HotT: Night of the Bats!

Introduction

We've played more games than usual recently.  Indeed, this last Christmas/New Year holiday period has been quite busy in that respect.  The practical consequence of this is that I'm falling behind in writing my reports!

Maybe you're thinking "Why does it matter?  Does every game need to be written down for posterity?"  Well, I do wonder this myself sometimes.  Here's my thinking: I wish to describe what happened as a (hopefully) entertaining tale, but I'm also recording the scenario used, the figures available to each side and the way the terrain was set up.

These data enable me to decide what worked well, what needs improvement for the future and so on.  In addition, the historical record permits me to calculate how long it has been since we played a particular set of rules.  Finally, if such tales of glory and woe are appealing to you (the readers) as well then that's a very welcome bonus!

What I've described in the paragraph above is (I think) part of the creative process.  For miniatures-based games, that is a large part of the hobby, for me at least.  This introspection helps me to understand what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.

Note that I do not attempt to document board or card games such as "Race for the Galaxy", "Cluedo" or the like.  These aren't in the same category as miniatures; board & card games are fully-formed in themselves and have no creative input from me.

On with tonight's report!

Night of the Bats!

Our visitors (Steve and his son) had enjoyed our last game of Hordes of the Things so much that we decided to play another.  This was a straight-up fight between the Knights of Lyonesse and the Cabal of the Black Hand - Necromancers and their undead servants.  Each side had 3 x 24AP "armies", so this was definitely a big battle variant of HotT.

The Knights of Lyonesse

All 3 brigades were very similar in composition, dominated by Knights (strangely enough) and with a significant scattering of Heroes, Paladins and the like.  Oh, and a few yeomen as well (Shooters, Spears or Riders), just to cheer on the better sort of people!

The Cabal of the Black Hand

The Cabal's 3 forces were quite different from each other, though all included magicians and at least a few hordes of zombies or skeletons.

• Aerials: The northernmost force had large numbers of bats (Flyers), plus a Lurker and a Dragon.  Note that these latter two elements aren't deployed on the table initially, but instead require some occurrence to trigger their appearance.
• Infantry: A huge number of Horde elements!
• Cavalry: This command was a mixture of (anti-)Knights, Riders, an evil Hero, Sneakers and the like.

How It Played

From the very beginning, the knights charged forwards, mostly leaving their infantry and lesser cavalry behind (wow - who saw that coming?).  Some sparks of evil magic disrupted their lines slightly, but this was not much of a hindrance to the impetuous chivalry.

The men and woman of Artenay over-reached themselves, though.  The end of their first attacking line was flanked by undead cavalry and destroyed.  Following this, the evil Hero beat the Paladin in single combat, casing the latter to leave the table [Paladins are extremely powerful in HotT, but they take umbrage at being bested in a fight.  Rather than just giving ground and continuing to fight, as almost anyone else would do, they tend to stalk off the battlefield in shame, perhaps to seek penance at some remote monastery or to flagellate themselves for not being worthy enough].

The magicians were all delighted to see the Paladin go; the presence of Saint Florence of Artenay had a subduing effect on black magic.  Her absence should enable them to be a bit more destructive!

On the other flank, the Knights Errant charged forwards towards the undead Hordes.  As planned, the first line of bats leap-frogged them, thus putting themselves into position to sandwich the foolhardy men and destroy them next turn.  Still no sign of the bone dragon appearing, though.  That would have been quite useful right about now.

The power of the knights' thunderous assault caught the undead hordes completely by surprise, if indeed they were capable of feeling any such emotion.  Most of the ghouls and zombies were simply ridden down by the young knights, who pursued right into the magician general himself.

OK, that is something of a setback, but it's now the Necromancers' turn.  Time to roll for PiPs/command points: a '1'!  If ever there was a bad time to roll that low, this was it...

[For those readers who aren't familiar with Hordes of the Things, it costs 1 PiP to move a contiguous group of most types of models.  However, if the figures are flyers or magicians then it costs 2 PiPs instead.  With only 1 PiP available, almost all of this command couldn't move for the entire turn].

