HOTT Berkeley

A report of the 2003 competition

by Jeff Herbert

I recently attended HOTT Berkeley, the annual Hordes of the Things, competition, which this year was held on 30th and 31st of August, at the Tudor Arms Lodge, Slimbridge.

I arrived on the Friday night as the venue had accommodation.  My room was of a decent standard similar to that found in UK ’s motorway lodges.

My first day of gaming went badly and I lost all four games, I must blame my lucky dice for this, which consistently threw low numbers.  I can only believe it was still jet lagged from the flight from Hong Kong.  Mind you I believe that my fate was set in the first game when my Thought Dragons attacked Iain Davidson’ Wood Elves.  Having always played HOTT like DBA/DBM with a few set pieces of terrain it came as a shock that Iain had covered the table, or 49% of it, with little patches of woods.  As Flyers cannot end over difficult going I was left with only patches of ground to hover over.  Be that as it may my strategy was to fly over his shooters and attack his stronghold with my Heroes.  Unfortunately I triggered this too soon and Iain moved enough bowmen back in time.  I should have waited.  It was however my most challenging game of the competition and my vote also went to Iain being recorded as the cheesiest player.  In fairness you would expect Wood Elves to live in woods and flyers are not too good in such circumstances.

After formal gaming had stopped several of the other competitors who were staying at the accommodation that night got out some more games.  I was introduced to AK47, which is a set of Peter Pig rules for fictitious African states in the 60’s.  I found them highly enjoyable although this was helped by the jolly good company and copious quantities of beer.  As a result I went to bed at 1am thinking about buying even more lead.

Up in time for breakfast next day, just, and then four more games.  This time I managed to win three games, two of which were with borrowed 25mm armies one an army of Highland Badgers and the other Street Rats.  These were both well-balanced armies.  I ended in 28th position out of 34 players and 1st of the HKSW team of 1.

If you visit Alan Saunders Stronghold site you will see some pictures of me wearing the HKSW sport shirt.

My special thanks go to all those present who contributed to me having a cracking good time, especially Steve Price who put in considerable effort in running the competition.  Highly recommended for a fun weekend.

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