Boardgames

I realise it's been a bit quiet here the past week or so. Part of this is that I didn't get a game organised last Thursday, so there was no club game to report. The other part is that I haven't had any regular toy soldiers out at home for a while. But I have been gaming.

Last week Mrs Kobold and I broke out Battle Cry. We played the First Bull Run scenario through a couple of times, swapping sides after the first like you're supposed to. 

The Confederates won both times, but I did better than the Union than Catherine did, so I won overall. 

At the end of the week I found an interesting-looking Memoir '44 scenario for Kasserine. The Germans have to attack US positions through some fairly difficult terrain, but the US defences are fragmented, so if the Germans pick their targets carefully they can pull of a win. I played it twice and the Germans won both times. The first time was a convincing win thanks to two Armour Assault cards coming up  just as all of their tanks were in good positions. The second win was more of a slog, and the Americans came within a medal of winning, so a much closer game. 

And this weekend Catherine and I started another Flamme Rouge tour. This time we're doing the nine stages of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes. 

In fact we started on the same day they did. 

I'm playing red, Catherine is Blue, and we have two bot teams playing Black and White. 

We played the first two stages. I won the first race and picked up second place as well. Catherine didn't place, although we all got a good time.

The second stage. Aloy moved in to help. 

There were some tough sequences of climbs in this one and it split things up a bit at some points. 

Best I could manage in this stage was second place, whilst Catherine came first and third. Again, our times were exceptionally good.

So after two stages I'm ahead on Tour Points, but our overall times are equal. Still everything to play for. 

The HOTT Misfits Tournament - Draw And Game 1

Back in December I ran an eight army knockout HOT tournament based around matched pairs from literature. I finished it a few weeks ago and the army of Helium, from Burroughs' Martian series won it.

Anyway, we've just started rewatching Doctor Who from its 1963 beginnings - lots of episodes and stories I've not seen before - and I was reminded that I had Dalek and U.N.I.T. armies for HOTT. As HOTT armies go they are not 'traditional' fantasy in nature, and it got me thinking of teh other unconventional armies I have. Let's call them Misfits. 

When my list got to eight I thought "Why not get them out and have another tournament?".

So that's what I'm doing.

The eight armies are:

Daleks and U.N.I.T
My three Weird WW2 armies - The Weird Reich, the Soviets and the Americans
Flash Gordon And The Warriors Of Mongo
Walkers Filibusters (From the 1986 Alex Cox film 'Walker')
The Cyber Samurai

All bar the last army have appeared here before. I don't think the Cyber-Samurai have had an outing since I emigrated. They are a sci-fi Samurai army that I bought many, many years ago, painted for my wife to use in a tournament and which have been mostly forgotten since. I should showcase them at some stage.

Anyway, I did a random draw for the first round of matchups and got the following brackets:

So the Cyber Samurai ended up in the first game, facing the might of U.N.I.T. under the heroic Brigadier and featuring a mysterious time-traveller in a blue box. 

Here are the Cyber Samurai: three knights (including the general), four blades, two shooters, a behemoth and two lurkers. 

U.N.I.T. defended with a hero general (the Brigadier), a sneaker (the Doctor), artillery, a rider and six shooters. 

With a lake in their deployment area the Cyber Samurai had to move forward and shuffle their line a little. U.N.I.T. advanced to bring their strong missile ability into play. 

U.N.I.T. mortars drove off the enemy's Oni battlesuits (behemoth).

The samurai kept advancing, and were soon in range. 

U.N.I.T. opened fire and broke up the enemy line. 

As is inevitable in situations like this, that was the moment that PIPs dried up for the Cyber Samurai. For two bounds they were only able to make piecemeal advances and attacks. 

Even so, their blades managed to push back the opposition. 

Unfortunately the samurai attacking the mortars were destroyed. 

And their line was broken up even more. The Doctor and some U.N.I.T. troopers on the right swung around to threaten the enemy flank. 

A rush by the samurai in the centre saw some U.N.I.T. troopers cut down. 

Unit sent in their mobile reserve in a Land Rover. 

And the loss of the blade on their left had left their general exposed. The Brigadier rushed forward and, supported by some troopers, destroyed the enemy general

So that was it. U.N.I.T. picked up a 4g-2 win. Not getting PIPs when you're within shooting range of an enemy is never going to be good, and that's what did for the Cyber Samurai, who were unable to exploit the strength of their blades to cut a hole in the enemy line.

So the Cyber Samurai are out of the tournament. But we'll hear from them again. And U.N.I.T. go through to the semi-finals. 

The HOTT Literature Championship - THE FINAL

So here we are at last. Back in December eight armies from the world of literature stepped out onto the battlefields of Cringila to see who was the best. First a pair from Edgar Rice Burroughs' Martian series, Alan Garner's novels, Brian Jacques Redwall books and CS Lewis's Narnian series fought each other. This left one team from each series. In the semi finals The Forces of Light defeated the White Witch of Narnia, whilst Helium demolished Cluny's Rat Horde.

So here we are at the final, as John Carter and the army of Helium take on Cadellin Silverbrow and Alderley Edge's Forces of Light.

It's a straight fight with no hydration breaks.

The forces of light defended, and set up in a tight formation in front of their stronghold after being denied the support of terrain on their flanks in the pre-battle manuevers. 

