Conquistadores vs Jungle Cannibals / HotT Battle Report

This is a picture of my friend Krüger. It was taken on the 22nd of May when we played Hordes of the Things. He looks a bit like a doctor from a nineties hospital series.

We played conquistadores vs jungle cannibals with these lists:

Blade General, 5 Blades, 6 Shooters

(conquistadores)

Warband General, Magician, 6 Warbands, 3 Shooters

(jungle cannibals)

The game was over after a couple of minutes because Krüger lost his general immediately.

Since Covid-19 started in Germany, I have only played three tabletop games with Krüger and a couple of games with my kids. That’s it.

I had a relaxed summer in Berlin after a long lockdown and now Corona cases are rising again in Europe, in many countries rapidly.

I wonder if safe gaming will be possible in late summer / autumn.

I hope that I will look at this picture some day and that it will look strange, maybe even funny, reminding me of a time long gone …

Playing Hordes of the Things in times of the Corona Virus

The last time I played HotT was four years ago, the last time I played a tabletop game eight months ago.

So I invited my friend Krüger over to play Hordes of the Things.

This happened between the second and third wave of Covid 19 in Germany. Krüger and I were wearing masks of course and windows and doors were open. As far as I know this reduces the risk of catching Corona to less than 1%.

I enjoyed re-reading the rules before we played, although it felt a bit like reading a math book.

I played Spanish conquistadors with this list:

Blade General, 5 Blades, 6 Shooters

Krüger played jungle cannibals. He has been painting this army for some years now and it was the first time I saw it in action:

Warband General, Magician, 6 Warbands, 3 Shooters

Krüger was the defender.

We had to improvise a bit with the terrain. First of all we played on a table which used to be my mother’s kitchen table. Its area is 17% smaller than that of a regular HotT table and it’s oval, not square. 

We borrowed a paper mache hut from my youngest son to present Krüger’s stronghold. And we used a cloth with grass printed on it and pieces of yellow felt and toy trees to depict woods.

I was a bit nervous because of Corona and I forgot that it isn’t useful placing one blade element behind the other when deploying my army.

Krüger, on the other hand, forgot that Warbands don’t get a +1 rear support bonus in woods for a second Warband behind them.

So we both didn’t deploy well.

I managed to destroy two warbands on my right flank at the beginning of the game and then played quite badly.

I lost two blades and four shooters, thus loosing the game.

It felt really good to play HotT after so many years. It was a good break from the isolation I’m currently in.

After the game we had a chat on the balcony. Krüger said something which sums up some of the stress I’m currently under. He said that everybody is imprisoned in his own particular situation during the Corona pandemic.

A single person is always alone. A couple without kids can only see each other. A couple with kids is always surrounded by kids and children can hardly escape their parents these days.

We made plans to play HotT again, but unfortunately the week after our game Covid 19 cases rose rapidly where we live.

Orcs versus Green + Yellow Creatures / HotT Battle Report

Here is another short battle report from our campaign, you know, the Waltrop campaign.

After a horrible defeat against the Greeks, GURKBATZ let his orc warband into a piece of jungle (hexagon 47 on the campaign map) and encountered a group of strange green and yellow creatures.

We simulated the battle, using the excellent ruleset Hordes of the Things.

I played the creatures with this army list:

Warband General (yellow), 11 Warbands (green)

The army is made up of 24 copies of a miniature I had sculpted for the 2006 FU-UK sculpting contest. I had wanted to play this army for a long time.

Krüger says monotonous armies are no fun.

He played GURKBATZ and the Waltropical orcs (sounds like some kind of high school rock band) with this list:

Warband General, 7 Warbands, Hero, 2 Riders, 2 Beasts

I was the defender and placed three pieces of woods, a swamp and three rocks on the board.

I deployed most of my warbands in a battle line in front of a very large forest.

I didn’t know what to do with four remaining warbands, so they ended up on my left flank.

Krüger deployed his hero and his riders opposite to these and his beasts on the other flank.

He placed all of his warbands, including general GURKBATZ, in front of the large forest in the center, but forgot that warbands don’t get +1 rear support in bad going. Thus his warbands were deployed too clustered.

The large forest in the center put the focus of the game on the fight between his and my warbands. The forces on the sides weren’t activated much.

