Bristol Hordes of the Things tournament 2026

On 21 June we hosed our annual HotT tournament, Barn HotT, at Lincombe Barn, our regular gaming venue.

 

We had five rounds, and 10 players.

 

Hot pies were provided for lunch.

 Armies were 24 points, on 40mm frontage.

 

Davy Jones' Locker v Riders of Rohan

 Norse Myth army

 Davy Jones' Locker v Greek Myth army

 

Orcs v Norse Myth

I Corp, Anglo-Allied Army (de woelratten) v Purple Party Poopers

I Corp, Anglo-Allied Army (de woelratten) v The Good, The Bad & the Ugly 

 Orcs v The Clark Ashton Smith Tribute Band

According to Wikipedia Clark Ashton Smith was  an influential American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction stories and poetry, and an artist, and contemporary of H P Lovecraft.

Riders of Rohan v  Spider Queen from Aracnis Major

The winner of the tornament was Keith, for the second year running.

 The event was sponsored by Alternative Armies who donated the prize.

https://www.alternative-armies.com/

 

The final results were as follows:
 

1. Keith.           The Clark Ashton Smith Tribute Band

2. Phil.             Greek Myth

3. Colin O.       Norse Myth

4. Mark.           Riders of Rohan

5. Colin M.      Orcs

6. John.           The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

7. Colin E.       Purple Party Poopers

8. Martin.        Spider Queen from Aracnis Major

9. Tim.             I Corp, Anglo-Allied Army

10. Owen.        Davy Jones' Locker

 

Thanks to all participants for another fun, friendly tournament, to Nick for organising it, Andy for the cooking and Alternative Armies for the prize. 

 

The competition will return in 2027, possibly a few weeks earlier in the year. 

 

Sword and Spear Fantasy Tournament

Here are some pics from our Sword and Spear Fantasy Tournament.

Hordes of the Things Tournament 2019

On the 20th January we held our annual Hordes of the Things tournament (Barn HotT).

Armies were 24 points and each player played 4 games. We only had six players this year.

I took Owain Glyndwr's Welsh Rebels:
1    Hero General (Owain Glyndwr) @4pts          4
3    Warband (Javelinmen) @2pts                         6
4    Shooters (Longbowmen) @2pts                      8
4    Hordes (Peasant Spearmen) @2pts                 4
2    Lurkers (Longbowment in ambush) @1pts     2

My first game was against John's Aliens. Despite appearances none of them are ariel, they are based on a Carolingian army template. I did my best to hold his Hero General in place with zones of control while shooting at it but to no avail. This was a win for John.

2nd game vs Steve's Elves. This army had 3 Magicians which made my Hero General very nervous. A combined magic attack early in the game could spell instant defeat.

 The infantry tried to hold a hill and were pushed back, the Hordes were dying and being replaced and marching back into the same combat, tying up the Magicians.

Owain Glyndwr ended up making flank attacks at the other end of the but my army broke, the final casualty being surrounded on three sides.

My third game was against Carol's Spaceships. This is the classic all ariel build used by the Puffins and the Weeping Angels, seen in tournaments (look at the January 2018 post on this blog to see the Puffins!). Ariel Hero General, Ariel Hero and 6 Flyers.

I was attacking, there was a river down the centre of the table, and I was lucky to get the board orientated so I didn't have to cross it. I deployed my whole army on the same side of the river as the enemy stronghold with a column of Hordes ready to tie up the inevitable attack from the side.

My General made a dash for the stronghold but was intercepted by an Ariel Hero and killed, ending the game. Having time to spare we played a friendly game and this time I won by destroying all six Flyers with my Shooters.

With so few players, and using the Swiss Chess format I ended up playing John for a 2nd time in the final round. Players have to stick to one army for the competition but given the circumstances we both brought out a spare army and played my Dwarves vs his Chess Pieces. The army naturally included Bishops as Clerics and Pawns as Hordes.

I gradually wore down his units and one of my Heroes made several attempts at the stronghold from the side, fleeing and then returning. The Dwarves were victorious

Brian is a new convert to HotT and borrowed Carol's Renaissance army featuring Leonardo Da Vinci's Turtle Tank.

Keith was the winner, with the number of Generals killed being the tie-breaker. His army were Pumkins.

Thanks to those who came to take part, thanks to Nick for running it.
Barn HotT 2020 will be the same time next year.

Barn HotT 2017

Last week we held our annual Hordes of the Things tournament, Barn HotT in Bristol at the club bristolwargaming.co.uk

 We had 12 competitors including 8 from outside the club. Less than recent years as several of our regular competitors couldn’t make it.

 Teutonic Knights v Hyborian Barbarians

The format was 4 games with 24 point armies on 40mm frontage, which means generally 15mm figures. As none of the games dragged on to the time limit we had a fifth round.

Fishmen v King Arthur

 The armies included Life of Brian, Desert Meerkats, Hyborian Barbarians, Nomads, Abyssinions, Puffins, Teutonic Knights, Frogs of War, Fishmen, Dwarves and two King Arthur armies.

Athurian v Arthurian

 Pete’s Life of Brian army was victorious. Here we see a hermit with his juniper bush about to destroy some Beasts.

 Puffins v Frogs of War

 Meerkats, sons of the derert

Here we see Armand (3^rd), Pete (1^st) and Colin (2^nd) with their prizes.