Battle Report: In Strife and Conflict: Battle of Kadesh II: Candle-powered How-do-you-do!

 

I want to eventually run a "Educational" game around the Battle of Kadesh at my local libraries.  This will be with people who don't know anything about wargaming and probably don't know much about ancient history.  Chances are they will be a mix of children, teens, and adults.  I have never done anything like this before.  

Therefore, I want to test run the Battle of Kadesh scenario from the In Strife and Conflict rulebook to see if it will do what I need it to do for the demo game.  Therefore, I ran this scenario a few times to see how different folks would play it.  

Forces

Egyptians

3 Light Chariots

- Composite Bows

- General

1 Professional Infantry

2 Auxiliary Infantry

- Composite Bows

4 Archers

Hittites

3 Heavy Chariots

- Javelins

- 1 General

1 Auxiliary Infantry

2 Levy Infantry

- Bows

2 Skirmishers

Mission: 

As the Egyptians are operating in the Levant against the Hittites, we made the Egyptians the Attackers and the Hittites the Defenders.  We then randomly determined the scenario using the method in the rules.  We were going to play a supply run.  The Hittites were moving vital supplies to Kadesh prior to the Egyptians getting there and laying siege to the city! 

The Hittites have three supply tokens they need to get off board in 8 turns and without breaking. 

Set-up:

Of course, we will be playing today on a 72MU by 48MU board with each MU equal to 1 inch.  

Using the core rulebook rules, we set-up the table per the scenario.  The Egyptians start with a limited number of units on the table, representing the Pharaoh and his advanced force.  The Hittites get all their troops to start with on the other side of the river.  

Crossing the Orontes River is Dangerous terrain, but only Difficult at the Fords.  The fields around Kadesh are also Difficult.  The city itself is Impassable.  

King Muwatalli II and his Hittite Army

The Pharaoh is out ahead of the main army with his Sherden Guards and some Archers of the Ra division.  The rest of the Egyptian army will begin trying to get to the battle starting in turn 4. 

The Ra Division out front near Kadesh

I will be giving an overview of the battle below, pulled out into my usual three sections of Maneuvers, Battle, and End Phases.  I will then give some final thoughts at the end. 

Maneuver Phase

The Hittites seem to be following a more historical depiction of the battle.  The King and his chariots are going around the city and towards the fords on the South side of Kadesh.  Meanwhile, the Pharaoh confident in his divine heritage moves forward, as the Hittite infantry move to block him crossing the ford.  

As the Pharaoh moves across the Orontes, he draws first blood with a volley of arrows into the Hittite skirmishers.  His Sherden were on the shore looking to follow.  Perhaps the Pharaoh has bitten off more than he can chew?    

Battle Phase

Poor Command and Control by the Pharaoh allows the Hittites to reinforce the ford on the North side of Kadesh.  This blocks the Pharaoh from forcing his crossing, and gets him tangled up with Hittite Spearmen.  The Sherden Guards are following-up, but fording the river has delayed them from helping the impetuous Pharaoh, The Heavy Hittite Chariots begin to cross the Orontes River south of Kadesh, the upper branch.  

Hittite Skirmishers join the fight at the ford with the Pharaoh.  With the aid of the light troops, and some re-rolls; the Pharaoh is easily routed!  Meanwhile, other parts of the Egyptian army begins to enter the field of battle.  A unit of Light Chariots, 2 Archer units, and a Auxiliary Infantry unit with bows.  Too little, too late!  

The Hittites reinforce their shoreline on the North side of Kadesh, while the Egyptians rain arrows down upon them.  The Hittite King and his chariots race around Kadesh towards the second ford and the bulk of the Egyptian army.  The newly arrived Egyptian forces move to try to reinforce the last ford before the Hittites can get to it.  

Egyptian bowfire clears the Hittite Spearmen off the ford, and the Sherden begin to march across again.  However, the crossing is the target of murderous and accurate bow and javelin attacks from the Hittites as the Sea People cross.  

To the South of Kadesh, the Hittite chariots get to the second ford of the Orontes and find the Egyptians blocking their advance.  The enemy has been located at last!  The lead chariot throws their javelins but fail to cause much disruption.  

