Tag: Hordes of the Things

Just before we moved out of the flat and put our wargames on hiatus for a few months, Mat dropped over for a few beers and to have one last night of drinking and rolling dice. We originally intended to play a mini Blodbowl league, but it didn't take much to get the hordes of the things set out. Game 1 – Richard playing the forces of Light, Mat the forces of Darkness. Mat got to be defender, and laid the terrain. Rich chose a ranged force comprising of mostly Bow, Magician and Artillery. Mat foreseeing this choice had taken a very fast moving 'aggressive defence' force comprising of Knight, Rider, Warband and a Dragon. Rich deployed with the cannon batteries in the centre, with a strong left flank. A Weak right was propped up by the army commander magician. Fortunately the 'weak right' wasn't to be harassed, as Mat deployed a strong cavalry force in the centre, designed to capture the key bridge early, and a very strong right hook. After a few turns Mats cavalry supported by the dragon crushed Rich's centre, and encircled his army commander. Rich's strong gains on his left were not enough and offset this loss, and the Day was won by the forces of darkness.

After the first game we were debating the usefulness of 'Horde' elements. They were undoubtedly crap in combat, but their ability to repopulate was handy. Rich mentioned that he had been harbouring an idea for an all-horde army, and put forward the theory that in defence, around their stronghold, they could repopulate and hold off an attacker indefinitely. Mat declared he would meet that challenge, and as normal, Alex declared the whole exercise futile, and the game hopelessly broken (Don't worry, you get used to him). Elected to be defender for this exercise in game-theory, Rich as defender did his best to make the terrain suit his aims. A river directly down the middle of the table would provide a great defensive line to hold. A few clumps of bad going either side designed to disrupt the attackers. A 36 point army which consisted of 3 Behemoth, Blade command, and 22 elements of Horde. Played against Mats choice of Spear, Bow, Artillery and magician. Mats forces stopped on the river bank to bombard the bad guys for a while, before crossing. Although initial losses were repopulated by the bad guys, Artillery and magician played havoc with the behemoth elements. Once double-ranked spear were on to dry land they cut a hole through the bad guys line and made a B-Line for the stronghold. Result: unable to repopulate their losses at a high enough rate, the Forces of Darkens gave the field to the forces of Light.