Belgariad Army Lists for 'Hordes of the Things'
By Eddy Richards
Thinking about the recent discussion about the relative power of Magicians compared with the number of troops they can affect made me realise that the books by David Eddings (2 series, the Belgariad and the Mallorean with 5 - count 'em - books in each) do actually reflect this more exactly than most other fantasy settings. Although the books are mediocre in most respects, they are reasonably consistent about how magic works and the constraints on magicians. Although sorcerors are powerful they certainly can't defeat an army on their own , but can have a major influence on the outcome if not countered by opposing equivalents. There is even the equivalent of HOTT's "roll two 1s and turn into a frog" as occasionally an angry magician will try to obliterate something and instead completely destroy themselves - according to the book this makes all magicians very restrained and unemotional to avoid this eventuality, though this doesn't quite square with one of the major characters (Polgara) having a vile temper and going totally bananas on several occasions.
It would be quite easy to construct army lists for each of the major countries as they are very one-dimensional (and based on historical prototypes eg. Chereks = Vikings, Tolnedrans = Romans) and so would basically consist of one troop type, though there is some evidence that all the nations use cavalry, so Riders could be added to the basic sort. So, instead of doing this, I've looked at the one major battle, which happens in the fifth book and is decribed in some detail. In fact, it is effectively two battles going on at once, with half the Western allies army on each bank of a river fighting a separate army of Angaraks (generic name for baddies), who, it turns out would rather fight each other but the goodies happen to be in the way. So, treating each half of the army as a HOTT army:
Battle of Thull Mardu
Belgariad - Army of the West
Spears (Drasnian pikemen) @ 2 AP
2x Riders (Algar light horsemen) @ 2AP = 4AP
Warband (Cherek berserkers) @ 2AP
Blade (Rivan swordsmen) @ 2AP
Knights (Mimbrate knights) @ 2AP
Shooters (Asturian archers) @2AP
2x Blades (Tolnedran legionaries) @ 2AP = 4AP
Spears (Sendars) @2AP
Magician (Polgara+Beldin on North bank, Beltira+Belkira on South)@ 4AP
The general could be one of the Riders (King Cho-Hag) on the South bank and either Spear (King Rhodar, Drasnian) or Blade (General Varana, Tolnedra) on the North.
Options - Lurkers (Ulgos) @ 1AP, Horde (Sendar untrained levy) @1AP, Hero (Sir Mandorallen) @4AP (I'm not sure about this as in the books the only individuals who stand out in the big battles are the magicians). I'm not sure the Chereks were present at the battle itself (busy sailing off down the river perhaps?) so these could be replaced with some more Asturian shooters or another of the 2AP elements.
This army would be quite difficult to use as it has such a range of troops, but therefore quite interesting.
Stronghold: city on an island in the middle of a river
Opposing them are the Angaraks
Belgariad - Malloreans (North Bank)
Artillery (catapults) @3AP
Magician (Grolims) @ 4AP
2x Blade (Elite troops) @ 2AP= 4AP
Sneakers (sneaky ones in captured uniforms who captured Polgara et al) @3AP
10x Horde (Thulls and lower quality Malloreans) @ 1AP = 10AP
General would be one of the Blades
Options: Riders (they might have had some) @ 2AP, Behemoth (Gandahar Elephants mentioned in the second series as coming from Northern Mallorea and as mercenaries, and could be in a realistic OOB) @4AP
Belgariad - Murgos (South Bank)
Magician (Hierachs of Rak Cthol) @4AP
4x Riders (Murgo horsemen) @2AP = 8AP
2x Warband (Murgo fanatics) @ 2AP = 4AP
8 x Horde (Murgos in swarms) @ 1AP = 8 AP
Options: Magician (More Grolims) @ 4AP, Sneaker (Murgo assassin) @3AP
General: One of the Riders (King Taur Urgas) - mad as a particularly mad hatter who has got a double first in madness at the university of insanity, crazyville and should probably automatically roll a 1 for pips (Charge! about sums up the strategy) though this would of course render the magicians useless.
A third Angarak nation (Nadraks) actually came to the rescue of the West on the North bank and attacked the Malloreans so allowing the army to escape, but that complicates things too much. Arguably the West had already lost that half of the battle already.
The only non-HOTT like thing about the battle is that the western sorcerors didn't do any offensive magic of their own but instead concentrated on nullifying the enemy, which can't really happen in HOTT unless you treat them as Clerics - which doesn't feel right, or make up some house rules. Never mind. The second series of books has several large battles in it, mainly amongst Angarak forces, and including Demons who act rather like HOTT Gods.
I'd be interested in any other views on this lot, especially if anyone has different interpretations of troop types. This battle screams out for a big battle approach with more troops and the troop quality differentiation someone has invented, but I'll leave that for another day!