In the shadow of the bald mountains..

To the Honourable Gentlemen of Horseguards
Your Lordships

Following our defeat of the dreadful horde of the Spider God, I advanced my forces slowly through the jungles of Guayabo. So traumatised were many of our men at the horrors they had faced that I determined to adopt more caution than I might otherwise have done, such was my concern for their state and the need to have them ready to confront any and all dangers that may lay ahead.

We pushed ahead through the jungles and found ourselves facing a mountain barrier peculiarly bare of all plant life of any shape or form, bald as a coot some might say. We navigated a pass through the mountain barrier, and as we descended from this bare mountain a sight of even greater terror confronted us.

Laying at our feet was a land of fire, a land across which the stench of sulphur barely disguised such malodorous waftings as made a man gag at every breath. Fire and molten rock belched from the ground and ran as a river across the landscape. Arrayed there across this desolate landscape were creatures yet more hideous than the spider horde that we had so recently confronted, protecting a piece of machinery guaranteed to put ice in a mans veins. For there we saw seemingly dead creatures feeding human heads into a roaring furnace, the purpose of which we could only guess.

Caruthers faces the Undead

The great steam powered behemoth supports Caruthers' line

The Undead army arrayed ready and waiting ... the Undead camp, the 'Furnace of tormented souls', in the foreground

The Undead advance past rivers of lava

Zombie beasts and humans

A giant bone dragon behemoth

The British artillery opens fire on a unit of undead dog beasts

A 2 and a 6 signal the demise of the beasts

Caruthers' Airboat attacks a unit of skeleton archers on the right flank of the Unded

The arcbers are recoiled back

The lines clash

The airboat of recoiled by shooting, and the steam robot is recoiled

However one of the two units of 'Grim Reapers' (blades) is destroyed by the British lancers

I found myself confronted by a most hideous opponent, a group of zombies the like of which one only ever reads of from the imagination  of Mary Shelly or Brahm Stoker. They came at us, moaning as they shambled forward.

Caruthers attacked by a zombie horde, first withstanding a magic attack from the Undead necromancer

The British artillery keeps up its fire on the remaining unit of beatss

 At tis sage, it was as if the very terror of the mind and the heart had froZen my troops iN place, so reluctant were they to atTack the enemy. (Both armies were plagued by a series of 1s as PIP dice)

The beasts attack the artillery battery, riding ti down and tearing the crew limb from limb. They are however prevented from attacking Caruthers as they are pinned in place by a unit of shooters.

The tussle continues

A nit of British Yeomanry (Riders) move across to support the shooters against the beasts

Caruthers withstands yet more magic attacks, but destroys the second of the two zombie hordes

Freed form any immediate threat, Caruthers comes across to support a unit of his infantry (blades) who have been battling it out against he Undead Hero general. The riders and shooters have meanwhile manoeuvred to attack the beasts (top of the photo)

The beasts are destroyed

The battle against the Unbdead Hero general is finished with a 1 vs 6 die toll

Magic has driven the steam robot back, but it's too late.. victory goes to Caruthers

And so it was, Gentlemen, that having fought and. brought down ambling human zombies, and withstood terrifying magic attacks, the Undead foe disappeared form in front of us, seemingly collapsing in a shower of dust and fragments before our very eyes.

As we advanced across the now almost empty landscape so we approached the enemy camp. Our worst fears, our very nightmares, came to life as we realised that this evil place had indeed been one of torment as human heads had been fed into a furnace, as if to condemn their souls to eternal torment.

We shall carry to our own graves the memory and the terror of these sights laid plain before our eyes at the feet of those bare mountains.

I remain, Sirs, your most obedient servant
Major General Sir Chelmswood Reginald Augustus Piers Caruthers

This was the fifth solo battle I played (using the HotT .. Hordes of the Things - rules) chronicling Caruthers' campaign to take the land of Guayabo for the British Empire. The armies were each of 24 army points, created in 20mm.

The armies were as composed as follows:

British VSF force:
1 x Blade General (Caruthers)
2 x blade
2 x shooters
1 x knight
1 x Rider
1 x artillery
1 x airboat
1 x behemoth

Undead army:
1 x Hero General
1 x magician
1 x behemoth
2 x hordes
2 x blades
1 x shooter
2 x beasts

The Gods play with their subjects as ....

To the Honourable Gentlemen of Horseguards
Your Lordships

I write to you from the scene of a most cataclysmic encounter against beasts so horrendous that they leave the blood curdled. With several days to pause and recover, we once more resumed our advance as we attempt to claim the land of Guayabo for the glory of Her Majesty.

I insisted that our Hero Lieutenant Winstanley rest and recover more fully, and so he say back with our camp while the remainder of my forces advanced once more against the creeping horror that stood barring our way. With landing operations complete I was able to deploy the full force of Her majesty's steam powered robots, along with a regiment of Her majesty's glorious lancers.

The spider horror barrs Caruthers' way

The steam powered robots in the front line, with the valiant doctor and his wondrous magical machine once more ready to take the field in support

The Lancers (Knights) supported by shooters and riders

The Spider hordes, the God waiting in th background

Once more the same eerie sounds rose from the spiders, yet again (we assumed) seeking to bring the power of the Gods down to fight for them. We pushed forward despite the terror that rose in our hearts, freezing the very blood in our veins.

The forces advance towards each other

The Doctor aims his first salvo of magic at the hero general of the Spiders 

And the hero general is ensorcelled...

The lines clash

Fierce fighting ensues between behemoths

Gaps start to appear in the spider lines

The Shooters are repelled by the spider hordes

The behemoths break through, crushing all before them. The spider behemoth is also destroyed

One of the two shooters us destroyed, but a last horde base dies, and the spider hordes flee the field

With the core of the spider hordes destroyed our glorious forces were able to resume their advance, albeit a little more cautiously. We were wary of what further horrors this strange seemingly blighted land might hold.

It would seem that even for the spiders, their Gods play with them as children with their toys, spurning those on whom they had previously shown favour. Hence ours was the victory.

I remain, Sirs, your most obedient servant
Major General Sir Chelmswood Reginald Augustus Piers Caruthers