Hordes of the Things - Ally Battle

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the desert.  My ally, a Goblin Army, and my Dwarves worked hard last turn to keep the advancing armies at bey.  It worked fairly well, too, but for one territory we could not retake.  It was a desert territory the Goblin Army and my Dwarves had faught over prior to becoming allies.  He had a distinct advantage, in that the enemy had no retreat, and early on the Goblins were well up but the dice were not with him when it came down to finishing the enemy off.  In his own words -

I chose to go at his left (where his shooters were) with my warband and beasts and shooters while holding the center with my 3 riders, 2 hordes, a shooter (in my dune) and my flyer. In the first 6 turns he angled his knights and rider out into the center of the board, attempting to pressure my left flank. However, I made a line of 3 riders, the hordes in a column and 2 shooters to his front, while holding my right (in front of the hill) with 2 beasts and a warband. Meanwhile, he threatened the dune to my left with a warband while his general (warband) stayed nearby with a shooter he had slid from his left.

Well, during turns 7, 8 and 9 I ran my 2 beasts all the way from my right flank to my left and into the dune. Turn 10 was the critical turn. [My opponent] had not seen what I could do with the beasts and reacted poorly, leaving his warband in the dunes while his general and shooter anchored his right flank near the dune. He made the bad error of moving his shooter into his line instead of backing it to support hi warband. He saw this problem too late and got a bit panicky, moving his flyer to the rear of my line to barker (Zone of Control) my 3 riders (one of my riders was my general). In my part of turn 10 I moved a shooter to get at his flyer with no recoil and L'd his warband in the dune with my beast and shooter. He lost both stands and his right flank was laid bare.

The next 2 turns had him marching backward as I advanced, hemming in his right flank and setting up the assault. Seeing his predicament he launched his one rider into a flank attack on one of my riders (which exposed his rider to counterattack the following turn) and we traded the riders.

Turn 16 came to be. He had used 65 minutes and I had used 35. His General being a warband hanging on the right end of his line, I attacked with general rider to his front, rider in support and flyer attacking his rear, along with another rider to neutralize his knight overlap and my beast right in front of his shooter (behind his right flank) in order to block his barker for my flyer. So, he doubles my beast with his shot (roll is 6-2). But, I have a 4-2 on his general, no retreat (72% chance to win the game)...he rolled a 3....I rolled a 1...push. No problem. in his turn he is so bad off on this flank that he could do nothing to stop the same battle again. So he throws a knight at one of my shooters in the center. 3-4 and he rolls a 6 to my 3 and picks up my shooter. No problem, I am 4-2ing his general again with no retreat (72% chance to win the game)...he rolls a 6, I roll a 3. No problem. On my turn I attack his general again...with no retreat and a 4-3 (58% chance to win the game). He rolls a 6, I roll a 1....

Now things have changed a bit. He has run 2 knights up to support his general and he L's my right most rider, killing it while he shoots my flyer down, which has been on his general's rear. But I kill a shooter in the center and we are both down 10 points in my turn of turn 18 ( I have about 15 minutes to go, he has about 3). I cogitate and set up a 4-3 no recoil on his knight (with my shooter in the center) in the center to win the game (58% chance)....he rolls a 6...I roll a 2. Now, I cogitated a bit because by moving my shooter to get at his knight I was leaving it a bit exposed to another of his shooters who could move to shoot me with no recoil. But, I did the math and there was a 17% chance that I would not kill the knight and he would kill my shooter with his shooter......... So, in his turn he moved the shooter where I thought he would.....and rolled a 6....to my 2...winning the game for him.

Even when you have a distinct advantage, there is a slim chance the dice will not roll your way, and such are the fortunes of war.

Hordes of the Things - Turn Eleven Report

Well, turn eleven was resolved last Monday and I was in for a capitol battle, in my own homeland!  Fortunately, my opponent's ally messed up his turn order and the army I was to face was significantly under-strength to be taking me on, considering I had the addition of the capitol's militia and a fortress to increase my break point.  Due to this error, my opponent chose to fight another day and retreated from the battle, losing one of four field points in the process.  In another territory under contention, one of my allies and myself had a four to one battle from which the opponent also wisely retreated.

