Is there anyone playing this game using miniatures? If so, how so you represent a horde during combat?

So far I've been getting a Warhammer Fantasy movement tray and putting a bunch of models on that. It works pretty good, but it's irritating when models tip over and drag the rest down with them, so you need to be careful unless you want to stand each model back up again 100 times.

Katie Drake said:

Use blu-tack (or an equivalent) to affix them to the movement tray; stops them falling over when you move it.

I started using a scattering of generic miniatures to show the boundaries of the horde, but ended up REPEATEDLY reminding them (the players) these are representations and do not indicate individuals. I have stopped putting miniatures out for hordes and just give them a range and any relevant cover mods.

To our group hordes are to avoid getting bogged down in detail - to soak up a little time and some ammo and add some spice to moving from point A to point B (like random monster rolls).

The main antagonists are individuals - they get miniatures .

We have been using minis and usually declaring that each figure in a horde represents 1 or more magnitude. Using 1 meter hexes I realize that a horde takes up multiple hexes, therefore one miniature (the last one that will be removed through magnitude loss) is designated the center point of the horde. I then assume that the horde occupies a certain radius of hexes from that center point based upon its size. For example:

Horde Size = Hex Radius

1 = 1 hex only

2-3 = 2 hex radius

4-8 = 3 hex radius

9-16 = 4 hex radius

17-32 = 5 hex radius

33-64 = 6 hex radius

65 or more = 7 hex radius

And when you get down to it this is probably actually too small but I want to be able to use my hex mat for battles. I assume that the shape of the horde is somewhat flexible (narrowing an elongating to fit down narrow street for example). And perhaps the horde extends further away from the front of battle, usually where the PCs are, to represent stragglers and such.

So using the rules above if a Magnitude 30 horde gets within 5 hexes of a target it can be assumed to be in contact.

I bought a bunch of cheap foam blocks, children's toys or counting blocks they were called.

Some blocks were larger than the others. Each small block is 1 magnitude, each large block is 5.

On the tabletop map, I can easily just scatter the blocks around and players handle taking away or exchanging blocks. They can also hold onto blocks to denote how many guys they've killed.

I can also use different block shapes to distinguish between different hordes, same for colors.

Remember that a horde doesn't all have to be jam packed into the same position, they can be spread out across a line for instance.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

Good call, my good sir. I wouldn't have thought of something so simple... goes to show that I'm no Fantasy player. =P

This is a problem that I brought up a while back and that hasn't been fixed for me yet...

While I love the concept/rule for Hordes, they really break the strategic value of the game and force a more hand off approach... that's not necessarily a bad thing but I find the switch between tactical combat and narrative combat a bit jarring at time.

Tarkand said:

That's sort of the entire point. It's meant to be running on narrative and fast flowing, rather than getting bogged down in the tactics of moving models around (though I never use models for combat in RPGs. If I wanted to use models, I'd play the tabletop wargame).

We use models in Dark Heresy and WFRP 2.0 but with Deathwatch I really don't see myself using them very often. In fact, I used to be die-hard against using figures as I felt it broke the immersion of the game up too much. I do enjoy using them in DH depending on the encounter though.

Vertrucio said:

Yeah, I'm probably going to do something like this. We're an easily distractible group, so it's nice to have a visual representation.

I am planning on putting a larger model on the board and keeping a dice next to it representing the horde size, then on my vinyl map drawing out the horde's outline.

While hordes are not a tactical challenge on their own: I feel they definitely flesh out or help improve a scenario. A boss fight becomes much harder when the players have to worry about balancing the enemy and the hordes encroaching.

I agree. It's been my experience that 1 big baddy, no matter how big and bad, is doomed. It just can't get enough actions to make up for the concentrated fire.

Every time I read the title of this thread I can't help but think the only acceptable answer is "EVERY MODEL YOU HAVE."

As my group consists of almost entirely tabletop gamers as well, we use miniatures for all of our combats.

For Hordes, we use movement trays miniatures and dice. The number of minis on the tray show the tens digit of the magnitude of the horde and any co-located leaders. As we reduce the magnitude of the horde we use a d10 on the tray to denote the ones digit.

Has worked very well for us. We use a combination of Necromunda, Mordheim, Epic and homemade terrain and our maps utilize either a 5m = 1 inch scale for larger battles, or 2m = 1inch for closer/smaller engagements. Usually for maps we use large folding whiteboard presentation cardboard (like the presentation board one would use in a high school science fair project) that can be drawn on with dry erase markers to keep track of damage, battlefield effects (like smoke and rubble) or even distance for off-board units rushing to the aid of our foes.