It's been a time of nostalgia, gaming-wise. In a follow-up to our re-fight of the battle of Heraclea, a little while ago I hosted a game of Hordes of the Things, the fantasy counterpart to DBA. Hordes, or HotT, plays fast but gives combat outcomes based upon the tropes of fantasy literature. We played HotT 2.0, dating from 2002.
The scenario saw a bunch of invaders from across the sea attacking some forces and allies of the Remusan Empire (what if Remus had been the lucky twin, instead of Romulus?).
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Below, Conscripts Frederick and Dallas command the Remusan alliance (re-purposed Late Carthaginian and Polybian Romans, with the Elephant acting as a HotT Behemoth). The Remusans were the defenders, so set up their stronghold near the centre of the south board edge.
Facing them were an unlikely alliance of Britons and Elves, run by Keegan and myself. The Britons wre represented by some Late Romans, with Cataphracts and Cavalry acting as HotT Knights, and a bunch of Blades and Warband. The Elves were a purpose-built HotT army I painted, a collection of beautiful castings from Chariot Miniatures, comprised of Shooters (archers), Magicians, Knights, and a Hero.
The Remusans started north in a general advance, wheeling slightly as they peeled off some cavalry and light troops to contest the Briton western, right flank.
In a series of ever more unlikely, contested rolls, Keegan won the majority of combats. Key were his Knights and a stand of Warband, who quick-killed their opponents and pursued forward a base depth.
A single stand each of Briton Knights and Warband turned the flanks of the Remusan centre. On the Briton right, a double-deep unit of Warband cut down a unit of Remusan Legionary Blades, but were in turn destroyed by the Remusan General ("That's how you do it, boys! Follow me!")
I painted the Elves several years ago, at the urging of DougR, who also taught me how to play HotT, with his Goblin army. The Elf sculpts are great; these figures are barely 3/4 of an inch tall. They really capture the high cheekbones and sharp features of GW-style Elvish troops. They reward careful painting; so, I painted them basically as I would any 28mm model.
The General is a mounted Magician in purple robes, accompanied by another Magician standing in a circle of mystic stones (made of putty). I recently painted up a Toad stand, which is what a Magician turns into if their magic goes horribly, horribly wrong!
The army's striking arm is an Elf Hero (actually an Elf spear man with a Knight's horse) and two accompanying stands of Elf Knights. One of these days I will put designs on the Knights' shields.
I really enjoyed playing these simple, old games. I have since purchased the latest versions of both rules sets, DBA v.3.0 and HotT v.2.1, and ordered some Xyston Scythians. I hope to be writing about another Mega-DBA game in the not too distant future!
"Hordes of the Things Mega-game"
1 Comment -
A nice looking game, beautiful lines of battle!
March 14, 2015 at 3:00 AM