Thomo's Veiw

The First Annual Tring Hordes of the Things Tournament was played and completed last Friday Night at Tring Wargames Club. Over the three hours set aside for the Tournament 11 games were started, 10 finished and one considered a draw. The details follow:

The Participants:

Jeffro the Cartographer (Mapmaker to Thomo the Lost) using Red Martians.
Steven 'Twocan' Thompson using Amazons (the Little Ladies)
Jon 'Squigs' Scrivens using Undead (figures from the Dark Side based on Sabot Bases
Alan 'Mr Stronghold' Saunders using the Narnians
Jay 'the Man with two Names' Woolrich using a Goblinoid Force
Graham 'Thomo, I brought some more figures along for you to look at' from Behind the Lines using Elves
Russall 'Which way to the Front' Prior using World War I British
Thomo the Lost with the Lizards out for one more outing.

Round One

Alan faced Jay - reports of this battle are in a separate mail. Result - win for Alan.
Russall's WWI forces faced Jeffro's Airborne Martians. After a battle of manoeuvre (and finally working out the finer points of aerial HOTT combat) - Russall proved victorious.
Steve faced Squigs in a repeat battle of one that occurred a month ago and again, Steve won.
Graham (backed by a full stand of Alternate Armies figures to keep me distracted) faced me. Graham won after a an interesting swirling battle where when things got tough, the Hordes just reappeared!

Round Two

Steve and the Little Ladies faced off the WWI British. The naked ladies had great success in mooning the British Troops and keeping them distracted to the extent that the Ladies picked up their second victory.
Graham faced off against Squigs' Undead - the Elves managing to despatch these creatures of the dark back to their dark realms
Jeffro and Martian Flying Corps faced off against Jay's Goblins. A report on this battle is elsewhere but a win to Jeffro!
Meanwhile Alan faced Thomo's Lizards (again, reported elsewhere). This resulted in a victory for Alan's Narnian's.

Round Three

By now it was getting later with the clock at around 9:50 and closing time at the pub at 11:00. There was, therefore, an incentive for a quick clean round. Quick and clean it was!

Steve and the Little Ladies faced off against Graham and the Elves. The results are best summed up by the comment 'Elves has left the building'.Another victory for the Ladies
Alan and the Narnians faced Jeffro and the Martians. An interesting battle that was resolved quickly when in John Cateresque fashion, Jeffro charged in! See other report.
Russall and Jay started a last battle which was considered as a draw due to the draw of the prospect of a pint of Dr. Feelgood at the local!

Results:

After three rounds, there were two clear winners to the Cup of HOTTFATT! Both Alan and Steven went through three games undefeated so share the title! The Ladies will face the Narnians later! Third place goes to Graham with two wins from three battles.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the games and I am starting to plan the next event. This will be the Hordes of the Things Tring Initiation Tournament (HOTTTIT) which will be held on a club open day and will therefore allow us to get through 6 rounds or so in the day. More details will be announced later.

Thanks to all the participants. The games were fun, the characters interesting, the spirit good and the mix of armies broad!

Cheers, Thomo the Lost

Alan's Veiw

Well, the HOTT First Annual Tring tournament has come and gone, and it's
time for the inevitable reports. Here's mine.

I took my Narnian army: 1 Hero general (Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy
Pevensie), 1 Paladin (Aslan), 1 Behemoth (Giant), 2 Beasts (Lions etc), 2
Riders (Centaurs etc), 1 Warband (Dwarves), 2 Hordes (Assorted animals,
fauns and dryads). The Stronghold was my white Walt Disney castle.

Game 1 Vs Jay

The Narnians defended against Jay's Orcs: 5 Blades (inc. the General), 4
Riders (on wolves), 1 Aerial Hero (The infamous winged Goblin).

Things started badly for Narnia when it became obvious that their
deployment had left the Stronghold exposed to attack. A Orc Rider and the
Aerial Hero made a lunge for it, and only the Narnian Beasts could stop it.
They failed, losing a Beast in the process. The rest of the Narnians
initiated a rapid advance, hoping to kill the Orc general before the attack
on the Stronghold could be mounted. They were very successful against the
Orc Riders opposing their right, and drove back the Blades in the centre.
This made it harder for the Orc general to coordinate the Aerial Hero and
lone Rider on the other side of the table (5 PIPs needed to move them
both), and lessened the threat to the Stronghold. The Orc general was now
under pressure from Aslan, supported by the giant and the Pevensie
children; Orc Riders and Blades were falling to the Narnian assault. A
desperate assault on the Stronghold by the Riders alone was driven back,
before Aslan polished off the Orc general, giving the battle to the
Narnians.

Orc losses were (I think) 2 Riders and 2 Blades (including the general).
Narnian losses were two Beasts and a Rider.

Game 2 Vs Thomo the Lost

The Narnians attacked Thomo's Lizardmen: 3 Behemoths (inc. the General), 6
Hordes (Lizardmen), 2 Riders (Mobile Lizardmen), 1 Flier (Pterosaur).

The Narnians lined up with Beasts and the Warband on the right, hoping to
exploit some woods there, the Hordes and the powerful elements in the
centre, and the Riders on the left. The Lizards matched the Riders with
their own, put the Behemoths in the centre, and a phalanx of Hordes against
the Beasts and Warband.

