A couple of HotT games

 With one thing and another (inclement weather included) just one night of games this week: a couple of HoT (Hordes of the Things) games with newest HotT acolyte Murray.  Murray is hard at work trawling through hos own 50 year figure stash planning and creating his own HotT armies. In the meantime, we trotted out four of my own (all 20mm of course) in two standard 24point games.

The first game saw Murray command my Weird WW1 British army against my spider hordes. The spider army consisted of:

1 x hero general
1 x behemoth
1 x spider airboat
13 x hordes

The British:

1 x shooter general

1 x behemoth

1 x airboat

2 x undead 1914 BEF

1 x artillery

4 x blade

1 x shooter

Behemoth vs Hero general .. Murray attacked with the behemoth, unsupported... 

Behemoth repulsed

and .. behemoth swamped by hordes

airboat vs airboat.. luck of the dice, and this time I rolled higher..

The second game I commanded the semi historical Chinese against the mythological Romans.

The Chinese included two dragons .. not a game winner, simply characterful

Chinese chariots (knights) and one of the spear bases

Roman knights

The Chinese stronghold.. Buried Army, of course!!

The Roman Stronghold. We tend these days to have both sides take a stronghold, simply for the aesthetics. It doesn't seem to have changed the game dynamic nor outcomes

The two dragons appeared turn 2. Remember that they neither give noir receive flank support. I flew them together, but they are still fundamentally 'loners'

The dragons flew in to attack a unit of Roman beasts that were heading for the Chinese stronghold

They drove it back, then killed it

One of the dragons then overflew the Roman line in one turn,. then turned and supported the Chinese attack from the rear

The knights/chariots menace the Romans

The two chariot bases attacking the Roman line

The Chinese victory came when they destroyed the Roman Shooter general... a couple of cool games. I should add that the dragons didn't play an overly large part in the Chinese victory. They are fickle beasts!!!

Austro Hungarian mountain troops for World War 1

Painting motivation comes and goes at the moment. While ferreting through that inevitable box (well boxes plural) of unpainted figures and latent projects I came across a bag of Airfix 20mm World War 2 German Mountain troops. They are old. So old, the plastic on some of them has gone brittle, the figures subsequently snapping at the ankles.

I say 'bag' because obviously someone had given these to me sans box, and clearly incomplete .. no heavy weapons. What had I in mind for these? Ah yes, when I acquired them I was thinking about Austro Hungarians for World War 1. Well, it was the cap, wasn't it. Of course, these days there are good quality AH figures available - mine are from HaT. However there are those times when several ideas come together in what seems like a great new idea .. AH mountain  troops. But for what purpose?

Here's the second idea. When playing Robert Dunlop's ANZAC landing scenario recently I was really taken by Robert's very simple Great War Spearhead mechanism for reflecting the difficulty of the terrain, the steepness of the contours: it takes any stand half a move to cross a contour. Yep, that simple, and it worked like magic in the scenario.

So.. how about some of those actions in the Carpathians, or the Italian alps, where ordinary troops are struggling across the terrain, but these mountain troops don't pay that contour crossing penalty? This sounded like a 'purpose' for fielding mountain troops apart from the aesthetic (which I suspect will in fact most often be the only reason).

Anyway, here are the first of the mountain troops. I need to complete two more fighting stands, and the Regimental HQ, for which I have the figures in hand, in order to give one complete GWSH regiment. I will also need an MMG, but that may require a purchase. I suspect one regiment is all I'd ever need.

The base on the left was my prototype. I tried baking soda and PVA mixed to simulate the snow, but wasn't that happy with the result. For the remaining stands I embedded the figures in my standard white basing compound, and added 'rocks', grey gravel, and a small patch of grass.

Some figures are painted with snow camouflage tunics and trousers (yes historically some were). 

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Austro-Hungarian_ski_patrol_on_Italian_front_in_snow_camouflage_1915-1918.jpg

The remainder wears a mix of pike grey/blue grey uniforms. Yes I know the uniforms aren't strictly correct for the WW1 Austro Hungarian mountain troops, but this is a 'paint conversion', so no rivet counter comments please.

A week in 'gaming ..

It's been one of those weeks. A return from a relaxing long weekend away, and then three Volley and Bayonet games. It happens sometimes.

The first game was a refight of a section of the Battle of Perryville with Andrew. The scenario had been downloaded from Keith's website in 2000 (the date is printed on the footer of the page). It is't currently available on Keith's revamped site. It's a small action, but I was fascinated by the nuance it captured. The game ended as a draw (neither side achieving its victory conditions before night set in), but the Union only survived because the turn limit was 5 turns, and the fact that last move was a night move. I didn't manage to capture photos during the game, so these photos are of the game at the end. The number of yellow and red disorder markers on Union stands reflects the chaos that had ensued. The game was played with my 15mm ACW armies.

The second game was a Franco Prussian war game. The armies are from Adrian's 15mm collection. The scenario was set during the later Republican phase of the war. I was one of the French commanders, and it would be fair to say the result was a French disaster, in part because of my inability to roll 6's with the dice.

The last game was a 6mm Napoleonic game, set in 1809, using Keith's 6mm armies. Again I didn't keep a record pf progress during the game, so the photos are really just eye candy to reflect beautiful figures on lovely terrain.

I feel somewhat blessed to have such great friends and 'gaming companions who are so generous in sharing their time, their expertise, their laughter, and their beautiful armies and terrain.