..

I was put on to these nice little beauties by gaming colleague Ion... 1/144th scale die cast aircraft for $4.99 NZ at one of our major toy store chains.

The first is apparently something akin to a Russian Mig3.. a nice flyer to go with my Soviet WW2 HotT army.

The second is a reasonable approximation to a German late war Me262... now i've been thinking about a German 'Weird World War 2' army for some time... and this might make a jolly good little flyer. I CAN stop creating HotT armies any time I choose, I just haven't chosen to do so yet.. nah, really, I haven't..

Gods? Nah, never... More HotT action

Second game for the night, and we swapped armies. Nick took the Undead, while I took the Lost Worlds.

My God arrived early, and I sent him around the Undead right flank supported by the other two flyers (cue - maniacal laughter!! .. but the evil guys usually get the 'come-uppance' don't they?)

We advanced our main lines towards each other. Nick attacked my warband general with both of his magicians. A 2 and a 6 left the issue beyond doubt, and Nick's second victory for the evening.

Nick's plan was to fight the rest of the battle, using as few of his troops as possible to 'delay' the God until it disappeared, or until he had won the battle along the main battle line. He turned his beasts to face the flyers, expecting them to be the sacrificial units while his blades and magicians did the business elsewhere on the battlefield.

The end came quicker than either of us expected, but luck favours the brave. Another cool game.

Never fight beasts with .. an army that is mostly bones... a HotT AAR

It's Christmas break, and Nick is visiting from Dunedin. We need no excuse for some HotT action, so out come the armies. We choose Lost Worlds, and Undead.

Lost Worlds:
God .. the Great ape
Magician - Witch doctors
Behemoth - T-Rex
Beasts  - Smaller dinosaurs
Flyers x 2 -  Pterodactyls
Warbands x 3 - Local tribesmen (including general)

Undead:
Magicians x 2 - Necromancers
Hero General - Vampire count
Blades x 2 - Grim reapers
Beasts x 2 - Zombie dogs
Hordes x 4 - Shambling zombies and skeletons

The Undead were defending.

Both forces advance, Nick pushed his pterodactyl flyers out onto his right flank, with clear intent.

The Pterodactyl flyers get into the rear of the main Undead line as the Undead line advances into contact with the Lost Worlds battle line. The Undead necromancers attempt to destroy the LW witch doctors, but the magic backfires, and one of the Undead Necromancers is ensorcelled (the frog in the foreground).

Early signs are not good for the Undead. One stand of blades dies to a fanatical warband. The remainder of the LW line is pushed back.

Nick pushes his LW line back into contact, hitting it simultaneously from the rear with his flyers. At this stage I'm thinking that this may not end well.

The Undead Vampire Count pushes the behemoth back, but the second stand of blades is killed by the warband.

I attack Nick's witch doctors with the beasts, expecting a good result - I'm on his flank... nope, he recoils me, and..

.. goes back in again on the Vampire Count. A 1 and a 6, and it's all over... the undead forces disappear before the very eyes of the LW tribes. And the great Ape God never showed.

An awesome game .. lots of those cinematic moments, and damned good fun.

'I still say shooting a man is just not British...'

But if that's what those scoundrels at Horseguards insist in sending out as reinforcements I shall have to make best use of them until they send me more cavalry, eh wot???

There were four spare dismounted figures left over from the box of HaT Zulu Wars British mounted infantry. Perfect or another base of shooters for the VSF expansion. Job done.. although Caruthers just doesn't seem to be that happy.

The new base of HotT 'Shooters'

The shooters with their mounted brethren, 'Riders' in the HotT VSF army.

'It's all Greek to me'. Carruthers latest despatch ....

Major General Carruthers I assume? As if bashing up indigenous peoples wasn't enough, it seems that Maj Gen Carruthers managed to tackle an almost equally ancient civilisation that he just happened to stumble upon: a gathering of Greeks. Now these could be dashed tricky chaps, you know, but their preference for spears and shields would surely mean that they would be easy beats for his fine upstanding British gentlemen?

The newly recruited riders moved out to threaten the Greek left flank.. as you do when you are British, you know..

While the centre of good solid infantrymen, led by the inimitable General himself, pushed forward against the jolly un-British spearmen.

Elements of the British flying force flew silently across the lines of combatants looking for mischief.

Gods? Gods you say? Oh I say, that's just not British. Whatever would her Majesty say? The Greek God Aries seemed to have been summoned.

The riders advanced as gallant British gentlemen would, never mind the odds, you know!!

In the centre the British infantry charged forward, supported by their steam powered robot. These damnable Greeks must be taught a lesson, you know, eh wot!!!