The Knights Errant took every advantage from this lapse of concentration by their enemies.  They couldn't touch the high-flying bats, but they carved their way through the Magician general and the last remaining ground troops in the Aerials command.  With their leader destroyed, the Cabal's right wing brigade became demoralised and started to slip away.  [I guess that the bone dragon won't be arriving after all...].

D'Alencon's forces in the centre were also making steady progress, crunching through hordes of skeletons as if they were no more than stalks of corn.  Even as they did this, a strange vortex surrounded the Red Knight.  When it ceased to shimmer, the hero had vanished, ensorcelled by the Cabalites.

The hero didn't stay captive for long, though.  As the forces of D'Alencon continued to press forwards through the disintegrating hordes, the Red Knight burst free from his prison!

He might have chosen a better time to make his escape bid, though.  As soon as he had left the Dark Tower, the necromancers raised fresh hordes of skeletons from the ground around him.  Even the mightiest hero is in danger when surrounded.

In a shattering series of combats, the brigade of D'Alencon was savaged.  Both the evil magicians zapped and obliterated their over-eager foes and the Red Knight fell beneath a mound of undead warriors.

Slightly surreal: in the centre of the battle line, the Knights couldn't beat the [supported] Ghosts.  The undead spirits couldn't affect the knights either, even though they won the fight [Sneakers cannot affect most troop types; they're really only useful against Generals].  This carried on for quite a few rounds of combat, with both sides deadlocked.  I suppose that knights just don't have enough imagination to be afraid of ghosts; they just keep on swinging their swords ineffectually at the phantasms!

By now, most of the nice, neat starting formations had disintegrated.

• The Knights Errant were sweeping forwards towards the Dark Tower.  Although this appeared to be undefended, fresh hordes of undead were springing up constantly as the central necromancers poured most of their energies into replenishing their forces.
• In the middle, the forces of D'Alencon were teetering on the edge of collapse; they had lost many fine nobles to the unspeakable black wizards.
• The Cabal's cavalry wing and the army of Artenay had all but fought each other to a standstill.  Losses were heavy on both sides; it wouldn't take much to push either side into despair.
• In a final flourish of magic, 2 necromancers co-operated to cast a black web over Roger the Castellan, D'Alencon's last hero.  He was dragged away by spectral furies, screaming all the way to the Black Tower's dungeons.

The Knights Errant charged the stronghold, but fresh skeletons clawed their way out of the ground to oppose them.  Time and time again this happened; whenever the knights retired to regroup, more enemies would appear in the spots they had just vacated.

Then, like a ray of sunshine appearing from between dark clouds, Sir Alain de Fleury swept in on his mighty winged horse.  He smote the nearest magician so hard that the necromancer was split in half down to the waist.

By now, only the only forces still fighting were the almost undamaged Knights Errant (for Lyonesse) and the very battered infantry and cavalry brigades (for the Cabal).  Either of the latter could have broken at any moment if they suffered casualties; only the continued raising of fresh skeletons - that were destroyed as fast as they came on - was keeping this force together.

Again and again, the Knights Errant surged forwards, but they were just unable to breach the tower's walls.  Every time they fell back, more defenders would arise to take the place of the fallen.  Just how long could this go on?  Quite a few turns, it seems...

In the end, it was Sir Alain de Fleury who triumphed.  The hero and his winged steed led a further attack by the Knights Errant and the Dark Tower fell, its defences finally exhausted and overcome.  Victory (at a price) for Lyonesse!

Conclusion

As the leader of the defenders, I planned for the infantry and cavalry wings to hold up the attackers whilst the aerial wing obliterated its immediate opponents before using its incredible mobility to attack the remaining forces of Lyonesse from behind.  It didn't quite work that way, though, did it?  So, my bats and dragon refused to engage and the knights stomped all over my ghouls, whilst the terrified necromancer just stood and watched!  Bah, humbug!

