On an eventful November weekend a muster of fantasy armies took place and battle was done along the length and breadth of a mythical land. Four nations fought for dominance. Alliances were made and broken, battles won and lost, strongholds taken and overrun.

Once again, James McKenna and Tim Snoddy rolled out their Hordes of the Things rules, terrain and lubbly-jubbly miniatures. Here’s what happened.

Set Up

Packing the pre-requisite coke and crisps, your intrepid reporter arrived at the QUB Staff Common room on a late November Saturday for the Hordes of the Things – Big Game Five.

James McKenna and Tim Snoddy were the umpires and the event was organised under the RINIWA and Dragonslayers Banner.  Once again it was obvious that Tim and James had put a lot of effort into the event and while turn out was poor by previous standards (I counted about a dozen people at any one time) the set up looked the part.

A large campaign cartographer coloured map provided the strategic overview for the game, with the players controlling nations of Orcs, Lizardmen, Dwarves and Humans for mastery of a fantasy kingdom.

Towns and notable hex areas denoted key victory point locations; with each nation accorded particular victory points each turn for holding specific hex areas.

Messers Williams and Tate joined with yours truly to control the armies of the Human nation. Having received our tactical overview and appointing Steve as the commander-in-chief, we set about assigning Teuton-Gothic names to our command figures. We also set about opening treacherous communications with the other nations in the game.

Like the previous HoTT Big Games, one nation (the Humans) start the game controlling most of the territory and the best forces, while the other nations are assigned victory points for “liberating” territory. Thus it made good sense for us to divide our many enemies. This worked well, perhaps too well, as we quickly amassed a rake of victory points over the first few turns.

John “Posty” Dowdall of course was having none of it. Recognising our tactics from previous games, he began to “out sneaky” us.  Unfortunately perhaps for the neutral spectator, his voice was a lone one and the other players concentrated more on winning single victories on the battlefield rather than paying attention to strategic targets. The two-day game ended on day one – the Humans having taken an unassailable victory point lead.

Mechanics

The game used the Hordes of the Things rules set for deciding combat. James and Tim have also refined the strategic elements of their game. Movement was a well thought out hex based procedure, while armies represented by flags marched over the campaign map. Scouting was also innovatively represented by appointed players looking at long distance through screen divides at a nominated army. A bit of a strain for those of us less well sighted!

How it Played Out

I got the impression that the two GMs got a bit frustrated when the Human side began to notch up the points. The GMs pointed this out to the other players during the lunch break – much to the surprise of the Human players who had their alliances suddenly collapse after their leisurely lunch.

As usual the two GMs had the patience of Cthulhu. My own knowledge of the rules is limited to say the least, but I at least had experience of previous games. Both James and Tim took time to explain rules and manoeuvres in a most excellent and much appreciated manner. Their umpiring should be held up for others to take note of and it’s one of the elements that make the DBM Forum such fun.

A view was raised that the game was very static for the one defending nation. Their job was to hold as much as possible for as long as possible – without any real need to launch great attacking campaigns across the board. I love being the defender in these games, but I did have to fight the urge to let an army sally forth across the strategic map from time to time.

Turn out was down on previous games, and I think that one or two other nations may have been available if there had been more players. Organisation was very much left to the two GMs, who provided their time, knowledge, figures, terrain and handouts. Perhaps they were entitled to some wider support from the gaming community. Certainly, the GW hobbyists who were present expressed particular interest in the game.

All in all another successful event from the duo who brought you HoTT Big Games, I, II, III and IV. Moreover the GMs have listened to feedback and learned lessons from previous games -making this their best thought out game to date.

What About Day Two?

I thought you’d ask that. Well the GMs welcomed the generals back to the second day, along with some people who couldn’t make day one. Armies were handed out and players divided along the length of the tables. A chaotic clashing of lines then ensued. I didn’t get much of a picture away from my own theatre of war. After the previous day’s machinations, Posty and I found ourselves on the same team – and what a team we made, at least if battle cry decibel level was anything to go by! Across the table from me with a well-deployed Elven army, Tall Paul proceeded to out manoeuvre and out think my human battle group. Only the Tall One’s failure to roll above a 2 for the entire game saved my army from annihilation. The redoubtable David Houston also showed up for the second day and joined our side of the table, so of course victory was in the bag, with Don Mafioso Houston taking the best individual player prize.

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