Saturday, December 6, 2008

Some More Thoughts on the H.O.T.T. Campaign

WHEN?

After some more serious stock-taking and organization I’ve come to the realization that I still have an awful lot I’d need to paint before we even got going. It will probably be spring before I’m ready… So I’m thinking I’d like to host a H.O.T.T. Camapgin Weekend some time in the spring/early summer to kick things off, then after that start a new, longer strategic campaign via email sometime shortly thereafter.

So when would be a good time for folks in the spring/early summer to have a H.O.T.T. Camapgin Weekend? Who would be willing to travel to Saskatoon to do so? POST COMMENTS HERE!

Armies

Three of the armies will be human kingdoms. They will be based on historical Anglo-Danish, Viking, and Norman DBA armies. As this IS “Fantasy”, however, I though I should probably add the option of having some heroic, fantastical elements in the army. I think all three could certainly have a Hero General… but what about magic. I think the Normans might be limited to having a Cleric element (bishop). How about the Saxoms and Vikings? Should they have Magician elements (shamans)? I’m not entirely sure they’re necessary, and I can’t think of anything else I could add. Suggestions? Should one of the Norman Knight stands be upgraded to Paladins?

11 comments:

  1. Roight. I've never played HOTT so keep that in mind with my comments.

    By 106, the Saxons were just as Christian as the Normans - which is to say that they were Christian in name, not necessarily in deed.

    As an alternate to the 1066 campaign, you could take a slight Arthurian detour. I'm thinking more Mallory's Morte d'Arthur than the modern impression of dark ages Britain. The Normans could represent the Arthur faction with noble knights (paladins), a wizard (Merlin) and hero general (his nibs). In this case, the Saxons could be the savages that the knights of the round table must defeat, and could have sorcerors and monsters (and maybe Beowulf leading them). The Anglo-Danes can just be Vikings, and get their heroic leader (Egil Skallagrimson, maybe?), wizard/skald, giants, magic chariot pulled by goats.

    What are your plans for the non-human or non-historical armies?

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  2. I'm working with having three human kingdoms based on Vikings, Normans, and Anglo-Danish - each with the additional option of having a "Hero" General and possibly a Magician or Cleric... and maybe Paladins for the Normans - if anyone can convince me it's a good idea.

    the not-so-historical-based fantasy forces will be the standard fare of generic fantasy wargaming; Orcs, Dwarves, Elves, Egyptian Undead (Tomb Kings-ish).

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  3. If you are supplying all the toys then these questions are irrelevant, but just in case you are allowing us to bring our own stuff: What do HOTT armies look like? And what size minis are you using? I'm starting to get some esoteric ideas. For example, I have some 28mm Eureka minis that could quite happily jump into a HOTT army, like the satyrs or the winged fezzed monkeys.

    And the first line of my other post should say, "By 1066..."

    Cheers
    Will

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  4. I'm reading Cornwell's Viking books, which are kind of about Alfred's England, so I like Saxons again.

    No reason why they can't have a priest. I don't know what else you'd give them to be special.

    I don't want the Normans to have paladins, they're the bad guys, in my book.

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  5. "I don't want the Normans to have paladins, they're the bad guys, in my book."

    I'm curious to see what CVT might have to say about that....

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  6. I'd be supplying all the armies.

    No reason why one couldn't make their own and bring it along to a campaign weekend - for playing side games on a turn when they don't have any campaign battles.

    My DBA/HOTT forces are all 25/28mm. I purged all my 15mm stuff over the last year. All the 15mm HOTT stuff actually went to Sean. Well... I should say I got rid of all the pre-WW2 15mm stuff. (It's only a matter of time before I say good-bye to those too...).

    SO BRING ON THE FEZZED MONKEYS!!!

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  7. One thing you could add to the Vikings, making them more "Fantastical" would be some bear-people (see the movie "13th Warrior"), and of course, being vikings, you could add Trolls!

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  8. Thanks Mark,

    The Vikings will definitely have some wolf-skin warrior berserker types (ulfhednar)- they'll just be classified as "Warband". I think they're actually in the historical list as an option (3Wb). I imagine bear-people would be the same.

    Trolls I've already got! I imagined, would be things the Vikings fought AGAINST.... There'll definitely be some in the Orc Army, as well as giants (both classed as "Behemoths"). I just finished up a stand of Trolls a week or two back: see This Post

    Your ideas got me thinking though - how about giving the Vikings a "Beasts" option - packs of wolves...?

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  9. Mr Tim, don't get too wrapped up in making army lists orthodox or too narrow.

    One of the joys of HoTT is creating dumbass lists that just might fly.

    Your Vikings might be shield-wally sorts. I like Wb crazy hairy sorts.
    I also want Jormungandr for a water lurker.

    HoTT as the saying goes 'writes itself'.

    OTOH if you are considering using it as 'loose' historical system eschewing the more fantastic but allowing for more customization than say DBA...remeber that the fanatastic elements are fun but you get more bang out of a few units of Bd or Sp IMHO.

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  10. You could try a Dark Age of Camelot campaign like the MMO game.

    The Irish become the elves/celts, the Vikings are well vikings/trolls/giants, and the English are really more Norman knights than Dark Age Saxons.

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  11. Sean-

    But orthodox and narrow are my middle names - they come right before "control freak"!

    Yeah, for a tournament or a campaign - especially when all participants know each other well, or are at least all very familiar with the rules that could be totally fun to do whatever you want. I might just do that sometime..

    But what I am currently planning for is a weekend campaign with some people that don't necessarily know each other, and a few that aren't really familiar with HoTT, as well as an on-line strategic campaign between players that don't live in saskatoon, that will serve as a scenario generator for those of us that do...

    I have to admit I haven't played in a long, long time. The last time I even played DBA was at your tourament at Fallcon 2007, before that..? Years probably... My concern about letting people bring their own armies for a weekend campaign would be that someone brings a gimmick army that hands anyone playing one of my "orthodox" armies their ass...

    What the hell am I even talking about here....?

    Uh... anyway... for my human kingdoms I was thinking I'd just use some semi-historical forces - Saxons, Normans, and Vikings - so I was wondering what pseudo-fantastic thing s might "fit in" with such forces... Not totally taking away from the character of a "viking" army or a "saxon" army and making them just some generic "fantasy human" army, but indeed adding SOMETHING to make them a little more that straight up DBA historical armies....

    Does that make ANY sense... I'm too damn tired to go back and figure out what I was trying to say.. but it seems like too much typing just to delete it...

    meh...

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