Philosophical musings...

Some of my recently bought Wargames Factory War of the Spanish Succession
Cavalry, assembled as Imperialist cuirassiers.   This 18-figure unit has since been
expanded into a 24-figure regiment.

  Over on 'Glorious Little Soldiers', Big Andy posed some interesting questions ('Your point is...?') concerning the appeal - or lack thereof - of war games magazines.  Having a bit of a think about this, I came to the following conclusions, and commented thus (with some editing for this posting, and bits in italics since added):

Some of the poses the horses can be made up into out of  the
right and left halves.  Of these there are just 3 'poses' - 3 'standing',
2  'foot forward', and 3 'rearing'.  By mixing these 'semi-poses' you can get more variety...

"I find it difficult to answer your question as put, and it seems to me these days wargames mags less appealing than once they were. Painting guides can be useful in magazines, as they are often more accessible than books (which are either expensive, or simply unavailable in this country). It occurred to me that the following narrative might supply the answer.  Sometimes the pictures give me idea for terrain pieces, though these days I'm running out of storage space for this sort of thing.

Two 'rearing' poses conjoined gives you a rearing horse - one doesn't want many of those-

and two 'standing' gives a standing horse.  You won't ever want to conjoin the two 'foot forward' semi-poses!

But other combinations give walking, slow gallop, and an odd pose standing with one foot 

forward; beginning to move from a standing start, perhaps?

Having discovered 'Battle' magazine in the late 1970s, I started buying it, whereat, of course, it promptly morphed into 'Military Modelling'.  I was mainly following C.S. Grant's 'Table Top Teasers' and Tony Bath's 'Hyboria' series, but there were quite a few other articles of interest.

I continued buying Mil Mod for a few years, but its appeal faded as it concentrated more on the modelling side. I've never been all that much of a modeller and painter (though I seem to be doing a lot of it lately!). Just as I was about to quit buying the thing, suddenly there appeared a series of articles on the 7YW - really good ones, with some awesome pics of town walls and army encampments, and descriptions of some of the more obscure actions on the periphery of the main campaigns. One I organised as a scenario 'The Olmutz Convoy' - a rather unusual 'wagon train' scenario (LOTS of wagons).  This one got written up in the local Southern Sortie magazine (long since defunct).

60 out of 72 horses done: 2x24-horse Regiments of Cuirassiers,

1x24-horse Regiment of Dragoons.  I'm think of giving each unit 2 flags,

with the idea of splitting units in two for larger-scale actions. 

Just as this set of articles came to an end another by one Robin Hunt appeared on the Spanish Civil War. I don't know much about that conflict, and don't wargame it, but the series was so interesting, by one whose enthusiasm for the subject seemed to indicate an interest deeply personal, that I continued until its end.. 

For mine, that series would have been nicely rounded off with a rule set (or ideas for one) and a sample game using them. Even without them, that series of articles - along with the 7YW - rates as one of the best I've ever read.

Four horses awaiting mounting on 1" x 2" bases.  The rear horse 'works' better
with just the hind hoofs glued onto the base, but I vary that with
a few that have the lower front hoof glued as well.  For this kind of job, you really do need the wire cutters!

Later I got hold of some PW mags, which, not long on good illustrations, at least had reasonable content. I particularly liked to collect the 7YW battle series. These featured battles organised for wargames. Although they didn't translate to my own organisations, they were clear enough for modification to be a simple matter.

Wargames Factory artillery - a battery of 2x8pr cannon.

Wargames Factory artillery - a battery of 12 pr cannon.
The daubs of paint you see were intended as a teat run.

 Flash figures and flash terrain, at first very tasty, cloy after a while. I will be more attracted to a game with rough-as-guts or even unpainted figures and extemporised terrain pieces, but which shows imagination or presents something new, than to a game in which everything is presented in pristine perfection. The latter just doesn't look that much like a game - in fact it looks like hard work, to me....

Wargames Factory Command.  The horse poses are the same -
a nice martial pose, but you do get a selection of ofiicers' heads
and sword or hat-waving arms.

It is possible that there really isn't all that much to be said in this hobby of hours. We can be presented with all sorts of different ways of saying the same thing, or a variety of rule sets for the same war, until we get to the point of thinking 'enough already!' That is why I prefer 'Old School' rule sets of my own devising. I know pretty much what I want. have some knowledge of history (even if less complete than some) and have my own interpretations of it (even though these might vary from established wisdom). To change my view, the argument would have to be interesting, enlightening and compelling. A tall order!"

