HotT night bonus material

Here are some other Hordes of the Things and DBA armies I saw at the HotT game night last week. Note that these are all 15mm scale (40mm base width) as opposed to my preferred 25/28mm (60mm base width). First, here's a battle between orcs and elves (with eagle allies). I think these are actually 10mm figures, maybe Warmaster.

Next, we have a fight with orcs and goblins from contemporary fantasy gaming on one side and Asag and the Stone Allies from Sumerian myth on the other.

Here's a closeup of the demon Asag (in the back) and his army of enchanted stones.

And here's a detail shot of the greenskins.

Finally, there was a game of DBA going on as well, Indians vs. Selucids (I think).

Some great detailing on the chariots and elephant.

Anyone else played Hordes of the Things or De Bellis Antiquitatus lately, or working on an army?

Another Civil War Saturday

I haven't played any minis in about a month, so when some of the San Antonio guys put together a game day in a classroom at a local university, I was up for it.  The guys were playing a Civil War game using a variant of the DBA rules.  Blake was playing the Yankees, and I helped Johnny command the Rebels.  Blake supplied the miniatures and the terrain.

The battle wasn't any historical scenario, just a chance to put some brigades out there and get a feel for the period.  It played pretty much like DBA or Hordes of the Things, but required the use of markers (combat could result in a unit being shaken or badly shaken, which had an effect on further combat involving that unit).  All in all, I prefer games where you don't need some kind of tokens to indicate unit status--one of the beauties of HotT is that all the information regarding combat outcomes is indicated by just moving the unit--but sometimes they're a necessary evil.

One other nitpick: an unfavorable result against artillery caused the gun battery to become shaken and to recoil, something that didn't seem right to me.  Whenever we play Johnny Reb, I recall artillery units dueling against each other, and when one got shot up the crew might abandon it, but the unit itself didn't back up.  Still, it was an enjoyable game, and I'm glad I got the chance to play.  Anyone else get to roll dice and move around minis this weekend?

DBA and HotT at GuadaComaCon

GuadaComaCon had a lot more miniatures games this year, thanks in part to the Lone Star Historical Miniatures guys, who drove up from San Antonio with all their De Bellis Antiquas gear. 

They played several games using that set of historical rules throughout the day, including a Napoleonic DBA variant.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to play any Hordes of the Things matches against the SA contingent, but I did manage to get in a quick introductory game with Maj. Diz Aster (who recently started his own blog on the subject) to the HotT rules.

I loaned the Major my fire giants as I deployed my skeleton legion.  Unfortunately, we were playing on a smaller mat (2.5 feet square) intended for 15mm armies, not the 3x3 for 28mm forces.  This meant my opponent didn't have as much room to maneuver as he should have had, and so it wasn't really a good example of how the game plays out.

So it seems like all the miniatures games at the convention either DBx games or Two Hour Wargames events.  But don't worry, there were roleplaying games too.  More coming soon about all the other con events.

Speaking of free games ...

... it's worth mentioning again that the Hordes of the Things rulebook (sans army lists) is also available at no charge from the publisher, Wargames Research Group.

Not only that, but the publisher has uploaded two versions of De Bellis Antiquitatis, the historical game that was the basis for HotT.  Those interested in game development can check out the first edition of DBA, and anyone who'd like to playtest it can obtain DBA version 3.0.

You can find plenty of other historical rulesets from WRG on their website.  Have fun!