The weekend started by picking up James on Friday, he then spent a good couple of hours finishing off his army whilst having to listen to my children whitter on at him. Friday evening we went and set up and even got a game in. James stuffed the Ottomans. Odd that in our 2 only ever encounters James has kicked my botty but against any one else...

We opened in great style at Sebastian's expense. He and Roger arrived about 9.30am. Some time later we still have not started, this is mentioned and Sebastian pipes up:

"Steve, you told me the start was 9.30!"
Slight pause...and drawn out
"yes"
Another slight pause...
"You B@$*@&D !!"

Still, we were all there to start on time at 10.45. Mind you, Roger did need waking up on Sunday with a call to his room !!

My games are all a bit of a blur. Round 1 I beat Chris Cale with Peter Pig Gnomes. Round 2 I lost to RBS but was oh so close. Round 3 I got revenge against Ned for last year...but had nearly lost it on turn 4 when his hero caught my Shooter general in the open...on his own, I survived and went on to mob his army completely. Last game on Saturday was a disaster as I screwed up on the extra pips for general out of range. This was an interesting game, it was well after the others as Ian had played rugby so missed the round. We agreed to play it late. So we had an audience, Alan spent ages picking an army to beat the Ottomans, chose Cossacks and then promptly disappeared. After a couple of turn Brian mentions the extra PIPS required to move my Riders now which I'd forgotten. Rather than default the game the panel decided we should just swap sides, so we did and I got beat by my own Ottomans.

The game against Sebastian on Sunday was a scream, as he mentioned I was in panic mode has the software had crapped out on me so I got the round sorted manually and then tried to fix it while people were playing. I used Wood Elves and defended he had his Riders. Lots of rough went down but there was still a gap for Sebastian, which he went for. I sent 2 beasts and a shooter to delay him whilst I brought the line round...and the beasts just carried on going. Don't know if you've ever seen tear through a line of motorbikes but it was funny as hell. Even when he had me flanked, reared and in the open he rolled a '1'.

Round 7 was a very good game, Ottomans against Richard Crawley's Star Wars Rebels. Airboats do put a damper on the Ottoman tactic of lining up and waiting to shoot you. Airboats zipping every where and shooters running around trying to protect artillery by barkering the airboats. Ended in draw as Richard couldn't get the pips to exploit the broken line.

Last game against Ken was also a good one, but another draw as my Riders running around behind his line meant he could not concentrate his attack against me. Safe to say the Ottomans were the most dastardly if they were defending, for all the variation in their terrain I might as well have made a permanent terrain board.
Qoute of the weekend was Sebastian's as he mentioned "I'm playing to win", he really did sound like he meant it - God does have a sense of humour. Also to see James' ears go the colour of Tikka Massala in the eatery was a crowning moment of the weekend.

Fair play to Thomo and son for the long trip and expense, it was great to see them.

As to the whole thing ? Well there were the two very long moments of panic when the software failed which caused a delay. Fortunately most waited patiently whilst I tried to fix it, next year I might rent a room just to use the PC in just if I lose it I don't snap at any one.

Still not sure what the problem was and to be honest now it's over I don't care.

We had 20 players this year, so we still claim the title of "Most Prestigious International HOTT Event" and for 2 days of the year Berkeley was the centre of the HOTT universe. Of the players 3 were Berkeley virgins and we hope to see the again next year.

Nice to see Brian win, but RBS still managed as a second, obviously the 9 month break since the revision was effectively finalised hasn't affected his tactical play. Andy Thomas did great considering he was last last year and his regular opponent seems to use a different set of rules.

In terms of armies ? Well, Blades and Knights were few and far between. Shooters were King...or as Mr Crawley would say "Shooters are the new black". Is there perhaps room for discussion on element selection and balance ? A decent blade army could cut RBS shooters to bits but no one tried.

Great selection of armies on display once more and many cameras there this time so get ready for an avalanche of pictures, we even got a group photo on the steps to the room we played in.

My wife and kids came along at one point and Alexander helped me roll the dice, much to Ken's dismay he rolled even better than I did, fortunately (for Ken) Nicky took him home sharpish.

So, over for a year (my wife is pleased).

Lessons learnt:
Thoroughly test the software
Get a "Do Not Disturb" sign
Paint the army before August (for others that one, hey Roger ?)
Don't use rider armies

To quote from Plunkett and Mclean (think that's the title) "I was marvellous and I had a b£$*!d good time.

Sebastian parting shot was it's time to retire the Ottomans, in display cabinet and throw away the key. I might just do that.

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