Bombards from the Tower of London, bought whejn my in-laws visited there several zillion years ago.
  These will be pressed into service as Wars of the Roses field pieces, or later siege guns.
Very versatile pieces of ordnance, these!

Until recently I was a member of the Wargames  Rules design Yahoo group (may still be if it is still going).  This was I believe intended as a forum for discussing rule sets, their design and philosophy, and ideas for game mechanics and so forth.   The problem with it seemed to be that it tended towards discussing design philosophy in respect of simulation vs game, and its associated duality, realism vs playability.  Now, I appreciate that in many respects as game designers and players we are attempting to simulate or represent dynamic 'systems' (politics, warfare, campaigns and battles) by what amounts to 'comparative statics', but there is just a finite and small number of ways this can be said without the argument becoming tiresome.  At some point we have to sit down and design our games.

Of course our design implies compromises.  Where war gamers are apt to differ in their approach to the game is in the compromises they are prepared to make or to accept.

Close-up of a Tower of London bombard...

The accompanying pictures, which have little to do with the main body of this article, are of my soon-to-be Imperialist Army of c.1700. Organised as follows, figure scale 1:20; guns, 1:4:

General Officer C-in-C Prinz Kazu von Toscana (or possibly Archduke Piccolo the Elder),

Infantry Brigade: 3x36-figure Regiments

Infantry Brigade: 3x36-figure Regiments

Cavalry Brigade: 2x24-figure Cavalry Regiments

Army Troops: 1x36-figure Grenadier Regiment; 1x24-figure Dragoon Regiment,

                          1x8pr Battery, 1x12pr Battery.

A total of 252 Foot (5,040); 72 Horse (1,440); 16 gunners (320, 16 guns); 4 Generals (80 generals and staffs):  Total 344 figures (6,880 officers and men).

Toy Store

 Having sorted out some glitches associated with the recent purchase of a laundry machine, Karen and I betook ourselves to a Toy World to see what might be found there.  This was a treat for me, you understand, Karen not being into this sort of thing, herself.  The first thing to catch my eye was the little item above: 1:144 scale aircraft.  I thought it might be a Yak3 or Yak9, but the packaging didn't actually say. Research indicates it's a MiG3  - but that's fine.  It's a Soviet Union WW2 aircraft.  For some reason I have found that 1:144 scale aircraft 'go' better with 1:76 scale ground vehicles and figures than do 1:72 scale. Haven't a clue why.  At any rate, although there were other aircraft of this manufacture there, there were no more MiG3 types.  Five bucks: that'll do... ...

After a bit more strolling around, I found some Army Men stuff stapled or riveted in clear bags to the card thingies you see pictured.  Now it has to be said that this constitutes misleading packaging.  Had I believed it, I would not have bought two packs at $10 the time.  The figures pictured are a reasonable sampling, but the vehicles... not even close.

I've been looking around for equipment for my Jono's World armies.  These packs seemed to fill the bill.  Here's some of the interesting stuff you do get...

To begin with, a very handy looking artillery piece.  True, the gun bit was upside down, and a wee bit of trimming had to be performed to make the gun shields sit right, but the outcome is a righteous piece of ordnance - very like the good old British 25pr.  Bear in mind I bought 2 packs, so the equipments are being pictured in pairs in this posting.

It is my habit to draw small round circles in the ends of the barrels to give them at least the appearance of tubing...

 There was also a tank: recognizable as a Centurion.  You will observe that I misliked the gun barrels enough to replace them with plastic tubing (I have a considerable store of cotton buds, for which I have to thank a pair of chronically itchy ears...).   The originals just looked horrible.  It was easy enough to bore a hole down the stump towards the mantlet, shove in a sliver of toothpick and glue the cotton bud over all.  It gives the look of the early 20pr gun armed Centurion.

 Of course these tanks are under scale compared with most of my Army Men guys, although in these packs the Army Men aren't as large as many that I have, these ones being pretty consistently a whisker over 40mm overall in height.  So they look pretty compatible with the tanks.  Below the two Centurions face a PzIV I bought in Hokitika just over a year ago.  Of course, in Jono's World, these aren't Centurions, but something a little lighter.   Incidentally, I not worrying overmuch about the varying sizes of my Army Men soldiery, being anything from close to 40mm to nearly 60mm tall.  Mixed up and painted, the differences are barely noticeable.

