“What does HOTT stand for?” was a somewhat plaintive question posed on an acronym-infested thread on an internet newsgroup recently, and by request I've expanded my response into a more extensive review for this newsletter. Briefly, "Hordes of the Things" is a fantasy spin-off from the Wargames Research Group's "De Bellis Antiquitatis" compact miniatures rule system for the period 3000 B.C. to 1485 A.D. HOTT is self-contained in one volume, cheap and fun - which sets it apart from most fantasy systems! It even contains rules for campaigns, but these are somewhat stylised and more a framework on which to hang encounters between armies (whereas the epitome of strategic generalship has always been seen as defeating the enemy without risking the vicissitudes of combat), so what we're talking about here is mostly table top tactical. I'll outline how HOTT relates to its historical cousin, DBA (as it is generally referred to), indicate those features which make it my currently most-used tabletop rules, and hopefully show why I recommend it to any historical gamer who fancies a bit of a change or some light-hearted entertainment.

For those of you unfamiliar with DBA, it is fought with armies of twelve elements each, these elements representing specific types of troops found in the historical period, defined if terms of their battlefield function and attributes. No points values are given for these as a reasonably comprehensive list of ancient and medieval armies is included in the rules stating which elements are to be used, although many armies include some alternatives to cover historically attested variations or alternative interpretations. Victory occurs at the end of a bound in which an army has lost it's Generals element or four elements, providing it has lost more elements than it's opponent. Loosing one's camp counts as a two element loss in addition to any element garrisoning it. Mounted elements are divided into Elephants, Knights, Cavalry, Light Horse, Scythed Chariots and Camelry, while the foot comprise Spears, Pikes, Blades, Auxilia, Bows, Psiloi, Warband, Artillery and War Wagons. HOTT modifies these lists by conflating Cavalry, Light Horse, and Camelry into “Riders” which now includes ridden creatures other than horses, Pikes are included in Spears, Bows become Shooters while Scythed Chariots, Auxilia, and Psiloi are discarded. Elephants and War Wagons are subsumed into “Behemoths”, a new mounted class, otherwise the majority of fantasy types rally to the standard of their nearest historical equivalent. Specifically fantasy troop types are catered for by the new mounted categories of Heroes, Paladins, and Beasts, while the foot gain Magicians, Clerics, Sneakers, Lurkers, and Hordes. This last represents troops such as Goblins, available in great quantities but with little skill at arms - a concept which has been back-fitted to historical rules for such types as the peasant levies present in many armies. An entirely new order of element types - Aerials, comprising Gods, Dragons, Airboats, Flyers and a variant on Heroes - is created to cover those types capable of airborne locomotion. Because some of these classes have a markedly greater military potential than others a fairly rudimentary points value system is introduced, giving each element type a value of one, two, three, four or six Army Points. An army can have no more than half its Army Point value in elements costing three or more points. The recommended force size is 24 Army Points (and if you use historically valid element types you do tend to get a twelve element army), while the victory conditions now specify the loss of army points rather than elements, and half an armies points rather than a third, armies of myth and legend having always behaved more heroically then their historical counterparts. The loss of a Stronghold is now an automatic defeat, but unlike Camps in DBA these are not garrisoned and have their own, substantial, combat factor, and they cannot be taken by Aerials, although these may assist a ground attack.

Combat is resolved by a single throw of a good old one-to-six numbered cubic dice for each of a pair of opposed elements in face-to-face contact. (Only Shooters/Bows and Artillery, and Magicians for HOTT, are capable of distant combat - the resolution of this is almost identical to hand-to-hand combat). To this dice throw are added or deducted of a small range of tactical modifiers, and the addition of the unit's relevant combat factor. Some units, such as spears, have only a single factor, but most have two. For DBA these are differentiated as being against foot and against mounted, for HOTT this becomes against foot or stronghold and against “others”. In HOTT a unit of Spears receives a “+1” tactical factor for having another such unit supporting it from behind, this is the only case in the fantasy system as opposed to a slightly more complicated system of historically attested rear support in DBA. Combat results occur immediately and are visible on the table, the only accountancy necessary with these systems is to be able to add up the value of the elements you have removed from play! The combat results can be have both elements remaining in place and continuing the fight, or one element being thrown back by a distance equal to its own base depth, fleeing a specified distance or being destroyed, while Knights, Warbands, and Behemoths automatically follow through against a loosing unit. Push backs or flight may be converted to destruction in certain circumstances, but destruction is not the commonest result: with HOTT as in DBA causing the opposing army to loose cohesion and be defeated in detail is the truest route to victory.

This is facilitated by the movement system, again based on a single D6 roll. Each dot on the dice becomes a Player Initiative Point, which can move either an individual element or a group of elements which moves as a block. Elements or groups which are composed of aerials or include Magicians (Elephants in DBA) require an extra PIP to move, otherwise PIPs may be used to cast spells, replace lost Hordes or revive ensorcelled Magicians or Heroes (in DBA, make additional moves in certain circumstances). The trick is to keep your army in as few groups as possible (usually one or two to start with) as combat will soon fragment these and PIP utilisation, and therefore tactics, becomes a matter of hard choices. As is usual with WRG systems victory cannot often be built other than on the foundation of a sound initial deployment.