Oh, well.  It was a well-deserved victory for the good guys.  We gave them a run for their money, I think.  The first two brigades of Lyonesse were pretty much stopped dead in their tracks, although the middle one very nearly reached the defender's stronghold.

And there's also this: as the knights went through the tower's innumerable chambers and rooms, they came to one that was far from sunlight and fresh air.  Huddled in a corner was what the victors at first took to be a pile of rags, but which turned out on closer inspection to be a person.  He flinched from lights and shrank from human touch; his speech was slurred and broken.  In all ways, the man seemed a shadow; barely a remnant of a human being.  It took the rescuers a long time to realise that this husk was all that was left of the captive hero, Roger the Castellan...

HOTT: The Crossing of the River Berenya

Introduction

The Knights of Lyonesse had been outmanoeuvred and surprised.  They were in sight of the River Berenya which they had to cross to reach their homes.  Between them and the river was a huge army of goblins, trolls and wolves, easily outnumbering the forces of chivalry.  But, being heroic knights, they weren't daunted at all.  As long as someone lived to tell the tale, the deeds done on this day would be sung far and wide across the land!

Scenario

This is a big-battle game of Hordes of the Things, but it's not an even match-up.  The knights have fewer troops than the goblins, but they have more leaders.  The victory conditions are also asymmetric and no strongholds are used.

Terrain

Woods and hills are as normal in the rulebook.  The river counts as clear terrain at the bridge, the fords and the shallow parts near the little island.  At other points the river is difficult terrain and affects movement and combat outcomes accordingly.

Forces

• Knights: 3 commands of 16AP each (i.e. a total of 48AP)
• Goblins: 2 commands of 36AP each (i.e. a total of 72AP)

Victory Conditions

The knights must exit as many elements as possible off the far side of the board.  The goblins must stop them.  Note that I've been deliberately vague about exactly how many elements are enough!

Our Game

In our game, the southern knights advanced rapidly.  Wolves were sent to face them, but the knights just rode straight over these beasts without slowing down.  It took the archers on the nearby hill a little longer, but they were also victorious and all the wolves were wiped out for no loss.

"Ah.  Hordes die if they recoil into a behemoth"

In the north, knights also advanced rapidly.  Initially they didn't have as much luck against deep goblin formations though Saint Florence of Artenay, the paladin, did destroy a horde.

To everyone's surprise (and to the horror of the knight players), the counter attack of the goblin riders unhorsed Saint Florence; she stomped off in a bad mood and wouldn't fight any more.  [Paladins are temperamental creatures in HOTT: they have high combat scores but tend to leave in a huff rather than just recoil if something beats them even once.  Saint Florence was 6 to 3 up against the goblin riders, but she still managed to lose!  Since she was worth 4 of this command's 16 points value, it was a significant blow].

Rather than cause dismay, the loss of the paladin seems to have spurred the northern knights on.  The gap in their ranks was quickly filled from their reserve and they started to push back the other goblin riders.  More significantly, 2 elements of archers fired volleys at the goblin general and managed to kill him outright.  This was a very hard loss for the goblins, as their already unwieldy northern army would now be even more difficult to command.

The knights advanced relentlessly.  They continued to push back the goblin riders, though the evil player hoped that a nearby troll would be an anchor of solidity to help stem the flow.  Sadly for him, the troll was skewered and crushed by the knights.  They barely even worked up a sweat over that fight, though normally this wouldn't be a particularly good match up for the knights!

 Shortly after that, the knight general pushed the goblin riders backwards into the river, where they drowned.

To the south, all of knights continued to advance.  The goblin commander hastily arranged a line of hordes to oppose them, though this looked like quite a forlorn hope.

The central command of knights were slowed down by a couple of trolls.  These were unsupported (the goblin hordes watched from afar), but still the 2 behemoths held up their foes just long enough for the goblin warband general to counterattack successfully and kill some of the horsemen.

Both the trolls were quickly despatched - at which point the goblin general suddenly realised how precarious his position was.  The black-robed chieftain and his bodyguard were slaughtered as 2 heroes (the Red Knight and Sir Roger the Castellan) circled round them and then attacked simultaneously from both sides.  This left the entire goblin force without any effective leadership.