The Hittite Heavy Chariots are met with murderous Egyptian bow fire, and the initial attack is quickly blunted and sent reeling!  Failures of King Mutuwalli II with Command and Control lead tot he heavy loss of life.  

At the other ford, the Hittite missiles manage to rout the crossing Sherden Guards, failing to get across.  This causes the Egyptian forces there to start to waiver.  A Hittite skirmisher unit is set to wavering from Egyptian counter-fire.

The Hittites decide to bid all of their King's Decree except 1 to get initiative, and once they have it they launch a charge with their Heavy Chariots, determined to break their way across the ford.  The charge hits home, and pushes the Egyptians back and wavering, losing two courage but at the cost of 1 in return.

At the Northern ford, the Egyptian Light Chariots seize the initiative and push across the Orontes.  They open fire on the disrupted skirmishers and send them fleeing to the four winds.  However, the Archers are too busy re-organizing to press the archery duel.  However, Hittite counter-fire is enough to drive the Egyptian chariots back, scattering them yet again!     

 

End Phase

The momentum of both sides has been blunted, and the battle is winding down.  The Hittite Heavy Chariots try to push through the last ford South of Kadesh, but the disrupted Egyptians manage to stay strong with support from a nearby archer unit.  At the other flashpoint, Egyptian archery forces the last Hittite skirmisher to switch to Open Order and fall back.  This leaves them disrupted.  However, the Egyptians do not try to force the ford yet again.  

In a last push, King Mutuwalli II throws everything he has into the battle South of Kadesh along the shores of the Orontes River.  However, despite disrupting the Egyptian lines, he can not break through.  For their part, the Egyptians are content to have held the Hittites back, and do not try to cross the Orontes again.  

Conclusion

Some big divergences from what we know of the historical battle.  The Hittite Chariotry followed a more historical approach, but were held by the Egyptians.  Meanwhile the Pharaohs efforts to cross the Orontes and act aggressively were obviously and painfully halted.  He was forces to flee back to his camp with his tail between his legs!  This looks like a much closer battle than the last Battle of Kadesh we fought. 

Hittites earned 24 point but lost 18 points for +6 points.  The Egyptians did the inverse.  Therefore, the Hittites win the battle again!  

This less than decisive win matches what we know of the aftermath of the actual battle.  Kadesh seems to have stayed in Hittite control, Egyptian influence in the area waned, and the Pharaoh did not venture forth again into the Levant.  A relatively historical outcome for this one.    

Final Thoughts

Crossing a contested river is hard!  Both sides failed to manage it!  Missile power ruled the day.  A single missile unit was not enough to stop a determined advance, but the force that was better able to coordinate their firepower was able to route attackers.  In addition, the chariots were very mobile and allowed rapid re-deployment and maneuver, but were not overwhelmingly powerful in the attack.  That seemed about what I wanted out of this ruleset.

I think the next step is to create some unit cards with one side being game details, and the other being some historical details.  I.e. why chariots?  Who was Ramesses II?  What was needed for Bronze weapons?  Why Bronze?  Etc.  I would also like a timeline of the "historical" battle that I could project during the game as we go through some of the phases of the battle.  Maybe a map of the area as well?  Anyway, the tools to make it a "learning" game.  Then, I will be ready to take it to the local libraries and college for some demos!  Two players on the Hittite side, three on the Egyptian side, and me as the GM should be do-able.   

Until next time! 

Become a Patron and get access to all the cool stuff, a peak behind the curtain of Blood and Spectacles, and early-access to playtest games!  

Blood and Spectacles Patreon! 

You can follow Blood and Spectacles Facebook page or Instagram for more fun! 

Check out the latest publications and contact me at our Blood and Spectacles website

Or purchase all out games at the Blood and Spectacles Publishing Wargames Vault Page!                          

         

   

On the Painting Desk: Finishing off Against the Ogres - Heroquest

 

I finished my Heroquest core set, and picked up the Against the Ogres as my first supplement so that I could add the ranged enemies into my collection.  I was pretty impressed with the quality of the models and the supplement in general.  However, I can't play it until I have all the models painted.  Therefore, I got to work making sure I had it all painted. 

