Mongo vs Barsoom

And so we come to it; the final game in my Six by Six Challenge.

Although Flash Gordon united the races of Mongo into a great alliance, the planet still faced outside threats. And, ironically, one of them was warriors from another planet united by an earthman - Barsoom.

Flash assembled an army to meet the invasion.

1 x Hero General (Flash and Barin)
2 x Fliers (Prince Vultan and his Hawkmen)
2 x Warband (Prince Thun's Lionmen)
2 x Riders (Queen Fria and her Frigians)
2 x Lurkers (Arboreans)
1 x Airboat (War-Rocket)

The Barsoomian invaders looked like this.

1 x Hero General (John Carter)
4 x Blades (Warriors of Helium)
2 x Knights (Tars Tarkas and the Warriors of Thark)
2 x Airboats (Large Flyers)
1 x Flier (Small Flyers)

I dressed appropriately, if possibly in a biased way. And, yes, I'm listening to the soundtrack whilst writing this.

Flash opted to defend on a closed battlefield, hoping the threat of the Arboreans would keep the Barsoomians channelled into good going. Areas of brush would allow the Hawkmen more opportunity to outmanoeuvre the slower but more powerful Barsoomian aerial navy.

John Carter opted to lead his force through a gap, hoping to outfight Flash's aerial troops and bring his swordsmen into line before the varied Mongo forces could respond.

Flash advanced, but Vultan was obviously hungover, and didn't immediately respond to the order.

The Barsoomians pushed forward quickly, with their navy heading confidently into battle.

The first fights.

Things didn't go well for Barsoom. The first of a series of bad combat rolls which were to dog them in the early part of the game saw Vultan destroy their scout flyers, and other Hawkmen drive back one of their larger warships.

Exploiting their advantage, Vultan assisted the war-rocket in bringing down a mighty Barsoomian cruiser.

John Carter's navy was almost gone, and the battle was still in it infancy. Badly positioned to come to the support of his remaining airboat (mostly due to a patch of bad going), he rushed to shift the focus of the battle elsewhere, leading Tars Tarkas and the Green Martians into an attack on the Mongo left.

Flash responded with an excellent PIP roll ...

... which saw attacks all along the line The last Barsoomian airship was assaulted front and flank by Hawkmen, whilst Flash led the Frigians against the hordes of Thark.

Flash and Barin defeated the Green Martians facing them, and the Barsoomians were thrown back in disarray. A rapid defeat looked certain for them.

John Carter moved to reorganise what was left of his forces ...

... leading them in a fierce counter-attack.

He cut his way through the Frigians opposing him ...

... and attacked a band of Lionmen who had retreated to the rear of their army earlier.

Tars Tarkas did what he could to hold the Barsoomian right flank, but fell to Queen Fria (with some help from Flash and Barin).

John Carter was now hotly engaged with Prince Thun who was now assisted by the war-rocket, dispatched to bring back the earthman's body. It wasn't enough - the Warlord of Mars scattered the Lionmen.

The Barsoomians were now only 3AP from defeat. All the forces of Mongo had to do was destroy the last of their navy and victory would be theirs. But the Hawkmen couldn't do it; for round after round the battle ended in a draw.

John Carter rallied his army for one last desperate push, with helium's finest swordsmen rushing the Lionmen on one flank and Queen Fria's bird-riders on the other. John Carter went for the war-rocket.

The Barsoomian warship broke the stalemate, destroying the Hawkmen attacking it.

But elsewhere the Lionmen routed some of the swordsmen. Queen Fria fell back to avoid destruction.

John Carter destroyed the war-rocket. If he could catch Dale and Zarkov, who had a fled an earlier fight, he might be able to take them prisoner and force the army of Mongo to concede.

Unable to directly assist his friends, Flash ordered the Lionmen and Frigians into a coordinated attack on the Barsoomian swordsmen.

Victory! With the loss of the swordsmen the Barsoomian army was defeated.

Dejah Thoris held back her husband: "Leave 'em, John," she cried. "They ain't wurf it."

The two heroes met to discuss terms.

The Barsoomian losses: 13AP

And Mongo's losses: 9AP

This looked like it was going to be a quick win for Mongo after some terrible early combats for Barsoom, but John Carter held on admirably later on and came close to setting up a win. They were always on the back-foot, but didn't end up being a pushover.

And so that's it' I have played a sixth HOTT game with a new (or, in this case, partially new) army and with it I have completed my Six by Six Challenge.

6x6 - Game 1.6