Now this fellow below is interesting.  What to do with it?  It was about the size of the jeeps, and I did think of keeping it as is as some kind of dune- or swamp-buggy technical or scout car.  It just doesn't look quite right though.

The alternative plan is to remove the larger weapon and use that as the basis for infantry water-cooled MMG cognate to the Vickers machine gun.  Then replace this with a circular turret using the mudguard-mounted weapon as the mantlet and gun.  This vehicle would then become a light armoured/scout car.  

Each pack came with a pair of jeeps pretty close to the scale of the figures, and quite a lot smaller than some examples I had from a different manufacture that were too over scale even to be called 'Beeps' (Big Jeeps) or 'Heeps' (Huge Jeeps) or even 'Wgheeps' (Whopping great humongous jeeps).  It seems they ought to have had drivers with them, though, judging by the suggestive looking spikes (since removed) on the driving seats...  Meanwhile the 'BgBgeeps' (Bally great Brobdignagianly gargantuan jeeps) will become light trucks or artillery tractors... or something...

Along with some assorted impedimenta such as tents and weapons emplacements and oil drums and such - and the oddest-looking (and useless) helicoptery thing I have ever seen - came this interesting item:  an assault boat. Taken in total, then, the packs contained quite a selection of useful and handy stuff.

Before closing this, here is a pic of the artillery device I have ... erm ... devised for my Jono's World project. The original you will see pictured in the Jono's world Archives, but I have since modified the design slightly, and printed it on clear plastic (overhead transparency film).  I will explain its function and use in a future posting...

The original device in use.  The building in the left was the target, but the fall of shot was 'over' and to the left, with fatal results for some Raesharn soldiery sheltering in the village square...

Oh, and meanwhile, I've finished painting the kitchen... :-)

Early Christmas...

This year Christmas has come early in the shape of my War of the Spanish Succession army: specifically. 6 boxes pf cavalry.  Nearly 3 years ago I began this project, when the Wargames Factory came out with its War of the Spanish Succession range - Infantry.  Of course I took the 7-box deal.

Thirty-six figures the box, that gave me 7 regiments, totalling 252 foot.   Then I piggy-backed an order for 2 artilley boxes which I have made up into a 2-gun battery of 8-pr and another of 12-pr guns.  Each has a crew of 4, and there were 4 mounted officers (Generals) as well - 2 per box.   And yesterday arrived  6 boxes of Horse, 12 figures the box.  I had planned on the 7-box deal again, but these I got from Australia (War and Peace Games) which had 3-box deals going. That's fine: 3 cavalry regiments at 24 figures apiece.  I'd rather the units were a bit larger than half the infantry size.

The army is to be based very closely upon the Austro-Hungarian Imperialist Army of 1704-21. At present thinking, the three Horsed regiments will comprise two Cuirassier regiments uniformed with the 'lobster' helmet as pictured to the left, and one Dragoon regiment selected from the uniforms below.  I may go for the lemon yellow and black guys, who should look sufficiently striking!

 Given the limited range, I guess it should not be surprising that the Cavalry boxes don't include hussars like those below, though there is available headgear other than the tricorne and lobster helmets.  Had I included hussars, there would have been 4 regiments of 18 rather than 3 of 24...

 One of the attractions of the Imperialist Army is that it had yet to settle firmly upon the light grey or white uniform coats that were later such a distinguishing feature of its line Infantry.  Of the six line infantry units, I'm thinking of two blue coats (Brandenberg-Bayreauth and Buel-Reed), one green coat (Osnabruck), two grey coats (Koenigsegg and De Wendt) and one white coat (von Diesbach). That leaves the Grenadier unit.  I'll probably take historical licence here and do the whole 36-figure unit as the Neipperg Regiment (grey coats) but in bear skins.

What I like about this army is its formality and simplicity.  No messing about with light troops!

Meanwhile, I'm still working on finishing off my plastic Napoleonic Prussian Army.  I've finally glued together the Italieri Hussars (rather peculiar looking figures, really, but I'm hoping the mass effect with mitigate this a bit...), ...

... and a dozen HaT dragoons.  The total army will comprise something like 9 battalions of foot, 4 horsed regiments (1 each of cuirassiers, dragoons, hussars and Uhlans), and 4 or 6 cannon.









Meantime, the recent purchase of WSS cavalry will come at a price.  I promised to paint the kitchen...

Jono's World: Raesharn Armoured Infantry...

