Alan Saunders wrote:
Well, another Tring HOTT night has come and gone, and, as is traditional on these occasions it is time to write the post-game report. So here it is.

A good night all round - we had eight players and everyone seemed to get three of four games during the course of the evening. Rama, Orcs, Elves, Amazons, Lizards, Narnians, Cybermen, Martians, Carolingians and the forces of Zenda fought it out in a gleeful mixing of genres.

So what did I do?

Game 1 - I played against Thomo's Lizards using Rama, as we didn't get to do this at the last Tring event. I lost. My flanking move by two Beasts was destroyed by a giant spider Lurker, and the two Heroes got stuck in a shoving match with two of the giant turtle Behemoths. On the other flank I tried to avoid commiting my Knights and Warband to death by Behemoth, but their fate was inevitable. I did get the Behemoth general eventually, but by then Rama had lost most of his army. One more Warband went down to the Lizards,and victory was theirs.

Game 2 - I face the Lizards again, under a younger Thomo. This time I used the Narnian White Witch It was a slow game at first with neither of us willing to commit our forces to the attack. An aerial battle saw the death of my Flyer to his, but I started to achieve something when some Riders came within bespelling range and Behemoth strike distance. He then advanced his line, and the battle became a slogging match. We both lost plenty of elements, kept bringing back Hordes and bashed away at each others Behemoths. Once again the Lizard general was killed, but, once again, the Lizards hadn't lost more points than their opponent, so fought on. With both armies oneor two AP away from losing it was going to be down to the next element lost, and I lost it.

Game 3 - Assuming that the White Witch's appalling luck had run its course, I used her again, against the forces of Zenda. Her luck was fine this time, but my generalship wasn't. All I can remember was that I basically sat in one place and let the enemy come to me. I did try and ensorcell the enemy Hero general, but the odds weren't really with me. With unfavourable matchups all down the line, and half of my army sitting about impotently, the White Witch was flanked by the enemy Hero and cut down. End of game.

So, three games, three losses. But I had a good time, and that was the important thing

I really must work on some tactics for the White Witch ....

Ian Thompson wrote:
And a lovely report from Alan the Roving correspondent.

To add to Alan's report, Thomo actually managed to get 5 games in over the evening (not too bad in 3 hours). Reports follow:

Game 1 Lizards (the good guys) v Rama-lama-ding-dong

Result - Rama curry

In this little fracas, I replaced two of the Hordes with two Lurker spiders (as I had them painted from the Orcs and wanted to try something a little different - I had never used Lurkers before). The by-now famous St Andrews Funnel Web (pictures will be on the web site in the next couple of months) pounced on some suspecting but never-the-less helpless Beasts in a wood. Result, two dead Beast elements and a Hero's flank awfully close to the bad going the St Andrews Funnel Web was in. The other, more standard in appearance, Funnel Web leapt at something in the other bad going, and fled. It leapt again and was destroyed. Overall, a mixed result for the Lurkers but they will definitely be tabled again.

Game Two - Carolingians v Martians

George borrowed Alan's Martians so the Carolingians (straight from the list) faced 4 Blades, 4 Airboats (including an Airboat general) and two Flyers. After several bits of broken movement (caused by the Flyers barkering the Knights and Paladins), the Airboats finally engaged some Knights, and one Airboat died. Meanwhile, with some skilful manoeuvring when the airboats engaged, the Carolingians managed to get one of the Paladins and some Knights free. They took out the Blades at this point.

It was also around about now that Alan mentioned that Paladins could attack aerials, changing the perspective a little as George had lost 11 AP and had everything in the air. As it was, it didn't matter as a Paladin advanced on and took his stronghold. Thomo's second win for the evening.

Game Three - Carolingians v Orcs

Ken (?) - a newbie HotTie - presented his bring and buy Orcs against my bring and buy Carolingians and in my shortest battle of the night, Charlemagne, the Knight General, left the position of Holy Roman Emperor vacant after the first melee. Rats. 2 to 1 on the score sheets now.

Game Four - Carolingians v English Civil War Royalists

Karl took Rupert and the Poodle Behemoth out against the Carolingians. In a field broken by woods, the flower of ECW chivalry stood and watched the advance of the Carolingian Knights and Paladins. Meanwhile on the English right flank and to protect their stronghold, Spot the Behemoth Poodle and Rupert the Hero advanced against the Carolingian Cleric and Hordes (the Cleric - also the first time I have used one of them - spent the night looking for a magic user to discombobulate but never found one). The Cleric, miffed by the lack of magic users, lured puppy into the woods and destroyed the Behemoth (combat factors of 2-1 in favour of the Cleric in the Wood). Meanwhile the Paladins and the Knights saw off the English cavalry and some shot for a victory. The Cleric was eventually hors de combat at the end of the battle as Rupert went into the woods and dealt severely with him (4-2 Combat odds). 3 to 1 on the score sheets and feeling good.

Game Five - Carolingians v Orcs again

This time the battle lasted somewhat longer than previously, with at the start of the final bound, Thomo sitting on 11 AP dead and Ken sitting on 10. Yep, an untoward Paladin death at the end gave Ken another victory over the Carolingians. Final Score Sheet of 3 to 2 with a 50:50 result to the Carolingians on their first outing and finally a win or two to the Lizards to turn their luck around.

Graham Harrison wrote:
Not to be outdone by Alan and Thomo I would like to share a brief outline of the evening from my perspective.

Game 1: My Elves vs Richard (his first ever game of HOTT) using my Ruritanian-Prisoner of Zenda army. I am obviously a good teacher, Richard thrashed me in a very tight game and went on to beat at least Alan in the course of the evening.

Game 2: This time the Elves faced Ken with his new Orc army. For a change I decided to swap my normal practice of using a Hero General and made the Magician General instead. Turn two, I rolled a 1 for bespelling and again in turn three! Oops, the General was a frog. No other casualties, game over!! Now I remember why I usually have the Hero as General.

Game 3: Now I was facing George with the Black Martians. He advanced against my centre with the Airboats, backed by the Blades, while the Flyers sped around my flank. My Magician saw off the Flyers with some effective ack-ack. My Hero general, supported by my Knights leapt through the resulting gap and hit the line of Airboats in the flank. Two died very quickly, George promptly withdrew the survivors, leaving his Blades to face my Hero/Knights combo. The Blades died almost fast as the Airboats giving me a victory with zero losses. At last things were starting to go my way.

Game 4: Up against Thomo junior and the dreaded lizards. A quick, set piece battle. I formed my centre, Hero general and 4 Spears on top of a hill. Steve advanced his turtle Behemoths, flanked by Hordes against them. His Riders protected his flank while his Flyer went for a rear attack. My Magician distracted a couple of Steve's Hordes, while my shooters cut down his Flyer attempting to get behind me. The lizard Riders died in quick order to my Knights who then stripped the supporting Hordes from the other flank of the turtles. Then came the clash of titans in the centre. Hero General or 2 ranks of spears on top of a hill are tough, as the turtles found out. Another Elf victory for no losses.

Not too bad won 2, lost 2. That's the way it goes sometimes.

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