Last time, I painted up the furniture first, then the new heroes, and the Skeleton archers.  That left me with the missile goblins, archer orcs, and the Ogres themselves.  As usual, I undercoat primed them with Grey Seer spray.  Then, I gave them a dark grey wash then day brushed them white.  They were all ready for me to start with Armpainter Speedpaints.  So, let's get into it....

I decided to start with the Goblins.  For some reason, these guys gave me a hard time.  Perhaps it was the small detail, perhaps I wasn't sure how to paint them?  I figured a good place to start was malignant green skin to get me started.  I really loved the boomerangs as missile weapons, unique and fun weapons for the little guys.  I wanted to mostly have Magic Blue as their main color.  

After the goblins, I moved onto the Orc bowman.  Unlike the Goblins, the Orcs are wearing some decent armor, chunky.  I had been using Greylord Grey for the armor.  It gives is a very wrought iron and roughly finished look.  The skin is Malignant Green again to tie them into the Goblins.  The Bows are Pallid Bone.  The most fun was choosing the colors for the female Orc's hair.  I like deciding hair colors when I paint.  

That finished off my Greenskins!  They were ready to take on some Heroes and show them why Zargon's victory was inevitable!  

Okay, with the Greenskins done it was time to focus on the Ogres.  I wanted to make them different from the other enemies, so I wanted  unique "Ogre" skin-tone for them.  The Skeletons were Pallid Bone, the Orcs/Gobbos used Malignant Green, and I used various skin tones for the Heroes.  Therefore, I did some testing and decided on Sand Golem brown for the Ogre skin.  I also decided I did not want m Ogres to have much "modern" metal, so I limited them to Golds, Bronze, and Coppers.  After all, Bone weapons are a common feature in the quests.  This gave them a very earth-tone look.  

You may notice that I used Absolution Green as a unique "Ogre" hair color, as well as Graveyard Grey which provided a black hair look. Again, I gave each one a unique "color" to help differentiate them a bit if needed in game.  I have tried to do that for all the miniatures in the game.  None of them are exactly the same.  

This left me with the final three "Character" model miniatures from the Boxed set.  They are an Ogre Champion/Gladiator, a Ogre Warlord, and the Ogre king.  After getting them primed with the rest, I decided to paint them each individually.  I painted all their exposed skin first.  Then, I actually painted from their feet up, trying to go the lowest details first.  This way, I was layering up the model.  

Here is the Ogre Champion and Ogre General.  The Fierce Weaselmancer is there for scale.  

That left me with just one model for my Against the Ogre Horde box.  The last model was the biggest one of the set yet!  The Ogre King.  I painted him all by himself, no other projects on the table.  I started like the other character Ogres, all the skin first using Sand Golem.  Then, I got too work painting from the feet up.  There is a surprising amount of detail in this boardgame model and it takes paint after priming very easily.  Good definition in all of these models so far.  

Well, that's my first Heroquest supplement down.  I should probably get playing the core campaign soon!  Then, I can think about what supplement I want to get next.  Part of me wants Kellar's Keep and Return of the Witchlord so that I have all the core campaigns.  However, those boxes do not really add anything but more models I all ready have and quests.  I am really interested in adding more Hero types next.  That might sway my decision to a different set. I am open to suggestions for which Heroquest supplement is the best to get next.  

However, it will be a bit of time until I paint any more Heroquest!  My next project is some more Persians, this time I want to add some chariots to my force so that I can do the Battle of Cunaxa from Xenophon's Anabasis some day/  Those models are from Wargames Atlantic, so I am interested to see how they fit in with my Victrix minis.  

Speaking of Victrix, I also picked up an army of Anglo-Saxons from them.  Those were the intended main adversary for my Fury of the Northman rules.  However, I made an army of Wargames Atlantic Dark Age Irish to fight my Victrix Vikings first.  The Anlgo-Saxons will be about 50-60 miniatures or so.  Both of these projects I will most likely NOT be using Speedpaint, and using my more traditional base colors and a wash methods to match the rest of my historical forces.  That should be interesting to see how that goes. 

Until next time! 

