HOTTBAP 2003 Report

By Graham Harrison

 

Arrived early Saturday morning, set up the stand and tables for the competition, then adjourned to our usual cafe for a cooked breakfast.

 

I was not expecting to play in the competition, but a last minute illness left us a player down, so Richard and I decided to play as a Behind the Lines team, taking two games each. I decided to use my Prisoner of Zenda Ruritanian army, partly because I had only used it once before and it needed the exercise!

 

It consisted of:
King Rudolf and Fritz Von Tarlenheim- Hero General
Rudolf Rassendyl - Hero
Royal Lancers - Knights
2 x Hussars - Riders
3 x Infantry - Shooters
1 x Airship - Airboat
1 x Jaeger Sharpshooters – Lurker

 

My first game was attacking against James' Operatic Vikings. We lined up and advanced my Shooters, Hero General, Knights and Airboat to the centre, while I sent my Hero with the two Riders around his flank. James' God turned up, pushed my Airboat back and promptly disappeared! This allowed the Hero/Riders combo to roll up James' line. With 10 aps lost James helpfully reminded me that my Hero could actually engage his flyer (thanks James!),
crunch, dead flyer, game over 48-0.

 

My other games was defending against the Wolfen army, with most of my side of the table covered in bad going. I stationed my Shooters in front of the Stronghold, the Hero/Rider combo out on the flank again and my Hero General, Knights and Airboat in the centre, carefully threading their way through the narrow gaps of good going. The Shooters heroically held up twice their number of Beasts for several turns, getting well chopped up in the process. This allowed the Hero/Riders to cut their way to the Beast General and slice him up for dog food!

 

Two victories without deploying my Lurker at all (I completely forgot about him in the second game when he could have been useful!).

 

I do not know how the Ruritanians fared under Richard's command, other than losing both games!

 

I spent the rest of the day playing some interesting games of Mechwarrior and various boardgames, drinking beer until the hall closed at 10pm. Ditto Sunday, in all an excellent weekend and I recommend Beer and Pretzels to anyone, even if you do not play in the HOTT competition.

 

Back to The Stronghold