The Dalek Invasion Of Barsoom

Catherine and I went to a business entrepreneurs' Christmas party at the University on Thursday night. This left us well-positioned to get to wargaming afterwards, albeit late and nicely plied with free food and drink. Rather than drop into the ongoing Blitzkrieg Commander games, we played HOTT - I had the armies in the crate I use to bring my stuff to wargaming, so was ready to go.

We made use of what was available - armies I'd been using over the last couple of weeks. We options for Daleks On Barsoom - Catherine took the evil pepper-pots, whilst I took the heroic forces of Gathol.

The Daleks defended - obviously the Gatholians were attacking one of their advanced bases.

I am married to this woman ...

Both sides had an aerial contingent - Gathol had two Airboats and a Flier, whilst the Daleks had two Fliers and an Airboat General.

The Gatholian general led his troops around the other flank - the Gatholians were hampered by a huge patch of bad going right in the middle of their deployment area.

Here are the two armies in the early stages of the game. The main Dalek force was in the centre, whilst their aerial troops covered one flank and the human mercenaries moved to occupy the Dark Area Of Bad Going on their left flank.

An aerial battle ensued. I had intended moving my Riders up in support, but lacked the PIPs, mostly because I had foolishly placed my general too far over the other side of the board.

Gathol fared badly, losing a Flier and an Airboat.

The Gatholian infantry entered the Dark Area Of Bad Going, to try and take out the mercenaries. Brisk fire kept them pinned down, and support from the Special Weapons Dalek didn't help either.

This needs to be in a film; Barsoomian Thoat riders fight Daleks - they actually rode one element down.

The Gatholian left came under extreme pressure, as a number of elements were caught in a no-recoil situation. Fortunately they all survived their combats

Dalek fire held off the Gatholians - again.  And it was also starting to cause casualties.

The end - flying Daleks board and overwhelm the last of the Gatholian airforce, to give the Supreme Beings Of The Universe another victory.

Gathol lost two Airboats, a Flier and two Blades. The Dales lost a Shooter, a Blade and a Flier.

I lost this through poor positioning of my general, which left me unable to fight effectively on the flank where I had a numerical advantage.

No More!