I thought I'd go colourful and medieval for this week's HOTT game - the yellow and red army of the Dukedom of Ceidonia defended against the blue and white fores of Prester John.
I tried a small variant for Prester John's army, dropping the lurker and upgrading Prester John himself from a cleric general to a hero general. The rest of the army consisted of two knights, a behemoth, two blades, two shooters and two warband.
The Ceidonians fielded two knights (including the Duke of Ceidonia himself), two spears, two shooters, two blades, a behemoth, a rider and two hordes. They had a strong position with their levy hordes on a hill on the right, and their archers in a ploughed field on the left.
Prester John advanced, whilst the Ceidonians reorganised their line to better face the oncoming elephant that dominated the centre of their opponent's army.
The archers of both sides were on the same flank, but their first exchange of fire was relatively inconclusive.
On the other flank, Prester John's native allies charged up the hill into the levies, but were thrown back.
The armies were poised for the first big charge in the centre.
CRASH!
It saw mixed results - Prester John lost some archers, whilst the Ceidonians had some elements pushed back.
A second attack saw some Ceidonian spears ridden down.
An attack up the hill saw some of the levy lost, but the Duke's son led his swordsmen in a counter-attack ...
... and drove the warriors back. At the same time Prester John lost some of his knights to their Ceidonian counterparts.
Both lies were broken up now and the battle became a race to plug gaps and exploit overlaps.
The Ceidonias' Magyar allies tried to stem a charge by some of Prester John's knights, but were flanked by warriors who had swept away the last of the levy, and were lost.
But there's always more levy to be raised. Their appearance stabilised that flank a little.
On the other flank Prester John's foot men-at-arms finally attacked the Ceidonian archers, but failed to drive them from the fields. That was the extent of the action there.
The Ceidonians put the elephant in danger, flanking it with knights whilst sending spearmen forward into the attack.
But the feckless infantry failed to hold the mighty behemoth and fell back, subsequently being routed. We shan't talk of them again.
The Duke of Ceidonia had held himself and his bodyguard in reserve until now, but with enemy troops threatening breaking through on his right he led his men into the attack.
And fell in the first charge!
With his loss, the Ceidonian army broke.
Prester John lost two element - one of shooters and one of knights. The Ceidonians lost their general, plus two spears and a rider.
I am now three-quarters of the way through the HOTT 52 project; I'm on the home-stretch now!
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