Barn HOTT22

Picked my army….based on the deep thinking process which involved -“ oooh, look, I never finished that stronghold. Maybe I should finish it now, and then maybe I should take the army that goes with it….”. Lots of analysis went into that one 😊

That could be a clash of the ages!  But with a foregone conclusion as Martin and Colin will tell you...........................

Nope….he done done it…..no sniper picked him off (yet).

That’s how I pick my armies, study the purple, study the form, think about the tactics and then take the army you have just finished painting!

Twelve players at today’s BarnHott tournament in Bristol (UK), run by Nick Pope of the Lincombe Barn Wargames Society. ‘15mm’ (ie 40mm frontage) scale Hordes of the Things, with standard 24 point armies.
We managed five games each, at the end of which the winner was Pete Duckworth by the narrowest of margins (2 generals destroyed) over Keith McGlynn (1 general destroyed).
Great fun, well run and played in a friendly atmosphere at a very accommodating host club. Thanks to all involved.

Final placings (and army used, where known):-

Pete Duckworth (Trojans)
Keith McGlynn (Smashing Pumpkins)
Martin Smith (Eastern Forest Native Americans)
Kev Casey (Semi-Historical Arthurian)
Neil Mason (— ?)
Colin O’Shea (1868 Abyssinians)
Carole Flint (Hyborean Barbarians)
Mark Skelton (Undead hordes)
Colin Evans (Semi-historical Aztecs)
Stevie Andrews (Dalek invaders)
Owen Webber (Army of Frogs)
Steve Etheridge (—?)

My five games, using Eastern Forest Indians : Hero general, Medicine Man (Magician)., 2 x Hunting dog packs (Beasts), 2 x Hunters (Shooters), 4 x Warriors (Warband)

1. vs Keith’s Smashing Pumpkins). Slow scrap over a central Indian village. Indians ensorcelled one of the enemy heroes, who then reappeared attacking the Totem Pole stronghold, but then fled. Beasts overran my shooters and the enemy Mag and Hero carved up more of my force for a 0-12 loss.

2. vs Colin E’s Aztecs, almost identical to my army. Centres stared at each other, the action all happening on my left flank. There my Mag and Hero assisted by Warbands worked together to produce a hole in the Aztec defences and allowed my Hero gen. to capture the Aztec pyramid stronghold. Win, 12+Stronghold to 4.

3. vs Stevie A’s Daleks, who invaded a very densely wooded forest area. The Dalek aerial hero general and airboats advanced in the centre, and after some limited scrapping the Dalek general was ensorcelled for a 6g-0 win.

4. Defending vs Carole’s Hyperboreans. A slow game, with the Hyborean behemoth giant fleeing a couple of times, and a Hyborean flank march stymied by Indian huntsmen archers. Managed to surround and kill the enemy blade general, but then lost the game next bound when warbands trampled some of my shooters. 8g to 12 loss.

5. Finally vs Owen’s Frog army. The plague of warband frogs just kept on coming, and despite killing a couple of shooter and beast elements and ensorcelling the enemy magician I soon lost the game as my hero general was surrounded and slaughtered by a wave of green-skinned warriors. 8 to 14g loss.

Great fun, and well worth the drive 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼.

I too would like to thank Nick and all the Bristol wargaming crew for a very enjoyable day.

Martin and others even organised a ‘bring-and-buy’ session, of mostly 28mm 1/72 scale
scenery and other stuff, from which I picked up half a dozen small medieval buildings.
(Although Martin wouldn’t accept my Russian 500 rouble bank note for them...shame. )

I’m still misunderstanding some of the HoTT rules, and I keep getting things mixed up with DBA.
But there are always other very helpful players to put me straight and correct my misconceptions.

As for the Daleks, they are plastic figures from the “Risk: Dalek Invasion of Earth” boardgame.
(See boardgamegeek.com/image/1965730/risk-dalek-invasion-earth for examples)
They needed a little bit of conversion, as the ‘plunger arm’ has no plunger.
I have a broom with plastic bristles, and these held near a candle flame melt and can be
easily flattened into a ‘plunger’ shape. Drill a hole and stick ‘em in works fine.

As for their performance...the less said the better!
Out of 5 games, in three of them there was one, yep just one, element from BOTH sides lost.
And that one-and-only lost element just happened to be my Aerial Hero General!
(Recoiled from a Goddess without sufficient room to move, and twice ensourcelled).
I’m reorganising my Dalek army from now on. And I’m afraid Airboats and Aerial Hero Generals
are going on my ever growing list of ‘HoTT elements never to use again’...along with Water Lurkers
and Sneakers.

(By the way, I think Martin had the best painted army that I played against, and Peter Duckworth
had the best 3D printed Trojan City Stronghold...)

Stevie: Repeat after me: Heroes, Blades, Shooters, Riders. Easier to memorize than the do not take list. Its the take list.

TomT