Back near the bridge, the penultimate troll counterattacked the knight general.  The monster may have been dim-witted, but it was still strong enough to pulp its opponent and thus leave the northern knights leaderless.

The loss of their commander merely served to infuriate the other knights, though.  In a fit of righteous fury, they drove the troll backwards into the river, where it sank like a stone (though some say that it survived the battle by hiding under the nearby bridge and that in later years it terrorised passers by until it was eventually slain by a billy goat).

Another group of wolf riders is pushed back into the river and drowned

...and another one.

Towards the end of the battle, the remaining forces on both sides were scattered widely.  The knights had taken quite a few losses (mainly through recklessness), but that was nothing compared to the devastation visited on the much larger goblin force.  A few goblins attempted to escape through the gaps in the ranks of their enemies, but most just huddled together and prayed for nightfall so that they could slip away undetected.

The last troll stood alone, puzzled and confused, as the 2 heroes and central knight general all charged him at once.  The poor creature didn't stand a chance...

In a final show of bravado, some of the bolder knights waded across the river without waiting for any backup.  They crashed through the huddled goblins who opposed them and managed to exit the table, just as we had to call time on the game!

Conclusion

I had wondered if handicapping the knights' numbers and the goblins' leadership would cancel each other out.  However, right from the start the knights just crushed everything that was put in front of them.  Only in the centre were they slowed down (by 2 trolls and several greater goblin warbands).

It's not as if the knights' strategy was particularly cunning or anything; they just didn't want to stop.  Admittedly the goblin generals made some slightly questionable tactical decisions and some terrible dice rolls, but even so I'm completely surprised at the magnitude of the victory.

One element of knights had left the table when we packed up, but there was no real doubt that the rest of the army could follow them whenever it chose to do so (i.e. when they got tired of picking off goblin stragglers).  This was a total victory for the forces of Lyonesse, though not without some loss...

HOTT: The Dead Marshes

Introduction

The air was hot and heavy as the Knights of Lyonesse trekked through the wilderness.  Flies buzzed around the horses' heads, pestering them mercilessly.  Even though it was the height of summer and the sun had been blazing down from a cloudless sky for weeks, the ground on this desolate plain felt spongy and damp.  Every so often, one of the men-at-arms or an animal would stumble and grunt as they caught a foot on a muddy tussock of rank-looking weeds.

"Remind me why we are here, please?"  The speaker was Henri, Duc D'Alençon - a short man, though broad and muscular.  He was the leader of the expedition and, all things considered, was quite calm.

"My lord, we are following the foul necromancers of the Cabal.  All the indications are that we will catch up with them very soon.  And this time, they won't give us the slip!" replied Sir Guy de Lusignac, his lieutenant.
"At least," Sir Guy thought to himself "I really hope so.  Then we can finish them off and return to where we can get a decent meal and a drink.  I can't stand much more of this!"

An hour later, just past noon, the lead cavalry stopped and gave a shout.  When their commanders galloped to the head of the column, they saw the reason why: a line of armoured, skeletal warriors stood facing them, completely immobile in the typical fashion of the true undead.  But there were so few of them?  Even the more experienced knights were grinning broadly - this shouldn't take long at all!

The Scenario

This is, on the face of it, a straightforward battle using the Hordes of the Things rules.  The Knights of Lyonesse are attacking, whilst the undead army of the Cabal of the Black Hand are defending.  We used 48AP on either side, divided into 2 commands of 24AP each, though there's no reason why the same scenario couldn't be played with more or fewer troops.  So, what's the catch?

