Fought a 32AP HOTT battle with my friend Stewart at the Phoenix Wargames Club on Tuesday night, Elves against Orcs, using mainly 10mm figures, but based as 15mm. This was a one-off game, not part of a campaign. As the table we used was too wide, we placed a wall down each side to define the battlefield. This made it look like a pre-arranged tournament battlefield, giving it an appropriate fantasy feel. It also clearly defined the edge of the world
The Orcs fielded a Warband general, 1 flyer(bats), 2 behemoths(trolls), 3 riders(orcs on pigs), 2 beasts(wolves) and 10 hordes(orc cannon fodder). The Elves comprised a magician general, another magician, 1 hero, 3 knights, 2 riders, 2 shooters, 1 behemoth(ent) and 1 flyer(eagle).
Starting positions in the now (in)famous ASCII-scope.

        ________________________________________
       |             w    SSSS                  |
       |     bb    hhhhh  trrrtf                |
  wall |         HHHHHH                         | wall
       |         HHHHHH                         |
       |                            DDD         |
       |   DD                                   |
       |  HHHH             DDD                  |
       |  HHHH                            DD    |
       |                        HHHHH           |
       |                        HHHHH           |
       |             fekxkkgmssrr               |
       |__________________SSSS__________________|

H = hill
D = difficult going
S = strong hold
h = hordes (2 deep)
w = warband general
b = beasts
t = troll (behemoth)
r = riders
f = flyer
e = ent (behemoth)
k = knight
x = hero
g = magician general
m = magician
s = shooters

Nothing too sophisticated about the tactics. Both lines advanced, with the Elves' riders outflanking on one wing and the Orc's beast doing the same on the other. The magicians and shooters blew away the Orc riders and one troll fairly quickly, then got stuck for a couple of turns due to PIP shortage - we were only using one die each. The hero and knights initially carved through the hordes, but then as things broke up due to kills, follow ups and over laps, all the knights eventually died. Eventually the Orc general was isolated and a high PIP roll allowed the Elf general to move into contact with an overlap on each side and the flyer to the Orc's rear. A roll of 6 and its all over. 16 including the general to 10, to the Elves. I was the Elves, by the way :)
Interesting points (I hope):
1. This was the first time I have used a hero. Very resilient, even when double overlapped and with an enemy to the rear I managed to survive twice before killing my opponent. Mind you , it was only hordes he was facing. Because heros do not follow up a defeated opponent, he quickly became isolated from the knights and surrounded. However, he was able to hold on and eventually kill mst of the hordes. I'll use him again.

2. On either flank, one behemoth faced off against two outflankers. The troll was able to force back one of my riders until it was crushed against the wall, even when my other rider was attacking from the rear. My ent was two push backs from doing the same against two beast elements. Again, the behemoths were incredibly resilient, even when overlapped or hit from behind. In this case, the follow up worked in the behemoths' favour.

3. Once again, high PIP rolls enabled the Orcs to recycle the hordes and stave off defeat. At the end of the game there were 6 hordes lined up in front of the stronghold. (Un)fortunately, they never got back into action.

4. This game lasted over 90 minutes, the longest HOTT game we have played. This was mainly due to the lone behemoths' refusal to die. As the game went on, the rate of attrition on the Elves made thing look steadily worse, until I was able to 'ambush' the Orc general.

5. It is noticable that, if you spend a lot of time on a favourite figure or element, your so-called friends will imediately shower it with abuse and ridicule. Stewart's beasts are wolves, but being rather lean are known as the rats. Having suffered at the hands (fangs?) of Stewart's flyers, I painted up a Citadel giant eagle (from the old Middle Earth range). I was quite please with it, as soon as I put it on the table some smartarse christened it The Budgie :(. Still, it proved its worth.

I enjoyed this game. Next step is to move up to 48AP each, with 72AP as the target.
Euan
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Euan Caldwell
Glasgow
Scotland

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