My army for this year's Hordes Of The Things tournament

I've had these painted up for a while, but didn't feel like posting them until the tournament was almost upon us (it is this coming Sunday).

I didn't want to field either of my existing HoTT armies (Warhammer Empire Averland and Hyborian Barbarians, the latter now repurposed for Sword and Spear Fantasy) so I spent some time looking for alternatives. I did thing about an Undead theme for a while, also Orcs and Goblins, but nothing grabbed me. In the end I decided to do something that might be difficult to play against, i.e. an all-Aerial army. It was only later that I realised that it would also be difficult to play with as well.

Anyway, I had a few things lying around, and a quick small purchase filled the thing out, so here it is;

It is a fleet of space ships (actually six of them are really Kra'vak drones) from Ground Zero Games, with a small asteroid as the Stronghold. The asteroid is made from a polystyrene ball covered in Basetex textured paint.

The army consists of

1 x Aerial Hero General (with the red flashes on the base and the weapons pods)

1 x Aerial Hero

6 x Flyers

Stronghold

I am pretty happy with how they have turned out. I know that they will be tough to get moving, because in HoTT, aerial units require two PIPs to activate, but it will be interesting to see how they fare.

Lincombe Barn 2018 HOTT tournament

Yesterday was the long-awaited 2018 HOTT tournament at the club. There was a total of 12 contestants, four from the club and eight players who had travelled from elsewhere to take part. 

There was a wide variety of 24pt armies on display, with a huge variation in styles and inspiration, making each game a joy to play or watch. I brought along my Hyborian Barbarians, comprised of a Rider general, four Warbands, three Blades, two Shooters and a Hero. We all played five games, so we all faced plenty of challenges to overcome, some of us more successfully than others. 

Also, there were some club players who weren't taking part in the tournament. Some were playing Clive's excellent Airspeed post-apocalyptic pod racing game, just take a look at the terrain items Clive has scratch-built. I particularly like the trailer home with a garden. Even in a blasted wasteland there is a budding Alan Titchmarsh, dreaming, no doubt of the Chelsea Flower Show.

Elsewhere there was an Arkham Horror boardgame in progress.

Now, here is a selection of pictures of the main event, the HOTT tournament. First, Dwarves vs Meerkats (none of whom seemed to wear a smoking jacket or have a dodgy Russian accent).

I particularly liked this giant jellyfish (I think it was a Flyer) in the Fishman army. (edit: actually, as has been pointed out by Martin below, the jellyfish was a Dragon).

Here are my Hyborians in action. Firstly, against a nice-looking army of Abyssinians;

Here facing off against a Life of Brian-themed army led, inevitably, by Biggus Dickus as a Blade general and featuring Brian's Mum as a Paladin and Brian as a Hero, rather than a Very Naughty Boy.

My Hyborians also had a game against an army of Teutonic Knights, with two Behemoths portrayed by wedges of knights.

Here are the Fishmen against one of two King Arthur armies.

These are Ninja Camels, with a Unicorn Paladin.

And next, here is probably the most innovative army, made up from a load of flying Puffins with a Scary Rock stronghold, although the Rock looks more surprised than actually scary.

And here is Nick, who organised everything, taking some time out to photograph the various games.

Thanks Nick! Also, thanks are due to Andy, who organised the catering and kept everyone fed and watered.

So, what happened in the end? Well, the plaudits go to Pete, the defending champion with his Life of Brian army who won again this year. Here are the final standings;

1. Pete              W5  L0  15pts
2. Armand        W4  L1  12pts
3. Colin             W3  L2    9pts (killed 2 generals)
4. Mark             W3  L2    9pts (killed 1 general)
5. John              W3  L2    9pts
6. Martin          W2  L3    6pts (took 1 stronghold)
7. Owen            W2  L3    6pts (took 1 stronghold, but worse kill/lost difference)
8. Kevin            W2  L3    6pts (killed 2 generals)
9. Keith             W2  L3    6pts (killed 2 generals worse kill/lost difference)
=10. Tony         W2  L3    6pts
        Carole       W2  L3    6pts
12. Nick            W0  L5

As you can see, it was pretty tightly-fought, with many of the placings being decided by killing generals and taking strongholds. 

It was a terrific day of gaming, lots of fun and a nice and friendly bunch of opponents. I look forward to the 2019 tournament. I expect that I'll spend the intervening 12 months trying to build a killer army.

HOTT - My Averland army's Stronghold

Having completed my Averland-themed Renaissance army, my remaining task was to build and paint a Stronghold. I knew the sort of thing I wanted, which was a nice vignette of a Late Mediaeval/Renaissance camp, with camp followers, tents and various odds and ends of stuff.

After the obligatory googling, I decided that the best option was to head over to the Magister Militum website and peruse the Baueda resin models. This was a good idea because I was able to buy two nice tents and a couple of sets of campfire pieces. Together with a few odds and ends I already had, I quickly put together what I think looks like a pretty decent Stronghold.

The Baueda campfire cooking sets came with four figures who, although they are actually mediaeval chaps look fine when painted up in Averland livery colours. I added a Magister Militum carter and horse that I had leftover from my SYW Sharp Practice imagi-nations project and four Peter Pig figures from their Pirate range, again surplus figures originally bought for my SYW imagi-nations project. These are also out of period, but with the right livery paint job, they look fine too. 

It had been pointed out to me that my Leonardo Da Vinci turtle tank would have problems being ranked next to other figures because of the overhang, so I've created a plinth to put the thing on when I need to brigade it with other elements. Here is how it looks;

It is just a standard 4cm square MDF base with a layer of foam glued on top, sealed and flocked. The tank just sits on it whenever necessary. Problem solved.