The HOTT Literature Championship - Game 3

Game 3 of the HOTT Literature Championship saw my two Narnian armies vying for a spot in the first semi-final.

The White Witch defended. 

The Narnians pushed forward but made the first of two mistakes. Their left flank had to advance through some rough going, but as the army advanced the Pevensie Children - who command it - ended up on the wrong side of a hill and would have to spend extra PIPs to keep the left flank moving. This left the initial Narnian advance exposed.

The White Witch was quick to exploit this ...

... but some Narnian beasts saw off their opposite numbers.

The White Witch evened things up when their minotaur slew the Narnian giant. 

Some Narnian beasts were destroyed. The White Witch now had the upper-hand on that flank.

Aslan rushed in to help. Attacked by the minotaur he held it to a draw...

... before other beasts came to his assistance. The minotaur was slain.

Aslan and the beasts stabilised the flank, destroying some beasts. The White Witch was now 8AP down, and things were looking bad for her.

She pushed forward into the attack as a mid-game lack of PIPS limited any major reorganisation.

On the Narnian right they attacked, led by the Pevensies. Opposing them were the White Witch's hordes

The hordes were driven back, but were holding for now.

However Aslan was continuing his depredations on the other flank, and drove the White Witch's aerial element off the board. Her army was close to breaking.

But this was the Narnian's second big mistake, and it was a costly one. In moving out onto the flank, Aslan no longer provided a protective radius against a bespelling attack on the Pevensie children. With any PIPs she could spare the White Witch started using her magic.

The Narnians were hacking through the enemy hordes, whilst the Witch staved off defeat by bringing them back as fast as the Narnians could slay them.

Disaster for the Narnians - the White Witch finally managed to ensorcell the Pevensies. They had still lost fewer AP than that White Witch, so the Narnian army didn't break, but they were teetering on the rink of defeat.

The White Witch's behemoths attacked Aslan

He held them as long as he could, but eventually the odds caught up with him, and he went down to a great big axe.

That was enough to break the Narnian army. But on the same bound some hordes took down one of the Narnian riders.

So the White Witch won 16g-10. It was a close battle, but the Witch made fewer mistakes.

So the first semi-final will see The Forces Of Light take on the White Witch. In the next game two Barsoomian armies will battle it out to determine who will face Cluny's rat Hordes in the second Semi-final.