"2016 Good, Bad and Ugly Tournament Theme" Topic

I am pleased to announce that the theme for the 2016 Good, Bad and Ugly International Hordes of the Things (HotT) Tournament is

A walk in history – "Here be dragons"!

The Leg Coordinators/Organizers have worked very hard the past two months determining a theme that would appeal to players, allow for some fun armies and make for a good tournament. We feel a little explanation is best since theme armies are eligible for the Barker Award – the best theme army in the entire tournament.

First it is a normal 24 AP army with the standard guidelines of the rules of only allowing no more than 12 AP as elements above 2 AP. All elements must be elements found in HotT. However, the army must be a factual historical army, for example Roman, Greek, medieval, WWI, WWII, Pirates, the Wild West, Native American, etc. The army cannot be based on fantasy or myth for example Tolkien (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit), Narnia, Redwall, Weirdstone, etc. – however, the army could however have some elements from these sources.

A theme army must have at least half the AP as true historical elements, while at least 2 elements must be fantasy. You may have more than 2 elements of fantasy, if you desire up to 12 AP.

To explain what is meant by historical and fantasy, and a few examples:

Historical = those elements that truly existed in history, and are elements found in DBA, and must also be found in HotT – these being: artillery, blades, hordes, knights, spears or warband.

Fantasy = those elements that exist in HotT, but do not exist in DBA – these being: aerial heroes, airboats. beasts, behemoths, clerics, dragons, fliers, gods, heroes, lurkers, magicians, paladins, shooters or sneakers.

Example #1
a. Saxon Bowmen = Fantasy – because Shooters is a HotT only element type, there is no Bow element type in HotT.

b. Orc bowmen = Fantasy – because Shooters is a HotT only element type and the figures are fantasy.

Example #2
a. Saxon Fyrd Spearmen = Historical – because spears is both a DBA and a HotT element type, but the figures are historical and are human. Human pikemern could be classified as spears and so historical.

b. Orc Spears = Fantasy – because spears is both a DBA and a HotT element, but the figures are fantasy.

Example #3

a. Elephant = Fantasy – because the elephant element type does not exist in HotT, but behemoth does, therefore it is played as a behemoth.

b. Da Vinci tank = Fantasy – because it is not historical (i.e. never truly existed as far as I know beyond paper), so it would be a behemoth.

Example #4
a. Hero = Fantasy – because you are playing *King Arthur as a Hero General, and Hero is a HotT only element type.

b. Knight = Historical – because you are playing *King Arthur as a Knight General and the element type exists in both DBA and HotT.

c. Nazgul on horse = Fantasy – because this is a fantasy only figure type be he Knight, Hero, Rider, etc.

(*of course we don't know who King Arthur really was, but for this example he was a real person)

A theme army is not required to participate, however only theme armies are eligible to compete for the Barker Award. As in the past, one theme army from each Leg will be submitted for voting for the Barker Award.

In addition to the Barker Award, We are implementing a stronghold Award for the best Stronghold. A Stronghold will be eligible even if it didn't get played – a player was the attacker in all three rounds. But the stronghold must be the one he would have played had he been the defender. The tournament will consist of three rounds.

All armies must be declared as either Good or Bad as the player wishes, and it is hoped that an even balance can be obtained. The wins for these two factions will be collected for an over all determination.

We are changing the award structure this year, and have decided to discontinue the overall awards. However, each Leg Coordinator will provide awards locally. Therefore, the only awards overall will be for the best theme army and the best stronghold. The Top winner in each location will receive a Good, Bad and Ugly certificate for their accomplishment.

We have added a new location, the Shetland Islands, giving us ten locations so far this year. They ar:e

Bob Beattie – Midwest USA (Michigan)
Blake Radetzky – Republic of Texas (San Antonio)
Euan Caldwell – Glasgow
Bob Carter – North Yorkshire
Victor Jarmusz – Sydney
Tim Moore – Staines Massive/GBnU (Staines)
John Hovey – Tornado Alley (Dallas)
Tom Thomas – Atlanta
Mike McEwan – Shetland Islands
Terry Webb – Nashville

If any one is interested in joining the tournament as either a new Leg or as a participant, please contact me drover698 at gmail dot com I'll see you get included.

Terry

Im all good to go..

I know what I'll be bringing to the rumble:

link

Sounds great! Personally I would have made Shooters = Bows, and Riders = Cavalry for determining what elements are historical. For example, English Longbows fielded as Shooters would count as historical elements. But I can understand the need to keep it simple.

Thanks for continuing to organize this great event!

Sure, another whole way to organize it is to say that historical armies are made up of historical people and animals whatever Their troop type. Fantasy elements would be those things which have not existed in history that we know of :-). Or at least didn't appear in any army, such as dinosaurs which are historical but not in any historical army.

Terry however wanted to make this as simple as possible as Ivan notes. The various leg Masters worked this over for two months and they are all happy with it. Now is the time to start thinking of what Armies to use based on the very explicit criteria stated above.

Would a JSDF force from the anime/manga "The Gate" be legal?

Modern Japanese Self Defense Forces fighting in a fantasy world… Cobra helicopters and/or F4Js taking the place of dragons, tanks, armored cars…

Lion, It could be as long as you had 12 AP were true historical humans. As I read your note I am guessing you will have Japanese soldiers which exist today, but base the army on the anime "The Gate". Since the JSDF is actual, then just be sure you have at least 12 AP of the force as Human. If you want to play a cobra helicopter as a Dragon, then I could see that being a fantasy element even though it is an actual human machine – it is being played as a HotT only element.

Also remember, a theme army is not an absolute requirement to play in the tournament, only to compete for the barker Award.

Hope this helps, but if not, ask for more and I'll try to do better.

Terry

Ivan, Bob has already given the answer (thanks Bob) but I thought I would just add a bit. I know there are many ways to approach this, but we, the leg Coordinators felt this was the best way to appeal to as many people as possible. We spent a good two months working through to get it in it's final form, and i both thank and commend the leg Coordinators for their participation, help and patience. Everyone is committed to make all Legs as enjoyable as possible.

Terry

This looks great. Will historical Cavalry elements count as Riders? I don't see either addressed above.