Weird World War 1 .. all very weird indeed..

Two further games of HotT for the evening, this time Weird World War 1, and both 24 points,, Andy's host hasn't quite reached 48 points yet.

For the first game I field an aerial hero general, and a magician, two riders, and a mix of shooters and blade. Andy fielded shooters, hordes, blade and a hero general (the captured Mk IV)

Deployment, from behind the British lines

Ghostly German hordes, shooters and the hero general

The British aerial hero buzzing around behind the British lines

Riders take the British left wing

Advance ...

The British magician (artillery observer/counter battery team) ensorcels the British hero on one of those 1vs6 die rolls

The British stronghold.. a mystical deathly chateau

But Andy manages a 6, and brings the ensorcelled hero back to attack the British stronghold

British bayonets (blade) advance against the Germans

Action....

The hero is repulsed but goes in again

And destroys the British stronghold... 

So, time for another game, for which we each change the composition of our forces, just because we can, and we want to try out the new figures/models.

I take out the aerial hero and the magician,. and take a behemoth, a hero, and aGod (a gas cloud). Andy adds in an airboat (Roland C!! ground attack plane).

Deployment

The Behemoth on the British right pushes forward, supported by a rider. The hero can be seem in the middle left of the photo, supported by a second rider

Attacking a ghostly German horde

The airboat pushes forward, but is caught in a control zone in bad going by a rider

Meanwhile the German right advances. The British hero has raced across to hold up the left flank

A German blade base is destroyed by the behemoth and the rider together

The British left is looking distinctly thin on the ground, no re-animated British hordes to be seen

The airboat has withdrawn to try to find some freedom of action, while two British blades go in with the bayonet

The behemoth and rider tackle the German blade bases

It's all very muddled in the centre

That behemoth is still chugging away, slowly but surely

The Germans are feeling the pressure with mounting losses - an aerial view of the 'state of play

German shooters advance and attack the British hero who is feeling somewhat alone at this point in time

And still the right flank tussle goes on

 

British blade try to take out the last of their German opposition

As does the behemoth

Now we are all over the place .. 'ubique' as the gunners would say

The hero has managed to withdraw, one base width at a time in that bad going

The airboat swoops back into the action in the centre to support the German blade

Finally the British God appears - clouds of yellow gas descent

The Hod tackles the airboat, while the behemoth and rifer are still at it against those German blade.. tough fellows!!

The airboat recoils

 However casualties have mounted and this day belongs tot eh British. A great game.. lots of fund. We are pondering customising some terrain for these actions.

While we are here, I wanted to showcase Andy;'s stronghold for his Germans .. a little 'Area 51' ish..  As we would say in reo Māori here in New Zealand 'Ka mau te wehi' .. awesome!!!

That magician Napoleon... mon dieu!!

Finally some post Christmas HotT, and what better to start with than 48 points of napoleonic Hordes of the Things.

My French are currently a pretty ordinary bunch, some French columns as behemoths, a hero (one of those flashy hussar types) and a magician general to represent Napoleon himself.

Andy's British were again pretty standard, but featuring the amazing riders that Andy has crafted.. very fantasy-like. We played across a 4'x3' playing area.

Deployment view from behind the French line, the battlefield shortened with the inclusion of a river deployed by Andy as the defender.

The British left - shooters backed up with more shooters, a hero, and those brilliant riders

The British right anchored on the river - that's a hero general with the flag. Eddie Izzard's voice rang out with the cry 'Have you got a flag?'

The French right, behemoths supported by shooters, Napoleon himself with a couple of bases of knights (Grenadier a cheval of the Guard)

The man himself - napoleon, a man some saw as having magical powers

The French right advances, the left was starved of pips

Only enough pips for the hero to take two stands of riders with him to threaten the British right across the river

The British right kept losing the firefight with the French (Andy persisted in throwing 's for shooting!!) - so casualties mounted amongst the British shooters

The French left/British right still staring at each other

But finally the French column attacks

And the French right attacks as well

Far fewer British shooters than there were before

Andy pushes the riders forward to delay the French right wing attack

The French left wing column is repulsed, but the Old Guard (Blades) advance

Jostling backwards and forwards on the French right - the British riders doing their job

The Guard attack along the British gun line - head on into the guns.. such bravery .. mon dieu!! And nowhere was the cry heard of 'La Guard recule' .. well almost nowhere ...

But two guns are destroyed

The riders on the extreme flank advance and exchange insults across the river

While it's getting all very confused on the French right - some real 'argey bargey'

The last of the British guns is destroyed

A British hero and more shooters advance to support the British left

Napoleon and his Grenadier a cheval of the Guard (knights) advance

And action across the river

But the casualties have finally mounted too far for the British and both British commands are demoralised... the British complete a heroic and victorious withdrawal from the battlefield, heralded across London as a brilliant feat of arms.

An excellent first encounter for both armies... but both in need of more 'fantasy elements' in terms of both the aesthetic and the function. That said, those riders.... oh wow!!!