Having received recently a huge addition to my collection of 'Army Men' type soldiery (among other things), it behoved me to make a start on organizing the same.  Several figures being Germanic in appearance - I could see the Airfix and Matchbox antecedents in these larger figures - it seemed to me appropriate that they become  the Sideon IV equivalent of panzer-grenadiers.

 And here they are.  Rather than something historical, I went for a vaguely plausible uniform design of my own: black shirts or uniform jackets, matching camo on trousers and helmets.   At that, there are a few non-regs uniforms in there, especially the Afrika Korps types.  It makes for quite a seasoned looking outfit, I reckon!  I've yet to give them an overall 'wash' and facial features, but I couldn't really wait to see what these guys looked like in pictures.

 The whole is to form a company comprising:
Command Section: Coy Cdr, runner, and anyone else I can think of shoving in there (e.g. radio op).
1st (Mortar) Platoon: 2x8cm mortars, 5 figures;
2nd (Machine-Gun) Platoon: 2xMMG, 7 figures;
3rd (Infantry) Platoon: 21 figures - 2 Sections (5th and 6th) each of 1x2-men LMG team, 1 SMG (Section commander and 7 riflemen
4th (Infantry) Platoon: 21 figures - 2 Sections (7th and 8th) each of 1x2-men LMG team, 1 SMG (Section commander and 7 riflemen
Total strength Armd Inf Coy: about 57.

 That the figures come in quite variable sizes doesn't seem to be noticeable laid out as here, with a platoon sized advance supported by tanks.  I really do wish I had bought the other two PzIVs though.  Nnnnnggggggg...!

Acknowledgements:  

1.   Thanks to Paul Foster (Plastic Warriors), the stuff he sent me arriving safely a couple of days ago.  Let's see: most of an Airfix Tiger I (really just the gun and mantlet needs to be found for this);  enough of an ESCI Hummel or Nashorn to have a crack at completing it; and the rocket launchers of 2 Calliope Shermans - which will most likely end up on the backs of tracks as RL technicals in the service of Tchagai.  Some interesting projects in prospect there!

2.   Among the trove Brian (Fist Full of Plastic) sent my way a while back were some items I omitted earlier to mention.  These were Tamiya naval kits: the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier (pretty big item at something over a foot long) with aircraft, and the US Gato Class Submarine with a Japanese Nr13 Class Sub-chaser and a B25 (I think) four-engined bomber.

Probably the handiest item is the sub-chaser, as it could as well be used for inshore or even riverine operations.  The depth-charges might equally well be mines.  I can also seeing it in operation in several projects: my Latin Wars, in the service of Tchagai, or even on Jono's World... 

HotT Carnage

Date: Sunday, 1 December 2013.

Location: Woolston Club, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Occasion: Hordes of the Things: Carnage competition - 8 players, 5 rounds.

This was my first ever participation in a HotT competition, and my first appearance at the club in several months as well.  My main motivation for joining in was far less to enter the spirit of competition, than to admire the armies entered by others.  The imagination that goes into them was a much a source of interest as their appearance...

First action against Brian's 'Indic' army.  I call it 'Indic' as I never did ask what sort of 'peoples' it represented, but did observe among more conventional  types, an elephantine boar-like creature that had obviously been at the front of the queue when tusks were being handed out.

 Definitely over-endowed in the tusk department this behemoth.  The other flank was covered by a three-headed, triple-bodied, treble-tailed snaky thing - or more likely it was three snakes acting in beastly concert. Not a particularly pleasant prospect, though I did admire their artistic arrangement on the base!

 I gather this army also featured some lizardy creepy-crawlies - but I never encountered them.  Probably fortunately.  Meanwhile, on the the next table, Gordon's Nordic Horde (my appellation for them) was facing Nick's (? Not sure I caught the name) Silver Hordes and doing quite well.  The Danish Mage unfortunately had a small accident...

 In another nearby action, Mark's Barbarian army faced Paul's Forces of Darkness...

Reverting to my first game, I shall take up the narrative in the guise of Lt-Col Tarquin Moiseivitch Scrivener, Chief of Staff of the Imperial Russian Army of Exploration into Realms Unknown and Mysterious (IRAERUM).  