If you are regular readers then you'll know that I often like to shake things up a bit!  So, here are some scenario-specific rules:

1. The Cabal are defending a small shrine, which acts as a stronghold if attacked or for the purposes of housing ensorcelled enemy heroes.  It may be small, but it's full of powerful black magics!  If the shrine is captured then the Knights win instantly.  Otherwise, either side wins if all the opposing commands are demoralised and at least one of their own is not.
2. There are 2 large patches of fetid marsh on the field.  They are difficult terrain for movement and combat, but don't block line of sight.
3. All the Cabal's horde elements start off the table (this is why they appear not to have as many troops as the knights!)
4. The undead hordes can be summoned for the usual cost of 1 PiP each, anywhere within either patch of marsh (as the dead from a long-forgotten war are commanded to rise again).  This could even be in contact with an enemy element, flanking them or behind them - as long as the summoned horde is completely within the marsh.
5. As is usual with horde elements, they may not move on the turn in which they are summoned, though they may attack if placed in contact with an enemy.  Of course, if a horde is destroyed then it becomes eligible to be summoned again in the Cabal's next turn; there is no limit to the number of times they may return.

The Game

The knights advance cautiously, trying to stick to the drier patches of ground.  As they passed some of the softer parts of the bog, the ground heaved and clods of dirt were thrown aside as numerous long-dead soldiers rose from their mass graves!  [The knights started with exceptionally poor PiP rolls, whilst the Cabal had very high rolls.  Indeed, the southern command of the knights didn't roll higher than a '3' for command points - and that only occasionally - until the game was all but over!]

Quickly, foot soldiers from the northern knight army moved to intercept the newly-arisen undead...

...and in the south, halberdiers fought the nearest skeletons whilst lines of archers slew many more of the risen undead.

So far, so good.  The cavalry in the centre advanced, trying to avoid the messy swamps and come to grips with the evil magicians around the shrine.  A magical assault caused their first casualty, however.  Two necromancers teamed up to target the Red Knight: one wizard used phantom marsh lights to distract the hero whilst the other entrapped him with sticky stuff!

In the northern swamp, the foot soldiers found it relatively easy to destroy each undead horde as the corpses rose from the waterlogged soil.  However, it was whack-a-mole: each time they dispatched a horde, another would just pop up to replace it, often behind them.  Worse, one of the stands of knights from the flanking force was attacked by a band of skeletal warriors.  The proud nobles couldn't refuse a fight and found themselves unable to disengage from the constant supply of enemies.

The archers were doing a good job of clearing the southern marsh.  Anything which appeared within their range was quickly dispatched back to its grave.  Even so, some of the passing knights were sucked into fighting the undead hordes.  Their impetuous nature drew them further and further into the bog, away from the protection of their friends, until one stand was overwhelmed and dragged down into the muddy pools [not a good place to be for impetuous troop types!].

Despite all the delays, magical and otherwise, the faster-moving northern knights were first to reach the main lines of the undead army.

The outnumbered forces of the Cabal tried desperately to hold on as the fighting quickly turned into a confused melee.  Troops from both sides fell, but overall the knights had the upper hand.

Not wanting to be left out of the fighting, Saint Florence (the paladin) charged the magician at the southern end of the undead line.  He had plenty of time to see her coming and her aura of faith meant little to him here, so close to the unholy shrine.  His lightning bolt hit squarely on her armour, knocking the damsel off her horse and leaving her flapping and tasered on the dirt.

Even though his command was beating back their enemies, Sir Guy couldn't shake a feeling of trepidation and impending doom.  It was almost as if something terrible was creeping up behind him!  A pair of brave young squires saw the marsh vapours start to coalesce behind their general and, without thought for their own safety, they charged the forming apparitions [sneakers].  The ghosts couldn't stand against such brash recklessness; they fled off the field like a sudden breeze.

Casualties for the northern commands	Casualties for the southern commands

Up to this point, the casualties on each side had been fairly even.  However, now the forces of Lyonesse started to get decent command rolls and the Cabal didn't...

Suddenly, there were knights all over the defender's core forces.  First, one of the magicians fell to the Duc D'Alençon's skilful lance.  Then, the Cabal's heavy infantry - the Grave Guard - started to take losses.  The dark vampire knights were also wiped out by the determined chivalry of Lyonesse. Evil bat swarms hovered overhead, watching the battle unfold below them - but they were too indecisive to make any contribution [too few PiPs to move them!]. The evil shrine looked under real threat as the Cabal's lines contracted!