The mistake he had made in deploying his troops and bad luck let to Krüger’s defeat. He lost four warbands and his general.

"That was fun", I said.

"Not for me", Krüger said. "I lost."

"Yes. But you had a good chance of winning. You had a hero, beasts, riders … I only played warbands."

"I’m not very lucky playing Hordes of the Things", Krüger said.

"Sorry about that", I said.

Tupi + Giant Insects vs Orcs / HotT Battle Report

After a three-month summer break, in which I spent most of the time cleaning up my parents' house and taking my children to swimming lessons, Krüger and I had a game of Hordes of the Things on Friday (The Waltrop Campaign / Day 11).

He played the orcs who live on the northeastern coast of Waltrop.

Warband General, 5 Warbands, 1 Hero, 3 Riders, 1 Shooter

Krüger was the defender and placed a hill in the centre of the table and two tropical forests right next to it on each side. This is something he had wanted to do for a long time and it looked kind of silly.

He deployed his hero and an element of riders on his right flank, two elements of riders on his left flank, all of his orc warbands and a shooter in front of the hill.

I played the inhabitants of the jungle.

Behemoth General (a very big insect), 5 Shooters (Tupi Indians), 4 Beasts (Fiendish Giant Praying Mantis), 2 Water Lurkers

As seen from my side of the table, my army was deployed like this:

Beasts / Beasts / Shooters / Shooters / Behemoth (General) / Shooters / Shooters / Shooters / Beasts / Beasts

So this is what happened:

Krüger’s hero destroyed one of my beasts.

My behemoth general made it to the top of the hill and destroyed two orc warbands.

Two Orc riders destroyed one of my beasts.

My behemoth was pushed back into the forest and destroyed another element of beasts in its path.

(We had some doubt if the rules actually work this way.)

My last surviving beast destroyed Krüger’s shooters.

Three Tupi shooters combined their forces and shot down two orc warbands.

Krüger’s warband general chased my general through the woods and finally destroyed it with the help of some side and rear support.

Krüger’s hero destroyed one of my shooters.

The orcs won and now occupy hexagon 11 on our campaign map.

Six-year-old Hendrik watched us prepare the game and drew his version of the campaign map. He thinks it looks much better than our map. I think he might be right.

The Waltrop Campaign / Day 10 / HotT Battle Report

Day 10 of our Waltrop campaign was fun. Normally our HotT games are decided quickly, but this time the armies were broken up and there was lots of interesting movement on the battlefield.

The Greeks under the command of Fibos invaded hexagon 39 on the campaign map. Krüger played the orcs with this list:

Warband General, 5 Warbands, 1 Hero, 2 Beasts, 2 Shooters

He was the defender and placed the terrain. Since the battle took place in the jungle where the orcs live, he filled the tabletop with tropical forests. I think he used all the area terrain and model palm trees we have.

I played the Greeks:

Spears General (officer Fibos), 5 Spears, 2 Riders, 4 Shooters

Krüger deployed one part of his army, the hero and the beasts, on his right flank and all his other troops on his left flank, in front of a very large forest.

I deployed all of my army on my left flank. I placed my block of spears opposite to Krüger’s hero and his beasts and I placed 3 shooters opposite to Krüger’s block of warbands.

Krüger moved his warbands into the large forest. It took him several rounds to get near my shooters. Also, he had an element of shooters all the way on his left side. This element wasn’t able to do much during our game.

Early in the game my spears destroyed both of Krüger’s beasts and one of his shooters.

I went with my general for Krüger’s hero, which was kind of risky, and with my riders for his base camp. Krüger avoided fighting my general, though, and my riders weren’t able to destroy the camp.

My daughter had been watching the game and started to play „I put … into my suitcase“ with Krüger. A toothbrush, a doll, a car key, a barbie DVD, a Greek figure, Greek dice, a robot with mustard, a camera.

When the orc warbands got into close combat with my slingers, they destroyed two of them. I had my revenge, killing two warbands with an element of shooters, with the help of two elements of spears as side support. Krüger’s orc warbands killed a third element of shooters, but then my last remaining element of shooters destroyed another one of Krüger’s warbands, with the help of some spears giving side support.

Having destroyed two elements of beasts, one element of shooters and three warbands, I won the game after two hours. Well done, officer Fibos. Now the Greeks occupy hexagon 39.

