I set up protecting my flanks with the woods, with the aim of sitting my Blades on top of the hill and letting Stan come to me. Well, that was the theory, anyway.
So I advance as planned. Unfortunately, the Early Catafracts (c. 100 A.D ish) had to advance through the rough...
Stan sends two Heroes to my right flank, so I move over my Hero General to protect the line.
Unfortunately not enough over to protect my Catafracts. Caught, they were...
...with pretty predictable results.
So in I go with my Hero General. With the sudden realisation that Heroes quick kill Heroes. Gulp.
Oh crap!
Stan assures me that that's a six on his Japanese die.
And so, onto battle 2, my VSF Brits vs. Nick S' African Plains army.
I set up my shooters in the rough...
...and the rest on the flank.
Note the cute wee steam powered rocketeers flying around under the airboat!
Nick sends his vultures out to threaten my flank, so, well, Nick sends out his own flyers escorting his Airboat to meet them. Two Nicks fighting...this could get confusing...
The rest of the Africans come trundling forward. Those rhinos are Knights. Facing my Steam Tank Behemoth and Gatling Gun Shooter, flanking either side of my Royal Navy landing party Shooters. My Steam Powered Zappy Gun Magician General watches on...
First contact. Sorry about the clarity of the action, the camera focused on the Airboat floating above!
Huzzah! My Airboat actually killed something. I should really name it...Her Majesty's Air Boat Vulture!
The Rocketeers follow up and deal to the rest of the birdies.
With the flank now wide open, HMAB Vulture contacts the African rhinos in their flank. With nowhere to recoil...
And so Nick piles them in. While Nick, as he writes this report, wonders how we missed that end Rhino crossing across the front of the Flyers' Zone of Control...
Never mind.
Knights charging Shooters...someone was going to die...
Unfortunately for Nick, 'twas his Knights. Thankfully for Nick, 'twasn't his Shooters.
In comes HMAB Vulture again, this time into the flank of Nick's Lion Hero (Simba?) while the Rocketeers zoom over to protect the flank of the Tank.
In the meantime, Nick's Rhino Knights finally comes into range of Nick's Shooters on the other flank. But not for long. That's them what ain't there.
Heroically, as is appropriate, the Lion bounces off both the Steam Tank and the Airboat.
On Sunday the 2 December, a wee group of us (6 + Robin, who adjudicated) gathered together for the second of our two annual HOTT competitions - HOTT Carnage 2012.
Yep, Mark pulled together a HOTT army from My Little Pony toys! Classed them as Knights (they should have been Riders Mark!), with an Aerial Hero, Sneaker (the cake - something about the enemy general getting his just deserts...) and Cleric (the flower pot. Why? Can't remember!). The stronghold was, appropriately enough, a chest of gold, with an Artillery element off table, represented by a parcel thrower..!
Now, that's either pretty gay, or representative of some jolly big cajones to break out this army in front of a bunch of guys!
Either way, it was a pretty cool army, and displaying the flexibility of the army list system and the general good natured tenure of the competition beautifully!
Right, I laid out my Numidians only to have Mark declare that all of these prancing ponies - clearly Riders to all and sundry, with the exception of the one with wings and the unicorn - were Knights. Oh stink, did I say to myself. My poor Numidian ponies were going to be kinda up against it then...
Our lines closed...
...oh, aren't they cute!
Mark lined up his General killer (the Sneaker element, the Cake of Doom) across from Juba, my Hero General.
Only to have it run away after the first combat. Its all puff and icing!
Keep an eye on that Rainbow dash...
Pinky Pie was also a tough customer.
Now there's a sentence you don't see every day!
Thankfully Starsong, Mark's Aerial Hero, cost too much to move too often!
Meanwhile, Mark slowly set up his other flank.
(How can you take such a relaxed looking pony to be any kind of threat?!)
Finally, my God, a great wall of sand, arrived to deal with that pesky Starsong.
In the meantime Rainbow Dash continues her advance to my base edge...
Mark flies Starsong into my God...to little effect. I get a recoil result, but you can't recoil a God!
Right, finally, I've got Rainbow Dash just where I want...her...
Oh, come on!
And then my God disappears!
Oh, come on!
Mark sneaks his Sneaker in behind my General, ready to unleash the exploding buttocks of...cake?
Well, cutting off any recoil that may be forced upon him anyway.
Rainbow Dash turns back to menace more Numidians, so, now that it's finally isolated, I pounce.
Unfortunately, so does Mark.
Huzzah!
Again I say, Huzzah!
It wasn't to last. Mark unleashes...Starsong...
Oh crap, nowhere to recoil...
And just to add insult to injury...
...and that was the end of that. A good old fashioned drubbing at the hands of one of the more unlikely armies to grace the table!
