Fighting Men Of Mars

For this evening's game I decided to field two Red Martian forces. I opted not to go for John Carter this time (even Burroughs had him take a back-seat for much of the series), and instead fielded forces from two of my other HOTT armies. The fight would see the men of Gathol, famous for their thoat herds and for their ruler being John Carter's son-in-law, against troops of the power-mad Jeddak of Jahar, Tul Axtar whose flyers were equipped with a new, awesome and terrible weapon.

I rolled another Lion Rampant scenario, Hold On Tight, which would see both sides fighting to control a small piece of terrain in the centre of the board. As ever it was a giant pink crystal, because I printed and painted it and am determined to get maximum usage out of it.

Gathol were fielding:

Leader - Offensive Light Foot with Enchanted Melee Weapons (He's a heroic chap, but no John Carter)
2 x Offensive Light Foot
2 x Heavy Riders
1 x Light Rider with Flight (One-Man Flyer)

Jahar's warband consisted of:

Leader - Offensive Light Foot
1 x Offensive Light Foot
3 x Bellicose Foot (Cannibals)
1 x Light Rider with Flight and Blessed Missile Weapons (Flyers equipped with Phor Tak's disintegrator weapon)

Both sides had an extraordinary run of bad luck in terms of activations, so units ambled towards the objective in a very haphazard fashion. Gathol looked like they'd reach it first and their flyer did get there, but wasn't deemed sufficiently 'meaty' enough to do the actual holding and was positioned to provide fire-support instead.

Jahar had one unit keen to get there, plus their flyers moving up in support as well.

It would be close ...

Jahar got there first, but immediately came under fire from the Gatholian flyers.

They fell back, and the Gatholian foot was quick to take their place.

But they too fell back as the Jahar flyers opened up with their disintegrator rays.

The Jahar foot charged in order to exploit the advantage their flyers had give them. In a fierce fight, both units routed.

With no alternative the Gatholian flyer occupied the objective and a firefight developed between the two aerial contingents.

Meanwhile a band of cannibals had advanced in the centre, but hesitated when it saw the heroic Gatholians facing it, and was outflanked.

Gathol charged, but the cannibals counter-charged, and another fierce melee took place. Both units fell back, battered.

But Gathol's cavalry had now arrived.

One unit charged Jahar's leader.

And the other scattered the battered cannibals. This didn't save the Gatholian foot, though, who never recovered from their encounter with the enemy, and fled the table rather than rally.

Gathol pressed forward, with control of the objective still secure.

However the flyer had taken some serious hits from the disintegrator rays, and Jahar's flyers capitalised on their advantage by zooming in to seize the objective, destroying their opponent.

Their occupation wasn't to last long, though. Gatholian cavalry charged Jahar's leader again, routing him ...

... and this disheartened the flyers which fell back, leaving the objective unoccupied.

The Gatholian hero led his unit into the objective; holding it for one turn would end the fight and give them the win.

More cannibals entered the fray, but were driven back by the Gatholian cavalry. However the thoat-riders suffered too.

Unable to launch an attack on the objective, Jahar was forced to concede it to Gathol, who had held it for the requisite five turn required to end the scenario.

Gathol won fairly easily, achieving 5 Glory for holding the objective. Both sides achieved at least one quest, although they had both failed in their quest to lose fewer units than their opponent because both sides lost three each.

Just a reminder that I use a variant of Enchanted and Blessed weapons in my games. The unit equipped with them always gets the benefit of them in its first combat/shot of the game, but after each use must roll a D6, retaining Enchanted weapons on a 6 and Blessed weapons on a 5-6. This means you always get something for your points investment, rather than a 1 in 6 or 1 in 3 chance of having an awesome effect for the whole game, or nothing. In this game Jahar's flyers managed three shots with their 'blessed' weaponry, which proved quite useful. This method does allow you to simulate first volleys or powerful initial charges as well, since your first use always gives you an advantage. The trick becomes knowing when to use it; in this game Gathol's leader hung back from a couple of easy targets rather than waste what could be a one-time combat advantage which might be needed to attack or defend the objective.

I think this skirmish might easily create the lead-in to this week's HOTT 52 game.