A last ditch piece of necromancy from the Cabal saw skeletons, ghouls and zombies arise on all sides of the archers, who had advanced into the swamp in a belated attempt to help with the assault.  However, the stout yeomen could sense a victory; they laid about their enemies fiercely with clubs, daggers and rocks.  The undead hordes wilted and crumbled back into the marsh from which they had come.

Then, quite suddenly, it was all over.  Both undead commands passed the demoralisation threshold and collapsed.  The remaining warlocks fled, leaving a few of their troops (and bats!) in a vain attempt to distract the victorious knights.  Mind you, it then took the forces of Lyonesse a considerable time to counter all the evil protections on the shrine in order to finally pull it down...

Conclusion

Well, that was interesting!  The "hordes from the swamp" idea worked well and seemed reasonably well balanced.  If anything, the value of the infantry and cavalry who were distracted by the ever-returning hordes was slightly greater than that of the hordes themselves, but against this the forces of darkness used a lot of command points to keep that threat going.  Mind you, I think that you'd need to be careful with the way the terrain was set up; it would be all too easy to create a very unbalanced game.

The same idea could extend to some other types of horde armies.  I could easily imagine masses of goblins boiling out of broken ground riddled with tunnels and holes.

Man of the Match

• For the Cabal: tricky, but I think it has to be the hordes,  They distracted a sizable chunk of the opposing army and even managed to sucker some hot-headed knights deep into the swamp (where they were dragged down!).
• Lyonesse: also tricky.  The regular Knight elements swept all before them, but the halberdiers and archers fought countless hordes of newly-risen undead in the sticky swamp and came out victorious.  On balance, I think I'd give it to the halberdiers, though they could probably all do with a good bath now.

Biggest Disappointment

• Cabal: I think that the bats win this accolade quite easily.  There never seemed to be enough PiPs available to move them, especially just when it mattered towards the end of the game.  At least the sneakers tried to ambush the enemy general...
• Lyonesse: The Red Knight (hero) and Saint Florence (paladin) were both pretty ineffectual.

HotT: 7 Heroes!

Introduction

The Helensburgh Games Club restarted this week after the Easter break.  I planned a big game of Hordes of the Things; this usually works quite well for multiple players.  However, none of my usual group turned up (though the usual numbers of Warhammer 40K enthusiasts were present), so I took one side and my son took the other.

I set up a straightforward 72AP battle, with a settlement on one side and an attacking army on the other.  The story?  The Knights of Lyonesse had sent assistance to the aid of a village in the East that was being plagued by skeletons, zombies and other undead terrors.  Even though the villagers were strangers (and foreigners, to boot!), the Knights were sworn to defend the weak and oppose evil wherever it might be found!

 So on the defending ("good") side we had:

• 2 x 24AP armies of the Knights of Lyonesse, heavily loaded with heroes and knights.
• 1 x 24AP Kung Fu army consisting of a few heroes, some foot soldiers and hordes of peasants.

whereas the attackers - the Cabal of the black Hand - consisted of:

• 3 x 24AP armies, each led by 1 or 2 magicians, with a mixture of other troop types (especially bats and hordes of zombies & skeletons).

It occurred to me after setting up these forces that the defenders had a total of exactly 7 heroic characters, consisting of 1 paladin, 1 aerial hero, 1 cleric and 4 heroes.  Surely that's a good omen for them!

The Battle

For the most part, both lines of troops advanced towards each other until they met in the middle.  While this was happening, there were a number of noteworthy incidents around the battlefield:

Sir Artois de Beaumain

 In the north, Sir Artois de Beaumain flew his winged charger over the undead line and attacked their reserve of bats.  He knocked back the big bat before turning round and charging an assistant magician from behind.

This new foe was completely taken by surprise and Sir Artois killed him before the magician could curse the knight with dark arts.