So, how does it play? In two words, quickly and easily. A typical game will take little more than an hour, a disaster half that, while the hardest-fought battle I can recall took most of an afternoon. The basic concepts are easy to absorb and the battle rules quickly learned, but as with many simple ideas there are subtleties of tactics which need further playing to be discovered. Nonetheless it is a game which can be enjoyed from the outset even by a wargaming novice. Whereas we used to use DBA as our preferred introduction to this style of wargaming, we now find using HOTT with “nearly historical” armies even easier, and I suspect this will be even more true now DBA has received further amendments to bring it into line with it's “full-size” development, De Bellis Multitudinis (DBM). But with the addition of the full range of fantasy troop types HOTT is an excellent game in its own right, with the facility for tactically more complex scenarios than in DBA - how does the commander of what is essentially a straight Wars of the Roses army deal with vertical envelopment was one intriguing problem that cropped up.

How flexible is it? In terms of scale, it is suggested one may double the width of the suggested playing area (while retaining the prescribed depth) to accommodate armies of 72 points value organised in three commands. I've only gone as far as 48 points on such a battlefield, but there was no loss of playability at that point. Beyond 72 point armies, one may look to the more complex historical “big army” variant DBM, which has a Fantasy supplement “Here be Dragons” (subtitled “De Bellis Fantasticus”, hence the occasionally-used acronym DBF), however that lies beyond the scope of this review, and, as yet, my experience. As for flexibility in terms of genre, almost any army can be incorporated. The rules include a rather humorous suggested “Fantasy Napoleonic” army list, but almost any figure you want to use can be shoehorned into one class or another. Stone Age Savages versus Space Marines, then? Incongruous but playable, all one needs to do is assume is in this fantasy scenario magic works, and (at least in part) diminishes the effects of technology in exactly the way the shirts of the Ghost Dancers didn't, while permitting stone axes to pulverise plasteel. But one doesn't have to go quite that far. I've become addicted to Foundry's “Darkest Africa” range, while having certain reservations about gaming in a period where machine-guns were deployed against people who, as Captain Blackadder maintained, were armed only with “pieces of sharpened fruit”. So I've taken a step sideways and intend to game in an “alternative universe” based on the fiction of the period, rather than the reality - a cross between Rider Haggard and Jules Verne, Kipling and H G Wells, with a touch of “Space 1889” and “Cthulu by Gaslight”. For this HOTT also works. So somewhere on the Dark Continent, young Lieutenant Tim Nice-but-Dim faces a host of “Painted Savages” (actually a tribe with a rich culture and subtle ethics but much misunderstood by other people, especially the ones they eat). Tim is classified as a Paladin, as his blind faith that he is helping build an Empire for the Glory of the Queen-Empress and the benefit of all mankind causes him to behave in a manner which inspires his Askaris. This inspirational naivety enables the Askaris by his presence overcome their dread of the notorious Witchdoctor Tomeh Kupah who is batting for the other side. Should Tim fall, the Askaris will not be able to add 2 to their die roll while within 600 paces of him when the Witchdoctor points his Ju-Ju Stick at them, and may well receive a “destroyed” result. This does not mean that the Witchdoctor has magic powers (although he might!), just that the Askaris believe he does, and that “destroyed” does not mean they are crisped by a fireball, but that the entire unit is scattered through the jungle screaming “We're all going to die!” Note that in HOTT, Paladins are not allowed to be Generals, so the command functions of this army are invested in the Elite Askari unit containing the veteran Sargent Mboko. This unit is classified as “Blades” as while their musketry is as inept as any other native troops, they can deliver a controlled volley at close range and are “damn forward fellows with the bayonet”. Similarly F P O'Flynn, the reprobate poacher who comes good in the end, is classified as a Magician because while it's obvious he's using a firearm, to the locals it's unnatural for anyone to be able to shoot that straight and that far! And yep, “Wild, Wild West” fits right into this “Alternative Nineteenth Century” concept, so what have we got….. Rocket-powered Hang Glider/Penny Farthing hybrid used for scouting, Flyers, two Army points; Will Smith, Kevin Kline and Salma Hayek on one base (knew I'd find a use for that figure of a Victorian lady in her underwear), Sneakers, three Army Points; Ex-Confederate General Mad Scientist in 80 foot tall mechanical spider, Behemoth, four Army Points, where the hell am I going to get all that plastruct?

The idea of gaming an ancient conflict as it was perceived by its participants or mythologised by their bards, rather than what we now believe was the actuality, can also be an catered for. A DBA Mycenaean army can, with a few alterations, fight the battles before Troy led by Heroes and with the intervention of Gods, or Celts fight in the style of the Ulster Cycle rather than as modern scholarship would suggest. This is actually how I came to HOTT.

