HOTT in Las
Vegas
By Mike Demana
Chow Li and myself flew to Las Vegas for a weekend of Hordes of the Things gaming with Darkhost and Punkrabbit. Since everyone but me had a cool nickname, I decided to use my travel moniker and call myself Worldwidemike for the event. Due to the locals' schedules, some of the times there were just three of us at Darkhost's splendid home; at others, all four. Friday night would be the big round-robin tourney, with Friday afternoon seeing us play a couple of 48 AP games (two against one), and Saturday afternoon we did the same.
For the official, "Vegas HOTTies" round-robin tourney, the entrants were:
Darkhost: Duke Draken's Medieval army
Chow Li: Rambo
III army
Punkrabbit: World War II Brits
Worldwidemike: Fantasy Celts
ROUND ONE
In the first round, my Celts drew a nasty matchup with Darkhost's
horde of medieval knights. I could see the drool dripping out of
the knight's visors as they mustered to meet my warbands' invasion. The battlefield was
dominated by a smoldering volcano (impassable) dead center in the battlefield,
with a small marsh in my armies left rear and a patch of woods in the
diagonally opposite corner. My warbands formed up in the marsh, then swung in
an arc to go left around the volcano, our inner flank guarded by our light chariots
(riders). I dispatched our two bands of beasts summoned by our druid to
the right, in the hopes they could overwhelm the two companies of longbowmen he'd
deployed on that side. As he fed troops of knights over to reinforce them,
I did the same with chariots. Meanwhile, our main battle lines approached,
the druid filling in alongside the general's chariot bodyguard. As
things collapsed on the right flank (our beasts were either shot down by his shooters
or scattered by his knights), I knew it was up to my battleline. And I didn't
have a lot of hope for a warband-magician-rider line against knights and
blades. Against all odds, my warband did burst through his blades, but poor PIPs
kept me from exploiting my success, and it was only a matter of time before his
knights cleaned up my Riders and warbands. True to Celtic form, though, we went
down scrapping, destroying two of his knights and two of his blades, whilst
losing both beasts, all three riders and a warband.
Victory: Duke Draken
(defender)
On the opposite battlefield, Chow Li and Punkrabbit were
tapping their fingers, waiting for us to finish. Their battle had been one of
those quickies you get from time to time in HOTT. Rambo III had ambushed two
troops of WWII British motorcycle riding infantry, one of which was the
general's element. Rambo's mujahadeen lost only one stand of horse themselves,
and the battle was quickly over.
Victory: Rambo III (defender)
ROUND TWO
My Celt's next opponent were the WWII British, a force
of riders, shooters and behemoths (mechanical walkers).We deployed in a compact
formation with warband in the center, riders on the wings and beasts on the
flanks. The druid was behind the warband line to protect it from the walkers. To
the sound of shrill tin whistles, the Brits hurled themselves upon us quickly,
trying to catch us before we could fully deploy. The druid was successful in
chasing off one of the walkers, but then we came within range of the Brit
firearms. Our Celts were mortified by this advanced wizardry, and quickly began
to fall in droves (of the six stands I lost, five of them were to shooting, with
me rolling a '1' or '2'). We counterattacked, though, and managed to surround
and cut his general to pieces (for the second straight battle the Brit general
died...("I say there, sir, no need to 'bob' about...walk calmly like a
gentlem...erk!"). We also killed one of the walkers (making it a point NOT to
whoop and holler like a bunch of Ewoks) and another motorcycle company. The Brit
shooting was too much for us, and our invasion was once again turned back.
Victory: WWII Brits (defender)
On the other battlefield, Darkhost and Chow Li were
tapping their fingers waiting for me to finish, again. What is it about Chow's
games that they seem to end in a few turns? Hmm...could it be the hero General?
Yep, that is what did him in this time as Rambo was killed and Afghanistan lost
to Duke Draken's medieval invasion.
