Cotswold Wargaming Day 2022 - Kadesh (lite)

Somewhat later than planned a brief summary of the Cotswold outing of Kadesh (lite) and the 1274BC clash between the New Kingdom of Egypt under Ramessess II and the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II and one of the earliest recorded pitched battles.

First the map of the real events...

We were using Too Fat Lardies Infamy Infamy rules with a couple of tweaks to represent the various elements of the battle.

A birds eye view of the table with Ramesses II to the left and the Kadesh on the hill. The Re Corps can be seen entering the table on the right.

The Re Corp enter the table made up on a light chariot, Nubians and a couple of shield and archer units accompanied by camels and livestock, The Corp were hindered by a number of poor-quality leaders.

The Hittite chariot force had up to 1D6 turns to cross the river (Wadi) and advance on the RE Corp before the Egyptians were able to react. 4 Heavy Chariots and Big Men rumble on to the table.

The Hittites bear down on the Re Corp who head just enough time to turn to face the chariots. The Hittites loaded up with fervour raced towards their foe.

As the battle began. At the far end of the table. The Royal camp could do nothing to influence or react to the forthcoming encounter. Neither Egyptian or Hittite were aware of when Ramesses would react. There were two small markers on the table, the Egyptian King would only spring into action when friend or foe crossed the line.

The Hittite chariots smashed into the Re Corp, the battle swirls and despite damaging a number of the chariots the Egyptians are broken and shattered. So far history was being followed.

The Hittite chariots were having such a good time, running down the scattered units, remnants of the New Kingdom Egyptian Corp fled towards the Royal camp, which allowed Ramesses II to organise his defence. By the time the Hittite attack force had reorganised and dropped off their chariot runners the Royal camp was alert to the threat.

The Hittie force closed on the royal camp, who had now been bolstered by the Ne'arin Detachment who had arrived on the table, it was 2.00pm and the clock was winding down.

Battle is joined between the two chariot forces, the Egyptian medium chariots were out classed, but the Hittite's had a mounting level of casualties from their earlier clash.

The Egyptian chariot force was broken but every Hittite chariot was now below half strength.

The battered Hittite force was no match for the elite defenders, they bounced off and were forced backwards while others were destroyed where they stood.

The Ptah Division enter the table to support the Ramesses II at the rear of the Hittite attack force, it was 3.00pm.

Muwatalli II seeing his chariot force had finally seen their morale drop to 5 (which was the trigger to bring on this infantry) urged his troops forwards, but it was late in the day and the bulk of the Egyptian forces were rapidly deploying to face off against the Infantry who struggling to cross the wadi.

A great day's gaming.... and elements very close to history.

Highs and lows for both sides, the Hittites were distracted sweeping up the Re Corp, they were almost too successful because their morale held up which stopped Muwatalli II from committing his infantry. 

The Egyptian's Re Corp fought valiantly when perhaps they should have turned and ran which would have brought Ramesses and the Amum Division defending the camp into battle sooner.

The Infamy rules held up really well and whilst we were lite on chariots compared to our near neighbours it had a great feel to the battle.

and one of the earliest recorded pitched battles. successful it allowed the 

Cotswold Wargaming Day 2022

Sunday and an early morning excursion down to Northleach in the Cotswolds and Keith Flint's annual wargaming get together.... a great bunch of games many with a serious amount of lead on the table.

It's a very relaxed affair with no traders or competition games, just a bunch of gamers playing a multitude of games for fun.... the hall has plenty of room, even if Keith had to source tables from elsewhere.

You can find full details here on Keith's blog - KEITH'S WARGAMING BLOG (keefsblog.blogspot.com)

I am afraid I did not get around all the games and chat with all those present but here's a selection of some of the games on offer.

The Nine Years War gets an outing....  so many cavalry, it had a real old school feel to it with the opposing forces on a wide frontage but so very close so units were straight into the action.

A fantastic looking AWI game, great figures, great terrain and rightly awarded the best terrain award. Using British Grenadier Rule set it really captured the feel of the period.

