OAAH Beta test Heroes and Hordes

This game is part of our continuing beta-testing of Ganesha's Of Armies And Hordes. It occurred to be that we hadn't fully explored Hordes and the latest updates for Heroes, Chariots and Generals.

Astute hoobs will soon 'ave spotted that I used last weeks table turned.

Let we give you the gist: A Horde is a rabble, a rough assemblage of untrained and ill-equipped people. On the plus side, there's lots of 'em and they don't suffer from flanks or rear. On the down side, they take double casualties, so very easy to break. You think? I gave mine Shooting 1 (+1), I could have given them shooting 0. This represents those with slings (a lot of people wore them on wrist or waist), rocks, branches, hand axes. A Japanese peasant, in contrast, will pick up a tool or get given a bamboo pointy stick.

Chariots now come in grades from 2 to 8. I took 2 as the lighter “bus” made for fast transport of missile trooper up to 8 as those multi-crewed Chinese or Assyrian multi-crewed monsters. You roll grade number in combat, so my grade 2's rolled 2 + attack and my Heroes 3.

Heroes are similar to above, they have a grade. I'm not sure if the grades should overlap or multiple? I think I underdone my poor heroes as a 3, I think a 5 or 6 would have been better.

A quick note on the hordes vs chariots fight. Hordes are unfettered by discipline and formation, so they get out of the way. Yell at horses, stick things in wheels and run all over the shop throwing stones. This is how it works: half the bases rounded down roll a dice. Now there are 12, so 6. With an armour of 5 vs skill of 1 – 4+ does the job. 1's always fail and 6 always kill. I'd given each an extra life, so regulars can take 4 and heroes 2.

Likewise when javelins meet hordes, you can imagine missiles flying every which way. A bit like a lethal food fight.

Generals we will look at more next week, as the impact of their grade needs some thought.

Weaponsmith “This is the latest development in the Mk1.”

Hero “it's a stick.”

Weaponsmith “Well, yes, but it's well balanced with good penetration backed by retarding lugs.”

Hero “it's a stick.”

Weaponsmith “Here we have the latest Mk 2.”

Hero “it's a stick.”

Weaponsmith “Certainly, but this one is shorter, thinner and well balanced with a slim head designed for good delivery versus impact optimisation.”

Hero “it's a stick.”

Weaponsmith “Well, let's move on to the Mark 3, you'll note its optimisation for 2 handed use.”

Hero “it's a stick.”

Weaponsmith “Yes, but it's a very long and pointy one.”

I went for an “invasion from the sea” feel. On the defending side you have every light force that can be scraped up while more traditional forces muster.

Centaur General 3 3 5 General L2, Fast, 2 lives @36

Centaur Hero 3 3 5 Hero L2 Shoot1 Fast 2 lives 80?

Centaur archers 4 2 6 Shoot2 Skirmishers Fast 4 x 19 = 76

Centaur club 4 3 5 fast 4 x 15 = 60

Centaur shamen 3 2 4 Fast, Spellcaster, Alter terrain & rain arrows 18

Satyr sub General 3 3 4 Sub general L2, Highwaymen, Difficult target. 70?

Satyr shamen 3 1 4 Spellcaster, Alter terrain, Chaos, Highwaymen, Difficult target. 19

Satyrs 4 2 4 Highwaymen, Difficult target. 8 x 12 = 96

Satyr archers 4 1 4, Shoot1, Highwaymen, Difficult target. 12 x 13 = 156

Kohen 3 4 5 Hero L3 , Fearless, Devastating charge, 2 lives 100?

Numean Lion 4 4 5 Monster L2, Tough, Fear, 2 lives 51

Rabble 5 1 4 Rabble, Shoot1 24 x 5 = 120

Total approx 750. The costings haven't kept up with development, but should equal out)

The attackers are the hotheads who push forward without due regard, followed by a mass of skirmishers (probably sailors) who no-one has gotten around to organising.

Heroic General. 3 3 5 General/Chariot/Hero L4, Devastating charge, Fast, 2 lives. 200?

Heroes in Chariots 3 3 5 Chariot/Hero L3, Devastating charge, Fast, 2 lives. X2 200?

Chariot Heroes 4 2 5 Chariots L2, Shoot2, 2 lives. 2 chariots x2 150?

Chariot Runners 4 1 4 Fast 12 x 9 = 108

Javelin Skirmishers 4 1 5 Skirmishers, Shoot1 12 x 15 = 180

Total approx 750.

The Game. I gave Tony the defenders, half the table plus the Satyrs can set up an ambush anywhere along a road (but of course I don't know that).

Tony set up with a ? shaped deployment that led me to believe the ambush would be along the main road. His right flank consisted of the 2 hordes backed by the lion (tactical reserve- now there's posh!) Centaurs in the centre angled to the rough ground. I have a bunch of chariots.

He also got the initiative. Down came the centaur hero. My chariot runners nip in, take no damage from shooting and lose 2 (½) but kill the hero.

Tony pops part of the surprise party, putting archers behind the wall flanking my chariots. But fails to get them into shooting. They cannot do the hop-in-hop-out as the chariots are faster. In come the centaurs but thanks to a reaction I hit them and with shooting I win, although we lose 3 each. Ouch.

Then in comes Kohen. He stands there all defiant. Up come my chariots all steaming, but stop short – I should have pushed them, twit. Dwain Kohen leaps in, kills 3 but dies.

No Hero Kohen, I expect you to die!

Meanstwhile on my left my mass of javelins dash into the archers, but as they go over the wall they see the whole satyr horde staring back up at them. Finishing off the archers with javelins they get over the wall but the satyrs follow them. Bad for them the Hero gets a reaction and slams into their flank before they hit the archers. They back in disorder.

The Javelins, seeing a rabble on their flank, charge them. Both sides suffer in the shooting, then the melee- one lone javelin is left standing where 22 were before-.

Last bit on this side before tactical retreat. Up comes Sheldic the centaur shamen, but he fumbles it, allowing  a remnant charioteer to crash into him.

Now lets look at the other side. Deep intake of breath. Faced with 2 hordes I send in chariot runners, who die under a hail of rocks, then chariots. These go down under rocks as well. All of them. Now my regular hero doesn't like that, so he tries the same. And dies.

That finishes me. I'm left with a general and 3 runners!

Just the odd 1,2 or 3 would have helped!

My one shooting success removes 2, but then the next Heroic charioteer runs into this-.

There's rules where units starting in the same terrain square can charge at the same time, I need to re-read those. Next time we are looking at using diffent grades of generals. Excelcior.