Victory: Duke Draken (invader)
ROUND THREE
My final game in the round-robin tourney was against
fellow visitor, Chow Li. I deployed with my beasts on the left, warbands in the
center, and chariots on the right. If I had thought the WWII Brit advance was
speedy in the last game, Chow's mujahadeen fairly flew across the battlefield,
while my Celts struggled with low pips. Before we knew it, he's outflanked our
right with a hero and two riders, forcing us to turn our line at right angles
(and thus, dying on recoils). However, by advancing to attack he brought his
heroes into range of our druid. I have always said that I will NEVER create a
list with a hero general. I know it makes 'sense' for many armies, but to put it
simply, I don't enjoy a 15-minute game. If I'm going to go through all the
trouble of setting up a battlefieldwith terrain, deploying my army, manuevering
to fight the opponent, the last thing I want is for the game to end early on a
simple die roll. What's the point? We could have simply rolled at the beginning
of the gameand spared the trouble. Anyway, Chow Li outmanuevered me and had me
set up to lose with my overlapped general versus his hero. Against all
probability, I won the roll and survived to fight. My druid took revenge and
dispatched one of his heroes (Rambo was just
out of range). A turn later, with
Rambo in range, we ensorcelled him, as well. Boom! Game over. I had lost a
beast and a rider, while he lost both heroes to ensorcellment. My lone victory
in the round robin tourney was a product of lucky die rolls.
Victory: Celts
(invader)...hey, I invaded all three games!
On the other battlefield, 2-0 Duke Draken was battling
it out with the 1-1 Brits for the championship. Finally, a game I could watch,
which waged back and forth. The shooting of the Brits was wearing down the
Duke's defenders, much as they had my Celts. With the score at 10 AP lost for
the Duke and 4 AP for the Brits, the Duke's stronghold fell.
Victory: WWII
Brits (invader)
We declared Punkrabbit's WWII Brits the tourney winner as both they and Darkhost's medievals were 2-1. Punkrabbit not only won the head-to-head meeting, he destroyed more AP, and captured the tourney's only stronghold. Punkrabbit's maniacal laughter echoed through Darkhost's home as he exulted his rare break from poor die rolling (he said).
You couldn't ask for nicer and more genial hosts than Darkhost and Punkrabbit. Darkhost shuttled us around, opened up to us his cooler full of excellent beer (and vodka for Chow Li), and on Saturday, dined us in an exquisite steak house. We also enjoyed the company of Mrs. Darkhost, who graciously surrendered a planned Friday evening with her husband to us, and helped entertain us both nights. Even though Chow Li and I ended up on the bottom, we certainly felt like winners, after our time at the Vegas HOTTies tournament.
BIG BATTLES
When we were comparing schedules for Vegas HOTTies, we saw that there'd be times when only three of us would be available. Rather than have two playing and one sitting, Chow Li and I thought it'd be a good idea to do 48AP games.One side would have two players commanding 24AP each, while the other would have one player controlling two 24AP commands. Here are the results from those games.
GAME 1
Chow Li commanding Conan allies: Cimmerians + Hrykanians vs. Darkhost's Duke Draken's Medieval army + Worldwidemike's Celts
We set the terrain, putting a good number of woods on my
wing, as 7 of my elements (2 beasts, 5 warband) could exploit the terrain. We
faced the Cimmerians, whose warbands would have little trouble with terrain,
too. Meanwhile, on the more open end, Duke Draken's knights lined up against the
Hrykanian's masses of riders. When the two lines of mounted collided, the
knights bowled over their lighter armed adversaries. The Duke's hero was
ensorcelled, but eventually returned to the fray. Things went downhill for the
Hrykanians quickly, as they lost their Hero to combat and troop after troop of
riders. As the Cimmerians and Celts manuevered towards each other, Crom (god)
appeared behind my lines. I pulled back riders to hold him off and keep him away
from the battleline, where I was doing okay against his warbands. After a few
turns and a couple of smashed chariots, Crom grew bored and left. Meanwhile, the
Celts were wearing down the Cimmerians. Eventually, the grievous losses the
Hrykanians suffered, combined with those of the Cimmerians,caused them to quit
the field.
Victory: Darkhost and Worldwidemike (defenders)
GAME 2
After winning the previous battle, I earned the right to square off against the other two. My Celts were joined on the field by my Egyptians, while Darkhost substituted his Orcs and Chow Li brought on the Amra army with Conan commanding the Bamulas.