By the way, I keep getting asked if we use 28 mm, 15 mm or 6 mm miniatures. I assure you these are 28 mm miniatures. The terrain we are using isn’t your usual wargaming terrain though, I guess. It’s more abstract. Let’s call it old school, if you need to put it in some category. Maybe it looks odd to you. The reason why it looks the way it does is that I like glueing coloured paper on objects. I seriously don’t know why. Might be some mental disorder. But as you can see, it’s pretty harmless.

The Waltrop Campaign / Day 9 / HotT Battle Report

On day 9 of our Hordes of the Things campaign, Krüger moved his orcs into hexagon 88 on the campaign map. He wanted to get closer to the mountains to recruit trolls, ogres and giant spiders, I guess.

Our campaign takes place on an imaginary island called Waltrop. We have a neighbour who is from a town called Waltrop. So I invited Jörg, the neighbour who inspired us to do this campaign, to play out the encounter taking place on hexagon 88.

It was Jörg's second game of HotT. He was the defender and played a troll, a giant, some goblins and large insectoids with this list:

Hero (General), Behemoth, 6 Spears, 2 Beasts

Krüger played the orcs:

Warband (General), 5 Warbands, 1 Hero, 2 Riders, 2 Shooters

Jörg placed two tropical forests, a tiny piece of rough terrain and a lake on the gaming table.

Although we advised him not to do so, Jörg split his army into three parts. On his right flank he deployed the spears, in the centre the hero general and the behemoth and on his left flank the beasts.

Krüger deployed his orc warbands opposite to Jörg's goblin spears and all of his other troops on his ride side. Movement between the warbands and the spears was partially blocked by the lake which we defined to be impassible.

Early on in the game Jörg's hero general, a troll, destroyed Krüger's hero, an orc, by making him recoil into other friendly troops. Then Krüger's orc boar riders destroyed Jörg's beasts. Jörg moved his behemoth, an ugly giant, to his right flank to support the goblin spears. Krüger wasn't sure if he should attack the spears or not. Meanwhile Jörg killed an element of shooters and an element of riders with his hero general on his left flank.

When Krüger finally attacked the spears with his warbands, he wasn't that lucky. His general, with a rear rank element giving +1 support, was forced to recoil into the lake. Actually only the rear rank element ended up in the lake and we weren't sure how the rules work in this case. We decided to remove both elements and not just the rear rank element. This ended the game.

Jörg won and Krüger wasn't able to occupy hexagon 88. We went to my favourite Greek tavern, ordered some Imyglkos and discussed why Krüger is such a good badminton player which is kind of unlikely if you consider that he sits in front of the computer and smokes two packets of cigarettes a day.

The Waltrop Campaign / Day 8 / HotT Battle Report

On day 8 of the Waltrop Campaign young officer Fibos asked general Heracleides: "Please allow me to lead a small army into the Orc territory." (He is talking about hexagon 30 on the campaign map.) Heracleides accepted.

Krüger and I played out the battle between Fibos army and the Orcs with the excellent ruleset Hordes of the Things, using these army lists:

Spears General (officer Fibos), 5 Spears, 2 Riders, 4 Shooters

and

Warband General (Krüger can’t be bothered to make up a name for his general), 5 Warbands, 1 Hero, 2 Riders, 2 Shooters

I played the Greeks. I was the defender and had to place the terrain. I have just finished a paper mache hill which took me a long time to make, a couple of years actually. If this interests you, you can read more about it here. I placed the paper mache hill in the center of the board. I also placed three pieces of tropical forest on the tabletop, a large one and two small ones.

Both armies started with some elements in the woods and ran for the hill. When the battlelines met, some elements were left behind, two shooters on my side and two shooters on Krüger’s side.

It was my turn when the dice for close combat were rolled for the first time.

I started with a fight on my right side where I had an overlap. My slingers, supported by another element of shooters, destroyed one of Krüger’s Orc riders. Then my luck left me. Two of my spears were fighting two Orc warbands and lost the fight, although they were supported by an element of shooters on their right side. Then my general and another element of spears were destroyed by the Orc general. Thus I lost the battle. The Greeks weren’t able to occupy hexagon 30 on the campaign map.

"What was the problem, Fibos?"

