Hordes of the Things (HOTT) is the fantasy version of WRG's well known DBA rules, and shares the same advantage of DBA - that a game can be set up and comfortably played through in an evening. Additionally, HOTT games have a definite attacker and defender, since the victory conditions are based around one side capturing the enemy's camp - this is a definite bonus for solo play. However, setting up a game fairly for both sides is sometimes a problem. I have found that the second side to be set up tends to get a more favorable disposition. In an effort to counter this, to some extent, I came up with a random set-up system, which, while designed with HOTT in mind would probably work for DBA as well. The system is to first produce a random terrain to be fought over and then to distribute the troops on it in a pseudo-random manner.
Terrain Generation. The table is divided into four segments as per the HOTT rule book. The terrain in each quarter is diced for using the following method. Each quarter of the board is diced for with: 1-3: 1 terrain item - and dice again, a 6 indicates that the terrain is unusual. 4-5: 2 terrain items. 6: 3 terrain items. Then dice again for each item, consulting the following table.
| Dice Roll | Number of terrain items | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 | river | steep hill | low hill |
| 2 | low hill | road | river |
| 3 | wood | river | marsh |
| 4 | road | village | wood |
| 5 | village | wood | low hill |
| 6 | wood | marsh | road |
If an unusual terrain item is required, the following table is used.
-
1: cliff
2: swamp
3: lake fed by stream
4: mountain
5: man-eating plants (or similar hazard) - any unit ending its turn within this area- or forced back into it after combat, is attacked by a horde.
6: chasm
Other unusual hazards could be that an area of the board is the domain of a very powerful neutral wizard who will attack the nearest element to him in each turn, or a magical gate - passing over this area will transport a unit 10 cm in a random direction - the gate will move 10 cm in the opposite direction (every action, after all, has an equal and opposite reaction). This could, of course, move it onto another unit, which will suffer the same fate. Such cascades can be amusing or annoying, depending on which side you currently favor.
Having fixed the terrain dice for the defender's edge, giving each edge equal priority, the opposite edge is the attacker's. Don't, however, set up the defender's camp as yet.
Troop Distribution. Each starting side is divided into four strips (see figure 1) and all troop elements are divided by type. Starting with the lowest point foot unit (usually a horde) the bases are divided between the strips. The first element is placed in a randomly selected strip. The next element is placed in the same strip if a dice roll exceeds the current total of points in the strip. When 6+ points is reached in a strip a different strip is randomly selected and the process is continued until all of an army's elements have been placed into one of the strips. There is a +1 modifier to the die roll when rolling to place spears if the strip already contains spears and +1 if there is another unit of the same type already in the strip (giving +2 to place human spears with human spears but only +1 to place human spears with dwarf spears).
The General unit is placed last into any strip. The Defender's camp is placed on the board after the defending elements have been distributed to their strips. Set up of the elements within the strip follows the normal rules for distance from the table edge etc. I have found that this method produces an extra challenge since there will, inevitably be gaps in both lines and, worst of all, elements hidden from the general's sight which will need to be maneuvered into a more suitable position at the extra PIP cost. This last effect can be exacerbated by randomly placing the General element as well.
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