HoTTs for Ancients





HoTTs is short-hand for Hordes of the Things, a set of fantasy battle rules by Richard Bodley Scott and Phil Barker. It's a fun set of rules. In my opinion, it is better written than the companion De Bellis Antiquitatis (aka DBA). Others disagree with me on this.



The army seen to the left is the Syrian City State Army I've put together for HoTTs Historical. Its composition is listed below.


We've been using HoTTs for ancient gaming. To do that, we've had to add a little to the rules. Herewith are the changes we made.


Troop Types:
Scouts
· Foot element.
· 40x20 base, 2 figs/base
· 300p movement. Mounted can pass through Scouts, or Scouts through any friends, which are facing in the same or opposite direction if there is room beyond the first element met.
· Combat factor +2 against anyone. If the Scouts are equipped with a shooting weapon, they can support Warband, Spears, or Blades against Mounted/Aerial (+1 factor) and suffers same fate as supported unit.
· No -2 if fighting in difficult or bad going.
· If beaten, destroyed by Knights, Riders, or Flyers in good going, otherwise recoil.
· If doubled, destroyed by Knights, Riders, or Flyers in good going or by Rangers or Scouts; otherwise, flee 600p.


Light Horse
· Mounted element.
· 40x30 base in 15mm, 2 figs/base
· 500p movement.
· Combat factor +2 against anyone. If the Light Horse are equipped with a shooting weapon, they can shoot 100p.
· If beaten, destroyed if in bad going, otherwise, flee 600p.
· If doubled, destroyed by Riders, Light Horse, or Flyers in good going, or if in bad going; otherwise, flee 600p.


Phalanx - Pikes - 4 fig/stand, same movement as Spears, count 2nd rank, +3 for each rank against all troop types. 2 AP/element.

Levy - "normal" spears (i.e. not phalangites like the Greeks developed). No 2nd rank allowed. +3 against all troop types. 2 AP/element.

Changes to Rules
Warbands - only count the 2nd rank on turns they initiate combat

Stronghold - both sides have strongholds.





In historical HoTTs, suppress the supernatural elements (i.e. magic users, dragons, Gods and similar).

We've used the above for the better part of two years, and the thing we've discovered is you need a "basic" army list like you see in DBA. Players would be free to add additional elements to suit their style of play, or campaign situations. Players would have a selected list of troop types to draw from. In all cases these would include Heroes. Let's look at some typical "basic" armies.



Hittite Army: 3xHCh as Kn; 2xLCh as Riders; 4xLevy; for 18 pts.


New Kingdom Egyptian Army: 2xLCh as Riders; 2xLevy; 2xBows as Shooters; 1xAxe, for 14 pts.

Notice that I don't list any maximums. So if a Hittite wants to include 3 elements of blades, or 3 of HCh, he can. Note that the "light" troops such as Scouts aren't normally included as "mandatory".

We've also found that playing on a 32"x24" deep table actually works quite well. We've also played on a 30"x30" table. This gives both sides at least one open flank.

We've also done "largee-battle" HoTTs games. This is 2 or more armies that could be historical allies on one side vs. 2 or more armies that would be historical opponents that could be allies on the other side. For example, I recently did a Hittite Army allied with a Trojan Army and a Syrian City State Army vs. three Egyptian armies. The various armies were:





Hittite: 4xHCh as Kn; 3xLCh as Riders; 4xLevy; 1xAxe


Trojan: 1xHero (in chariot); 4xLCh; 4xWarbands; 2xBows as Shooters


Syrian: 2xLCh as Riders; 1xAxe; 2xLevy; 10xHordes; 2xBows as shooters





Egyptians: 4xLCh; 4xLevy; 2xBows; 2xAxe



In the Hittite case the contingents had to be kept separate. In the Egyptian case the troops could be rearranged before the battle started into "commands". The CiC would roll first, then could "give" pips to a lower command. The resulting battle was frustrating to the Egyptians (who eventually won) because the Syrian commander used his troops as the anchor for everyone else (brought on by his being able to bring Hordes that had been lost back to the field). The Hittite Heavy Chariots just motored over the top of everything, but got pip challenged so they really couldn't get turned around. The rules in HoTTs for Big Battles work just find.



I'm gradually putting together a "base" army for all of the ones we normally use.



By the way, none of this is to denigrate using HoTTs as it was intended: as a set of fantasy battle rules.