Battle Report: In Strife and Conflict - Egyptians vs. Hittites in a prelude to Kadesh

 

Exciting times my friends.  This was a practice game in the run up to the big Battle of Kadesh game I want to host.  Therefore, the forces are not at maximum size yet as we get used to the rules.  We are having a "what-if" type of scenario where our two opponents forward forces have a meeting engagement prior to the big battle we know about at Kadesh.  

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 see a relatively open battlefield that is bisected by some hills.  The rest is fairly flat and open terrain, with one edge bordering a coast line. 

Egyptian Forces

The Egyptians from there left flank across are two archers, the Pharaoh, the Sherden Guard, some Auxiliary Infantry with bows, two light chariots, some Auxiliary infantry, and the last two archers. 

Hittite Forces

From the Hittite right to left is the Heavy Chariots, backed up by the infantry with the auxiliaries in the middle.  On the far flank on a hill is two units of skirmishers.  The Hittite commander has dispersed his supplies with the General, the spearmen infantry, and a unit of skirmishers.   

As usual, I won't be doing an exact play-by-play of the battle,  I will break it into the Maneuvering phase, Battle Phase, and End Game for brevity and simplicity.

Maneuver Phase

The two sides move-out.  The Egyptian chariots are on the opposite side of the board for the most part, as the Hittite forces lurch to their right flank.  The Egyptians are more evenly spread, but their Chariots seem to be more to their own right.  The Pharaoh is in the center.  One of the Hittites units with the supplies clambers up into a hill for extra defense.  

The two sides manage to do a bit of skirmishing early.  The Pharaoh gets a bead on the supply skirmishers on the hill and opens fire with their bows.  The cause a few troopers to fall.  In return, the escorting skirmishers charge into the Egyptian leader, he stands his ground and fights with them; eager for glory.  The fighting is a draw, reminding the Egyptian player that Light Chariots are best for shoot-n-scoot!  

Meanwhile, the Heavy Hittite chariots carrying supplies attack the Egyptian flank.  The heavy charge of the chariots easily routes the Egyptian archers they come in contact with!  The second Heavy Chariot peppers the other Egyptian Archers with ineffective missile fire. 

With the first Egyptian unit routed, the battle starts in earnest! 

Battle Phase:

The Egyptians start by firing a volley of arrows at a group of Heavy Chariots leading the Hittite advance.  They inflict minimal courage loss.  In response, the Hittites try to steal the initiative, and succeed!.  The supply carrying Chariots manage a flank charge on the archers and scatter them like seeds in the wind.  

The Egyptians try to regain the Initiative, but fail.  The Hittite Levy infantry fires at the Egyptian elites, who shrug off the attack. However, the Hittite skirmishers with the supplies manage to get behind a Levy Infantry screen.

The Royal Sherden Guards rush to the defense of the Pharaoh and easily smash their way through the Hittite Skirmishers and protect their paymaster.  They have proven their worth to the Pharaoh yet again! This allows the Pharaoh to regroup with his other light chariots, and start to move behind the Hittite line.  They pepper some Levy Infantry on a hill with archer fire, but for little effect. 

The battle has reached the half-way point, the Egyptians appear to be out of position, as the Hittites surge forward.  In an attempt to salvage a bad situation, the Egyptian Infantry on the hill use their Composite Bows on the Hittite King racing past below them, and cause minor injury on his entourage.  The Sherden guards charge the Levy infantry anchoring the Hittite rearguard, and attempt to scatter them off the hill.  They exchange courage loss, but the Levy is disordered from the Professional soldiers ferocious assault.  The Egyptian chariots desperately try to race around the flank and get behind the advancing Hittites, but it maybe too little too late.  

The Hittite King and his escorts throw Javelins back at the Egyptians on the hill, and with some luck manage to inflict minor injury on their attackers.  The Levy Infantry move up, blocking the enemy infantry from getting off the hill and after their supply bearers.  

The Hittite king swings around the hills, and charges into the Egyptian archers.  They try to Evade, but the Hittite King has too much momentum.  He crashes into them, but fails to scatter them.  The remaining Chariot and Infantry fire arrows and throw Javelins into the infantry on the hill, but fail to cause any damage.  The Hittite Levy infantry manages to throw the Sherden guard off the hill with few casualties, they manage to refrain from following up.  The supplies with the Hittite Heavy Chariot escape the board successfully.  

The Egyptian Infantry on the hill charges down to attack the Hittite Levy Infantry blocking their way.  They manage to push the Hittites back in the combat.  The Pharaoh and his chariot guard see the Hittite troops breaking away from them, can they catch them in time?  

End Phase

The Hittite Skirmishers with the supplies dash for safety.  The Egyptians manage to steal the initiative to try and chase down the enemy.  The Egyptian Light Chariots manage to catch-up to the fleeing Skirmishers, and shoot down the fleeing soldiers with ease!   However, the Hittite spearmen are made of tougher stuff, and shrug it off.  

The Egyptian Auxiliary Infantry charges at a Heavy Chariot, but they manage to deftly evade the attack.  As they race past, they pepper the impudent Egyptians with Javelins causing minimal damage.  The Disordered Hittite Levy Infantry on the hill, pulls itself together long enough to charge down into the flank of the infantry battle, but fail to sway the fight.  The Hittite King again fails to scatter the Egyptian archers.  

Going into turn 7 of 8, the Egyptians are closing in on their prey.  The Hittites spend all their King's Decree to get their last unit off the board and for a win.  However, they make it to the board edge.  The Egyptians have 1 last chance to stop them from escaping.  The Egyptians let them play out the rest of their turn, with the Hittites scattering an archer unit, and the Levy Infantry pushing the Egyptians back!  However, the Hittite infantry is on the brink of routing.  

An Egyptian Light Chariot desperately charges forward at full speed to tie-up the supply unit, but fail to get there and are disordered by the effort!  The follow-up Light Chariots rush forward and fire arrows, but fail to stop the Hittite troops.    

The Final turn, the Hittites spend all their King's Decree.  The Egyptians do too.  This forces a roll-off, which the Hittites win.  They activate their Infantry unit with the supplies and flee the board, ending the game.  

Conclusion:

A Hittite victory as they get 2 out of 3 supply tokens off the board edge.  It went down to the last die roll of the game, which is usually a sign of a well-fought battle!  

Two mistakes occurred during this game.  First, I deployed 1 Egyptian archer unit too many in deployment.  Second, we rolled up the Bad Water complication and then completely forget to use it during the game!  Woops. 

Here are some additional final thoughts.  First, heavy chariots are deadly!  They smashed through whole units in a single turn.  Granted, they were archer units, but still pretty impressive.  Second, Light Chariots are great at flitting about and shooting stuff like crazy.  They also allow for quick re-deployment and response.  They were a ton of fun to control!  Being on terrain helps a lot to defend against missiles and assaults, dug in infantry is hard to move.  The changes to infantry movement, charging distances, missile ranges, etc. all give this a very different feel than my Greek/Roman games.  There is a lot more movement and less line-up and bash!  I like it!  

Hopefully, this gives you a good feel for the game.  Next up, I am going to do a dry run of Kadesh, and then figure out when I am going to put on that community game with it!  You can pick-up these rules now on my Blood and Spectacles page on the Wargame Vault now.  

Until next time! 

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