War on Barsoom - Season Four

The facts that I brought my Barsoomian armies out of storage the other day, and that I found the relevant notes in the pad I was using for my recent gladiator games, reminded me that back in February I had started playing a simple, mapless HOTT campaign using the armies of Mars.

The setup is HERE

Seasons One and Two are HERE

Season Three is HERE

At the end of Season Three, this was the position:

Helium - 3 Resource Points, 3 Prestige
Warhoon - 3 Resource Points, 1 Prestige
Gathol - 4 Resource Points, 2 Prestige
Manator - 1 Resource Points, 0 Prestige
Jahar - 3 Resource Points, 1 Prestige
Kamtol - 4 Resource Points, 1 Prestige

I also found that I had diced for the pairings in Season Four, so this evening I resolved the battles.

A D6 plus the Resource Points had given:

Helium - 4
Warhoon - 9
Gathol - 6
Manator - 2
Jahar - 6
Kamtol - 5

Manator got to choose first, and went for Helium. The Black Pirates of Kamtol chose to attack Gathol (the army I was nominally playing) and this left Jahar attacking the Green Martians of Warhoon.

I decided to play out 'my' game - the Pirates attacking Gathol, and use die rolls to determine the other actions.

As the defender I got to set the terrain. The Black Pirate army is very strong in aerials and, whilst my army also has a decent aerial force, I chose to place lots of rocky spires in order to hamper their movements as much as possible. I hoped that by closing down the battlefield I could gain a local advantage with my much smaller aerial navy, whilst bringing my superior ground forces to bear, either in support or by taking on the Black Pirates' own foot.

Unfortunately the random terrain placement saw the rocky areas all along one side of the board and, taking a risk, the Black Pirates went for that edge, hoping to push through and out of the dangerous terrain and fight me in the open area in which I would be deploying.

I deployed to take advantage of the hill. This would be no use against the Pirates' aerials, but would dissuade their foot from a frontal assault. As the defender I had to set up first, so I went for a symmetrical deployment with my aerials in reserve ready to move to wherever the enemy navy presented itself.

The Black Pirate advance was slower than they'd hoped. Poor PIPs would dog both armies throughout the battle, but obviously this hampered the Pirates more than it did me. In order to delay their advance I pushed forward some of my thoat-riders. But they were attacked by the smaller Back Pirate fliers.

My airboats moved up in support, and the battle began in earnest.

Both aerial navies moved cautiously towards each other. The Pirates had the advantage that their flanks were covered by the rocks, but once they emerged they would then be in danger of being forced back into the terrain and destroyed.

A Gatholian airboat came under attack, but succeeded in driving the enemy fliers into the rocks where they were destroyed.

One Pirate airboat engaged the Gatholian cavalry, whilst another blocked its retreat and prevented the Gatholian navy coming up in support.

Airboats fight!

In the centre the Black Pirates' flagship was in danger, as a small Gatholian flier attacked it whilst a larger airboat blocked its retreat. The Black Pirate foot began to move forward to support their leader.

A aerial view of the battle. At this stage losses were equal - Gathol had lost a couple of elements of riders, whilst the Pirates had lost two fliers.

Airboats clashed again, with the Pirates being driven into the rocks.

On the other flank the ground troops finally began to fight, as Gatholian riders attacked the Black Pirate blades.

The fighting intensified as each side sought to outflank the other.

The Gatholians destroyed another Pirate airboat.

But they lost one themselves.

Both armies were one element away from breaking now, but the Gatholians had the advantage as their foot turned the flank of their Black Pirate counterparts.

The Black Pirate flagship attacked the surviving Gatholian warship, but couldn't destroy it.

The Pirate blades held the Gatholian attack, and turned their opponent's flank. They destroyed the enemy blade element, to win the battle.

An overview of the final positions. Both sides had lost over half of their aerial navies.

The Pirates won 13-10, in a close game that could have gone either way. PIPs were hard to come by at some stages, and I am annoyed that I forgot that Gathol was due the Warlord Bonus in this game, which may have given me an advantage at a key moment. Still, that's my fault for not remembering the rules of my own campaign.

The Pirates gained one Prestige for their victory, whilst I lost one for losing to a foe with less Prestige. I also lost a Resource Point to the Pirates.

In the other battles both defending nations held off their attackers. The Green Martians of Warhoon also scored a crushing victory over their Jahar foes This gave them two Prestige. Helium scored nothing for holding off a weak attack by the forces of Manator.

At the end of Season Four, this is the position:

Helium - 3 Resource Points, 3 Prestige

Warhoon - 3 Resource Points, 3 Prestige
Gathol - 3 Resource Points, 1 Prestige
Manator - 1 Resource Points, 0 Prestige
Jahar - 3 Resource Points, 1 Prestige
Kamtol - 5 Resource Points, 2 Prestige

The Black Pirates are now in a very strong position, but with their high Resource Point total are likely to find themselves defending in the next season. Manator is still doing very badly, and will almost certainly be attacking someone again. My own nation is languishing in mid-table mediocrity. Maybe that will change in Season Five.