"I had never fought on a hill before, Heracleides. I thought, we had to be on the hill before the barbarians could reach it. When our phalanx reached the slope of the hill, with some troops still left behind in the woods, I realized my mistake, but we couldn’t go back. We destroyed their cavalry but then they crushed us. They are horrible creatures, green and bulky."

"You have to be more patient. Wait for the enemy, until he is where you want him."

"Yes, Heracleides."

"If you make another mistake like this, I will send you back to the academy in Athens and have you study philosophy and mathematics."

"Yes, Heracleides."

The Waltrop Campaign / Day 7 / HotT Battle Report

Here’s a Hordes of the Things battle report from the 7th day of our Waltrop campaign. It was Krüger’s turn. He played the orcs who have their villages in hexagon 20 and 38 on the campaign map. They invaded hexagons 29, 30 and 39 without further resistance. In hexagon 21 they encountered a small Greek army under the command of officer Fibos. Fibos had just lost a battle against an orc tribe and a dinosaur, so he was ready to fight for his honour and life this time.

I played the Greeks:

Spears (General), 5 Spears, 2 Riders, 4 Shooters

This is Krüger’s Orc army:

Warband (General), 5 Warbands, 1 Hero, 2 Riders, 2 Shooters

I was the defender and placed the terrain, 3 tropical forests and a swamp.

I deployed my army on my left side, placing a phalanx of spears in the centre, flanked by two shooters on each side. On my right flank I put two riders, my Thracian allies.

Krüger deployed his troops opposite to mine. He fielded six warbands against six spears. Krüger likes symmetry, I guess.

While the two battle lines moved towards each other, the Thracian riders went around the swamp, which I had placed in the centre of the board, to attack an element of orc wolf riders and two orc shooters on Krüger’s left flank.

When Krüger’s hero came into range of my shooters, I was very lucky. I rolled a 6 and he rolled a 1 and lost the hero. This demoralised Krüger so much that he was about to give up already. He said: “Hordes of the Things is really all about luck.“

Next, I attacked one of Krüger’s orc riders with the two shooters on my left side. I won that fight too. The element of riders was removed.

Then two of my Greek spears, with support on both sides, destroyed two orc warbands.

On my right flank I wasn’t that lucky. One of my Thracian riders got into a life or death situation with one of Krüger’s orc riders and I lost the fight.

Finally, my general, who had support on both sides, destroyed the orc general. I won the game. The orcs weren’t able to occupy another hexagon.

Now every player owns about 7 hexagons on the campaign map. We will change the rules a bit. From now on, every move on the campaign map will trigger a battle, either with another player’s army or with a random encounter, green creatures, wild orcs, dinosaurs or something else.

The Waltrop Campaign / Day 6 / HotT Battle Report

On the 6th day of the Waltrop campaign, the Greeks under the command of Fibos explored the jungle next to the beach where they have their camp. (Hexagon 21 on the campaign map.) There, they encountered a group of ferocious orcs and a silly looking dinosaur. Fibos, a young unexperienced officer, was not prepared for the battle that ensued. We used Hordes of the Things as a ruleset to simulate the battle.

I invited our neighbour Simon to play the orcs. He likes strategy games but had never played HotT before. I hope I explained the rules well. I always have a difficult time explaining the combat outcomes. Don’t know why. 

We used the following army lists:

THE GREEKS

Spears (General), 5 Spears, 4 Shooters, 2 Riders

THE ORCS

Warband (General), 5 Warbands, 1 Behemoth, 4 Riders

I was the defender and placed 4 tropical forests as the terrain.

I deployed my whole army on my right side of the board. I placed a phalanx of 6 spears in the centre, flanked by 2 shooters on each side. On my left side, a little apart from the rest of the army, I placed 2 riders.

Instead of deploying the orcs opposite to my army, Simon placed them on his right side.

In the first phase of the game I attacked with 2 riders and 2 shooters on my left flank. Simon lost 2 riders, one was shot down, the other was destroyed standing in the way of a recoiling dino (behemoth). I lost 2 riders and a shooter.

In the second phase of the game, I attacked with my phalanx. The spears were able to destroy an orc warband and an element of goblin wolf riders. Then Simon’s behemoth, in a forest, but supported by an element of riders and a warband, destroyed one of my shooters and 2 of my spears.

