'A HotT Winter's day 2013'

Last weekend it was time for the 2013 'A HotT Winter's day" Hordes of the Things tournament. Various things meant we played with very much diminished numbers this year - four of us to be precise. Life is like that - it has a habit of getting in the way. However diminished numbers didn't mean diminished fun and enthusiasm, there were simply fewer people with whom to share the fun. So here's a brief account of my three games.

Game 1 and Major General Carruthers took the field against a remarkable worthy opponent in the form of Dr Who, and elements of 'The Church', commanded by Nick. Nick opted to field the Dr as a sneaker, a brave decision given the difficulty that seems to surround this troop type. My VSF army included several of my newly painted Riders (Mounted Infantry).

The Tardis, the Dr's Stronghold

 Nick deployed several shooters to counter my Behemoth (Steam Robot) and Riders as they advanced to threaten his flank.

My airboat swooped into the rear of his army.

'River Song', Nick's hero (I'm old fashioned, shouldn't this be 'Heroine'??) decided to neutralise the threat of the airboat and so guard his army's rear.

Meanwhile a tussle developed in the centre between Carruthers himself, and the Dr.

Nick's shooters on his flank drove off one unit of riders, and stood against the behemoth and the other unit.

Suddenly the behemoth was gone too.. ouch.

The airboat had previously broken off from  'River Song'. Carruthers decided to get stuck in, aided by the air boat.

The Dr 'sneaked' through and attacked Carruthers' artillery - we both forgot that the artillery would ignore any negative outcome against it.. since the Dr was a sneaker.

The Dr died (OMG I killed the Dr), and the game went to Carruthers.

Next game I took an Undead army with two magicians - a risky choice but one that paid off.

There were beasts (zombie dogs) ..

against Kevin's army of.. well, weird creatures. Very innovative use of 'stuff' that Kevin had found in 'one of those boxes'. Nice work, Kevin!!!

Things didn't go the way of the 'weird creatures', and the Undead took line honours.

My third game was against Gordon's Danish army.. loved the 'lego' stronghold.

Again I decided to field the Undead.

Gordon's behemoth (a dense spear block) took on the beasts supported by his magician.

In the centre my Blades (Grim Reapers) faced off against more spear, with the Undead magicians sending waves of coruscating (sorry, couldn't help myself.. had to fit the word in there somewhere) magic across the battlefield.

The beasts destroyed the behemoth ..

And everyone ended up lock  din combat in the centre.

But the Undead again took line honours ....

Slightly embarrassing I have to say when you win the tournament that you organise... oh well... damned fine games, really enjoyable day of HotT games.

Rennovations and M3s

A little repair work, a lick of paint, and two more M3 half tracks join the fleet of transport for the mechanised infantry. These are the two M3 half tracks I pictured earlier with wheels missing etc. The left hand vehicle is painted in the British dark green, the right hand in the American Olive Drab. It will double for the American force that will emerge in the future.

The American version carries the 3" mortar in the back.

Here they join their two earlier compatriots.

Fantasy armies should include women

Picked up this very interesting blog from writer Rachel Aaron this morning...

'Why fantasy armies can and should include women'

Since I have an interest in both epic fantasy and fantasy 'gaming (and I do a bit of writing myself, not fantasy though), I found it interesting.

GO RACHEL!!!

Armoured infantry unit recruitment.

To model a British  armoured division of 1944 requires the provision of armoured infantry (well that's what I figured, anyway). So I needed some M3 half tracks. I fund these Italeri beasties (and another couple of surprises so stay watching),  in a model shop in Dunedin in May and had to have them.

Here are the two completed vehicles. Not enough for a regiment under the Spearhead OOB, but it's a start.

I'm contemplating how to base these. Perhaps on a base with a couple of indantry figures to represent the armoured infantry platoon??

With their passengers ..

And some armour to boot!!

In the 'bits box' I found these two hulks. Next step, repaint and re-assemble, and there's another two platoons. There is another M3 in the box, but one track unit and one front wheel are both missing. Initial searches have yielded npthing, but I'll keep looking.

Dwarven advanced guard victorious!!!

Gaming time is scarce at the moment, but I finally managed a game this week with Adrian. We opted for Kings of War, his Orcs and Goblins against my Dwarves. One of the really great aspects of KoW us that, despite not having played a game this year, it was very simply to pick up again. Having spent far too much time at the start of the evening chatting and catching up, we ended up playing a small 1000 point game.

A small advanced guard of Orcs has renewed attempts at invasion of the Dwarven lands.

A small Dwarven covering force has advanced to try to delay the Orc advance.

I was too slow with the camera, and missed the first couple of turns, so this first photo  was taken when action  had already been joined. The Dwarf organ gun on my right had blown away two Orc units leaving the large gap on the Orc left.

There was still the Goblin horde in the centre.

And the Ogres, although shooting managed to cause a 'waver' on their nerve test.

The Dwarf right was looking strong with a unit of Shield breakers supported by the organ gun.

Orc Gore Rider cavalry charged in on the Shieldbreakers.

And the Goblin Horde charged into a unit of Dwarf Ironclads.

It was very bloody. The Horde and the Gore Riders broke broke, leaving the Orc forces looking decidedly thin on the ground.

Adrian through his left wing Gore Riders in to a unit of Ironwatch. The Ironwatch stood!!

The Trolls had also charged in. The Ironclads stood.

These two fights shoved back and forth, hardly surprising considering they were the only two Orc units left.

In a desperate effort to swing the battle back in their favour, the Orc general (a Krudger on a slasher) charged in to the other unit of Dwarf Ironwatch.

After two rounds of combat the Ironwatch crumbled.

However the Krudger was now taking some serious fire from the organ gun, and decided that discretion was the better part of valour, even for Orcs, and fled the field.

The day belonged to the Dwarves.