A year of Hordes - Further notes

Since I posted our results table, I have come across a few more diary entries:

20 November 2017

Honest Orcs

Dwarves

Dwarves win

So far the Dwarves remain unbeaten, but the Honest Orcs acquitted themselves well and the latest game was a darn close run thing!

15th January 2018

Ratmen

Savage Orcs

Savage Orcs win

Once again the Savage Orc Hordes outperformed all expectation, their Ballista unleashed Hell and their Trolls stomped across the battlefield causing mayhem.
The plucky Rats got mangled due to a series of lousy dice rolls. At least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

19th February 2018

Eastern Empire

Savage Orcs

Two games, one win each

We played two games of Hordes of the Things last night at Stronghold. Kev's Savage Orcs won the first battle when my Empire general rashly tried to tackle the trolls on his own. As that game finished rather quicker than expected we had a rematch.
The Empire re-organised and put their strong cavalry front and centre with the infantry (bows supported by spears) on either flank.
The Empire infantry managed to hold off the Orc's Trolls and Bats while the Empire cavalry rolled over the Orc Shooters in their centre.

23rd July 2018

Honest Orcs ?

Savage Orcs

Savage Orcs Win

Richard joined us, he borrowed Kev's Savage Orcs and trounced me and my army.

17th September

Steppe 'N Wolf goblins

Medieval

Draw ?

Kev's first outing with his new Medieval army. Hero General, Cleric, Artillery, Knights and Blades. They look superb.

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 - Ratmen vs Dwarves, Round 2

Our latest Monday evening game of Hordes at The Stronghold Gaming Club was a rematch for my Ratmen Vs Kev's Dwarves. It was a darn close run thing as the Ratmen almost took down the Dwarves. At one point both armies were down to 14AP (12 AP and you lose).

Dwarves:
Hero General 4AP x1
Trolls - Behemoth 4AP x1
Ogres - Behemoth 4AP x1
Dwarven X Bows - Shooters 2AP x1
Dwarven Warriors - Blades 2AP x5

The Dwarves got to defend so had a Stronghold.

Ratmen:
Joolius Cheezer - Magician General 4AP x1
Spears 2AP x2
Shooters 2AP x2
Warbands 2AP x6

We dice for randomised terrain. This time we got a couple of patches of woodland and a couple of Hills.

Both armies advance towards each other in good order. Bad going on both flanks narrow the battlefield.

The Dwarves allied Ogres are lured into an ambush by plucky Ratmen snipers and cut to pieces in the woods!

Confusion abounds as the battle lines break up and it's every Rat or Dwarf for them self!

Both armies are disordered and down to half strength.
The Dwarves hero General stepped into the fray and saved the day for his army, organising a critical counter attack that broke the remaining Ratman army.
The Ratman general, Joolius Cheezer was mostly ineffective. His recent spell as an amphibian must have sapped his confidence!

The dead units pile up on both sides.

The Dwarves remain undefeated but this was a pyrrhic victory.

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...