In which Ivor the Engine proves he is not cut out to be a warrior

[janewilliams20]

Yesterday was HOTT BAPP, up in Burton at the Beer & Pretzels show. The theme this year was "when we were very young", 40mm frontage, so I took the Ivor army I'd done for HOTT Cymru and reprinted it in the smaller size. They'd also asked for Sneakers to be included in each army so as to test out the new Sneaker rules. Yes, "reprinted" - Ivor was originally paintings on cardboard flats, and that's what I was doing here. Print figures, with the name and unit type printed on each base, cut out, glue to card.

Conclusion 1: sneaker rule never tested, sneaker never had a chance to Do its Stuff.

Conclusion 2: if your army consists mainly of Hordes, with a Warband general and a Dragon lurking in the wings for that elusive roll of a 6, you do not want to be facing Knights. Guess what every army I met had as its main troop type?

I did not get the prize for coming bottom: but I only missed it by the last die-roll.

I think I'll be redesigning that army. Idris has to stay as a Dragon, because
a) he is one!
b) his role in the stories is perfect HOTT Dragon behaviour. Only shows up at all on a whim, and runs away at the first sign of trouble, but when he is around, applies a +6 to any problem he's asked to solve.

Ivor may move from Hero to Behemoth, and Jones the Steam from Warband General to Hero General. Trouble is, if I have a Hero General, I really need a Cleric to protect him from enemy Magicians, and I'm only allowed half my points (12) as units of more than 2 points
Dragon - 4
Hero - 4
Behemoth - 4
Cleric - 3
Alice the Elephant is another obvious Behemoth, too.

Maybe I forget the Hero idea for Jones, and thus the need for Clerical protection? But what else can he be? He's got to be the general. Some sort of 2-pt element... maybe a Knight? I could see him as a Paladin, but they can't be generals.


Next year, the theme will be "classic gold", and we're asked to provide matched pairs. 40mm again. Others are considering various historical kings, and the Aegetean Empire, but my thoughts turn to 10/15mm Glorantha, and the Sun Dome Templars. I already had plans for a 15mm/10mm High Llama army (I possess 40-odd unfortunately identical llamas in 15mm and some 10mm infantry to act as riders), now I need to sort some 10mm phalanx - and the special units to go with them, which may be somewhat harder.

Comments

[entropic-angel.livejournal.com]

You have such fun/ interesting sounding armies.

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

HOTT is a system that encourages this sort of thing. It suits me perfectly.

[entropic-angel.livejournal.com]

Cool; any system that encourages fun is a good thing in my books.