Summary
Foot troops. Cost 1AP. Move 400p on road, 200p in good going, 200p in bad going. Combat factors are +2 vs foot or Stronghold, +2 vs mounted.
If they lose a close combat to Knights if in good going, or to Warband they are destroyed. Otherwise they recoil.
If they are doubled in combat they are destroyed.
Destroyed Hordes may be returned to the battle by the expenditure of PIPs.

John Wardle writes:
In my Irregular Miniatures 6mm Goblin, Orc or Skeleton armies I like to use between 8 to 12 APs of hordes, 12 to 15 being better. 6APs is a 'mandatory' minimum. Larger units include a behemoth, evil hero, and/or a magician. The hordes are generally used two ways:

• To form a long line, occasionally two deep in places, interspersed with one or two heroes, behemoths etc, that will overlap an enemy line as it is contacted. Quantity of Hordes gives them their strength versus their low combat factor against most other units ( except other Hordes interestedly enough, these can create some epic push and shove battles ). Hopefully, the enemy line fragments enough for the bigger units to wreck some damage. The Hordes in this situation may block, occupy, entangle, provide overlap etc for anything from one to three turns, before they are generally wiped out, and the bigger units are left on their own. This long line can be used without the bigger elements, who can be busy elsewhere while the Hordes perform a blocking, entangling role. Warbands, Blades and Spears can also mixed in, but again will end up isolated in a prolonged combat. The Hordes are there for their initial quantity of numbers.
• Especially if the stronghold is nearby or a road is handy, Hordes can be used early in the battle to disrupt enemy plans. The idea is that early horde losses can be replaced by buying them back with PIPS. They come back on as useful reinforcements at odd times, or even to defend the Stronghold at critical moments.

Keep Hordes in compact groups, otherwise the PIP drain becomes too awkward. Sometimes it is better to abandon Hordes units up front and use any PIPS to replace hordes back at your baseline, even building up a whole new "horde battlegroup " this way!

I've had some success, but certainly some enjoyable games, using just one behemoth or hero, 12 or so hordes, and 4 or 5 riders. The hordes form their line with the behemoth or hero, and attack the enemy line as the riders and maybe the hero, move around to a flank or rear (moving 500p this can happen quickly) and attack the line at the same time.

The behemoth tends to barge its way in, as does the hero, and much confusion reigns. The Behemoth tends to look after itself, and the hero / riders have the speed to retreat. The hordes, well, they just love to die fighting and come back onto the baseline as more hordes.

Anyway, I hope the above is interesting. It gives the Dwarf blades and the Elf spears something to think about. They just hate it when all of the above goes according to plan, and feel smug when it doesn't. Never mind, I still love my hordes, even when they die ignobly.

Chow Li writes:
I've found that when using an army with a bunch of horde elements one thing that must be done is bring them back. I do not wait, I bring them back on as soon as I can. This, I believe is the strength of such an army and the most important tactic.

Chow Li's rules for using Hordes
1. Always bring them back as soon as you can-this is their beauty
2. Keep them together-use them in blocks
3. Try to use them at least two elements deep-back to blocks, this also helps make for their fragility in battle.
4. Try not to go too far from your base line-this makes it easier for the newly deployed to get on line.
5. Watch your flanks - hordes can easily be rolled up. Unlike blades, when hordes turn in place they have no place to recoil.

Colin Hagreen writes:
I only have two Hordes suggestions.

One is to be green and recycle. Never waste a pip if there is a horde off the board. Even if you can only bring back one and it looks vulnerable, it's still worth it.

The other is to take either one or ten. A large number makes the battle-line look great and gives a chance to overwhelm the enemy with sheer numbers. One can be a throw-away stopper to guard the end of the line and protect against overlaps. Intermediate numbers do neither and just get in the way.

Jeff Bolton writes:
I rarely use hordes. Why? Because I don't like them. I like speed and/or striking power in an element. hordes have neither. The main strength of the horde element is its ability to rise again. This can be of major psychological effect upon your opponent, too. How did Conan the Barbarian put it? Ah, yes! 'The meaning of life is to put the Hordes before your enemy and to hear their lamentations as they realize they need to kill those APs - AGAIN!'

Never - ever - take one horde. One horde is a dead worthless speed-bump, an accident looking for a place to happen. Personally, if I need 1AP of elements to use because I picked a 3AP element, I'll pick a lurker. One horde has no psychological impact on the opponent.

IMHO, the proper and minimum number of hordes that should appear in an army is 4-5. This lets the controller bring them back as they fall before the enemy, AND form small groups. It is my considered opinion that THREE hordes working in a group against one enemy element can do marvelous damage to the enemy. And when the hordes DO manage to eliminate an enemy element, the enemy psyche takes another shot.

Properly handled, an army of hordes - like the Goblins in the book - is a tough opponent. But they are tough to run and should only be used by an expert. Spectacular victories with them are unlikely.

Richard Bodley Scott writes:
Some people seem to regard hordes simply as expendable troops that can be used to delay the enemy without permanent loss to one's own army.

They are much more than that. They should be used where possible to ZOC enemy heroes and other elite troops (even gods and other aerials), thus preventing these from intervening against vulnerable friendly elements.

When the battle becomes confused, they can be used to get at least partly behind enemy elements so that stronger friends can push them into them. (Shoulders/buttocks of Death).

What hordes are *not* useful for is extending your infantry battle line. This is because they will probably die and then you will be flanked - it is better to use terrain to secure your flank, or even the board edge.

I would go so far as to say that it is not worth having hordes in the same army as blades or spears.

In my view, it is better to have a line of hordes only (at least 6) facing the main enemy battle line, while your other troops make a concerted attack elsewhere.

For example, my 15mm goblin (pool) army at Berkeley consisted of 6 hordes, 5 shooters (including general), 1 hero and 1 magician.

The hordes line up facing the enemy, the shooters move into a piece of bad going, and the hero and magician hide behind the hordes waiting for an opportunity.

This gives the enemy *nothing* to kill in the open. The shooters are in bad going and probably outnumber the enemy bad going troops. The hero and magician are secure from conventional attack until the hordes are dead. The hordes are "immortal". You can choose your time and place to attack.

George Clarke writes:
I like to use 3-4 hordes as a screen for eg. magicians/knights, but deployed in a random zig -zag fashion (known as "higgledy-piggledy hordes" in our club) providing ZOC cover for each others flank/overlap positions. Enemy elements then have to conform to the awkwardly deployed hordes. Once contacted, you have a decent chance of blocking recoils or overlapping/flanking enemy elements and creating kill chances in your bound. If a horde element should die, you can replace it for one pip but the enemy may suffer a more lasting kill. The main drawback is lack of mobility; once deployed you are unlikely to be able to move more than a couple of elements - but it can provide a surprisingly strong defensive position for a rested flank. Have something ready to support them if your enemy takes time to place elements for a concerted attack.

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