To top it all off, three other territories were taken, two close to home and another previously held and now mine again.  We, my alliance, managed to out maneuver our opponents in about four different locations, three of which were directly in my region.

Next turn is possibly the last.  The campaign is scheduled for at least twelve turns and after the twelfth, a die is cast to see if it continues for one more.  If so, that turn goes forward then another die is cast to see if a fourteenth turn is played, which is the ultimate limit for this campaign.  Our alliance currently sits in fourth place and might take third if our main opponents can be bested in the next turn or two, if we get that far.

Hordes of the Things - Battle Report for the Dwarf Army

The Hordes of the Things Campaign has been less than stellar for the Dwarven army.  Several key losses and bad luck on the dice for my allied support has left me with my back to my capitol, even as I was striking toward the enemy capitol for most of the game.  Now in turn nine, a victory was needed today to stem the tide.

It was a 5FP on 5FP battle in Region A40 (steppes next to the lake) with Dwarven forces of attacking and Yaro's alien encroachers (4FP of Doctor Who-ites) and Rob's advisors (1FP of High Medievals) defending. They went without bad going but included a river, two gentle hills, and a crevasse as terrain choices. The attached picture shows that I opted to put them across the river and got my chosen side. They had set the river so that it was entirely within 575p of what became their edge. If they so chose, their front edges could be at 600p and just over the river. They might have hoped I would choose the river side and set up to eliminate it from play, but I did the opposite in an effort to limit their set up and movement options. The crevasse was perpendicular to the river and on my half, presenting no trouble for set up or command line of sight for my Dwarves.

They set their Stronghold to their right as far as able and kept that side sparse with a Horde, a Shooter, and a Knight. Their four Blades arrayed across the front of their Stronghold and beyond to their left with their Spear General to the middle left of that five element group. Their Flyer and Hero were held in the backfield and second rank respectively. Their additional Blade, Knight, and Shooter, as well as their Behemoth, the last being their farthest left element, made up their left flank. They stuck their second Horde out, nose across the river, to send forth to stymie my advance.

I set up my three Dwaven Blades to my left, one side of the crevasse, and my three Dwarven Shooters to the right. Behind the Shooters, I attached my Flyer and my Cleric General. The General was meant to move forward until surmounting the top of the larger gentle hill and give full command vantage. To my right, I grouped my two Heroes (and attached them to start on the right of the Shooter group. The Lurker and Dragon began off the board, as per the rules.

The first ten turns were played in less than a half hour by the store clock. Both sides rolled an abundance of ones and twos. On turn three I rolled a six and brought out the Dragon. I moved steadily forward, favoring my pips on the Shooter group but moving them only 200p so the Cleric General could keep up but also to give my opposition a chance to react to my set up. As I hoped, they spent most of their pips shifting their entire army over to their left by about 350p, one element at a time. Several turns in, they pushed their Horde out to get in my way but I angled my Shooters and popped the Horde on the first shot. This also played into my strategy because I wanted to find a way to shift my forces to my left by a couple of hundred paces.

Angling my Shooters to take the shot on the Horde allowed me to do so without drawing attention to the move, then also shifting the Blades over to my left to get around my Shooters seemed like a reaction rather than a plan. Once they were far enough forward to prevent a river crossing by the opposition, not that they would do so but I definitely wanted to prevent it anyway, I centered the Flyer and Dragon on the field to get them to waste pips in their back field setting up zones of control to keep my Dragon from dropping in behind them (a move they have seen me do many times and that I knew they would see coming).

Now they had spent their entire first eleven turns shifting their entire army to their left to ensure I could not cross with my Heroes and Shooters. They expected I would try to flank their left and get at their Stronghold form that side but that wasn't the plan. By their staying behind their river, they allowed my Dragon and Flyer to get within 1000p of their board edge, essentially threatening their entire line with possible aerial attacks. I shoved the Blades up to the river, and then the Shooters, still 201p, just, from their line because they chose a 200p river and neither of us was sticking our toe in yet. Then in the next three turns I ran my two Heroes right across behind to my far left, their weak right flank. At this point they had moved their right flank Knight over to the center leaving a Shooter and a Horde on their right flank to defend, but also spent the pips to send the Flyer over for support. As the photos shows, they were angling their Flyer, a Hero, and a Shooter behind their three groups to keep my Dragon from dropping in unannounced and unanswered. But this was never the plan.

