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

 

I want to eventually run an "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: 

We followed the outline in the main rulebook for the battle.  

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! 

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Battle Report: In Strife and Conflict- Scouting Engagement in the Levant

 

Now that the armies for Kadesh are sorted, I figured it was time to do a playtest of the basic rules.  I have done some playtesting using templates previously, but this will be the first time with actual miniatures!  Exciting.  

I Ramses the II, he who makes mortals tremble, have marched north past the fortress of Tjel.  My intention is to reclaim the city of Kadesh and the Kingdom of Amurru.  The foolish rulers there have turned from my munificence and have taken council with King Muwatalli II from the North.  I shall teach them the error of their ways.  

As part of this effort, my might army has probed the coast scouting the best way forward.  Local vassals of the Muwatalli have come forth to challenge me.  Foolish mortals.  We shall sweep them aside like so much dust. 

At some point, the Kingdom of Amurru which was led by the city-state of Kadesh.  They had been vassals of the Egyptians in previous centuries, but overtime had drifted to the Hittite orbit.  This angered Ramessess II who wished to rebuild Egypt's empire in the Levant and return the region to Egyptian control. The year prior to the Battle of Kadesh, Egyptian forces were all ready active in the Canaanite lands.  

Today's battle will represent some of the scouting and blocking forces engaging in southern Canaan.  

Forces:

Today's battle is speculative in nature.  Therefore, we will be using the standard Lines of Battle to choose forces up to 24 points.

Egyptians

1 Light Chariot  

- Composite Bow 

1 Levy Infantry

- Bow 

1 Auxiliary Infantry

1 Archer

Hittites

1 Heavy Chariot

1 Light Chariot

Levy Infantry

Skirmishers

Mission: 

We will be playing the Scout the Area scenario found in the main rules.  The intention is not to destroy the foes, but to understand the terrain.  

For ease, we decided not to use any complications for the raid scenario.  

Set-up: 

We are using a 48 x 48 MU table, with 1 MU being 1 inch.  Therefore, a 4 by 4 space.  

The Western edge of the table is the Mediterranean Sea.  The Egyptians get the South, and the Hittites the North.  We divide the area into four zones and randomly determine terrain per the rules in the booklet.  The North side is 1 and 2, and the South is 3 and 4.  

1 = 2 level hill

2= Pond 0r Dangerous Terrain

3= Grove or Difficult Terrain

4= No terrain  

Hitties in distance with skirmishers, Levy, Heavies, and Lights. 
Near side is Egyptians with archers, levy w/bows, Auxiliary, and Lights

As normal, I am covering this battle in three phases.  I will not be talking about each individual decision, unless it is relevant.  However, I took careful notes of the outcome as this is a playtest game.  

The first two turns are the Maneuver Phase, Turns 3-6 is the Battle Phase, and turn 7-8 is the End Phase. 

Maneuver Phase

The speed of the Hittite force pays off, as they are able to grab 4 of the 6 objectives early.  

The Egyptian light Chariots go out dangerously ahead of their support to grab an objective as well.  The last objective is under the bows of the Egyptian archers, and the javelins of the Hittite skirmishers.  The skirmishers overlook it from the hill top.  

Battle Phase

The Hittites get the initiative and begin the attack! The heavy chariots manage to rumble towards the Egyptian lights at a gallop.  The Egyptians try to evade, but can not get away fast enough and are caught by the Hittites.  A swirling melee ensues and the Egyptians are pushed back.  The battle is joined by the Hittite light chariots, and things look bad for the Egyptians.  All is not lost, as the Egyptian Auxiliary infantry manages to charge into the fight.  

The Egyptian Archers manage to get the last objective, but are under threat from Hittite skirmishers on the hill top.  

Meanwhile, the Egyptians disorder the Hittite Heavy Chariot, but their Chariot forces and Auxiliary infantry are forced to fall back!  

The Archers are hit by a rain of javelins from the hill, but keep enough courage and discipline to fire on the Hittite Levy.  Along with the fire of the Levy Egyptians bows, the unit is reduced to half courage, but stays in formation. 

The Hittite Heavy Chariot hits the Egptian Levy in the flanks.  Despite the flank charge, the Levy put up fierce resistance.  Both sides are heavily injured and disordered.  The Hittite Levy join the fray, and further demoralize the beleagured Egytpians.  

The Egyptian Archers and Hittite skirmishers trade shots, but the cover of the Hilltop gives the Hittites the advantage.  

End Phase

In the fight in the center, the Egyptian Levy manages to send the Hittite Heavy Chariots and Hittite Levy packing.  However, the Egyptian Levy also have to fall back.  