To:  Her Imperial Majesty and Magnificence, Tsarina Elizaveta Romanoff

Highness:  I am pleased to report the return of the Exploration Army to the garrison town of Oomff, having departed thence upon our mission some [time] ago.  Our travels were early intercepted less than half a verst [i.e. less than a third of a mile - say, oh I don't know, 600 paces?] from the town itself by an apparently Indic army that, among its conventional commanders, heroes and archers, included a large porcine creature bristling with razor tasks, opposite our left, and a slithering group of enormous python snakes opposite our right, where rode our esteemed General Semyon Semyonovitch Smirnoff.  

 Hoping to envelop the enemy the Pavlograd Hussars was thrown somewhat forward from our left...

 ... and then the left wing infantry also pivoted to discourage the enemy advance upon that flank.  Meanwhile, General Smirnoff had to survive some intense shooting by enemy archers, causing our Horse to fall back a space.

 The action was decided in our favour, and Oomff saved from the depredations of the bestial bezonians of barbarism, when the effective musketry occasioned the demise...

 ... of the enemy general, hero, and a band of archers.  Our own loss was trivial [nil, as I recall].

 Meanwhile, in the small, not very bustling frontier town of Oomph, well-wishers observed the action from a distance, more intent, in the case of one fellow, of exploring the nutty flavours of the locally brewed amber...

 Whilst this action was taking place, in another corner of the Unknown World not far off, the Nordic Horde was riding down the Silver Hordes.  The Imperial Army would soon meet them...

Following the success of the first day's action, the army struck farther into the unknown.  Soon was descried in the distance a colourfully constructed tower, defended by an army of apparently Jutlandish extraction: the Nordic Horde.

Our early attempt on the brush covered hill to ambush and envelop the Nordic right flank met with failure, the jager fading back into the brush, never again in this battle to re-emerge.

On the other flank, the Nordic boar riders presented a bold front against our cuirassiers.  

 Somewhat inconvenienced by the patch of boggy ground in the centre, our early attempt upon the Nordic centre failed; our artillery seemed to be experiencing unwonted difficulty getting into action [the Nordic Mage was having an annoying effect], and the Hussars' gallant but foolhardy charge was handily repulsed with loss.

 Riding down a unit of boar riders, Genl Smirnoff ordered a consolidation of the line to await the enemy attack.  Although we contrived to damage the enemy considerably, a herd of large creatures with tusks intervened to help the boar riders ....

 ...  and our cavalry was overthrown.   Genl Smirnoff met upon the heroic battlefield an untimely demise, to be greatly mourned by the Army.  Lt-Genl Kyros Aleksandrovitch Ksenofonski took over command, and despite the setback, ordered the Army to resume its march.

It appears that the Indic army's defeat had not marred its martial capabilities, surrounding and defeating Paul's Forces of Darkness...

 Resuming the march after the reverse against the Nordic Horde, the Russian Army soon encountered the Forces of Darkness, occupying a rustic village long ago abandoned by it Russian colonial builders.  The action once again opened with the jager taking up a position upon the brush-covered ridge flanking the enemy stronghold, surprising and wiping out an enemy war band.  Unfortunately, retribution was swift: a second warband assailed the jagers in flank, and, with avian assistance dispersed for good the unlucky jagers.

 For the rest, the Dark Forces seemed reluctant to emerge from the environs of the village, especially after the Dark Mage of Moloch ensorcelled himself in a gush of sulphurous smoke.

 For our part, we were as hesitant about entering the village as the enemy were to emerge from the place, and subjected the enemy line to a concentrated artillery fire, meanwhile reordering the line preparatory to attack. As it transpired, we were somewhat anticipated by the enemy whose assault we repulsed with great loss. Its hero general down, the charioteers wrecked and the Mage of Moloch missing, the remaining enemy incontinently fled the field... 

 Fortunes restored, the Army entered a wild, primaeval country.  It was not long before we found ourselves confronted by a force of Troglodytes, armed with weapons primitive to all appearance but doubtless effective in their way.  We did have something to fear from their Dread Druid with his peripatetic Henge; and we were to catch a fleeting glimpse of that which they worshipped: a saurian monster with teeth and a presence altogether unholy.

This proved a stiff, near run encounter.  The Trog Commanding Hero established himself firmly upon the gentle eminence on our left where he was able early to repulse out Hussars' effort to dislodge him. Our musketeers soon found themselves in some difficulty, one unit dispersed [destroyed] the others making no head against an enemy better armed for close combat.  Enemy warbands also enveloped our right and even reached the gun line.

