Prior to the big day, I had papered the town with flyers, posted on our True Crit Gaming Guild page, and peppered local Social Media. For the event, I made several easy resources for the day like unit cards, quick reference guides, and other tools. I had previously played a few test games as well to make sure it all worked as intended and moved quick. Now it was time to put it all together and see what happened.
Interestingly, the overall plan in both games was different, but mirrored the ones in the test runs! In the first game, the Hittites tries to cross at the main ford near the Pharoh. The Egyptians tried to block the crossing with the Royal Guard, and their action at the ford was mostly successful. The effort delayed the Hittites long enough for the Egyptian reinforcements to show-up. They managed to inflict enough damage on the Hittites for them to start taking collapse tests! Things looked bad for the Hittite king as the Egyptian reinforcements started to stream forward.
However, as the lead Egyptian forces at the ford were defeated, a series of bad Collapse tests turn the tables on the Egyptians! Eventually, the Pharaoh fled the field of battle and from there the Hittites mopped up the remaining Egyptians forces.
The second game, folks tried different tactics. The Egyptians tried to get aggressive and attack across the ford first. Meanwhile, the Hittite Heavy Chariots went wide around Kadesh to the other fords while their infantry moved across the Orontes River. The Egyptian attack was a disaster as they ran into devastating bow fire that easily repelled them.
The Pharoah was sent scurrying home early and in disgrace. The Hittite Heavy Chariots proved more resilient to bow fire and managed to force the river Orontes at the far side of Kadesh. They rolled up the Egyptian reinforcements and the day was won for King Muwatli II for Hattusa! The Egyptians were on the back foot all game this time.
Conclusion
As a day for introducing more people to wargaming, the day was not a success. However, I did get a few games in with folks who do not normally play historical or at this scale. I was also able to share a bit about Historical gaming and Bronze Age history with folks who were not familiar with it at all. Therefore, it was a win in that sense.
Will today get more people into wargaming? No. Will it get more people into Bronze Age history.... probably also no. Will it get people into historical wargaming? Also probably no. Did I complete one of my objectives for the year and have a Participation, Public game for the Battle of Kadesh? Yes.
This one is light and easy enough to pack up and play that I would consider taking it out for more public play. No spears to get broken, solid bases, and clumps of soldiers is good for transporting and all the terrain is light and easy too. I great game for set-up and transport quickly. Plus, the game itself was pretty intuitive and quick to play. The In Strife and Conflict rules were great for this game. We played two games in about 3 hours, with 30 minutes of set-up and another for take-down.
Back to painting Anglo-saxons and Heroquest for a bit now. Until next time!
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