However, Javelins from the Hittite Skirmishers also rout the demoralized Egyptian archer unit.  This leaves the field to the Hittites. 

Conclusion

A Hittite victory no matter how you slice it!  I did not have the speed for this mission compared to what the Hittites brought to the table.  My focus on needing to dash forward also restricted my ability to shoot and scoot with my Light Chariots, their main advantage over the Hittites.  

The Hittites grabbed 4 objectives, and I grabbed 2.  In addition, my forces were completely routed.  We did some damage to the Hittites though.  We routed their Heavy Chariots and their Levy infantry.  We also pinged some courage from the skirmishers, so it wasn't a completely 1-sided victory for them.  

In reality, I would image the Hittite Light Chariots in my rear would have made sure very few of my Egyptians made it back to the Sinai and out of Canaan.     

King Muwatali II am displeased with the Egyptian dogs entering the kingdom of my vassals.  Gather the soldiers o Hattusta so we can whip these mutts back to the desert where dogs belong.  Our mighty armies will teach them a lesson not soon forgotten.  Let us march to Kadesh! 

Final Thoughts

How did the game play function?  Well, chariots were much faster than any foot mounted troops.  That was exactly as how it was intended.  In addition, skirmishers in cover were hard to dislodge.  Everything else seemed to work as intended.

Evasion by the Light Chariots against foot foes would have worked great, but I was charged by chariots that also had Pursue.  Therefore, the two options sort of negated each other this game.  I think I need some more playtesting using evade and pursue with chariots.  I have seen Egyptian Light Chariots with bows very effectively employ hit and run tactics, but not today.      

I went back and tweaked the set-up rules a bit, because as written now they overly favored the defended.  I also did not notice that once all tokens were gathered, the game ended!  Whoops. I played that a bit differently.        

Overall, I was pleased with how it all went.  It was relatively easy to wrap your head around, with the most questions coming around joining a combat that had all ready been resolved.  I might want to add an example of play to clear up how this section of the rules works.  It is not 100% intuitive 

 as it is delayed support + charge dice rather than a full attack dice + charge dice.  More to come in that space. 

Bonus Content

I painted up a lone, 28mm Whizkids pre-primed model for a member my RPG group.  I was not super impressed with the "pre-prime" and recommend anyone else just prime them again.  They did not work well with Speedpaints at all.  Instead, I had to use my standard base and wash techniques.  

Nothing special, but now we have a full party of painted minis when we play.  Our current campaign is pretty OSR and "Combat as War" so far, so the minis on a battle mat are pretty nice to have handy.  If we are using minis, I prefer for all of them to be painted.  I'm strange that way!   

Until next time! 

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On The Painting Desk: Battle of Kadesh - The King Summons Us

 

I am still forging ahead on my Battle of Kadesh armies that go along with me latest "In-Progress" rules set In Strife and Conflict.  This project began in earnest in 2023, but the rules were written for about 5 years now.  Hopefully this is the year I can get all the post-production wrapped up and I can release it to you!  

In addition to releasing it to you, I want to use the Battle of Kadesh as a "Demo Game" for non-wargamers as a way to introduce folks to ancient history AND wargaming.  Therefore, I want to have a good scenario and a fun spectacle game that is easy to set-up and looks great.  To that end I have been building an Egyptian and Hittite force.  The Egyptians are done.  I have been powering away on the Hittites now. 

The Hittite force I have is 6mm miniatures from Baccus.  I am then placing them on 60 x 60mm bases.  When complete this army will have: 

• 3 Heavy Chariots
• 3 Light Chariots
• 1 Auxiliary Infantry with Bow support
• 1 Auxiliary Infantry
• 2 Levy Infantry with Bow Support
• 3 Levy Infantry
• 2 Archer Units
• 2 Skirmisher Units with Bows
• 2 Irregular Units

So far, I have painted the Skirmishers, Irregulars, and Levy units with bows.  That leaves 13 more bases to go!  Next up, I have decided to continue working on the infantry forces.  I have started batch painting the 3 Levy infantry, and 2 Archers units.  Once done, that will leave the more advanced units to finish off the army.   

For the new units, I am following my usual process.  I attached the strips to popsicle sticks with white glue.  I then undercoated them all with a watered down Pavement that is a cheap acrylic from a Big-Box retailer.  Then, I leaned into the batch painting using my standard Armypainter Paints. 

This stage should look pretty familiar!  I then paint the base strips with the same cheap acrylic Territorial Brown so when I base them it makes painting the base much easier.  I then added them to the bases using color-changing spackle.  

