The Valhallan Vikings

I cannot remember where all the models came from, but the two Gods are Reaper figures. They can alternatively be classed as heroes (as Benedict did in the 2004 tournament, with the Faith and Doubt theme he used them as Gods in 2008).

Thor the Thunderer, and One-Handed Tyr (Gods)

Thor is unmodified, but Tyr need his right hand removed and replaced by a hook.

Berserkers (Paladin)

Benedict chose to represent his berserkers as a paladin – fast and deadly, but unwilling to retreat, and protected from magic by the favour of Odin and weapons forged from meteoric iron.

Vikings (Blades)

Where would a Viking army be without blades? This army has three, including the general.

Viking archers (Shooters)

Viking archers were not found in large numbers, but enough for a single shooter element.

Valkyries (Flyers)

Valkyries, on the the other hand, are rarely found in historical armies, but these Chariot Miniatures figures are a vital component of the army.

Longship about to ground (Stronghold)

The Stronghold is a longship.

Heffalumps, Woozles and Friends

The Heffalumps on the cover of this edition of Winnie-the-Pooh look remarkably like elephants, and the Woozles are notable by their absence from the illustrations.

The literary source: Winnie-the-Pooh

These Skeletal Constructs however leapt out at me saying Heffalump, Heffalump, Ho, HO!

Two Behemoths, including the general.

Heffalumps - Splintered Light "Skeletal Constructs"

The Giant Weasels make great Beasts, starring as the Woozles

Woozles (Beasts) - Splintered Light "Giant Weasels"

while the Were-Weasels make up both the warband (Wizzles), and the sneaker (Stouts – this one does not exist in the source, but that must because even Christopher Robin could not find them).

Sneakers are not really worth 3AP, even with the special rules we were using at HOTTBAP, but a chance to mangle the old joke:

Q. What’s the difference between a stout and a wizzle?
A. Woozles and wizzles are weasily wecognised and a stout is stoataly different.

Wizzles and Stouts (Warband & Sneaker) - Splintered Light "Were-Weasels"

The remaining elements were hand-made – a lurker: the Heffalump trap for Poohs

Heffalump Trap for Poohs (Lurker)

and a flyer: the Wrong sort of Bees – no doubt grumpy at having to fly out in the snow.

The Wrong Sort of Bees (Flyer)

The stronghold is a stand for a terracotta pot, and came from a  garden centre.

and the terrain is based on the map in the book:  Where the Woozle wasn’t, the Six Pine Trees, Eeyore’s gloomy place, and the Sandy Pit where Roo Plays.

The terrain

The army list I used at HOTTBAP 2009 is:

Alternatives I have available are an extra Heffalump or an extra element of Bees. The Stouts could also be fielded as an extra warband instead of a sneaker. In most of these cases I would then have to leave out the lurker, unless I built an extra one point element – perhaps a pooh-stick with teeth as a water-lurker.

Burton Town Hall

As usual it was great fun.

The competition was for armies based on a 40mm frontage (typically 15mm miniatures), with an optional theme of When we were Very Young.  I used a new army: Heffalumps and Woozles.  There were many other beautiful armies, new and old, and as always it is a pity that there was not time to play them all!

Martin and Tony

My first game was against Martin Golay’s Carry on up the Khyber army. My mountd troops (Heffalump Behemoths and Woozle Beasts) charged repeatedly up the hill at the shooters of the 3rd Foot and Mouth,

The Charge of the Heffalump Brigade

and eventally managed to kill the general, but the high point was probably the Heffalump King recoiling over and trampling Lady Ruff-Diamond, Martin’s sneaker – a win!

Between rounds there was a little time to have a look at some of the other amies in action. Some I can identify from the photos, but not all.

Richard Hardy had brought the Heffalumps’ traditional foe:

Winnie the Pooh and friends

while Pete Duckworth fielded Noggin the Nog

Noggin the Nog

and Philip Donald brought Thunderbirds

Thunderbirds are Go!

Tony and Jane

In my second games I played Simon Finney and his Greeks, with a spectacular stronghold (both army and stronghold are the work of Pete Smith) .

The white horse of Sparta

I advanced up the centre/right, while Simon manoeuvred around my left flank. The wrong sort of bees (flyer) and the Stouts (Sneaker) delayed the flanking force (two riders). I did make use of the Sneaker special rules we were playing, by breaking the Stouts off from combat with a rider by interpenetrating it, while a wizzle warband attacked it from the flank.

Simon's Spartans prepare to meet their doom

My main force advanced towards the spear-block – with the Heffalump trap for Poohs engaging the Spartan shooters in the woods, later supported by a Woozle beast. The clash of lines was complicated, and my Heffalump general was in danger of being attacked on the flanks, but I managed to keep him safe, and eventually the Wizzle warband quick-killed the double-ranked spear, and I won again

The Heffalumps roll up Colin's Settlers of Catan

I took no photos between the second and third rounds, as I dashed off to Spirit Games to spend some money.

My Third match was against Colin Evans’ Settlers of Catan army, which I was disappointed to see contained no meeples at all! I lost the Woozles to some aggressive cattle, but managed to kill enough elements in the middle to score my third win.

There was some time before the fourth and final round to take a few more photos…

D'reg vs Sparta

Ivor the Engine

And then it was time for the final round. Tony Green and I were the only players with three wins, so if either of us won, we would win the tournament. Tony’s army was the Rohirrim at the Hornburg – with Aragon (Hero),  Gandalf (Magician)  and some huorns (beasts) support Theoden, the Knight general, and the Rohirrim (riders and spears).

The Woozles close on the Hornburg

Gandalf was the first magician I had met on the day, and I was probably to cautious. He did make one of my heffalumps flee, as you can see above, and Imoved the heffalump general into the woods in front of the Stronghold for the +2. Unfotunately this left me very pip short – Aragorn cornered and killed the bees, then returned to support the spears and huorns, as I kept spending pips to try and keep my sneaker ans other troops in the centre alive.

Things did not get better, and eventually I throught two warband and two beasts against the two spear and two beasts in front of the stronghold – a set of good combat rolls could have killed all four of Tony’s elements, but a set of poor ones cost me three – and I lost 12AP to nil – pushing me down to fouth in the table. Congratulations Tony!

You may be wondering where the wood where the woozle wasn’t, the six pine trees, Eeyore’s gloomy place and the sandy pit where Roo plays are. The answer is still in the box. I attacked every time, so never deployed the custom terrain or the stronghold.

Two gamers living under the name of Saunders

At the presentations Phil Saunders won the prize for the best-themed and least successful army, and there was a prize for everybody. Some of us they stayed on playing board/card games until about 10pm, and others returned the next day for more!

Thanks once again to Pete and the Scimitar club, and I look forward to HOTTBAP 2010!