I had a backup plan of forcing something on their right flank with my Heroes of necessary but the real plan had always been to bring my Shooter up across from their Spear General so all three could fire in concert and drop my Flyer down behind him so he'd recoil into one their Hero and shove it off the back of their edge, but now the Hero was angled. I was glad I hadn't rolled five pips in the previous four turns or I would have popped the Hero and then probably lost the Flyer, a fair trade but not a game winner. On turn sixteen, less than an hour into the game by the store clock, less than fifteen minutes off my time and about twenty minutes off of their time, I shoved the Shooters into the river, launched the Flyer behind their Spear General and beat them on the roll by one to claim the victory (and victory point!). They subsequently shot the Flyer out of the air with their nearby Shooter.

They rolled a three which lost Yaro 1FP, I rolled a four, avoiding any losses, and they retreated their 4FP to Region A39. Sixteen turns, less than an hour real time, about a combined forty minutes off the game clocks. I believe my allies called for alacrity? In a campaign with many battles, more lost than won, and all of them teetering on one or two die rolls, this was a victory I really needed.

Hordes of the Things Battle Photo

I had a tough battle early this week against the combined forces of the Green Knights and Doctor Who armies.  Yes, HotTs can get rather eclectic that way.  The mighty Dwarf army was defending a territory that was ultimately lost but the attackers paid a decently steep price for the privilege.  Losses were even though I lost the battle and the region.  Now those allied forces threaten my capitol even as I am threatening their capitol several regions away.

Hordes of the Things - Dwarf Army (Part Five)

As I said in the opening to part one of this series, I love the flexibility of Hordes of the Things, particularly for building a miniatures army. Wargames Research Group did a great thing revamping their De Bellis Antiquitatis rules, originally to be used for Ancient (and Medieval) wargaming but revised for fantasy battles. The beauty of their rules for me is, in part, being able to pick and choose from across many miniatures lines to build a unique army with its own particular flavor. To that end I am building my Dwarf army.

With most of the bigger Elements already revealed, this time I'll post about one of the two Heroes I have included in this Hordes of the Things Dwarf army build.  As I have mentioned, one of the advantages of not being locked into choosing only from one miniatures line is the creativty in how you paint and base each element.  There are also creative choices to make in simply choosing the figure, such as what I've done by choosing the cyclops for a Behemoth Element.  For one of my Hero Elements I chose an old Heritage Miniatures model of a Frost Giant from their Conan line.

He has a decidely Dwarvish appearance and, taking my cue from Terry Pratchett's "Carrot" character, someone raised by Dwarves and very much believing himself to be a Dwarf despite being Human, I thought it would be humorous if a Frost Giant passed himself off as a Dwarf.

Of course, the Dwarves all think he's just the biggest Dwarf they have ever seen and naturally he rose through the military ranks to become a great Hero in the army.

It's a straightforward paint job, making sure to incorporate some of the blue theme that I have chosen to hold this army's paint scheme together, to anchor the look across the whole army.

I'll do some more with the base once all of the Elements are in place, to ensure they also have a uniform appearance.  Maybe I'll even throw a little blod on the axe before it's done.

Hordes of the Things - Dwarf Army (Part Four)

As I said in the opening to part one of this series, I love the flexibility of Hordes of the Things, particularly for building a miniatures army. Wargames Research Group did a great thing revamping their De Bellis Antiquitatis rules, originally to be used for Ancient (and Medieval) wargaming but revised for fantasy battles. The beauty of their rules for me is, in part, being able to pick and choose from across many miniatures lines to build a unique army with its own particular flavor. To that end I am building my Dwarf army.