Then, I painted the bases with Territorial Brown, Khaki drybrush, and green ink.  The final step is to edge the bases in black.  

Here is an army shot of the Hittite forces so far: 

We have: 

2 Irregular infantry

2 Skirmishers with bows

2 Levy Infantry with Bow support

3 Levy Infantry

2 Archer units

That is 11 of the 19 bases done!  I only have 2 infantry units and 6 chariot bases left to paint.  This army is officially half-way done now! Here they are on the march to Kadesh to support their King:

The skirmishers take the lead and scout out the pass before the rest of the army marches through.

That has not been the only movement on the project!  My friend, Kelly Watson; made a really cool 3D printable Bronze Age city to act as Kadesh on my tabletop.  Kudos to him for his amazing work!  This can be based on a CD for easy basing.  

It is modular and expandable as well.  So I can add in more gate sections, or make it more oblong.  Kelly is planning on making these STLs available for sale.  I will let you know where you can find them when they are available.  That way you can have your own walled city too! 

More progress on the Battle of Kadesh.  I am hoping to get this project wrapped up before the mid-year point.  So far, things are looking really good!  I can't wait to take the scenario out for a full test-drive! 

Until next time!          

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On The Painting Desk: Battle of Kadesh - Hittites Muster for Battle

 

The Egyptian army for Kadesh is done.  Now It is time to get working on their adversaries if I want to get this game on the table in 2024.  Since I do want to get it on the table it was a no-brainer to prioritize  painting this force up over my Heroquest project.  

The first step was to sort and organize the force.  One thing I noticed right away was that there was a larger range of poses in these minis than my Egyptian force.  Each strip of 4 and 2 to 4 different poses.  The infantry in particular had a lot of variety and dynamism in the posing.  

Overall, this army looks like it will be similar in base count to my full Egyptian force.  That means 19 bases in this army.  It also has a much larger chariot contingent with 3 units of light chariots and 3 units of the larger chariots as well.  This army also had fewer archers than the Egyptian one I just finished.  

• 3 units of light chariots
• 3 units of heavy chariots
• 1 unit of Auxiliary infantry with bows
• 1 unit of Auxiliary infantry
• 2 units of Levy with Bows
• 3 units of Levy infantry
• 2 units of archers
• 2 units of Irregular infantry
• 2 units of skirmishers with bows

I sorted them out into their respective units and bagged them up for easy organization. I decided what I was going to start with:

• 2 units of Infantry with Bow support
• 2 units of skirmishers
• 2 units of bow armed skirmishers

I glued the strips down on some tongue depressors with white glue and got started.  I undercoated them all with watered down big box acrylic Pavement as an undercoat.  I have found this sets up some great contrasts for 6m miniatures as I paint them.  Then, I started on base coating with basic colors using Armypainter paints.  

I got them all painted up and painted their base strips with Territorial Brown.  This is another cheap acrylic from a big box retailer.  I then prepped my bases the usual way with color-changing drying spackle.  I am using the same 60mm by 60mm bases for this project as my Successors and Egyptians. 

Naturally, once painted up, I based them using the color-change spackle that has served me well for so many bases for the Egyptians and others.  

Then, the last step was to paint up the bases.  Honestly, it is one of my least favorite parts.  Again, a base coat of Territorial Brown with a drybrush of Khaki and the spot application of Green Tone ink.  The colors are from a Big Box retailer and the ink is from Armypainter.  Then, I finished it all off with a GW black around the base edges.  With that, my first models for 2024 and the Hittite army were painted! 

With these 6 bases done, that is about a third of the army.  Off to a good start for 2024.  At this rate, I can hopefully have these done and ready for a summer demo game at the local.  

Until next time!  

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On the Painting Table: For the Glory of Ra- More Egyptians for Kadesh

 

Faithful readers, you know I have been working on a 6mm project for the Battle of Kadesh for sometime now.  This means I have been grinding out work on an Egyptian army first.  I have completed the following: 

• 4 Bases of Skirmishers with Bows
• 4 Bases of Auxiliary Infantry with Bows
• 2 Bases of Levy Infantry with Bows

However, that still leaves a whole lot of bases left to paint.  I have started tackling the largest single unit of the force, the Archers.  There are 6 total units.  Each unit has 12 strips of 4 archers and two command strips also with 4 figures.  That means each unit will have 56 figures per base.  That's a lot of batch painting.  