Become a Patron and get access to all the cool stuff, a peak behind the curtain of Blood and Spectacles, and early-access to playtest games!  

Blood and Spectacles Patreon! 

You can follow Blood and Spectacles Facebook page or Instagram for more fun! 

Check out the latest publications and contact me at our Blood and Spectacles website

Or purchase all out games at the Blood and Spectacles Publishing Wargames Vault Page!    

         

Battle Report: In Strife and Conflict - Battle of Kadesh Test Run

I want to eventually run a "Educational" game around the Battle of Kadesh at my local libraries.  This will be with people who don't know anything about wargaming and probably don't know much about ancient history.  Chances are they will be a mix of children, teens, and adults.  I have never done anything like this before.  

Therefore, I want to test run the Battle of Kadesh scenario from the In Strife and Conflict rulebook to see if it will do what I need it to do for the demo game.  Therefore, let's get it on the table and see what happens!  

Forces

Egyptians

3 Light Chariots

- Composite Bows

- General

1 Professional Infantry

2 Auxiliary Infantry

- Composite Bows

4 Archers

Hittites

3 Heavy Chariots

- Javelins

- 1 General

1 Auxiliary Infantry

2 Levy Infantry

- Bows

2 Skirmishers

Mission: 

We followed the set-up and parameters located in the In Strife and Conflict main rules. 

Set-up:

Of course, we will be playing today on a 72MU by 48MU board with each MU equal to 1 inch.  

Using the core rulebook rules, we set-up the table per the scenario.  The Egyptians start with a limited number of units on the table, representing the Pharaoh and his advanced force.  The Hittites get all their troops to start with on the other side of the river.  

Crossing the Orontes River is Dangerous terrain, but only Difficult at the Fords.  The fields around Kadesh are also Difficult.  The city itself is Impassable.  

Hittites on the left

I will be giving an overview of the battle below, pulled out into my usual three sections of Maneuvers, Battle, and End Phases.  I will then give some final thoughts at the end. 

Maneuver Phase

The Hittites start with 8 King's Decree to the Egyptian 3.  The Egyptians will increase when more units enter the board.... hopefully.  It is no surprise, that the Hittites can easily bid enough to go first.   As the Hittites press forward, the Pharaoh looks to threaten crossing the river west of the city.  He sends runs back to his main force, urging them to join him for the battle.  As the Hittite main force approaches the opposite side of the Orontes, the Pharaoh wisely turns away.  

The Hittites were stacking up and preparing to cross the Orontes, when the rest of the Egyptian army arrived on-scene.  With the arrival of the rest of the army, the Egyptians seize the initiative! The Sherden guards storm across the ford and try to attack! However, the ford is too much for them and they become disordered going across, falling short of their foes!  The Archers support the attack with a rain of arrows, that weaken the Hittite infantry on the other side. 

With that, the Battle of Kadesh begins in earnest. 

Battle Phase

Hittite bowman from the follow-on infantry try to barrage the Sherden with arrows, but they fail to find their mark.  Hittite spearmen wade into the ford and attack the disorganized Sherden.  The men of Hattusa are supported by a unit of Skirmishers.  The fighting is indecisive and neither side seems to be able to dislodge the other.  Meanwhile, the Egyptian army rushes to aid their forward units. 

The battle at the Ford rages, as a second Hittite Skirmisher unit manages to charge the Sherden from the flank.  It is enough to start to push the Pharaoh's guards back to the shoreline.  Meanwhile, the Hittite Heavy Chariots look like they are going to try a dangerous crossing! 

The Egyptian archers of the Amun division move in to support the Sherden at the Orontes shore.  With a great push, the Hittite spearmen and support manage to force the ford.  However, with the effort they are a spent force!  Heavy Chariots begin fording the river further upstream.  Seeing the Hittite spearmen fallback, an approaching Levy infantry becomes disordered!  

The Egyptian army is moving up to support their chariots, when the Hittites try to steal the Initiative, but fail.  Egyptian Light Chariots pepper the crossing heavy chariots with arrows, but only cause minor casualties.  The Heavy Chariots come roaring out of the river and attack!  They catch an Egyptian Infantry unit and the Pharaoh's unit with their attack!  The Pharaoh could not Evade as he was out of King's Decree, but a supporting Light Chariot unit snaps to his aid.  The Chariots exchange casualties.  The Chariots vs. the Infantry cause the Egyptians to be pushed back.  

