Infamy, Infamy Initial Impressions - A New Project - Kings of Bronze.

For a weeks I have been pouring over the latest offering of Infamy, Infamy from the Too Fat Lardies, a wonderful addition to the rule estate. Very similar in style and format of Sharp Practice, with some fantastic tweaks to give it that Ancient feel where close combat is key.

Fervour, Ambush Points and Defensive dice all make for a very different gaming experience. 

The Romans are well organised and have a number of special abilities through their advance drill, providing them with defence dice and the heavy armour, whilst the Barbarians can appear from a number of ambush points fuelled by fervour that makes them very punchy in combat, the fervour also gives a cushion to the onset of shock.

Infamy cards add an in game twist which can impact your decisions and crucial battlefield engagements.

I was sorely tempted to order Roman's and hairy Barbarians but storage is becoming a problem and in recent years have  been looking to make use of what I already in terms of terrain and supporting elements, 

So Egypt and the Levant it is.... and the campaigns of Ramessess II and events leading up to the Battle of Kadesh.

Now the only problem is Infamy Infamy is set in the period 60BC to 100AD and my idea is to move it back to 1300 BC so a few tweaks are likely to be needed. Fortunately the Too Fat Lardies Rules are really flexible as I found with Sharp Practice and Haiti, the Russo-Japanese War and the Zulu Wars.

So taking inspiration from the Warhammer Chariot War Supplement I need to consider a couple of amendments to the forces available.

This is a great book detailing a range of army lists from the Ancient Middle East, it provides a good overview of the combatants, formations and weaponry.

My initial thoughts.

• New Kingdom Egyptians and Hittites Spear armed Infantry would be formed Warriors are likely to be similar in style to the Roman drilled formations.
• Massed archer units need to formed rather than just skirmish units, but these should be weaker should they be caught in close combat but expected to stand and fight.
• Rather than chariots being used as transport or missile platforms they will be split into Light - Heavy Chariots, one very much a harassing unit the other, used for impact, in Kings of the Bronze Age, these warriors won't debus but will fight from these mobile platforms.
• Chariots should be accompanied by runners, perhaps with flexible drill allowing them to skirmish or form up. 
• The Warhammer book contains a number of details on Allies and Mercenaries - the likes of  the Sea Peoples, Lukka's and Sherden Bodyguards are very clearly Barbarian.
• The Terrain Chart needs tweaking - perhaps something like the attached? I am thinking encounters will take be set amongst the 'green belt' rather than the barren deserts.

Middle East
Terrain	1-3	4-6
Dunes	3	4
Oasis	1	2
Rocky Ground	3	4
Habitation	2	3
Wadi	-	-

Lot's to be done in the weeks ahead, I have made a start with some testers for the Hittite and Egyptian forces, the Egyptian's should be rather straight forward but the Hittites have a rich mix of colours, it's been a long time since I painted pinks and purples, so an order to Foundry is in order.

I have gone for a softer flesh wash from army painter rather than soft tone my regular wash, it picks out the paler colours.

There is a good mix on the market with figures from Foundry, Northstar, Warlord and Newline (who have a 25% off sale at the time of posting). Those above are Northstar and Warlord.

It's going to be a busy couple of months.