Generic DwarfMy first HotT army. I bought ready painted (along with the Arabian myth army listed below at a wargames convention. The figures are Peter Pig and it was the quality of the painting that attracted me. A nice, balanced army that wins more often than it looses. It is, however, vulnerable to Fliers and mounted troops and is not happy in difficult terrain. I usually deploy it in two ranks, the second rank acting as a reserve or to exploit gaps.
Stronghold: A cavern with a bronze door.
1x Hero General @ 4 points King Thorin Thorinson & guards
9x Blades @ 2 points Dwarves with axes and spears
Total: 24 points
Arabian MythThis army was bought ready painted with the Dwarven army above. Again the figures are Peter Pig. Having bought the dwarves it seemed churlish to leave these Arabs behind. A very pretty army but one that I have rarely done well with. I find that the combination of troop types is difficult to co-ordinate on the table top.
Stonghold: An oasis
1x Sneakers @ 3 points 2 dope fuelled assassins
2x Flyers @ 2 points Ali & Baba on flying carpets
4x Riders @ 2 points Hollywood mailed Saracens sheikhs and guards
2x Shooters @ 2 points Hollywood Saracen archers (followers of the sheikhs)
2x Hordes @ 1 point Hollywood Saracen supermen (followers of the sheikhs)
Total: 24 points
Generic EvilThe first Hordes army that I built and painted myself. It started life as a ready built bagged army I but I was unhappy with some of the figures supplied. I replaced the foot with the skeletons and the small demons The army still needed a focus and so I added Doreen who soon became very popular (nearly naked female Hordes figures were uncommon). Her fans (they know who they are) greeted each appearance on the wargames table with chants of "Dor-een, Dor-een" and she set the trend for my use of 25mm. personality figures on 15mm. bases as well as my use of scantily clad figures in a number of my Hordes armies. Another of my favourite armies. The Riders/Beasts combination works well and the Magician General provides good heavy support. The Sneaker has taken advantage of general tabletop confusion to win more than one game.
Stronghold: The Pitiless Bottom (a volcano)
1x Magician General @ 4 points Doreen Queen of Darkness, the Demon Queen
1x Behemoth @ 4 points Cliff the Troll
1x Sneaker @ 3 points Wilfrid Hyde-Wraith
2x Riders @ 2 points Skeletal horsemen
4x Beasts @ 2 points Wolves
1x Hordes @ 1 point Small demons with miscellaneous weapons
Total: 24 points
Garden GnomeI was interested in trying out black outlining on figures and since I was playing a lot of Hordes another army for that game seemed a suitable subject. Peter Pig's garden gnome figures appealed to me so I bought an army pack and built the army from that. Another favourite army. The big bases for the Hero general, Paladin Magician, Knights and Beasts do, however, make it vulnerable to flank attacks. I usually try to spread these along the line and intersperse them with the Spears and Shooters.
Stronghold: A patio (complete with patio table) and cultivated garden
1x Hero General @ 4 points King Flymo Lawntender & guards
1x Magician @ 4 points Mulch Growbag, a gnome magician on a toadstool
1x Knights @ 2 points The Knights of the patio table, gnomes riding snails
1x Beasts @ 2 points Strimmer Treesprinkler & Royal Hounds
2x Spears @ 2 points Royal Gnome Foot Guards, gnomes with fishing rods
2x Shooters @ 2 points Garden Grenadiers, gnomes throwing seeds
Total: 24 points
Garden Liberation ArmyThis was a follow-up to the Garden Gnome army. Garden Gnome armies had become popular in Bournemouth and, as a reaction, Simon Philipps built his Garden Liberation Front, an army of creepie-crawly garden terrorists dedicated to untidy gardens. The idea appealed to me and I built the Garden Liberation Army as a splinter faction of the GLF. The figures are all from the Early Learning Centre which appealed to me. I have never used this army. I think the combination of a Hero, Behemoths and Flyers a bit too fragile. Additionally, the proposed HotT Garden campaign down the local pub, in which it would have taken part, never took place.
Stronghold: An overgrown garden area with a compost heap.
6 X Flyers @ 2 points Benny & Betty Bee, Demelza & Diggory Dragonfly, Fergus &
Total: 24 points
Fancy A Grim Time DearieMy overactive imagine went into overtime on this one. Jay Leno, the American comedian who now hosts The Tonight Show, appeared regularly as a stand-up comic on British TV in the eighties. His routines often featured his experiences in and views on life in London. In particular he noted how the ladies of the night in Soho used to solicit using the phrase "Fancy a good time dearie.". The Cap (God bless him) corrupted this into "Fancy a grim time dearie.". I liked the phrase, it stuck in my mind and it was only a matter of time before I found the figures. The Demon Prince, Harpies and Dretches are all 25mm. figures as are the giant women. The Demonettes are from my spares box. I have only used this army a couple of times and it has not been that successful so far. I think that the army lacks depth and could do with some more basic infantry types. In addition combining the troop types into a coherent force on the table top can be difficult. It looks pretty though
Stronghold: A dark altar
3 X Flyers @ 2 points Ingrid, Ulrika and Ursula, the legendary Harpics of Greek
2 X Beasts @ 2 points Dretches (whatever they are)
1 X Blades @ 2 points Demonettes
Total: 24 points
Bunny & FriendsStronghold: An Animal Hospital vet's bag
The figures for this army were obtained through an Animal Hospital promotion run a couple of years back by a cereal manufacturer. A wargaming friend of mine, Michael Buttle, brought the promotion to my attention and provided sufficient vouchers to obtain the plastic animals suggesting that there was a Hordes army there. I liked the idea of cute animals taking on a combat role, a sort of Watership Down with attitude (and no painting since the figures were already painted), ordered the figures and so the army was born.
