HOTT 52 - Week 25 - Mound Builders vs Conquistadors

I'm still ploughing through Burroughs' Martian novels, so I anticipate the possibility of some more Barsoomian HOTT games in the near future, but for this week's HOTT 52 game I thought I'd get out some armies that hadn't appeared so far this year. 

So this week's game features my Conquistadors against the Mound Builders. It being a Thursday evening I played against Catherine. Normal(ish) wargaming may be resuming fairly soon here, though.

Anyway, she opted to take the Mound Builders, leaving me the Conquistadors. I defended with:

1 x Blade General

2 x Spears

2 x Shooters

1 x Knight

1 x Cleric

1 x Artillery

1 x Paladin (Saint James)

1 x Flier (Angel)

Catherine's attacking Mound Builder army was:

1 x Blade General (The Great Sun on his litter)

1 x Blade

6 x Shooters

3 x Hordes

1 x Lurker

1 x Dragon (Shaman-summoned Thunder-Bird)

The battlefield included a Mayan pyramid BUA, just because it was too nice not to use.

Both armies advanced towards each other. Catherine had considered holding back and waiting to see if her Thunder-Bird turned up, but decided against it. I pushed forward so that I could bring the artillery into range, and force her to either attack or, eventually, take casualties.

The artillery opened fire and caused some consternation amongst the Mound Builder archers on her right.

In the centre I saw an opportunity. The Mound Builders had now closed up and were sending a rain of arrows down on my left flank (to little effect, it's true). But it meant her entire line was now withing charge range. I sent my pikemen forward into an attack on the Great Sun himself, supported by the cleric. meanwhile the angel flew over the Mound Builders, ready to attack them in the rear.

A surgical strike on the enemy CinC is a HOTT classic ...

The combat was close. The Great Sun rolled a 5, so I needed a 6 for the win - and got it.

The Great Sun fell, and the Mound Builders broke and ran.

This was such a short game that we set up another. Once again the Conquistadors defended and the terrain was much the same as well.

This time Catherine spread her archers through the army, making life harder for the angel. The artillery forced back some of the Mound Builders, but their arrows and spears did break up the Conquistador line a little.

The Great Sun looked less vulnerable this time, so the Conquistadors charged the archers on the Mound Builder left, led by St James on his white horse.

The armoured Spaniard swept away their lightly-armed foes, but Catherine responded by sending the Great Sun and his noble warriors into their own attack, which saw some Conquistador arquebusiers, as well as the artillery, swept from the field.

But with the archers now destroyed, Saint James could turn on the Great Sun, backing up against his own nobles. It was a short fight in which, once again, the Great Sun fell.

Casualties were heavier in the second game; the Conquistadors lost a shooter and their artillery, whilst the Mound Builders lost three shooters and their general.

The Thunder-Bird dragon and the lurkers failed to appear in either game.