Chow Li's Amra army + Darkhost's Orcs vs. Worldwidemike's Celts + Egyptians
I was pleased to see a goodly amount of terrain on the
table, giving the more wooded half to the Celts to face off against Amra. On the
more open end, my Egyptians advanced against Orcs. The Egyptian bowmen
(shooters) seized an important village that dominated our wing of the
battlefield. In the open ground alongside it, the Egyptian chariotry(riders)
kept pace. To delay the Orcs, I sprung my two lurkers-- Nile hippos and crocs,
but they were dispersed by the Orcish warbands. The Orcish warband boldly
followed up this success to the edges of the village, facing off against the bow
and chariots. Meanwhile, his trolls (2 behemoths) slowly swung around towards
our flank, which was protected by Egyptian spearmen. First blood went to the
Egyptians as the chariots scattered two Orcish warbands with close range archery
passes. Seeing his allies in trouble, Amra diverted two Bamula warbands and
himself to cross the center and fall uponthe chariots' flank. The warbands were
too slow, though, as the druid's summoned beasts and Celtic chariots cut them
off and began to outflank and destroy them. Meanwhile, the Orcish warbands were
crumbling. The trolls lumbered to save them, but were themselves overlapped and
destroyed by Egyptian spear and bow. In desperation, the Bamula shaman initiated
a magic sorcerous battle against theCeltic druid, but lost. This proved to be
the final blow as the Bamulas and Orcs fled the field.
Victory:
Worldwidemike(invader)
GAME 3
Saturday afternoon, whilst waiting for Punkrabbit, we decided to squeeze in another 48 AP game. The final combination of us three was for Chow Li and I to face off against Darkhost.
Darkhost's Orcs + Duke Draken's Medievals vs. Chow Li's Hrykanians + Worldwidemike's Egyptians
As we were invading, Chow Li appointed the more forested
half of the board to my Egyptians, while his steppe horsemen, the Hrykanians
took the more wide open sector. I was nervous about facing Duke Draken's
knight-heavy army and knew I would need to wait for arrival of my winged Sphinx
(dragon). The Hrykanians and Orcs began to mix it up quickly, though, with
losses on both sides. I advanced slowly, speeding up when the Sphinx arrived on
turn 3. With a couple of moves, I whipped him around the Duke's rear, where he
was shadowed faithfully by his hero, who hoped to solve the riddle of how to
deal with a winged sphinx. Luckily, my PIPs did not fail me and after my
battleline suffered a of couple losses, I was able to charge the Sphinx into the
rear of an isolated knight unit. My chariots swung into action nearby, and we
began to mix it up in earnest. The Hrykanians were wearing the Orcs down, while
slowly I had gained the upperhand on the Duke. Eventually, and not without
significant losses on our side, we brought them down to half strength and forced
them from the field.
Victory: Chow Li and Worldwidemike(defenders)
Game 4
Punkrabbit arrived, and rather than do one-on-ones, we decided our final gaming session would be completed with a 48AP battle.
Punkrabbit's Amazons + Worldwidemike's Egyptians vs. Chow Li's Hrykanians + Duke Draken's Medieval army
Punkrabbit's army of naked Amazonian women elicited
murmers of admiration from me and Darkhost, while Chow Li -- whose army of
Riders faced their Chariots (Knights) and Shooters -- trembled at their
approach. Meanwhile, on the opposite side, Darkhost's Duke was psyched out by
the appearance of my Egyptians. Their defeat last game, coupled with his Orc's
loss to them on Friday, spread defeatism in their ranks. And when the hippo and
croc ambushed a longbow unit, pessimism ran rampant -- despite the fact he
eventually dispersed both with no losses. While the Amazonian chariots were
riding over the lightly armored Hrykanian tribesmen on their ponies, my Egyptian
archers boldly rushed forward and poured storms of arrows into the waiting
knights. Frozen in fear, the Duke's army stood and simply took the punishment
(Darkhost's PIPs were abysmal this game -- never rolling above a '3', I
believe). Knights fell in droves, and eventually the general's bodyguard was
pushed back into their stronghold, where they broke. Punkrabbit's Amazons had
already finished off the Hrykanians, leaving both our enemies' armies in
rout.
Victory: Punkrabbit and Worldwidemike
I found the 48AP battles to be enjoyable, more so, in fact, than the one-on-one games. Of course, that could simply be because I was on the winning side in all four, but I honestly think 48AP battles with two players per side are a blast. Of course, it helped that the other players were great, fun guys to sit down, have a beer and share a game with. There was nothing "dark" about Darkhost's peformance as host. The beer was great, he willingly shuttled Chow Li and myself around -- taking us to an old Mormon fort Chow Li wanted to visit, Quark's Bar at the Las Vegas Hilton, and treating us to a magnificent dinner with his wife at his favorite restaurant -- The House of Lords steakhouse in the Sahara hotel. I cannot thank him enough for his generosity. Both he and Punkrabbit gave up chunks of their weekend to us, their guests. So, if anyone fancies a game in the Las Vegas area, I highly recommend looking Darkhost and Punkrabbit up. You'll be a winner, despite how the gambling tables may treat you at other times...