Saturday, April 12: HOTT ICE Tourney Report
(Fantasy Miniatures)
Bolstered
by a couple of freshly-painted reinforcements, my Khmer army left the steamy
jungles of Columbus for the wide open plains of northern Iowa, and the first
annual HOTT ICE Tournament. Since they were my newest historical ancients
army, I wanted to play them in HOTT, too. So, I'd picked up a pair of tigers
to use as Beasts anda pack of Chinese peasants, three of whom I converted
into a stand of Buddhist monks. After a furious painting session, they
were ready, and my army consisted of: 2 elephants as Behemoths (1 the general);
2 Maiden Guard Spear; 2 stands of bow as Shooters; 3 stands of foot as Hordes;
the tigers as Beasts; and the monks as a Cleric.
I flew to Minneapolis and picked up my rental car. I worried about bad
omens when a rock from a truck chipped the car's windshield. Would my dice
follow suit? My timing wasn't bad, though, as I met the other tournament
participants at the hotel just as they were getting ready to go to dinner.
It would end up being a small group. Besides myself, there was Chow Li,
Bill Bennett, Joel Gregory and Stuart Rowe. All were from Minnesota or
Iowa.
Friday night was slated for socializing and pickup games. I managed
to squeeze in four games. The star chip's omen seemed accurate as my dice
were abysmal, and I went 1-3 on Friday. Saturday morning, we waited till
scheduled start time in case any "maybes" showed up, but none
did. Bill scheduled us to play round robin, one person having a bye each
round. At least half the games would be played with your chosen army, the
other half you could choose one from the "Pool." This meant I
played two games with my 15mm Khmers, and two with borrowed 25mm ones, as
all the other players chose 25mm standing armies.
My first round
was against Chow Li, who was using his 25mm Conan "Amra" list
(Conan at the head of one of Hyboria's black kingdoms). I chose Bill's
High Elf Pool army. As defender, I coated the board with scrub brush and
deployed my hero in the center, divided four spear on his flanks and four
shooters on their flanks. The Magician general stayed in the back as reserve.
Chow Li split the 6 warbands onto the two flanks in the scrub, with 2 Riders
positioned to sweep around my left and attack my stronghold. His center
was held by his Magician and Conan, the Hero general. My poor pip dice
slowed my advance to a stately pace, but my Shooters were able to block
his flank movement and pick off a Warband and Rider. Cursing, Conan took
matters into his own hands and cut through one Shooter and rushed my Magician
General. With the current losses, whoever won the combat roll one the game.
I rolled a "2" and down to defeat went the Elves (44-4 in Bill's
scoring system).
In the second round, I got to play my Khmers vs. Stuart Rowe, who chose
Bill's Mythic Persian army. It consisted of 3 Knights (1 the general);
3 Riders; 4 Hordes; Magician; and Behemoth. Stuart deployed his Knights
on his right, Riders on the left, and the rest in a refused center. I detached
2 Shooters and the tigers to deal with the Riders, while the Hordes hugged
some scrub brush while trying to guard the center's left flank against the
Knights.
My dice rolling began the game in brutal fashion, as I watched his Riders
plow through my Shooters. I detached a Maiden Guard spear to flank the
Riders, and they were able to destroy two stands of them. The tigers pushed
the last Riders all the way to the board edge before rolling a "1"
and dying. Encouraged, Stuart charged his Knight general and one companion
into my 3 Hordes, riding two down. The remaining Horde boldly turned and
flanked his general, who had no recoil room, and won! Emboldened, I closed
with his center and was able to eke out the kills I needed to raise his
losses above mine and secure victory (41-7).
In our last round before lunch, I faced Joel Gregory's 25mm Arthurian
British. I borrowed Bill's 25mm Skaven, which had a Hero general, Cleric,
Lurker, 2 Shooters and 6 Blades. Joel encamped his 3 Shooters, 1 Hero and
Paladin on or next to a patch of rough ground, while sending 3 Spears (1
the general) and another Hero to encircle my left. I advanced the six Ratmen
Blades in columns towards the Shooters, while my own Shooters and the Cleric
guarded against his sweeping movement. My pip dice quit and I could only
watch as his Spears, Hero and Paladin crushed my left, brushing aside the
feeble efforts of my Shooters to ward them off. The Cleric died, then the
Hero general fell, and the Ratmen paid the piper (48-0).
During lunch, I tried to shrug off the defeats, rationalizing that I
pretty much abhor Magician and Hero generals. It was no wonder I couldn't
win with them against veteran opponents. My last game would be with my
Khmers, and if I won, I salvaged a 2-2 record. Not bad against good players
with unfamiliar or new armies, I thought!
My final game pitted me against Tourney Director Bill Bennett, who eschewed
the Druid and Steppe army I'd brought for the pool and chose the Mythic
Persians to avenge their earlier defeat. The terrain favored me as defender,
and I advanced quickly to bottle him up inside a river and large scrub area.
My Shooters and Beasts seized the scrub, opposed by only 4 Hordes, who
they began to shoot down. Bill gamely advanced with his Knights matched
against my Spears. They rode down one, and his magic sent one Behemoth
fleeing, despite the Cleric's presence. The victorious Knight general then
turned and rode down my Cleric. At that point, the Khmer battleline stiffened.
The Hordes filled in the holes and my Shooters drove back his Behemoth.
That freed up my general's elephant to trample his Knight general. At
that point, my pips faltered, and it ws several turns before I was able
to take advantage of his open left flank that my Shooters had won and polish
the Persians off (43-5). Bill had fought a tough battle against both disadvantageous
matchups and terrain.
All rounds completed, Bill tallied up the results. To our amazement,
all five of us had finished 2-2! The point system was used to determine
the two top finishers to play for the championship. Stuart and his U.N.I.T.
army (a Doctor Who thing, I guess) faced off against Joel's Arthurians.
In a wild battle, the Britons narrowly snatched victory.
The tournament was a blast and I wish more people could have come to
enjoy it. Thanks to Bill for running it, Chow Li for arranging the hotel
venue and Joel for providing the prizes. It was a long (and not inexpensive)
way for me to go for a HOTT tourney. However, it was good fun, we had a
great time socializing, and now I have four new friends in the gaming world
-- and you can't put a price on that!
As for my jungle Khmer, they found Iowa to be sunny and pleasant, after
all, much like the folk they encountered. This made the return march southward
seem not so arduous.