A year of Hordes at The Stronghold

Kev and I started playing Hordes of the Things together at The Stronghold Games Club in November last year. We have managed to get a couple of games in each month since then. Best as I can recall results so far are as follows:

Date	Chris	Kevin	Comment
6 November 2017	Lizardmen	Dwarves	Dwarves win
4th December 2017	Ratmen	Steppe Goblins	Goblins win, just
11th December 2017	Eastern Empire	Savage Orcs	Orcs win
29th January 2018	Dwarves	Savage Orcs	Dwarves win
5th February 2018	Black Orcs	Savage Orcs	Not recorded
19th February 2018	Eastern Empire	Savage Orcs	Two games, one win each
12th March 2018	Ratmen	Savage Orcs	Ratmen win
14th May 2018	Ratmen	Dwarves	Close win for the Dwarves
9th April 2018	Army of the Basilisk	Dwarves	Dwarves win
23rd April 2018	Ratmen	Dwarves	Dwarves win, JC got frogged!
30th April 2018	New Reformed Dwarves	Savage Orcs	Draw due to time out.
4th June 2018	Ratmen	Savage Orcs	Ratmen win
11th June 2018	Honest Orcs	Savage Orcs	Savage Orcs win
18th June 2018	Steppe Goblins	Savage Orcs	Steppe Goblins win
9th July 2018	Eastern Empire	Savage Orcs	Draw
3rd September 2018	Eastern Empire	Savage Orcs	Savage Orcs win
10th September 2018	Steppe Goblins	Savage Orcs	Two games, Orcs win both. Richard won with the Orcs in the second match.
15th October 2018	Eastern Empire	Medieval	Empire win
22nd October 2018	Lizardmen	Savage Orcs	Lizardmen win

Results overall are fairly even, some of the battles were pretty close. I have not kept track of who was defending or attacking, but this does not usually make much difference to our tactics!
We had one game where Richard played Kev's army and won a good victory with a surprising flank move.

Hordes of the Things: Rats vs Goblins

We played another game of Hordes of the Things last night at the Stronghold. Kev went with the Steppe Goblins, I tried out the Ratmen. It's an odd matchup as the Goblins are mostly Mounted and the Ratmen are all Foot;

Steppe Goblins:

Wolf Chariot (Knight) General, 2x Chariot/Knights, 6x Wolf Riders, 2x Spears, 1 Warband.

Ratmen:

Magician General, 6x Warband, 2x Spear, 2x Shooters. The Ratmen were defending so get a Stronghold.

We left the terrain fairly open with a couple of easy hills on the centre line.

Ratmen deployed first with their Wizard general in the centre flanked by two spears, then two blocks of 3 Warband and one Shooter. The Goblins put their Chariots in the centre along with their foot and two blocks of 3 Riders on each flank.

First couple of turns saw both armies advancing towards each other. The Goblin's wolf-riders easily beat the Rats to the Hills and started to menace their flanks. The Ratty warbands and shooters advanced on each flank to try and dislodge the enemy Riders. The goblins uphill advantage resulted in an early kill of one Rat Warband but mostly the Riders were pushed back. This activity continued for the rest of the game as Rats and Goblins played King of the castle taking turns to push each other off the hill with occasional losses to either side.

In the centre the Goblin general and his companion chariots advanced into range of the Rat wizard Joolius Cheezer. A fortunate PIP roll gave the wizard enough points to risk casting at the nearest chariot, resulting in the chariot recoiling and a lingering aroma of singed wolf-hair.

The right flank Rat warband realised they were threatened by the remaining Chariots (Knights destroy Warbands) so they got their charge in first and overturned the goblin general's chariot! If the Goblin's had lost more troops than the Rats this would have been an instant defeat. Fortunately for the Goblins they had killed more than they had lost and were still ahead on points, so the battle continued.

Loss of their general meant the Goblins now needed two Pips for each tactical move.
By this stage of the battle most troops on both sides were engaged. It came down to a war of attrition as units on both sides were lost. Warbands are impetuous so they always follow up on a victory. They just kept on chasing after their more mobile opponents.
The Ratmen reached their break point first, giving a hard fought posthumous victory to the Steppe Goblin general.