All in all I lost 2 spears, 2 riders and 2 shooters, while Simon only lost a warband and 3 riders. The orcs won. Officer Fibos wasn’t able to occupy hexagon 21, but at least he didn’t get himself killed in the battle. Well done, Simon!

This picture was taken shortly before Simon's behemoth killed 2 of my spears, thus ending the game. It was taken with a pink Fisher Price kid tough digital camera which belongs to my daughter.

The Waltrop Campaign / Day 5 / HotT Battle Report

On the 5th day of our Waltrop campaign, the Orcs tried to occupy hexagon 39 on our campaign map. There, they encountered a group of Greeks exploring the jungle. We used the ruleset Hordes of the Things to simulate the battle that ensued.

Krüger played the Orcs:

Warband General, 5 Warbands, 1 Hero, 2 Riders, 2 Beasts

I played the Greeks:

Spears General, 5 Spears, 4 Shooters, 2 Riders

I was the defender and placed a couple of palm tree woods on the board to depict the jungle.

I deployed a block of 6 spears in the center, with 2 shooters on their left and 2 shooters on their right side. I placed 2 riders on my left flank.

Krüger deployed his 6 Orc warbands opposite to my spears. On his left flank he placed a hero and an element of riders; on his right flank, opposite to my cavalry, he placed another element of riders and 2 beasts.

I destroyed most of Krüger's cavalry early in the game. First, my two Thracian riders destroyed one of Krüger's riders (Orc boar riders) and one of his beasts (Goblin wolf riders). The element of beasts had supported the riders, recoiled into another element and was removed. Then, on my right flank two of my shooters shot down another Orc boar rider.

When our battlelines collided, instead of going for Krüger's last element of beasts, which was hiding in a wood, I moved the 2 Thracian riders behind Krüger's line.

In close combat, Krüger's warbands killed 2 of my spears, his hero killed two of my shooters, my spears killed 2 warbands and Krüger's last element of beasts killed one of my shooters.

Then I attacked Krüger's hero with 2 spears, placing one of them in his flank, and one of my riders was able to give rear support while my spear general attacked Krüger's general. Krüger lost the hero and the general, loosing the game. Thus the Orcs weren't able to occupy hexagon 39.

My mother in law, who is from Honduras, and Hendrik, my son, watched the game. We tried to explain the rules to them and what it's all about. After the game I asked her for a short battle report. Here it is.

The Waltrop Campaign / Day 4 / HotT Battle Report

On the 4th day of our Waltrop campaign, the Greeks under the command of Heracleides explored and occupied hexagons 22, 13 and 12, without further resistance. The Aquarians, lead by Spiros, took hexagons 62 and 71. In hexagon 81 they encountered a large group of green creatures and a behemoth.

Spiros said: „Hmmmm.... that's unusual. The light yellow guys are very colourful.“

I played the green creatures:

Warband General (yellow), 9 Warbands (green), 1 Behemoth

My cousin Sven played the Aquarians:

Hero General, 6 Spears, 4 Shooters

I was the defender and placed the terrain.

Since Sven had brought a box full of rocks from Munich and hexagon 81 shows a thin coastline next to the stormy sea, I filled the board with rocks and some tropical forests.

This gave me some trouble deploying my warbands in a battleline.

I placed the behemoth on my right flank. Sven placed his hero general opposite to it.

Although my behemoth didn’t have a chance to win the fight, it attacked the hero and almost chased it off the board, but alas, with the help of an element of spears, the hero finally managed to slay the beast.

Taking a picture of the battlefield from above, the remote control cable of my camera got stuck in the tripod and almost damaged it.

This made me nervous and without thinking too much I attacked an element of spears with my warband general.

Both elements had rear support but the spears were also supported by another element of spears on their left side. My combat and tactical factors added up to +4, Sven received +5. I rolled a 1, Sven rolled a 6. I lost the general and Sven won the battle, a well deserved victory for the Aquarians who occupy a large part of the coast of Waltrop now. 

The Waltrop Campaign / Day 3 / HotT Battle Report

The Greeks under the command of general Heracleides and officer Fibos left their camp to explore the beach in hexagon 23. There they encountered a small group of Goblins. Krüger and I played out the battle that ensued using the ruleset Hordes of the Things. I was the defender, Krüger the attacker. I placed four pieces of rough terrain with bushes and some stones to depict the beach.

