Another HOTT Knockout - Part One

On a whim I decided to have another go at one of those HOTT knockout campaigns that are so popular at present. I did one last year and it turned into a ten-battle epic, spanning a couple of weeks of play. And it was great fun.

This time I decided to use more non-human armies . I also tried a different map layout with fewer connections. I put it together late on a Friday evening, and didn't bother with any art, or Terrain restrictions. Apologies to anyone who was expecting them.

The five armies I selected, based partially on what was to hand and partially from armies that hadn't seen the light of day in a while are:

Alexander The Great (the only 'human' army), the Elephantmen, the Ophidians, the Squidmen and The Knights of Simba.

The armies are as follows:

Alexander - 1 x Hero General, 6 x Spears, 1 x Knight, 1 x Rider, 2 x Warband

Elephantmen - 1 x Blade General, 7 x Blades, 2 x Riders, 1 x God

Ophidians - 1 x Magician General, 1 x Magicians, 4 x Warband, 2 x Shooters

Squidmen - 1 x Warband General, 7 x Warband, 2 x Knights, 1 x Behemoth
Knights of Simba - 1 x Knight General, 5 x Knights, 6 x Warband

I drew the map then randomly assigned the nations to a node. Alexander and The Knights of Simba ended up on the ends, with the other three nations facing each other in the middle.

All nations start with an Aggression of 0.

Season 1

All Aggression scores were unmodified.

The rolls were as follows (numbers in brackets are rerolls for ties):

Alexander - 2
Squidmen - 3
Elephantmen - 5 (6)
Knights of Simba - 5 (1)
Ophidians - 1

So the high-scoring Elephantmen attacked their lowest-scoring neighbour, the Ophidians.

The Ophidians defended a heavily-wooded battlefield, choosing to deploy their army between two woods and to sit and wait for the plodding Elephantmen to come to them.

The Elephantmen chose to bring on their god at the first opportunity.

She took one look at the battlefield, decided that it wasn't for her and left.

As the Elephantmen approached the static Ophidians brought their powerful magics to bear. They targetted one of the enemy rider elements, which fled the battlefield, never to be seen again.

The Elephantmen pushed foward, and the Ophidian archers opened up on them.

A second rider was destroyed, leaving a large hole in the Elephantmen's line.

The remaining Elephantmen prepared for their charge.

In they went. They pushed back the Ophidian left, leaving one of the magicians exposed. He was quickly cut down.

The Ophidians countered on their right, charging the weakened Elephantmen line there. But the Elephant warriors held.

The Elephantmen's right continued to push forward, into the woods. In the centre they destroyed one of the blocks of Ophidian warband.

But the end was sudden. On their weakened left the Elephantmen suddenly lost two elements of blades, and with their earlier losses that broke the army

The Ophidians won 12-8, and had survived an invasion. The Elephantmen went down to ag aggression of -1, whilst the Ophidians went up to +1

Season 2

The rolls were as follows (numbers in brackets are rerolls for ties):

Alexander - 4 (4)
Squidmen - 4 (1)
Elephantmen - 1-1=0
Knights of Simba - 2
Ophidians - 2+1=3

So Alexander was the attacker, and the chastened Elephantmen were his target.

The Elephantmen defended a hill and village. Alexander massed his pikes in the centre and on the left, and the hard-hitting troops on the right, covered by some riders.

The Macedonian riders flanked the Elephantmen line. The Elephantmen made use of the hill on their left to create a solid defensive position.

The Elephantmen saw off an initial attack by the riders.

As Alexander approached, the Elephantmen charged, looking to control the intial order of combat.

The Macedonians were generally driven back by the hard-hitting blades of their enemy, with only Alexander standing firm.

The Macedonians pushed forward, but their line was ragged and it was hard for them to create any local superiority.. Their best attacking troops were stymied by the enemy's hilltop position.

The Macedonian riders were surrounded and destroyed.

Alexander was pushed back from the hill again. On the other flank the pike blocks were in a lot of trouble, with gaps opening up in the line.

The hard-hitting 'peltasts' charged up the hill one more time, but were destroyed. This was enough to break Alexander's army.

Alexander suffered a shattering 12-0 defeat, and failed to take the lands of the Elephantmen

Season 3

The rolls were as follows (numbers in brackets are rerolls for ties):

Alexander - 4-1=3 (4)
Squidmen - 2 (1)
Elephantmen - 2
Knights of Simba - 2
Ophidians - 2+1=3 (3)

Amazingly Alexander decided to have another crack at the Elephantmen (their third battle in a row).

This time the battlefield was more open with some rolling hills,

Alexander changed tactics (clever lad that he is) and put his punch in the centre, flanked by the pikes.

Kali turned up early and, sensing blood, decided not to go away.

Alexander attacked, but once again it was only the big man himself who saw much in the way of success.

Kali helped chew up one of the pike-blocks.

The 'peltatst' attacked the Elephantmen general again and again, but couldn't destroy him.

Alexander's army attacked as hard as it could, but the Elephantmen held and, slowly whittling away the pike-blocks, won another 12-0 victory.

So going into Season 4, the Aggression scores are:

Alexander -2
Squidmen 0
Elephantmen +1
Knights of Simba 0
Ophidians +1

With the numbers the way they are, an invasion of Macedonia seems statistically likely.