It was good fun. I have had both armies for years, but it was the first time I have played the Ratmen. They worked pretty well and I suspect could do much better against an infantry army. Their general 'Joolius Cheeser' did well and the Warbands exceeded all expectations, crazy little buggers YOLO'ing across the tabletop! These could be the army to finally take down the Dwarves.
The Goblins won the game despite their General and his Chariots. These are tin Soldier figures and some of my first 15mm Fantasy units. The Chariots look wonderful, but have failed badly in every game I can recall playing them.

Next week Kev is bringing his new armies...

Armies from the Attic part 2 - Hordes of the Things

For a quick and easy fantasy wargame, Hordes of the Things is hard to beat. It's remarkably versatile and has been used for scores of different armies and settings. In the basic game each army adds up to 24 AP (Army Points). If you combine it with DBA you get even more unit types such as Light Cavalry, Pikes and Skirmishers.

Here are some of my instant armies made up from my 15mm figures.

Horde Orcs

A mix of figures from various makers including Tabletop Games, Jacobite, Tin Soldier and Warrior.

Warband General x1 @2 = 2AP;
Black Orc Hordes x4 @1 = 4AP;
Black Orc Bows x2 @2 = 4AP;
Hobgoblin Hordes x4 @1 = 4AP;
Rocktroll Behemoth x1 @4 = 4AP;
Wolf  Rider Cavalry x3 @2 = 6AP.

Hobgoblin Hordes, these are Citadel 25mm Snotlings re-based for 15mm.

Black Orcs

Warband General x1 @2 = 2AP;
Black Orc Spears x4 @2 = 8AP;
Black Orc Bows x2 @2 = 4AP;
Rocktroll Behemoth x1 @4 = 4AP;
Wolf  Rider Cavalry x3 @2 = 6AP.

The Rocktroll. This is a resin model that came as part of a set of elementals.

Steppe Goblins

Chariot General (Knight) x1 @2 = 2AP;
Wolf Chariots (Knights) x2 @2 = 4AP;
Wolf Riders Cavalry x6 @2 = 12AP;
Great Goblin Spears x2 @2 = 4AP;
Great Goblin warband x1 @2 = 2AP;

Goblin Wolf Chariots from Tin Soldier.

Wolf Riders. Mixed and matched from various sources.

Ratmen

I bought this little army ready painted and based. I think that they are Pendrakken 10mm figures.

They work mix nicely as 15mm.

Joolius Cheezer Hero (or Magician) General x1 @4 = 4AP;

Ratona Stick (Spears) x2 @2 = 4AP;

Ratus Ratus Warriors (Warband) x6 @2 = 12AP;

Mad Bombers (Shooters) x2 @2 = 4AP; or

Mad Bombers (Artillery) x1 @3 = 3AP; +

Rats Ass-Assassins (Lurkers) x1 @1 = 1AP.

Joolius Cheezer, Ratman Hero (or Magician) with his backing band, spears and mad bombers.

Orthodox Dwarves

This is a traditional Dwarven army of massed hand weapons, hammers, axes. I think that thee are Peter Pig figures, They were bought ready painted and based.

The Low King Hero General x1 @4 = 4AP;
Dwarf Warriors (Blades) x8 @2 = 16AP;
Crossbows (Shooters) x2 @2 = 4AP;

The Low King and bearded loons in chain mail undies.

New Reformed Dwarves

Much the same figures as above but a very different army.

Iron Master (Blades General) x1 @2 = 2AP;
Dwarf Warriors (Blades) x4 @2 = 8AP;
Dwarf Spears x2 @2 = 4AP;
Dwarf Crossbows (Shooters) x2 @2 = 4AP;
Engineer (Cleric) x1 @3 = 3AP;
War Engine (Artillery) x1 @3 = 3AP;

Eastern Empire

These are my Fantasy Byzantines, A heavy Cavalry biased army.

Knight General x1 @2 = 2AP;
Iron Dragons Cataphracts (Knights) x2 @2 = 4AP;
Red Griffons Heavy Cavalry (Riders) x3 @2 = 6AP;
Petcheneg Light Cavalry (Riders) x2 @2 = 4AP;
Empire Levy (Shooters) x4 @2 = 8AP;