I've always liked keeping a Dragon on the roster of Elements for a Hordes of the Things army.  I don't always use them, but having them as a potential threat and just for the fun of it seems like a good idea.  Plus, I like the way they look and their presence just screams "fantasy army" to me.  To that end, I made sure to include one on my Dwarf army roster, too.  I've had a more than a couple of different dragon figures over the years and have many currently.  For this usage, I needed one that would fit fairly well on a 60mm by 80mm base.  Often, I have noticed, dragon figures used for HotTs armies tend to overwhelm a base of this size.  While I don't like them to sprawl out over the front or sides, I don't mind if the tail prevents other elements from contacting the rear flank, though by the rules they can and certainly if an opponent wished to do so it would happen even if they had to set their own element off a bit to accomplish the combat attack during gameplay.

Nevertheless, I chose from my figures a Reaper Shadow Dragon which I had previously painted up as of the copper variety.  I decided for this Dwarf army to repaint it as a gold dragon and do something special with the base.

It took very little effort to slather the figure in gold over the copper (and the undertones worked for the shading), but I stepped it up using a red-gold mix to bring out even more darkness underneath.

The real fun part was enhancing the base.  Using some crystal gems/diamonds picked up at Hobby Lobby in a large bin, I used the flat mirrored sides to appear as platinum coins and arranged them as a hoard.

I also deconstructed some costume jewelry to garner a number of fake gems to add to the wealth beneath the dragon.

As you can see, the tail sticks out beyond the base but not egregiously so.

It took some time to place all of the individual coins and not have them extend beyond the base but it was worth the effort for the effect, IMO.

I love how this one turned out and I feel it really looks good on the tabletop for play.

Hordes of the Things - Dwarf Army (Part Three)

As I said in the opening to part one of this series, I love the flexibility of Hordes of the Things, particularly for building a miniatures army.  Wargames Research Group did a great thing revamping their De Bellis Antiquitatis rules, originally to be used for Ancient (and Medieval) wargaming but revised for fantasy battles. The beauty of their rules for me is, in part, being able to pick and choose from across many miniatures lines to build a unique army with its own particular flavor.  To that end I am building my Dwarf army.

I didn't have a Behemoth in my original army build but wanted some extra punch.  So after turn three when some adjustments were allowed per the campaign rules developed by Jeff of Games Plus though based on the simple campaign rules in the HotT rule set, I began looking around for a suitable figure.  People probably won't find this a coincidence that when I noticed a dusty box with a reduced price on the GP shelves I was drawn toward it.  When I discovered just what it was, I couldn't resist buying it.

This one has been around for a while, and though Emperors Choice still make a cyclops , the new one is a very different sculpt from this beauty by John Bager for their Giants of Arduin Series.

As soon as I saw it, I naturally thought of Ray Harryhausen, then I bought it.  Thankfully, it had been marked down, since it was a discontinued sculpt.  As you can see, it is a good sized mini.  I've got it glued to a 60mm x 60mm base, as per the Hordes of the Things rules, so obviously it is over four inches tall, and easily dwarfs (yup, went there) the other figures in the army.

I painted it fairly close to the picture on the box, though with slightly darker skin tones and a lighter horn for contrast.

It's hard to tell in these photos but the eye turned out well with some nice bloodshot lines.

I'm also very pleased at how the fur on the shoulders and the legs looks too.

Admittedly, there was a little more green stuff needed for the gaps than I would normally care to use but it worked out well and the base should come along fine with a few more rocks and some flocking after I spritz it with some matte finish.

Hordes of the Things - Dwarf Army (Part Two)

Allow me to reiterate that I love the flexibility of Hordes of the Things, particularly for building a miniatures army. Wargames Research Group did a great thing revamping their De Bellis Antiquitatis rules, originally to be used for Ancient (and Medieval) wargaming but revised for fantasy battles. The beauty of their rules for me is, in part, being able to pick and choose from across many miniatures lines to build a unique army with its own particular flavor. To that end I am building my Dwarf army.

One of the most creative parts of building an army for HotTs is coming up with a Stronghold idea.  Most are representational though you can certainly build one to scale with the army you field, these often coming in the form of a camp.  For my Dwarf army, I used some miscellaneous parts attached to a standard 80mm x 120mm base.  The idea for it began when I picked up some loose Stratego: Legends (1999) castle game pieces I found.  I added some trimmed plant stakes I picked up garage saling.

