TLAXCALLAN

The Tlaxcallans were an opponent of the Aztec Empire (Mexica) circa 15th century. They were stalemated for over a hundred years until the Spanish arrived in the New World. With Cortez and his Spaniards as allies, the Tlaxcallans helped overthrow the Triple Alliance and establish the Spanish presence in Central Mexico. Stronghold: Meso American city wall or gateway.

Blade General (Warrior Knights) @ 2AP...1
Blades (Warrior Knights) @ 2AP...3
Shooters (Otomi archers) @ 2AP...3
Warbands (common warriors) @ 2AP...2
Hordes (peasants and skirmishers) @ 1AP...6

Alternatives: Flyer (Feathered Serpent) @ 2AP, Knights (Spanish cavalry) @ 2AP, Artillery (Spanish cannons) @ 3AP

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

This is another army that started its life as a DBA army. They were originally meant as a historical opponent for my Aztecs, but like so many of my other projects, this one abruptly ended when I moved to Las Vegas in 1995. By that time I was already firmly convinced that HotT was a better game than DBA, and so the process was already in motion to set this up. This army actually has more element types than I prefer in a basic list (four instead of three) but I felt the addition of the Hordes to replace the DBA psiloi elements was a rather characterful addition to the army. Although the alternative troops have no limits, I would suggest that not more than one of each be used in a Tlaxcallan army, as the Spanish were quite a small portion of the overall force. Of course, the REALLY funny thing about my Tlaxcallan army is that it replaced the Aztecs as my favorite, both in DBA and HotT. It's not so much that it performs better on the battlefield (in infantry battles, Aztecs rock!), but the Tlaxcallans were actually a more colorful and flamboyant army than the Mexica, since their units were less regimented in regards to coloration and uniforms.

We actually had a little discussion on the HotT mailing list about the composition of this army. This is a bit more of my thoughts, feelings, and comments of how this army came into it's current form:
The "official" DBA Tlaxcallan list given in Army Lists Vol. 2 is 4Bd, 4Bw, (2Wb, 2Ps) or (1Kn, 1Cb, 2Ps) This is initially what I based my HotT army from. My own research has subsequentially shown that although the Tlaxcallans were in fact famed for their archers, this had more to do with fielding them as regular formed units rather than relegating them to skirmisher and support type troops, as did the more widely known armies of the Triple Alliance.
Important to all member groups of the Nahuatl culture was the taking of captives in single combat, for later use as sacrifices to their various gods. Thus, there was still a preponderance of Warrior Knights (Blades), supported by knighty apprentices (Warbands, and in the case of Tlaxcalla, a fair number of archers (Shooters) to disorder the superior nmber of troops fielded by armies of the Triple Alliance. All Nahuatl armies also fielded large numbers of poorly trained and equipped infantry (Hordes) that were used to absorb the shock of enemy advances and to provide plenty of captive opportunities for the opposition. The captive thing was kind of a cooperative venture from the mutually opposed forces to assure that there would be plenty of chances to make sure the sun would rise the next day.
And there I go again, trying to take a perfectly innocent fantasy game and turn it into my own little historical simulation.

STATUS

This is still in the "half painted DBA army" stage... I am likely to re-start the project with all new figures at some distant point in the future.

BATTLES

None so far.

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