Basically this is Beasts army with the clout provided by three Behemoths. I have not used it a great deal but it has had some success, most notably when it attacked uphill against a dwarf army and destroyed it.
1x Behemoth General @ 4 points Flopsy, a very large rabbit
1x Flyers @ 2 points 3 Robins
5x Beasts @ 2 points Miscellaneous, guinea pigs, hamsters, hedgehogs, white & grey rabbits
Total:26 points
Amazon Women Of PornThis army came about because I was looking to improve on my Generic Dwarf army. I wanted a Blades army that was less vulnerable to mounted troops and Flyers. The figures all from Irregular Miniatures with the exception of the goddess who is a 25mm. Ral Partha warrior woman casting.
1x Blade General @ 2 points Loreen, Amazon Empress of Porn
2x Riders @ 2 points Amazon unicorn riders
5x Blades @ 2 points Amazon women warriors with axes, halberds and swords
Lizard Men Of PahrtzI was looking to build a new Hordes I bought this 10mm. Army from Pendragon because I liked the look of the figures. Lizard men armies were also popular Bournemouth at the time. It is a good all round army with a little of everything that wins some and looses some.
Stronghold: An oasis
2x Knights @ 2 points Lizard men reptile riders
2x Blades @ 2 points Lizard men with sword & shield
2x Spears @ 2 points Lizard men with spear & shield
Moderately Disturbed (Letitia And Friends)Over recent years I acquired a number of figures that I bought as and when I saw them as "possibly being suitable for Hordes”. These sat around in my spares box waiting the army that they could be part off, an army that never seemed to happen. I finally decided to clear out my spares box to put every unpainted figure and model that was not already wanted for some current wargaming project into one vast Hordes army. I planned on this being my final Hordes army and I wanted it to be big and very surreal. The figures and models included a large number of 15mm. and 25mm. fantasy figures and animals, a number of invisible figures (footprint indentations in bases), converted 1/200 WWI aircraft and a 1/1200 ACW paddle steamer as a airboat. The whole army was to be topped off by a flying castle as a stronghold and the project soon acquired the name Deeply Disturbed. The project was far too ambitious and ran into problems. It was composed of too many expensive points cost items which limited the initial idea of a huge army from which I could pick and choose 24 point armies. Additionally I ran into problems with the stronghold. It was too big and too heavy and had to be redesigned twice. I finally became bored with the amount of time that the whole project was taking. The figures that I had painted I liked so I resolved to cut my losses and to turn what I had already painted into two smaller armies. These became this one, Moderately Disturbed (because it was not a big as Deeply Disturbed) and Farther Murphy's Problems (below).
Stronghold: An enchanted forest
2x Flyers @ 2 points Barbie & Sindy, succubi
Total: 24 points
Father Murphy's ProblemsThis is the other army that emerged from my Deeply Disturbed project. Father Murphy seemed the obvious General figure. Iit seemed to me that that the Dragon Lady, the Drider and the Lurkers shared a common theme in being things that disturbed Father Murphy. Thus the name of this army became Father Murphy’s Problems. I did not have enough suitable figures left over from the Deeply Disturbed project to make a complete army so added the five bases of Shooters as a quick solution. Being traditional Red Indians and wanting a quick paint job I naturally painted them green. Little Green men seemed to fit the theme of the army.
Stronghold: A dark altar
1x Behemoth @ 4 points Lucy, a drider (half woman half giant spider)
5x Shooters @ 2 points Green Red Indians
Pokemon The ArmyThis army “happened” because the figures were available (from a kiddy's toy dispenser in a local department store) and because The Cap mentioned that Simon Philipps was somewhat antagonistic to Pokemon. All figures with are plastic painted Pokemon figures with the exception of Bugs Bunny who was a free gift with a children's comic. He represents the visiting foreign player in the grand tradition of J. T. Baptist in The Cap’s Old Testament Armchair Cricket team. This is a variation on the three Heroes army and it has only been used once so far. It lost because I let the Heroes advance ahead of the Beasts who were defeated in detail. Then the heroes were overwhelmed. I did not really mind as the army was built as a piece of Hordes sillyness.
Stronghold: A Poke ball
1x Behemoth @ 4 points Another Pokemon
2x Flyers @ 2 points Yet more Pokemon
4x Beasts @ 2 points Even more Pokemon
Armies Currently In The Planning Stagea) Fantasy Texas War of Independence (currently building)
Heroes, Riders, Shooters, Artillery and Air Boat
b) Babe The Army
c) Subbuteo The Army
Exactly what it says