Their army: 1 x Magician General, 1 x Hero, 2 x Knights, 2 x Riders, 1 x Shooter, 1 x Blade, 1 x Sneaker, 1 x Lurker

Their opponents went for a wide deployment. Their army: 1 x Hero General, 6 x Blades, 2 x Airboats, 1 x Flyer

The airboats were deployed on a risky flank sweep, whilst the blades were lined up for and advance on the enemy line. John Carter would hang back to avoid a potential ensorcellment from the enemy magician. Indeed pundits were already predicting that this might be the cause of a sudden end to the clash. 

Both armies advanced. Both armies took possession of a hill. Cadellin decided to stay put and rearrange his forces to meet the potential aerial attacks coming from each flank. The Martians decided to press forward. This would leave their blades fighting enemy mounted uphill, but this wasn't considered too great a disadvantage. The battle had to be won quickly before Cadellin simply fired up enough magic to take out John Carter. 

The Martians charged. 

And Helium's navy closed on the enemy flanks. Their flyer was the first to initiate combat ... 

... destroying some Lios Alfar riders. 

On the other flank Lios Alfar shooters defended against Helium's airboats, but were driven back. 

The main Martian line attacked, and mostly drove their foes back. 

Some knights won their fight, pursued and then were overlapped and destroyed. 

Cadellin dispatched Albanac the hero to cover the army's right against the flyers. The flyers backed off, leaving Albanac struggling against some Martian blades. Meanwhile the ancient magician made a couple of attempts to ensorcell John Carter, but failed. 

Cadellin's Dwarven allies were cut down as the Martians pressed their attack. 

John Carter saw an opportunity and went for it. Cadellin was exposed. Red Martian warriors surged forward in an attack, supported on theflank by Helium's navy. It was too much for the wizard, who was defeated, breaking his army. 

The final positions.

Helium won 10g-0. They'd pursued a vigorous aggressive strategy, whilst The Forces of Light struggled to gain an opening they could exploit. The first combat against the flyer was critical; had the Lios Alfar won it they would have controlled that flank and been in a position to roll up the Martian line.  However aerials on both flanks left the Forces of Light struggling to move troops to deal with them whilst also dealing with a frontal assault. The blades did well against the mounted, winning their first few combats against the odds and from then on being able to counter the enemy's uphill advantage with overlaps. Cadellin managed two magical attacks against John Carter, but both failed. Either one would have been a battle-winner had they succeeded. 

So Helium are the HOTT Literature Champions!

The final table:

The HOTT Literature Championship - Second Semi-Final

My recent games of HOTT have reminded me that I have an unresolved campaign ongoing. This is my HOTT Literature World Cup, in which eight armies representing four books or sets of books are battling it out.

The first semi-final saw the Narnian series eliminated, with the White Witch losing to the Forces of Light. The other day I played the second semi-final - Cluny's Rat Horde (from Redwall) against Helium (from the Barsoom novels).

Helium defended, and put its aerial navy on the left flank. 

Cluny's archers prepared to engage the enemy aerial elements. 

Both armies advance. 

Helium's navy struck the end of Cluny's line and destroyed an element of archers. 

On Cluny's other flank a pair of sneakers attempted to slip past the Heliumitic warriors and reach the enemy stronghold. John Carter eyed them warily. 

On the other flank Cluny The Scourge was giving the enemy airboats and flier some special attention. He brought down the enemy fliers. 

A view of the battle so far. At the top of the picture you can see one sneaker has been engaged by some blades and the other is trying to get past John Carter. Both generals are far out on heir army's right flank. 

One sneaker fled. The other, amazingly, fought John Carter to a draw. 

Cluny was no attacking the enemy airships, and had driven one back towards its own main battle line. 

The sneaker facing John Carter slipped past him, heading for the stronghold (I used my additional rules that allow a sneakers to break off by moving through an element it's in contact with). 

John Carter chased after them and engaged them again. 

Meanwhile Cluny and the airboats were in an impasse. 

The sneaker lost a combat against John Carter. But this was a bonus, as it fled away from the Warlord and towards Helium's stronghold. 

It attacked, but got a draw. 

Meanwhile Helium's swordsmen and Cluny's hordes were locked in combat. Some hordes were destroyed. 

The sneakers lost their second combat against the stronghold even before John Carter could come up in support. This meant that they fled off the table. Still, it was a bold and potentially battle-winning move. 

Cluny destroyed an enemy airboat. 

The other airboat fell back, and Cluny's hordes were falling back as well. 

Cluny now faced some enemy blades, but drove them back. Cluny and teh sneakers were pretty much doing the work in this battle. At the top right you can see John Carter working his way back to the battle. 

The other sneaker slipped past John Carter. 

Helium pressed its attack, flanking Cluny's rats. 

This time instead of attacking teh sneaker in the rear and propelling it towards the stronghold if it fled, John Carter moved back through the elements and engaged it from the front - totally allowed as any element can move through a sneaker. The sneaker was quickly cut down. 

A confused melee in the centre saw Cluny unable to set up any useful kills. 

More hordes fell. 

John Carter rejoined teh fight and inspired his army. Cluny found himself exposed and overlapped. 

And slain. 

Losses. Helium won 11g-5. But it was a closer battle than the score shows. The rats nearly took Helium's stronghold, and Cluny was unluck in the early game not to destroy the other airboat which would have left Helium a lot more exposed. 

So with that win Helium goes into the final to face The Forces of Light. 

(I may even do the playoff for third place between The White Witch of Narnia and Cluny's Horde).