HOTT Friday Evening

Wifey and I played a couple games of HOTT Friday evening. Because I play so infrequently, every game of HOTT is a learning experience. It was still a fun time even though a few mistakes were made.

The first game featured my Narnian good guys facing the Halloweenies.

Our set ups. A river ran through it. I was the attacker.

King Peter led the Fauns up the road through the woods. The scarecrow knights formed a greeting party on the other side.

Due to a clerical error, Peter was ensorcelled. I didn't realize until later he couldn't be targeted since he was in front contact with an enemy. He also shouldn't have been "frogged," he should have been removed from the board entirely.

In any event, I rolled a "6" and got to bring him back on my next bound. Another mistake - he should have been placed back against the stronghold. The spear-fauns held up well, running off the scarecrows.

Pete didn't hold up nearly as well, rolling a 1 against the scarecrows and getting himself killed. Game set and match.

When it boils down to it, the Magician error really didn't affect the outcome - it simply delayed it a turn.

Since that game took very little time, we had another go. I used Junior's WW2 Soviets this time and my bride stayed with her Spooks.

Again, I was the attacker. 

She rolled a "6" right off the bat and summoned Grave Digger, a god.

As much as she wanted to sit back and play defensively, I convinced her that Mr. Digs was best used offensively, so she relented and destroyed my artillery in short order.

Digs moved onto my KV-1, the behemoth general.

The rest of my rabble was getting offensive - 5 warbands up the middle and two riders on the left. I cheated by having my Yak-9 airboat flank Grave Digger, even though it put my aerial unit in a BUA.

As my warbands closed, I suggested that her knights engage me OUTside the woods so the punkheads did just that. Her rat hordes synched up and also attacked me. I split one of my riders off to assist my general against the god.

Minor cheating by me. Since the tank wasn't behind the god's back edge I shouldn't have engaged it like that. It backfired terribly anyway. You'll also notice that I killed off the rats and pushed back the knights (forgetting to pursue : /  )

The witch eases off the stew and joins the fray. A unit of knights has broken free and engaged my tank I cheated with earlier. 

Grave Digger tells the airboat where to go (the behemoth had been pushed back prior) and the knights kill off my riders easily. Feh.

Finally she rolls a "1" for PIPs. Good gravy that took forever. I really thought Things were swinging my way now. I wasn't doing math in my head though - art (3), riders (2), wb (2) - 7 dead.

The witches and some scarecrows keep working on my airboat as another unit of knights charges into my last rider. My warbands had managed to kill off a knight unit a turn prior! You'll also see the rats had returned.

She really liked this picture.

Similar activity against my beleaguered airboat.

The knights brought down the airboat (illegally since she shouldn't have been allowed to engage it) and the witches zzzap a stand of riflemen, bringing my losses to 12. Game over. : (

Some altogether different mistakes that time through! It was a much more closely fought affair - I actually killed a couple of stands. We were going to play a third game but that's going to require a rain-check - we had a lot going on Saturday to prepare for. Wifey really liked the games and wants to play more, so - her words - she can become proficient - at it. Sweet. She mentioned a farm animal army, so I've got a project to get cracking on.