"Why Did The Chicken Cross the Road"

An Introductory HOF Fire Team Scenario by Gavin Syme

Canlastrian Knights try to forge into streets held by the Prydian Army resistance in this starter scenario for HOF Fire Team.

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Get On the Tiles! - An Introduction to HOF Fire Team

HOF Fire Team is a dynamic tile based wargame which means that you may not be familiar with the way it works if you are used to an open table system that uses measured distances and not squares for movement and other ranges in play. That being said the mechanics of HOFFT (our little nickname for the game!) are simple and elegant and will not take long to learn. In fact using these starter scenarios, collectively titled "Get On the Tiles!" is a sure way to get you into the swing of the game even faster.

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Scenario 2: Why Did The Chicken Cross the Road

Jace Pendragon had always had a thing for ancient Terran culture even though almost everyone he met thought it odd and rather pointless. His favourite subject without a doubt was humour and as he lay motionless on the self-clean carpet of yet another shattered home a joke almost lost to lore was forming in his mind.

On the outskirts of Mercer Park the Canlastrians were trying to forge into streets held by the Prydian Army but resistance was heavy and continual. Command had remotely given the order to cross the Foss Way but Pendragon did not like the look of the all too quiet street. But he had a job to do and once the wide bank of windows to his front were blown out it would be dash up and over to the assigned point across the Foss.

The timer ticked down and both fire teams rose to their feet. Pendragon was smiling and this annoyed his fellow Knights. They all asked him what he was amused about. He did not even have to think. Out came an old but stil very awful joke.
‘Why did the Chicken cross the road?’ ‘To try and get to the other side!’

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Scenario Objectives and Waypoint

This is the first scenario with multiple teams on each side, with a standard playing area of nine grids and with command tasks. But that is fine since by now you have played the very simple ‘Happy Burger Cart’ scenario which proceeds this one.

The objective in this scenario is for the Canlastrian Knights to get across the road and to the opposite corner of the playing area. The Prydian forces will try to stop them from their defended positions.

Waypoint instructions for the Canlastrians are as follows. Beginning at initial Waypoint B5 the Teams must get all of their characters to Waypoint B1. This may be by any route as long as tiles C1 and C6 are not entered at any time.

The Prydian Knights are on the defensive and their Waypoint instructions are that they may not leave tile A1, B1 and B2 at any time but their movements within those tiles are as the player wishes.

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Scenario Set Up and Teams

Consult the battle boards layout given here and make it up from your collection of HOFFT official tiles. Then add the illustrated cover scenics from your collection as well in the correct places.

There are four teams from two sides in this scenario and their set up is given on the battle boards by the coloured circles which represent them.

The RED circles are Prydian Retained while the BLUE circles are Canlaster Retained. Arrangement of characters within each team and team placement on the assigned squares is the owning players choice.

The Prydian Retained are made up of two teams: A Fire Team of four Knights armed with Angis 12.5mm Rifles (see page 36 & 38 profiles) and a Command Team of four Retained Bannerets.

The Canlaster Retained are made up of two teams: A Fire Team of four Knights armed with Angis 12.5mm Rifles (see page 36 & 38 Profiles) and another Fire Team of four HW Knights equipped with heavier weapons composed of two Ron 32mm, one Hermit 44mm and one Angis 12.5mm Rifle.

Miniatures for these teams are from HOF, HOF2, HOF3, HOF4 codes.

There is no initiative roll in the first turn.

Canlaster goes first this time!

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Special Scenario Rules

There is only one special consideration in this scenario and that concerns Command Teams and their abilities. The Prydian player has a Command Team which may function normally assigning Waypoints and such (remember limited movement options though!) But the options of Detaching Troops and Medical Aid are not open for use. The Canlaster player has no Command Team and therefore cannot change assigned Waypoint during play and cannot access other command options. There are no other special rules or other conditions.

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Scenario Notes

This is the first normal sized and almost complete in terms of rules scenario for you to play. With the fixed movement and waypoint orders in this scenario you can gauge fairly well how each Team will conduct itself during the game. I would recommend overwatch for Prydia and liberal use of heavy weapons for Canlaster plus moving room to room using cover. See my blog posting on TTWG Blog for more on how I played this one.

Enjoy and when you feel ready let’s move on to the next adventure in ‘Run a Mile’ right here on Orcs in the Webbe.

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Webmaster's Notes

You can find the rules for HOF:Fire Team as well as all the miniature codes mentioned above on Alternative Armies Online Store by clicking on this link.

This article was originally published on Alternative Armies' content portal Barking Irons Online on Wednesday 11th July 2012 and is reproduced here with permission.

Barking Irons Online was Alternative Armies' official content portal that I ran for them from 2011 until 2013, You can find (almost) all of the content it hosted on Orcs in the Webbe in the respective categories in the menus or browse through it all by clicking on the  maroon  "Barking Irons" tag below.

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