More 36AP HOTT

Geoff and I played 15mm HOTT last night, in preparation for the 36AP tournament at MOAB in October. Geoff stuck the the Medieval Human army he's been trying out (Knights, Blades, Shooters and a Paladin), whilst I looked at an army based around my Pendraken Fishmen, adding in 12AP of allies from the Evil Gong Squidmen. So my army was mostly Spears, with a contingent of Shooters, plus some Warband, Knights and a Behemoth. And a Lurker, which never got used.

Geoff defended in the first game, and we pretty much lined up and plodded towards each other.

Here's the Fishman general, on his command crab.

My right flank charged toward's Geoff's archers.

First combats! The end results were bloody for both sides, and then this flank stalemated.

On the other flank my spear-gun troops were ridden down by Geoff's knights

Meanwhile his paladin went for the giant walktapus. Held to a draw in the first round, the paladin fell to the giant monster in the next.

The main infantry forces met in the centre, with Geoff's Blades having an edge over my Spears. Meanwhile the walktapus made heavy weather of taking on some knights.

Finally some knights in the centre rode down one of my phalanxes, whilst others were able to kill the walktapus, giving Geoff the win. It was a close game, though, with both of us only one element from breaking towards the end.

I defended in the next game, and used one of my mini-volcanoes as a stronghold, since this army doesn't have one (that I could find).

I placed a fair bit of terrain, aiming to break up Geoff's army a bit. Of course, it also broke up mine. Not a sensible plan really. Geoff put his archers in a wood. I attacked with my Shooters. That's also bad. My Shooters were isolated and destroyed.

In the centre Geoff defended a long ridge. I wasn't going to attack it, so he came off and attacked me, killing my general to pick up an easy victory.

Despite losing both games, I'm fairly happy with the core of this army - the six Spears and the four Shooters. The Cleric is probably a waste, as in a 36AP event I'm unlikely to face Gods or Magicians in any quantity, so a Magician may be a better option for that element. That leaves me a Lurker in hand and 11AP to come up with, although I found the Behemoth useful so I'll probably go for one of those as well.

On the other table was a learning game of Bolt Action, featuring Japanese fighting Germans, in some kind of 'Man In The High Castle' kind of affair.