Alexander vs Asag

I'm packing up for a house-move at the moment, so painting figures and playing games is going to be suspended for a little while. However I squeezed in one last game of HOTT in this house yesterday. My Renaissance Alexander The Great army was still around from the other week, and Asag and the Stone Allies was being reboxed ready for transportation, so was also easily to hand. And that's why Alexander The Great found himself up against a hideous Sumerian demon.

Asag was defending, but didn't really get that helpful a terrain; a plan to position his massed hordes on a hill fell through when neither of the hills quite ended up where he needed them. But he did get to anchor both of his flanks on bad going.

In response Alexander massed his phalanx in the centre, covered by shooters and warband on one flank and his mounted troops on the other. The aim was to send the mounted out first and take out the few hordes Asag had stationed on his right, then combine a flank attack with a frontal assault. 

Asag's army of rocks.

Alexander the Great's phalanx.

Alexander led his cavalry on the flank attack. The Companions were supporting the flank of the phalanx. Asag moved forward to make best use of the bad going.

Alexander attacked the hordes, which survived the initial assault.

The thing with Asag, though, is that he is an aerial hero. So he swooped in from the centre and attacked Alexander's cavalry in the flank, destroying them

This left Alexander somewhat isolated, with an enemy hero in the offing, so Alexander wisely pulled back. At this stage neither hero could afford to attack the other; there wasn't enough of an edge.

The phalanx had closed up and was ready to launch its attack. With Alexander temporarily out of the way , Asag switched to the flank of Alexander's centre, taking on the Companions.

The rest of Alexander's army surged forward. With a powerful enemy aerial on their flank, piling into the rest of their troops seemed the best strategy. In fact on the far flank the shooters and warband had been slowly pushing back Asag's larger rock beasts in the bad going.

Asag's army was pushed back with casualties. To make matters worse, the Companions held off the mighty demon for a couple of rounds of combat, allowing Alexander to come up and threaten him. This time Asag pulled back from a confrontation.

The two generals eye each other warily.

Alexander's army was in a strong position, with Asag's hordes unable to resist the remorseless advance of the phalanx. Alexander pitched in, eliminating some rocks on the flank.

But Asag was back as well! He attacked the rear of the phalanx, destroying one of the elements.

However his biggest, mightiest rocks were smashed up by the right of the phalanx.

Asag took out the Companions. A risky move with Alexander lurking in his rear, blocking any recoil.

More rocks were smashed to ... smaller rocks. 

Both armies had taken a fair few casualties at this point. With Asag in contact with a spear element on one flank, Alexander decided to go for it, and attack whilst he had a slight advantage.

But no slight advantage can offset a 6-1 roll! Alexander fell to Asag, and that was the end of his army.

Alexander lost 10-12g. His army was doing well, slowly grinding down Asag's troops, but Asag was causing a lot of problems and had to be dealt with. Unfortunately Alexander was the only one capable of doing it effectively. And that meant taking a risk.

Anyway, my gaming table is now folded up and all of the armies are in boxes ready to move. So in terms of games it'll be a while before you see anything here. Even the Paint Something Every Day Project is going to have to be suspended for a while.