Progress was very slow on these units.  Painting any single 6mm figure is pretty simple.  Undercoat black, use Bronzed Flesh for skin tone, add white on the skirt, and skeleton bone for the bow/quiver, brown on the base.  Easy.  However, batch painting all of of them..... not easy or fun.  

I actually decided to paint them by unit to break things up a bit.  I batched the undercoating, then skin tones.  Once I painted the flesh on 2 units worth I went back to unit #1 and painted the other colors.  Then, I flesh undercoated unit #3 and then went back to finishing off Unit #2.  I did this routine over a few week ends until they were all complete.  

From there, I went onto the basing.  I used the same method of gap filler spackle that I have been using.  The command elements were a bit more complicated because I had to "cut" them off the strips so I could arrange them to face the correct way.  However, it was nothing complicated.  The biggest danger was one of them flying off into space, but a closed hand around the piece solved this little issue. 

After letting the bases fully dry, I moved onto one of my least favorite parts.  I painted all the bases using a Territorial Brown dry brushed with a Khaki color.  Then, I used a Green wash to add some foliage look.  The last step was to re-edge the bases with pure black.  This helps the whole unit stand out a bit on the table and look finished.  

6 Units down.  That left 5 bases of Egyptian Infantry including a base of Sherden Guards, and 3 bases of chariots to call this army done.  The bulk units were now complete.  The race to finishing off the Egyptian army before the end of the year was on!  

Below you can see the 12 bases the army is right now.  This is a mix of Auxiliary infantry with bows, Levy infantry with bows, archers, and bow armed skirmishers.  You can see that firepower was a big part of this army.      

Until next time.  I hope I have the whole army done! 

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On The Painting Desk: Battle of Kadesh Project- Walk like an Egyptian

 

What's a nice reader like you, doing in a blog like this?  

Faithful readers know I have been working on an Egyptian army for a Battle of Kadesh scenario.  This army is 6mm miniatures, with units on 60mm x 60mm bases.  Therefore, it is a bit unconventional BUT the units look like proper blocks of troops on the board.  The Egyptian army has 22 bases with something like 30-54 models per base.  Therefore, the army will have something like 880+ little soldiers in it!  

I have been continuing the project using my traditional method for painting 6mm models.  I go into some detail on it in the Project Launch entry.  I won't bother repeating it here.  Instead, let's take a look at what I got painted for the army since we last talked about it.  

First up is some Bow armed skirmishers to scout and screen for the Egyptians forces.  You may notice that they are two different skin tones.  This represents a mix of native born Egyptians and mercenary/vassal Nubians for the army.  In a pinch I could also use the Nubians in a Kingdom of Kush army if I wanted to as well.  

Skirmishers screen the Levy troops as they advance across the desert

Then, after a long delay due to summer heat; I turned my attention to some of the main infantry units for the Egyptians.  These are spearmen with bow support.  These were some of the bigger units with 13 or so strips of 4 minis per strip.  I guess each base is about 52 minis or so.  There are four of these units in total to represent regulars with bows.  This is the bulk of the melee infantry for the Egyptian side of the scenario.  However, you have to recall that the main "killing" weapon of the time was not melee but the ranged bow.  Therefore, the army still has a lot of infantry and archers to paint up. 

The next soldiers I tackled were the Spearmen with Bow support.  These guys were going to represent the Professional Soldiers with attached Bowmen.  They are the main elements of the Egyptian force, but they are also big units!  They have something like 7 rows of spearmen (4 figs each) and 6 rows of bowmen (4 figs) each.  That is about 52 figs per base and their are 4 units of these guys.  That was a lot of batch painting.  

Egyptian Infantry WIP

Actually, painting all the 6mm soldiers isn't too bad.  The hardest part of 6mm models really is the bases!  There are always little gaps between strips that you have to go back and paint, between your rows of troopers.  Not an easy fit at all!  Then, there is the task of painting ground across the rest of the base.  Ugh.  Probably my least favorite part of 6mm models, too much base!  

Anyway, here are the 4 Egyptian Auxiliary Infantry with bow support.  These guys are soldiers regularly called up to duty, not just locals gathered up to fight. Therefore, they are more proper soldiers than the Militia or Skirmisher units.  They will form the backbone of the fighting force, but you can see that bows are still really an important part of this time period and geographies fighting style. 

These units are proper chonky!  That makes 10 of the 20+ bases for the Egyptians complete.  I have a feeling the Hittites may get delayed into a 2024 project! 

I would love to say that is the last of the "big units" but next on my list is a lot of Archer units in ranks.  Those guys have a lot of rows of archers on them, and they will be a chore to work through.  

The army approaches an oasis

Batch painting ahoy! 

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