FANTASY MASS-COMBAT VOTING RESULTS:
Voters, By State - Ohio

A horde of demons had been terrorizing a local village, and the humans in the area had all fled. The demons were beginning evil rites to summon their master, when the scene was charged upon by the secretive newt-people of the nearby swamps. It was a medium sized battle using Clan Wars rules and all Warhammer miniatures. [15 Sep 1999]

WFB game (more skirmish than "mass combat", in my opinion...) Wood Elf archers can gun down almost anything before it even gets to them. Bloody game vs. lizards. [04 Jun 1999]

Dwarf vs Undead in 15mm

Play AOA! [9 Apr 99]

Our Last Mass-Combat game was Warhammer fantasy. It was an unlimited turn game, 3000 points to each side. I was Empire, and Tod Detre played the Tileans from Dogs of War. It was mostly a test for the fairness of suggessted house rules. It was a fairly good fight. Both sides had about 60-70% casulties. But I had gained a flanking position at the end of turn 6, putting me at an advantage in the stalemate. After 7 turns, concentrated cannon fire killed Borgio the Besiger. With his general dead, one flank definately mine, and his Republican Guard staring down an Ogre charge, he granted me a Victory. Using the old VP system it was a 14 - 9 game. Found out that the 1" backwalk movement (you keep the same facing that the unit currently has, but you move it backwards 1") was highly effective (as it bought the Republican Guard 1 more turn.) But the rules for a fighting withdrawl would need more testing. [19 Mar 99]

I played Slaughterloo lastv friday (26FEB99)

I commanded a Ferach (Elf) division on the right flank of our army. I placed my Guards on a hilltop and some Skirmishers to anchor me in the woods at the table edge.The Dwarves, Highland Rats, and Orcs charged with a cannon firing in support. The Goblin lizard riders broke their teeth on the skirmishers in the trees, Dwarf pig riders coming uphill got hung up and shot to pieces by the Guard, same thing happened to the Rats, and my Heavy Cavalry hit the Orcs in the flank and sent them packing. I also had a regular elf foot unit who wiped out an Orc skirmisher band.

At that point I turned to our sides' commander in chief and reported "Sir, the right flank is secure."

I have observed many gamers in both Sci-Fi and Fantasy games simply move their units forward, right out into the middle of everything with no support and ignoring any kind of beneficial terrain. Then they blame the dice or their opponemts superior forces or units for their lack of success. I have most often noted this in Warhammer (fantasy & sci-fi) games and I think that this is for 2 main reasons. 1) Warhammer is the game many players start with these days and so you have a fair percentage of new and inexperienced players so you are likely to have a low degree of tactical acumen 2) GW has written their rules so that for the most part if you have the money to purchase the mega-death dealing miniatures you don't need to try to turn an enemy's flank. You just waltz up to him and not roll badly. Hey! I'm NOT claiming that ALL Warhammer & 40K gamers don't employ tactics. This is just what I've observed at the gaming stores and conventions. Last friday was the very first time I had seen Slaughterloo so I was entirely unfamiliar with the game system. Without knowing the rules, I fell back on good, solid, simple tactics. The enemy was coming so I advanced to the hill in front of me and set my best infantry on top of it. I grabbed the woods to secure my right flank. My regular infantry set up to the left of the hill to tie in with the player on my left and leave no big gap. My cavalry I held in reserve to exploit any advantage or mistake made by the enemy. The results are written above. Be agressive but not silly, use manuever to accomplish goals ( instead of a frontal charge, see if you can slip cavalry around behind the bad guys) and use the terrain to you advantage. [2 Mar 99]

We played a Tolkienesque Scenario for Hott. 96Ap per side. The Orcs arrived in waves almost overrunning the Humans. However Rohan appeared and smited the evil Orcs forcing them to flee!

Although I really love FR2, I have rediscovered Hott recently and The STRONGHOLD website through your links. I love them both! Keep up the Great work! The best website on the net. [25 Feb 99]

We used Chipco's "FR!" and did a multi-player game, with each of four players commanding a contingent of troops. It was a Good vs. Evil game, in essence, with a Wood Elf and Riders of Rohan-type army against two Orcish ones. The Orcs were able to neutralize the mounted advantage of the Riders, and then overpower them with their infantry battleline. Meanwhile, the Wood Elves were barely driven off in a slugfest on the other flank. The "bad guys" won... [17 Feb 99]

A Tolkienesque fight using HOTT - digital pics available. Quite nice visually, with over 100 army points on each side in 15mm scale. Of course, the thrice damned forces of "good" won - damn the bad luck. [16 Feb 99]

Fantasy Rules 2 testing out the Juggernought optional rules using old Grenadier Barbarians on giant mastodons as Juggered Battle Wagons. The several different armies were tried and only the undead army including several undead large monsters was real match. [15 Feb 99]