Plenty of the good ol' biffo and argy bargy .. ah, the sound of steel in the morning, there's nothing quite like it! The fly-boys had found a way to make themselves useful

Aha, we knew it was damnably un-British. The Gods themselves deserted the Greeks as Aries took flight. Good old British steel you know, eh wot??

The general melee in the centre was looking interesting.

One of the fly-boys tumbled to the ground in a ball of flames.. gad suh!!!

But with Aries gone, the British riders were now cleaning up on their right.

And in the centre the Greek spearmen had lost their cohesion as they fought to keep the British at bay.

Finally the Greek general was taken, and the Greek army fled the field. Caruthers can be seen with his command squad standing at the left of the picture surveying the field as his troops clean up the last of the Greeks.

This was a game that Nick G and I played a few months ago. I uploaded the photos, but never found the time to write up the battle.

Gad Suh.. damned fine fellows

What the official despatch to the War Office said:

"Lancer reinforcements arrived at full strength."

What Carruthers actually dictated to his ADC:

"Finally some actual bloody cavalry. Damned fine fellows those Lancer chappies.. excellent, excellent. Now for some real fighting instead of this namby pamby 'oo let's shoot them, they look to damned fierce for the likes of us' rubbish." 

Latest reinforcements in the expansion of the British VSF army to Big Battle HotT strength. I purchased a box of HaT 17th lancers quite some time ago. Finally dragged the box out and completed them. These will be classed as 'knights', given their predilection for up close and personal combat from the backs of their mounts.

Warclouds HotT/DBA double, 1st leg HotT

Woolston Wargames Club is pleased to bring you HOTT at Warclouds 2014. The ethos is fun and although it is a tournament games are played within the spirit of the rules and the competitive edge is rounded off ensuring every one enjoys themselves.

Venue:	Date: 8 February 2014
Woolston Working Mens' Club	Entrance Fee: $20 inclusive of HotT and DBA tournaments

Rules:

The version used will be Hordes of the Things 2.0 with the exception that the new ‘standard’ movement rates for Shooters and Warbands will apply: 200 paces and 300 paces respectively in good or bad going.

Scale:

Will be 20/25/28mm (60mm frontage). Each entrant should bring an army, although several loan armies will be available on request.

Armies will be composed of 24 army points. Players are not limited to army lists as printed in the rules, but armies must obey the element composition rules.

Players will set up terrain using the terrain rules, and are expected to bring Strongholds for their armies. In the spirit of the game, players need not use the same army and army composition throughout the tournament.

Format:

Competitors will play five games during the day.

If there are more than six competitors, a swiss chess system will operate. If there are six or fewer competitors a pre-set draw will be provided with every player playing every other player.

Scoring:

·      5 points for a win

·      1 point for a draw

·      0 points for a loss

Tally opponent’s lost/destroyed AP (as defined in the rulebook) and record this along with each player’s game score game scores for use in the event of a tie-break.

Normally draws shouldn't happen, but there is a time limit of one hour per game. If at the end of the hour a game is not finished, the umpire will, at the end of the current turn, declare the game a draw. All army points killed should still be recorded and submitted to the umpire on the results sheet in the case of a tie for overall tournament winner.

Contact:

Robin Sutton

27 Horton Place

Christchurch 8061

E-mail: rsutton@paradise.net.nz ; Phone 981 8361 ; Mobile 027 258 8905

 

Timetable

Player Briefing 8.45am
Game 1 9.00-10.00
Game 2 10.15-11.15
Game 3 11.30-12.30
Lunch Break 12.30 1.30
Game 4 1.30-2.30
Game 5 2.45-3.45
Prize Giving 4.00

Terrain

1. Games will be played on a 3'x3' playing area.
2. Attacker defender will be determined in the usual way. Terrain set-up is defined on page 13 of the rule-book, conforming with the terrain rules as printed on pages 11 and 12 of the rule book. Players will provide their own terrain.
3. The attacker uses the rules as written to determine the attacker/defender baselines.
4. Game set up and play then proceeds as outlined in the rules book.
5. Single contour hills represent gentle hills, double contour hills represent steep hills and so are difficult going.

Tournament Etiquette

1. The defender will define troop types prior to the attacker setting up. The attacker will define troop types once set up is complete.
2. It is good manners not to take back a move once an element has been moved. If doubt arises about where an element was before it was moved, and the umpire is called, a die roll will be used to settle the disagreement.
3. Pre-measuring is allowed.
4. In the words of the organizers of the 2008 TAGCon DBA tournament: "We are confident that all (HotT) players will be polite and play for the sheer enjoyment of killing, burning and pillaging rather than pin-pricking." You are the commander of a fantasy army intent on world domination!!!!