A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh HOTT Fantasy Army
by Barrie Lovell with intellectual and literary support from Will Denham

This army is based on the characters found in the classic children's stories Winnie-The-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner.

Stronghold: An entrance to an underground dwelling located in the roots of an old tree. The entrance door is wood (painted red) with a large doorknocker. A sign bearing the inscription "Mr Sanders" is mounted above the door. On the left of the door is a bell and a small sign with the inscription "Rnig Also".

Winnie-the-Pooh	Hero General	@ 4 AP	1
Christopher Robin	Paladin	@ 4 AP	1
Owl	Flyer	@ 2 AP	1
Piglet	Sneaker	@ 3 AP	1
Eeyore	Lurker	@ 1 AP	1
Tigger	Knight	@ 2 AP	1
Kanga	Cleric	@ 3 AP	1
Heffalump	Behemoth	@ 4 AP	1
Rabbit	Hero	@ 4 AP	1
Rabbit's Friends & Relations	Horde	@ 1 AP	8
Woozles	Lurker	@ 1 AP	1

Alternatives: Tigger may be converted to a Jagular (Lurker) @ 1 AP (see notes below).

An Explanation

The notes detailed below are intended to explain the categorisation of each of the characters, with literary references where relevant or necessary.

Christopher Robin

Christopher Robin is the little boy who is great friends with Winnie-the-Pooh. Although the driving force behind many adventures he is classed as a Paladin (rather than a Hero) because he is brave and fearless, and as a young child is also pure-hearted. Additionally he is regarded as a protector of smaller, weaker individuals (when young Roo was kidnapped by Pooh and Rabbit, his mother, Kanga was initially frightened but her fear subsided when "she felt sure that Christopher Robin would never let any harm happen to Roo.") In other words Christopher Robin is a typical goody-two shoes!

Winnie-The-Pooh

As he is the main character in both books this must be reflected in the army list. He is therefore classed as a Hero General. If equipped with a suitable balloon (see Winnie-the-Pooh and some Bees) he counts as mounted on a flyer.

Owl

Owl is the wise old bird of the woods;

... for Owl, wise though he was in many ways, able to read and write and spell his own name ...

Being such an intelligent winged creature he is treated as a Flyer.

Piglet

Piglet is described as "A Very Small Animal", but has a record of carrying out sneaking type activity (such as pretending to be baby Roo and infiltrating Kanga's home and accompanying Christopher Robin to school concealed in a pocket). He is therefore classed as a Sneaker. If Winnie-the-Pooh had ever got involved with fabled Rings of Power then Piglet would have been one of the Ringbearers

Eeyore

Eeyore is an old grey donkey who lives in a thistly corner of the forest. He is a depressed, gloomy character who tends to bore others with his dismal outlook. He is therefore classed as a Lurker, although he probably does not kill his enemies, but just depresses them until they go away;

The Old Grey Donkey, Eeyore, stood by the side of the stream and looked at himself in the water. "Pathetic," he said. "That's what it is. Pathetic." He turned and walked slowly down the stream for twenty yards, splashed across it, and walked slowly back on the other side. Then he looked at himself in the water again. "As I thought," he said. "No better from this side. But nobody minds. Nobody cares. Pathetic, that's what it is."

Tigger

Tigger is a rash, excitable and extremely bouncy animal who has a tendency to charge into things without thinking;

... Tigger said: Excuse me a moment, but there's something climbing up your table," and with one loud Worraworraworraworraworra he jumped at the end of the tablecloth, pulled it the ground, wrapped himself up in it three times, rolled to the other end of the roam, and, after a terrible struggle, got his head into daylight again, and said cheerfully: "Have I won?" "That's my tablecloth," said Pooh ...

This makes him ideal knight material as he has no appreciation whatsoever of danger (until it is too late!). His charge is capable of bowling over lesser creatures;

... Tigger was a Very Bouncy Animal, with a way of saying How-do-you-do, which always left your ears full of sand, even after Kanga had said, "Gently, Tigger dear," and had helped you up again ...

Kanga

Kanga is a female Kangaroo (the mother of baby Roo). She is classed as a Cleric because she uses all her female power to protect her young offspring. Her abilities are protective rather than offensive.

Heffalump

Heffalumps are large animals which may or may not have in the 1OO Acre Wood (only Christopher Robin has ever seen one, although Winnie-the-Pooh thinks he may have done once but he isn't sure). Heffalumps can only be caught in Cunning Traps, baited with large jars of Honey. Heffalumps are possibly fierce with Pigs and Bears. In any case their size, and potentially fierce disposition, qualifies them for Behemoths.

Rabbit

Rabbit is the archetypal hero character;

... As soon as he woke up he felt important, is if everything depended on him. It was just the day for organising something, or for Writing a Notice Signed Rabbit... It was a Captainish sort of day, when everybody said, "Yes, Rabbit" and "No, Rabbit, and waited" until he had told them ...

Rabbit is therefore considered to be Hero, as befits this natural leader of animals!

Rabbit's Friends and Relations

These are all the other (generally smaller) creatures who live in the 100 Acre Wood. They claim to be related to Rabbit, but include among their number small beetles, squirrel and mice. The number of friends and relations reputedly is seventeen, however in the light of such large numbers of creatures they are obviously classed as Hordes.

Woozles

These are woodland dwelling creatures of Hostile Intent. Although never seen they leave their tracks in the snow. They are classed as Lurkers, and are represented by an empty base covered in animal tracks.

Jagulars

Jagulars are Fierce Animals who hide in the branches of trees and drop on their prey as it passes underneath. They lure their prey into dropping range by pretending to be stuck and calling "Help! Help!", dropping on their victim when he approaches and looks up to see who is calling. On one occasion Tigger happened to be stuck in a tree, and was mistaken for a Jagular by Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet. An option for Tigger therefore is to be reclassified from a Knight to a Jagular (Lurker @ 1 AP). He may only Lurk in woods however, where there are suitably tall trees.

Ed Note: Hordes of the Things is a generic set of Fantasy wargames rules produced by the Wargames Research Group and was reviewed in Ragnarok 1. A second edition is now available and was reviewed in Ragnarok 43. HOTT has won the Best Fantasy Wargames Rules category in the SFSFW Awards five times out of seven! For further details regarding price and availability, send an SSAE to Wargames Research Group, The Keep, Le Marchant Barracks, London Road, Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 2ER.