And the rest of the Stronghold developed as I pieced it all together.

I made a semicircle with the castle pieces.

Then built up a platform in the center with some foamcore board.

I ran some beams across the top, over the foamcore board, so it had a wooden platform, the foamcore acting only as a structural base for the wood pieces.

I added some guard rails aroound the platform.

I lined the back with vertical joists.

Then finished off the structure with some spiky defenses.

I primed the whole thing black and drybrushed the castle pieces with a few descendingly-light gray-toned paints.

Painting the wooden stake-pieces dark brown, which were purchased with green stain already on them, I went over them again with some lighter brown to bring out the natural woodgrain.  It's a fairly simple design and while the wooden portions took some time to cut uniformly, it wasn't very difficult.  I may add some lichen to dress up the base but it is perfectly playable as is.  Just as a contrast, here is an even simpler Stronghold, though not for this army, that I threw together with garage sale finds.

You can't get more simple than this.  It's a Christmas tree ornament, a clear plaster church with the blinking lights guts pulled out and the little crossed removed from over the door.  That's glued to a five-inch-by-five-inch glass base with a piece of white felt glued underneath to represent snow or ice.  It took all of five minutes to construct and the pieces cost maybe two dollars but for all that it looks great.  I used it in a Pathfinder game as a marker for a Druid's house that was visited by a party of player characters, just to have something on the table.  By contrast, a more intricate Stronghold that serves as a Fortress, essentially a fortified Stronghold with more defensive oomph, is currently under construction for the Dwarf army.  I'll blog about the one when it is complete, or closer to it.

Hordes of the Things - Dwarf Army (Part One)

If there's one set of miniatures wargame rules I love for their flexibility it has to be Hordes of the Things.  Wargames Research Group simplified and enhanced their De Bellis Antiquitatis rules for Ancient (and Medieval) wargaming rules so that they might be used for fantasy gaming.  The ability to use any and all minis to build an army that can do battle with even vastly different armies makes this ruleset one of my favorites.

I'm nearing the completion on the construction of a Dwarf army for a current local campaign.  I shoulda, woulda, coulda (No Excuses!) had it completed but for some pressing thesis work.  I'll try to get some good pictures of the elements of this army and show them off, highlighting the variety.  Among the elements in the ranks are Axe Wielders (Blades), Crossbows (Shooters), Boar Riders (Knights or Riders), a Frost Giant (Hero) and a Pony-Mounted Dwarf (Hero), Bears and Handlers (Beasts), a Dwarf Spellcaster (Cleric), Bat Swarms (Flyers), Two Dwarves among Cargo (Lurker), a Giant Cyclops (Behemoth), a Gargantuan Dwarf on Clouds (God), and a Gold Dragon (Dragon),.  Part of the fun in the construction of such an army is the creativity that goes into making the bases new and interesting.  Sometimes just arranging the individual figures on the prescribed base sizes can be a challenge but it goes beyond that when a figure or figures come with attached bases that would make the base terrain appear odd or lumpy, or when the attached bases are bigger than the prescribed base size, or when the figure simply doesn't fill out enough of the base to make it appealing.  The camps and strongholds can get particularly fun to construct.

For a first look, here are some simple Bat Swarms from Games Workshop painted to fit the blue color theme much of my army sports, arranged in rock formations to appear as if they are emerging from a cave mouth.  I used Vallejo Paints and Reaper paints, some rocks from a craft store like Michaels, along with some Grey Pumice also from Acrylicos Vallejo, and they are mounted on George Bases from RGD Products (sold locally at Games Plus and at some conventions) in 60mm x 40mm size (standard Flyer base for 25mm to 28mm figure scale).  If you aren't local, I would suggest checking out the GF9 Econo Bases from Gale Force Nine which can be had in quantity for low cost.  I have yet to seal these elements (I'm a fan of a Matte Finish) because I might still hit the bats with a bit of wash, though I don't want them to be much darker.  The finish might do enough along those lines.  Plus, I want to go over the red eyes a time or two more, perhaps even switching to orange from red, since that might obviously contrast a bit better with the blue tones.  We'll see!