About HoTT

“Hordes of the Things” is a set of fast-play fantasy rules written by Phil Barker, Sue Laflin Barker & Richard Bodley Scott, and published by Wargames Research Group.

HoTT is based on WRG’s “De Bellis Antiquitatis” ancients rules. The 2nd edition of the rules was released in 2002 (not long after the start of this campaign in fact), and the campaign is now using the 2nd edition rules. Note however that within the campaign I am using a number of significant rule variants.

Although HoTT is designed to be usable with figures of almost any scale, we have been using 15mm figures for campaign battles (largely because most of my figures are 15mm).

SOME OTHER HoTT LINKS

• Another HoTT campaign I know of is that of Jeff Hudelson of California. The latest situation in his campaign can be seen here.

• Pandaria, a HoTT campaign by Steve Wells.

• Gazkhan's HoTT site, which includes rules and army lists for a HoTT campaign based on the War of the Ring.

• Owen Cooper's HoTT site.

• Among the many articles on HoTT that have appeared in the pages of Ragnarok (the magazine of the SFSFW) and are now available on-line are Lords and Ladies (on HoTT armies for Discworld), For King or Parliament (on HoTT for the English Civil War) and The Holy Grail (as in ‘Monty Python and..‘).

FIGURE MANUFACTURERS
Here are a few manufacturers of 15mm fantasy figures that I have used to put together the armies that have been used in this campaign. One of the problems with fantasy figures (even more so than with historical figures) is that figures from different manufacturers are often not compatible. Thus one manufacturer’s concept of what an orc looks like can be very different from that of another manufacturer. I’ve therefore often used particular manufacturers, not because their figures are the best, but because they fit with what I have already.

Alternative Armies do Dwarves, Goblins, Elves, Undead and a selection of big monsters (Chimera, Griffin, etc).

Chariot Miniatures do Elves, Undead, Dwarves, Lizardmen, Orcs/goblins, Centaurs & Ducks (!!). Chariot's historical ranges focus on the biblical period and they also do various fantasy add-ons for their Ancient Egyptian range for those who've been watching "The Mummy Returns". I use their lizardmen.

Essex Miniatures do Dwarves, Orcs, Halflings, Undead, and a limited range of Ogres, Giants & Centaurs. I especially recommend their Orcs & Ogres. They also do a huge range of 15mm ancient & medieval stuff.

Irregular Miniatures do a huge range of things in any scale you care to name. For 15mm fantasy they offer Dwarves, Elves/Dark Elves, Orcs/goblins, Undead,
Lizardmen, Skaevan & Centaurs. They have a reputation for being cheap but
poor-quality castings. I would tend to agree.

Pendraken are best known for their huge range of 10mm fantasy figures. 15mm is new for them, but their 10mm stuff is very nice. To date they do Dwarf, Goblin & Lizardmen. Hopefully we'll see more of their 10mm ranges appear in 15mm soon (Centaurs, please, guys!).

Peter Pig - The Mighty Pig do Orcs, Dwarves, Elves, Fantasy Arab & Medieval, and Garden Gnome (!!). These are generally only available in HoTT-army sized boxes. They also have some Giant Eagles. I use their Elves & Dwarves, and the latter are in my view the best Dwarves on the market. Their Orcs, on the other hand, look indistinguishable from humans to me.

Reaper Miniatures are a US company, but they are licenced in this country by MiniFigs, so they are sold by The Keep, who are the very people who publish HoTT. Dwarves, Undead, lots of Orcs, and of all these manufacturers they are the ones whose orcs look most like GW's Warhammer orcs. They tend to be rather big for 15mm, with very chunky bases that make it difficult to fit multiple figures onto Hordes-sized bases.