HOTT 52 - Week 1 - Swiss vs Malians

I thought that I'd better make a start on my plan to play at least one game of HOTT each week in 2020. So whilst we're housebound owing to it being too bloody hot to go out anywhere, I set a game up. I use a couple of armies that were already to hand in my gaming room; my DBA Early Swiss and Sundiata's Malians.

Sundiata's army defended, but the random terrain closed down one end with woods and the wily Swiss decided to close down the Malian's mounted advantage by forcing them to deploy at that end. Sundiata would have to get ou from between the woods before the Swiss were upon them.

Tha Malians - a mix of knights, riders, spears, shooters and led by a hero.

The Swiss right - loads of spears.

And the left - I ran the deep halberdier blocks as warband.

As Sundiata's army raced to occupy the hill to their front, the Swiss surged forward.

On the Malian right the archers had lagged behind the rest of the army as they extricated themselves from the woods. The Swiss directed their main assault there, opting simply to pin the rest of Sundiata's army on the hill.

As the archers struggled, Sundiata dived in to support them, and the Swiss attack was held.

But the Swiss kept on attacking, and slowly the Malian right collapsed.

Sundiata sent some of his reserve horsemen to harrass the Swiss right and provide a distraction.

Sundiata himself was in the thick of the fighting.

The Swiss detached some pikemen to support their on horse.

But by now the Malian right had been turned, and the Swiss were still pressing forward.

More Malian horsement entered the fight on their left, charging the Swiss pikes and hoping to sweep them away, but the Swiss held.

With their attack on the Malian right pushing forward, the rest of the Swiss army attacked, charging up the hill.

The Malians fought like lions, but the aggressive Swiss attack was too much for them.

Sundiata's army began to collapse.

As his infantry fled the field, Sundiata fought alone to hold off the Swiss.

It was futile. He fell, and his army broke.

The Swiss had won a convincing victory - 14AP of Malians destroyed for no loss.

An army relying on a warband attack generally either wins big or dies horrily in HOTT, but it was impressive win for the Swiss who were never really in any serious trouble. The initial deployment hampered the malians, who were forced onto the defensive from the start.

I was a fun game, and a great start to a maybe overly ambitious project.