 However, the Grenadiers forced back the trog centre, and we were able betimes to form a coherent and strong line facing the flanking war bands.  It was about this time that the sabre-toothed saurian appeared, which seemed to evoke a certain awe among our opponents, by which we inferred [I was simply told, actually] that we had seen their god.  Capricious as are all deities who are not Our Father in Heaven, this nightmarish vision soon passed from our sight, whereat our Army heaved a collective sigh of relief.

 The fillip to our morale occasioned by the quick disappearance of the enemy god, our army held all attacks with renewed confidence.  The Hussars once more threw themselves uphill against the enemy Chief, with Genl Ksenofonski's cuirassiers ascending onto his flank.  The Caveman Chief thus overthrown, our Army celebrated a great victory, and passed unscathed through the lands of the troglodytes.  It came to our ears later that ours in recent times was the only army victorious against this primitive, but hard fighting foe [by which can be inferred that Kevin won the competition with 4 wins and this only loss].

 Even after such a victory, the travails of the Army were not yet over, for we shortly encountered a colourful Barbarian army that had hitherto, as we afterward learned, been as successful as we. Possibly our previous action had left Genl Ksenofonski in an over-sanguine state of mind, for, in sending the Hussars in a wide flanking sweep, he rather placed them in an isolated position.

 True, the enemy seemed somewhat worried by this, especially when one of our squadrons burst through surrounding enemy and menaced their main line.  

 But a tall dark-haired Magillatron [behemoth - Magillatron is my own name for this fellow] destroying one squadron [element] and preventing the other's return, the Barbarian Mages [two of them!]  soon brought the other to an end as well.

 This surviving hussar squadron penetrated to within a mere few paces from the enemy Kraznaya Zvezda [Red Star] stronghold, but never quite bridged the slight intervening distance.  The attempted rescue was too late in the event, and not all the would-be saviours survived the retreat back to the main line.

 At last, unable to make head against the foe, all we could do was to await the Barbarian onslaught.  Sure enough, he stormed our centre where our musket armed troops were outmatched in the melee ['shooters' vs 'blades'].  The enemy broke through, and our Army flung back in headlong defeat. [This Army of Mark's also ended the day with a 4-win 1-loss record, but was second on a countback].

 Although this defeat was the worst we had endured, we are inclined to view this expedition as an outstandingly successful journey into the unknown, seeing and learning wonders... 

Signed in behalf of Genl Ksenofonski

Lt-Col T. M. Scrivener (Chief of Staff).

 Put in more prosaic terms: I had a great day: 3 wins 2 losses, and had I won the final game by the same margin I lost it, might well have taken out the whole competition!

Here now are some further pics of some of the armies that appeared upon the day's battlefields.  Above, Gordon swapped his Nordic Horde for this Lego Star Wars army.  Below: another look at Mark's army.  It turns out he has recently begun his own blog spots: Chasseur (Napoleonic) and Hordes of the Things (Fantasy).  Check 'em out.

 Mark has a very characteristic style, kind of simple, great use of colour.  Very nicely painted, his armies are eye-catchingly  inviting to be played with.

Below is an army I didn't have to face, though I gather it had a large proportion of 'hordes' (1 AP the time). Otherwise I know nothing about them...

Gordon's star Wars Army again, drawn up on parade.  I seem to recognize Obi-wan Kenobi and friend; and the little green guy.  No doubt Chewbacca is operating the two-legged battle thingy, but otherwise...

The Star Wars Rebel Army drawn up on parade before their LEGion Operational headquarters...

Someone's 'God' figure.  Now that's what I'm talkin' about!  I have some plastic Romans, which could use a figure like this, as Mars, or maybe Mithras.

One photo I didn't get was Tony's World war Two Germans.  How it was organised I don't know for sure, but it did include a King Tiger (behemoth?), an armoured half-track (General 'Knight' perhaps?), and an aereal thingy ('God'?) on the form of a Henshel-129 ground attack aircraft.   Leaving early, Tony made way for Robin (the comp organizer) to enter the fray with his WW2 Russians: T34 'Knights', infantry as shooters and hordes, and an artillery stonk (grey 'smoke') as 'god'.  You don't need a sense of humour to appreciate Hordes of the Things, but it sure lord don't do any harm!

A couple of Robin's HotT armies that didn't make it to the table-top: Steam punk, soldiers of the queen, with aereals: flying boats and balloons.  Fantastic.

Robin's blogspot can be accessed here, wargamingnz, or referred to from my 'favorites' list.