The Narnian Riders advanced against their opposite numbers, but were driven
back (with losses). The Lizardman Behemoths advanced in the centre, the
Hordes advanced against the Narnian right, and the pterosaur moved to slow
the attempt to reach the woods by the Narnian Beasts. The Narnians tried to
redeploy to meet the Behemoth threat, but left it too late, and got hit
with matchups they didn't want. Aslan went down under a giant flipper, but
a Narnian Horde held its own against the odds. Things looked bleak for
Narnia, until the realisation that the three Behemoths had exposed flanks.
The two end Behemoths were attacked in the flank, therefore, and one was
destroyed, unable to recoil when it met his general.. This left the Narnian
giant able to slip behind the Lizardman general, preventing its recoil when
the Pevensie children forced him to recoil, and destroying it. Victory
number two to the Narnians.

Lizardman losses were 2 Behemoths (including the General). Narnian losses
were the Paladin and a Rider.

Game 3 Vs Jeffro, Cartographer to Thomo the Lost (and Number One Son)

Jeffro invaded Narnia with John Carter and the Martians of Helium: 1 Hero
general (The Gentleman of Virginia and the incomparable Dejah Thoris), 4
Blades (Heliumitic Swordsmen), 3 Fliers (One man Scout Flyers), 2 Airboats
(Warships).

The Martians found themselves hampered by the Narnian insistence of
fighting in heavily wooded terrain, as it made it more difficult for their
aerials to maneuver. They attacked the Narnian right with the Blades, but
despite Flier support were outflanked by Narnian Riders, and lost two
Blades. The Airboats attacked the Beasts on the Narnian left, but were
hindered by woods, and driven back. Narnian maneuver room was hindered by
Martian Flyers, held as a reserve and brought out to exploit unprotected
areas of the Narnian line. With last orders approaching, Aslan issued a
challenge to John Carter ('Are you going to fight me or not, you wuss!').
With the hot fighting blood of his Virginia ancestors coursing through his
veins, John Carter led the Martian line forward in an attack, only to be
swiftly dispatched by Aslan's mighty paws. 3-0 to Narnia.

Martian losses were the Hero general and 2 Blades. The Narnians lost
nothing.


Conclusion

The Narnians proved to be a very useful army, with an interesting
combination of troops. Mainly mounted, it is pretty mobile, and capable of
sudden bursts of speed when required. The Beasts and Warband give it the
ability to compete in rough going, and the Hero, Paladin and Behemoth give
it a strong centre. At only ten elements, it is vulnerable to larger
armies, and needs to cover its flanks with terrain.

Lessons learnt:

1) If you place the Stronghold in a particular place, deploy your army to
protect it!
2) If you can't stop an enemy attack in on place, launch one of your own in
another.
3) Behemoths, though powerful, are vulnerable if their flanks aren't
protected.
4) Aerial armies don't like woods.
5) John Carter can never resist a challenge. Especially when last orders
looms.

As far as I could tell, a good evening was had by all, and an interesting
variety of armies were in use. Two Strongholds stood out; a serpent
decorated gateway in use by Elves (?), and apparently available from Ainsty
Castings, and Jay's simple, but effective rock wall for his Orcs, made of
cork. Thomo's Lizardmen were, in my opinion, the prettiest army.

Many thanks to Thomo for organising, and the rest of the Tring club for
hosting, the event.

Alan Saunders

Jay's Veiw

My Gobbs (Orc/Goblin Allied Forces) turned up to the tournament with
high hopes, but came away with a share of the wooden spoon.

As Alan reported, first battle was against the pesky Narnians.
Warning - never work with children or animals. Although my plan to
whizz round Alan's lines with the winged goblin and wolf riders was
feasible, I made the dreadful mistake of fragmenting the rest of my
forces, which meant that when the Narnians counter-attacked, my
fractured defensive line buckled and the units were picked off with
relative ease. Not for the last time, my Gobbs were caught with their
capacious britches down (not a sight anyone should have to see!). My
abiding memory of this battle is of the Narnian bunny rabbits
despatching my battle-hardened Orc wolf-riders. Pah!

Second time out the Gobbs faced Jeffro's Red Martians. Jeffro used
his fliers to good effect, pinning my cavalry - who had been aiming
at sweeping towards his stronghold (sound familiar?) - while the rest
of my line, on the other side of a small forest, advanced slowly
towards his blades and airships. Although my aerial hero inflicted
some damage on his fliers, Jeffro managed to maneouver one of them
behind my general's blade unit and - after some slogging between the
Martians and my blades - surrounding and destroying him. The moral,
as Jeffro pointed out, is to keep your own aerial units within range
of your general if the enemy has aerials of his own on the table.
Learning curve???

Third and final battle was against a WW1 army, with the Gobbs on the
defensive. This was shaping up to be an interesting conflict, and the
Gobbs at least scored the minor success of destroying an enemy
aircraft before, with the WW1 troopers bearing down manfully on the
Gobbs' piece of cork (aka stronghold), the sands of time ran out and
the conflict was declared a draw.

So, all in all an 'instructive' evening, but can the Gobbs learn the
lessons of history and do better next time? Only time will tell. In
the meantime they are left licking their wounds, and discussng the
best ways to cook Narnian rabbit..........
Jay Woolrich