Triple HOTT

After a long break I played HOTT with Geoff last night. Initially I wasn't sure what armies to take, but then I had a shower-thought and thought of a triplet of games based around some children's fantasy literature.

I took my Narnian matched pair and my Alan Garner matched pair. We played one game with each pair, and then a final where the winning armies from the first two games faced off.

The first game saw me running teh Narnians with Geoff running the White Witch. The Narnians defended. This is the position after a couple of turns.

The two armies closed and, thanks to some interesting terrain placement, both had their right flanks anchored on hills.

First combats ...

... saw some push and shove, and the Narnians lost a couple of beasts, exposing their left.

Aslan had stayed in reserve in case of such disasters, and started chewing his way through the White Witch's hordes.

The Narnians had a run of good combats and began to turn things around, destroying some enemy behemoths.

On the left of the picture you can see a problem for the White Witch. The Pevensie children are attacking the minotaur from the front, whilst Narnia's giant is providing a potentially fatal flank contact. If the Pevensies win then the minotaur is destroyed. If The minotaur wins then the Pevensies and the giant recoil, and the giant crushes the White Witch.

The minotaur dies, and that was enough to break the White Witch's army.

So our first finalists were the Narnians.

The second game was between two armies based on Alan Garner's 'Weirdstone of Brisingamen' and 'The Moon of Gomrath'. I took the evil Morthbrood (which is almost identical in structure to the White Witch's army), whilst Geoff was the Forces of Light under the wizard Cadellin Silver-Brow.

Geoff pushed Cadellin to the fore and he quickly bespelled the fearsome Mara, forcing it to retreat.

The armies closed over the length of a long ridge. Kind of appropriate, if you know the books.

The Mara fled into some woods ...

... and was destroyed by Lios Alfar ambushers.

The Morthbrood's right flank collapsed and things started to look bad for them.

But the shapeless black blob that is that the Brollachan sneaked through the enemy lines, with a clear run at the stronghold.

The Morthbrood's left flank - Svart Alfar hordes backed up with crow fliers - evened things up a bit, holding off the Wild Hunt knights and destroying the Lios Alfar horsemen supporting them. 

The Herlathing in action!

But the battle ended when the Brollachan switched from the enemy stronghold to attack Cadellin Silver-Brow, supported by the crows. It's not often you get a game where a sneaker kills an every general, but this was one.

So the final was between the Morthbrood and the Narnians. Geoff took the Narnians this time.

The crows were at the forefront again, picking off the Narnian hordes on the flank. The Brollachan was also oozing forward.

A fight on the Morthbrood left saw their beasts destroyed.

The Mara was next. 

Narnian hordes returned via Cair Paravel. The crows were sent to destroy them and possibly clear the way for the Brollachan.

The Svart Alfar bore the brunt of the Narnian attack, and held it well.

Aslan went after the Brollachan, but couldn't destroy it. It soon fled from him towards the stromghold.

The Morrigan destroyed the Narnian giant.

But she was attacked by the Pevensie children supported by some dwarves. And she won - the children were ensorcelled by her dark magic.

Leaderless the Narnians fell prey to the Morthbrood and were defeated.

So two wins for the Morthbrood who emerged as the top army of the night.

I'm keen to try this again with two more matched pairs to create an eight-army World Cup of literature. I can add in my Redwall matched pair, and to round it out maybe a pair of Barsoomian armies as well.