My first HOTT army was my 15mm DBA Later Crusaders, who lost their two Maronite Archer Psiloi elements (I could have retained these as Lurkers, but that doesn't represent the full abilities of historical skirmishing light infantry) and gained a Cleric and a Horde of Pilgrims, later the Turkopole cavalry and element of Knights were traded for a Paladin. Later still the gift of a Trebuchet meant another two historical elements (usually Crossbows or Spearmen) were dropped in favour of an Artillery element and another pilgrim Horde. When a more visually impressive army was need for public display, the reconfigured Crusaders acted as the prototype for the conversion of my 28mm Wars of the Roses force, which in addition to having a bombard for the Artillery could also substitute a Hero for the Paladin, and a Magician for the Cleric and Pilgrims for a more secular host.

Over the last few years this army has taken on a variety of weird and wonderful opponents, and has always given a creditable performance where it has not actually prevailed; it has now been cloned using second-hand figures to give our club its first communally owned army. Before my African obsession itervened it was my intent to build a 28mm DBA Later Swiss army, mainly from the Foundry RENMERC figures, but padded out with Games Workshop plastic “Soldiers of the Empire” converted to pikemen. The intent was to use these as a low-risk entry into the Renaissance period, as they could also be used for De Bellis Renationis (DBR), essentially DBMs equivalent for the later period, but containing within itself a compact scale version equating to DBA. But always in the back of my mind was the fact I had a couple of old Marauder Miniatures Ogres dressed as Landsknechts lying around somewhere….

Similarly, a friend has begun a Buccaneer army based on the DBR list and utilising several of the new ranges of Pirates released recently, but in the absence of any period opponents fully expects its first outing to be under the HOTT rules. On the other hand, there are historical gamers who prefer to use HOTT simply as a fun rule set (albeit with the advantage of sharing the same mechanisms as their mainstream rules), and have an approach to fantasy that is so tongue-in-cheek it's nearly stuck out their ear. One friend's only fantasy armies are 15mm Duckmen, Gnomes (Lawn-ornament types wth fishing rods, etc.,) and a seasonal speciality of Snowmen and Santas he made up from cake decorations last Xmas, while another is threatening an army recruited from the contents of Kinder Eggs, and there are dark rumours of forces raised from Playmobil or Lego figures!

Finally, (nearly there) there is one big factor in HOTTs favour: visual appearance. This is not just a set of rules for wargaming with miniatures, it is a set of rules ideal for gamers who really enjoy their miniatures. 15mm scale figures are fine, many look very good, (and I own a hell of a lot) but the real glory are the 25mm (or 28mm) scale armies. The numbers of figures required for an army is usually quite small - my Fantasy Barbarians (for the most part the old Grenadier figures by Mark Copplestone) consist of only one mounted figure, 30 foot figures, two wolves and a Giant, giving 30 points worth of elements for a little flexibility. Similarly, a “pared to the bone” Steppe Barbarian army will require only 21 mounted figures if one element is a Hero - co-incidentally, Gripping Beast have just released a range of 20 new “Hun” figures! With these sorts of numbers, one can concentrate on giving one's figures the paint job they deserve, and the detail incorporated in figures these days justifies the effort. Even if one follows the base sizes recommended in HOTT (and I do, as they are common to the whole family of rule sets) one can make each element -or at least the high value ones- a vignette; your useful playing pieces can look as good as the sort of thing that sits on a polished base at the back of a display cabinet and gathers dust. How about a “Cleric” element consisting of a monk praying over a fallen knight while a crossbowman makes off with the dead man's helmet? Or a “Magician” element for an evil army consisting of a Necromancer conducting a human sacrifice? (That one had an unusual feature, the stone of the sacrificial slab and a large monolith included in the diorama was made of - stone! All this on a 60mm square base.)

The effect is enhanced when the same attention is paid to the playing area. All scenery features can benefit, but for many HOTT players their army's Stronghold is the piece de resistance. One Undead Army had a Gothic Graveyard complete with new recruits emerging from the tomb, but Disney-style castles that make Neuschwanstein look like a garden shed are very popular.

At the bottom of page 7 of the rules there is a note: “Be warned. Planning and painting such hordes is addictive!” This should be repeated, with the words “such hordes” substituted by “HOTT armies” on the cover in very large letters. Once upon a time one would see a range of figures an know there was no way in hell you would ever build a full size army from them, but you would buy one or two and say “They'll come in for Fantasy Role-play”, now its one or two dozen and there's another HOTT army on the way…

For those of you with access to the Web, there is a good HOTT site at http://www.btinternet.com/~alan.catherine/wargames/strong.htm, and an account of a battle played with a couple of “almost historical” armies at http://www.haven.demon.co.uk/wargame.html, also some stuff at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~beattie/bobs.html, where I got the latest DBA amendments as well.

Standard disclaimer: I have no connection with any Publisher of Rules, Manufacturer of Figures or Brewery mentioned above other than as a consumer of their products.