My army consisted of these elements:

Spear General, 5 Spears, 4 Shooters, 2 Riders

Krüger played this army:

Warband General, 4 Warbands, 1 Hero, 3 Riders, 2 Beasts

I deployed my phalanx in the center, 3 shooters on the right side and 2 riders on the left side. Krüger placed his warbands and hero opposite to my phalanx, his beasts opposite to my shooters and his riders opposite to my riders.

My strategy, if you can call this a strategy, was to send my riders and a shooter forward on my left flank and wait with the rest of my army.

Thus I lost 2 riders and a shooter.

On the other flank I was able to shoot down Krüger's beasts, combining the attacks of my 3 shooters. And one of Krüger's riders was pushed back over the board edge. In the center the battle wavered back and forth - I lost 2 spears, Krüger lost a warband - until 2 of my spears killed Krüger's hero.

The Greeks won the game and were able to occupy hexagon 23.

This is how our campaign map looks like now. Next turn Krüger's orks will start moving from one of their villages in the jungle.

The Waltrop Campaign / Day 1 + 2

This is how our campaign map looks like after two days of gaming. So what happened?

The Greeks from Saganakia, also called the Aquarians, who started shipwrecked in hexagon 61, moved up the beach. They didn’t encounter monsters and were able to occupy hexagons 51, 50 and 41. In hexagon 32 they met the Greeks from the island Kalimera who have their camp there. The two commanders had a short conversation.

-Γεια σου.

-Γεια σου. Πως σε λένε;

-Με λένε Σπύρος, εσένα;

-Ηρακλείδης.

-Ωραίο όνομα!

-Ευχαριστώ, Σπύρο! Πώς είσαι; 

-Δεν ειμαι και πολύ καλά σήμερα.

-Γιατί; Τι έχεις;

-Ειμαι πολύ χάλια σήμερα.

Heracleides was able to convince Spiros, the Aquarian, to join his army and explore hexagon 31. There they encountered a group of Orks. The Greeks had never seen such horrible creatures before. The Orks probably thought the same about the Greeks.

We simulated the battle that ensued with a 36 point game of HotT. I played 22 points of Greek hoplites and Thracian riders:

Spear General (C-in-C), 8 Spears, 2 Riders

Sven played 12 points of peltasts and psiloi:  

Hero General, 3 Shooters, 2 Lurkers

Krüger played two battle groups that were 24 and 12 points strong, using these elements:

Warband General (C-in-C), 6 Warbands, 1 Hero, 3 Beasts

Hero General, 4 Riders

(I was so busy counting the other players’ elements that I forgot to count mine. I ended up with 22 points, instead of 24 points. And the same happened to me the next day.)

We placed a couple of large rocks, some rough terrain and a waterhole on the board. We decided to play without a stronghold. Krüger started to deploy his troops and put his large battlegroup on one side of the table and his small battlegroup on the other side.

Since warbands are very good against spears, Sven and I decided to field the spears against the riders and the lighter troops against the warbands. Our plan worked and we won the game. So the Greeks under the command of Heracleides were able to occupy hexagon 31 which gives them access to fresh water.

On day 2 of the campaign Spiros, who was in a better mood now, convinced Heracleides to explore hexagon 40. He wanted to look for a base camp for his army. There they discovered an Ork village. Krüger told us the locations of the other Ork villages: hexagons 20, 68, 78 and 38.

We placed tropical forests and some rocks on the battlefield. Krüger was the defender.

Krüger’s large battle group (24 points): 

Warband General (C-in-C), 7 Warbands, 1 Hero, 2 Shooters

His small battle group (12 points):

Hero General, 4 Beasts

My army (22 points):

Spear General (C-in-C), 7 Spears, 2 Riders, 1 Shooter

Sven’s army (12 points):

Hero General, 4 Shooters

The armies deployed more or less in the same way as on the first day and we used the same strategy. We fielded our spears against Krüger’s beasts and our shooters against his warbands.

There was a moment in the game when Krüger thought he would win. He got very nervous and started to chew on my DBX ruler.

We lost 2 spears, 1 rider and 2 shooters. Krüger lost a hero, 3 warbands and 4 beasts, thus loosing the battle for hexagon 40 and a village on the campaign map.

The village was occupied by the Aquarians under the command of Spiros.