However, the hero was now in the midst of his foes.  Recovering quickly, swarms of bats pulled him and his mount from the sky.  Once some skeletal horsemen joined in as well, the knight was doomed and fell beneath the weight of enemies!  1 hero down!

 Bats in the Centre!

In the middle, the Cabal's bat swarm decided to leapfrog over the villagers and distract them from their advance.

They hadn't counted on Lin Jie, the Kung Fu master.  This hero had a great time destroying the hapless flyers one after another,though it's not known whether he did this by leaping into the air to catch them, by throwing stones with great accuracy or by tricking them into landing.  First one set of bats was wiped out, then another.  I guess that all heroes have their trade secrets...

Meanwhile, things were going badly for the Cabal in the centre.  Knights broke through the ranks of skeletons and so terrified the ghosts that these sneakers fled off the table and were never seen again.  Surely that's the wrong way round!

Another one bites the Dust!

Back in the north wing, the forces of Lyonesse surged forward to avenge their fallen comrade.  The Red Knight challenged the Master Necromancer himself, but the titanic duel ended with him being ensnared in foul magics and transported away as a prisoner!  2 heroes down!

Meanwhile...

In the woods to the south, just beside the river, huge numbers of zombies clashed with a thin line of Lyonesse halberdiers.  Even though the humans were vastly outnumbered, the stout yeomen didn't give an inch and destroyed vast numbers of the undead.  But however many they killed,  more zombies appeared to replace the fallen...

Nearby, Saint Florence of Artenay and Sir Roger the Castellan were caught unsupported by the opposition's undead hero and heavy infantry.  Sir Roger managed to throw his enemies back, but the paladin was wounded and immediately fled the field to seek penance in a hermitage.  3 heroes down!

The loss of the paladin's spiritual protection left heroes in this part of the battlefield vulnerable to magic (Abbot Chao Kung, the cleric, was elsewhere).  It wasn't long before the warlock in charge of this part of the Cabal's army targeted Sir Roger.  He entranced the hero with visions of delight, causing him to fall captive to the forces of evil.  4 heroes down!

The Beginning of the End

Back in the north, both sides were reeling from their losses and close to breaking.  Even though he was in danger of being surrounded, the Necromancer fought in the front rank and managed to destroy a stand of knights.  This pushed the opposing forces of Lyonesse over the edge and they turned and fled.

The Necromancer's joy was short-lived, however.  Lin Jie appeared, seemingly from nowhere, and leaped off the hillside to tackle the big bat.  He felled the beast with one mighty blow; this was enough to break the Necromancer's force as well!

Lin Jie then raced back to the centre of the field (heroes can move a long way in HotT!), where he was credited with an assist as Li Feng took on a mighty undead lord.  Between them, the village heroes destroyed the wight and scattered his bones.  The central Cabal army then collapsed.  Some elements fled immediately, while others lost their animation and stood rooted to the spot, only to collapse into dust when approached by any of the peasants.

2 of the 3 commands from the Cabal army were now broken.  Only the warlock in the south remained, but his forces were scattered.  Zombies were still roaming the woods and tussling with Lyonesse halberdiers, but they were too far away to support the remaining heavy infantry.  With enemies approaching from 3 sides, the warlock decided to retreat.  He'd have to get his revenge some other day!

Aftermath

Man of the match

• For the forces of Good: definitely Lin Jie, the Kung Fu master!  He personally slew 3 stands of bats, broke 1 enemy command and aided in breaking another.
• For the Cabal: I think the Necromancer in the north did well.  He ensnared the Red Knight and destroyed some of his companions, all in hand-to-hand fighting.  This broke the opposing command.

Lessons to be learnt

• We really need to know how to use flyers more effectively!  Neither the aerial hero (Lyonesse) nor the flocks of bats (Cabal) pulled their weight.
• Blades versus Hordes is a match-up that will only end 1 way!  Not a good day for the skeletons and zombies...
• The villagers didn't lose a single base (the mostly-infantry army was probably helped in this by having both flanks secured by more mobile forces).  Truly they'll be celebrating tonight!