Hordes of the Things (HOTT) is a fantasy miniatures wargame published by WRG. These rules are based on the De bellis antiquitatis rules.
A generic fantasy game, it can represent armies from a wide variety of
settings.
An army is made up of a number of 'elements' of equal frontage and
varying numbers of figures. The number of figures on each element is
unimportant and need only be what looks right for any given army; all
game mechanisms use the element as a basic unit. The number of elements
in an army is based on a points system. Each element costs 1, 2, 3, 4 or
6 Army Points (AP) depending on its type. A basic army is made up of
24 AP worth of troops, but no more than half the points can be spent on
elements costing 3 or more AP. A basic army is therefore normally made
up of between 9 and 12 elements, although 13-24 element armies are
possible. Elements are of basic types—examples are Knights (mounted
troops relying on a fierce charge), Blades (skilled fencing infantry),
Heroes (superhuman individuals), Lurkers (things that hide and ambush)
and Magicians (practitioners of magic). One element is the army's general.
Variant to play mass battles
Hordes of the Things has a variant called Mass Battle Hordes of the Things – where each player can use two or more armies instead of one
Each army is divided into commands, each
controlled only by its own general, or that one of them designated as
commander-in-chief. Commands can be of unequal size, but no command may
have more than half its points of 6 AP, 4 AP and 3 AP elements, and
only that of the commander-in-chief can include gods, dragons or
lurkers. Elements of different commands must not intermingle when first
deployed.
Both sides' commanders-in-chief dice. The lower scorer is the defender. He chooses the terrain and numbers the playing area's two long edges 1,2,3 and 4,5,6 respectively. The higher scorer is the attacker. He dices, taking the edge corresponding to his score as his base edge. The defender places his side's stronghold on that opposite. Both sides now alternatly deploy one command, the attackers starting first. The defenders take first bound.
Both sides' commanders-in-chief dice. The lower scorer is the defender. He chooses the terrain and numbers the playing area's two long edges 1,2,3 and 4,5,6 respectively. The higher scorer is the attacker. He dices, taking the edge corresponding to his score as his base edge. The defender places his side's stronghold on that opposite. Both sides now alternatly deploy one command, the attackers starting first. The defenders take first bound.
Some links:
- Free download of the rules (V2 English version): on this page
- Free downlad of the rules (V2 French version): On this page