An Egyptian Archer unit charges into support the Egyptian Infantry against the Hittite Heavy Chariots.  The battle is fierce and both units are reduce to 1 Courage left.  A second Egyptian Infantry unit manages to move up and lend support as well, enough to rout the Hittites!  

With a unit of Heavy Chariots routing, the Hittites need to start making collapse tests!  One of the Levy Infantry turns tail and runs!  

End Phase

Egyptians maintain the initiative, as the Hittites do not have many units left.  However, the Pharaoh is in danger!  None of the other Egyptian units can get to the Pharaoh to help out.  Ramesses puts up a valiant fight, but ultimately has to flee the field, along with his supporting Light Chariot unit.  Meanwhile, the Hittite King Muwatalli II emerged from his river crossing and attacked the severely depleted Egyptian infantry unit and easily routed it. 

With their Pharaoh fleeing this time, the Egyptians had to make some collapse tests.  The two remaining Archer units decided to withdraw in good order.  With the Egyptians shaken, the Hittites took the initiative! 

King Muwatalli II crashed into the flank of the remaining Egyptian unit and caused it to reel back, batterdd.  However, the troops quickly re-organized.  Meanwhile, the last Egyptian Light Chariot unit maneuvered close to the badly mauled Hittite Heavy Chariots and filled them full of arrows.  The survivors turned and fled.  At this, the remaining Hittite Levy Infantry became disordered.  

The destruction of the Hittite unit forces another set of Collapse tests on the Hittites.  They both passed.  With that, King Muwatalli II surveyed the battlefield and the coming dusk.  He withdrew back across the Orontes River and castled up within the walls of Kadesh, his remaining infantry joining him.  

Conclusion: 

Before we go to the points, neither side completely collapsed, so this will be a pyrrhic victory at best.  King Muwatalli II will also gain some propaganda points for driving Pharaoh Ramesses from the field of battle.    

The Egyptians scored 37 VPs for routed units and lost 55 points for - 17 points.  Ouch! 

The Hittites scored 55 points and lost 37, so + 17 points!  

A minor victory for the Hittites!  

Final Thoughts

Let's go the historical record on this one!  Here is how the battle of Kadesh unfolded per Ramesses own propaganda.

Per Wikipedia

Our battle took place a bit differently.  Here the battle took place on the South side of the river, while our battle took place on the opposite side, before the river split and the walls of Kadesh.  In out battle, the Hittites did manage to break through the Amun division with the Pharaoh, but did not engage with him until a bit later.  Ramesses would have us believe that he manage to force the Hittites back, but in our battle he fled the scene.  Historically, it was a draw but there are signs that it was a Hittite victory as Egyptian influence in the region waned after the battle.  Some minor discrepancies, but the overall flow and outcome of the battle seems to match with what we saw historically.  Just the point of decision changed a bit.  

As the Egyptian player, I think the battle folded about how I had planned it, minus losing the Pharaoh.  Interestingly, the Hittite player thought about using his chariots to move around the South side of the city as the real battle did, but decided not to due to the turn limit.  He did not think he would get to grips with the enemy fast enough.  

Next time, I will consider making the river Impassable instead of Dangerous terrain.  The Hittite Heavy Chariots crashed across with little problem.  However, if I make it impassable the fords will become the major choke points and killing grounds.  That may limit the free-wheeling nature of Chariot Warfare and detract from the flavor of the game.  I will have to test that out. 

Overall, a fun little battle that took about 90 minutes to complete.  Until next time! 

Become a Patron and get access to all the cool stuff, a peak behind the curtain of Blood and Spectacles, and early-access to playtest games!  

Blood and Spectacles Patreon! 

You can follow Blood and Spectacles Facebook page or Instagram for more fun! 

Check out the latest publications and contact me at our Blood and Spectacles website

Or purchase all out games at the Blood and Spectacles Publishing Wargames Vault Page!