Nice to see the Cigar Box Mat's up close, they really looked durable and flowed well over the hills, perfect if you were looking to take on major battles such as Leipzig shown above. 

Great to see Spencer Smith Miniatures on display, so hardwearing due to their clean and simple design.

A cracking game from Steve aka the Wargaming addict with his Imagination forces of Prusskian army taking on that of the Ruthenians, the game had a lovely feel to it and got me seriously thinking about my own 6/10mm project for the FRW on a grand scale. You can read more of Steve's day on his blog, well worth a follow. Wargaming Addict: Cotswold Wargames Day 2022 (wwiiwargaming.blogspot.com)

Meanwhile me and the gang put on a lite version of Kadesh using Infamy Infamy. More on that in a future post.

Sharing the room with the Farnborough Wargames Society who were also fielding an ancient Hittite force taking on the Yamhad/Syrian Kingdom 1615 BC. Quite the spectacle with so many chariots.

I have a serious case of chariot envy.

A great day out, great company, great chat and a close fought battle .... The downside I now have perhaps 3 more projects to think about....  thanks guys :-)

Attack on the Camp - Kings of Bronze #6

The final outing in the linked campaign see's Overseer Huharmati's encamped on the way back to the Hittite homeland, when they are attacked by an Egyptian force.

In this encounter an actual human in charge of the Hittite defenders, with the Egyptian forces entering on two random table edges and the content of each blind unknown. 

The Hittite command have to escort the camel train from the centre of the table, but can only set off once they have amassed 20 task points (1d6 per turn on the commanders activation.)

The Hittite deployment, Overseer Huharmati had no idea where the raiders would come from so covered all 4 sides of the camp selecting forces similar to those from previous encounters. The Egyptian blinds matched the force make up with a +1 for each force type. 

The Egyptians rolled and they appeared on the centre and top left flank of the camp. Surprisingly the Hittite's pushed out on all sides to meet the threat. The only control I had was what flavour to pick when a blind came out, I opted for light troops at the outset saving the heavier forces for the far flank once I knew which direction the Hittites might take.

A good run of blinds and some high rolls revealed a number of blocks of spear units, it looked like the southern door would be shut firm.

Meanwhile at the northern end, I had less luck. The heavier blinds were failing to turn up which meant the fast moving chariot forces was fewer and lighter than I had hoped. Coupled with that the Hittite Spear Block was advancing on the recently deployed archer unit.

The archers let off a round but they were unable to stop the advancing spears who forced them back and off the table.

Another blind and this time an archer formation, which firers a cloud of arrows into the defenders of the camp, the Egyptian medium chariot had broken through the defenders line, but the camp was cluttered and the mass archer formations would be tough to beat especially as they had closed ranks. The Egyptian command chariot ploughed into the spear formation, but was unable to break the line and was bounced back.

The camels were free and packed and were heading north.

As the Egyptian chariots reorganised Overseer Huharmati ordered his own archers to target the chariots on the far side of the camp, with excessive shock they would be of limited threat to the camel train.

The main Egyptian spear blocks were finally entering the fight, but the camp was empty and the Hittites were safely heading North.

Victory to the Hittites....

That was fun set of linked games, despite the overwhelming victory for the Hittites every game had a number of key moments that could have swung the games.

Playing through over a number of weeks have me the appropriate nudge to get some of the old lead cleared and on the table even in this game the new chariot failed to make the table.

Now for a new campaign and some more extra's from the lead pile....

Hittite & New Kingdom Egyptian Chariots.

Running a series of linked games has driven me to complete the last of the bare metal for the Kings of Bronze Project - The adaption of Infamy Infamy by the Two Fat Lardies to the Bronze Age.

The last couple of pieces are extra chariots for the Hittites and NKE's from Warlord games, picked up in one of their annual sales, on face value in bare metal I much prefer the Foundry one's over Warlord, they feel that little bit more sturdy, but once painted and based they look fine and mix well together.

The Hittite addition is another Medium Chariot, although how you are expected to cram another crewman in here is beyond me.

Heavy throwing spear vs bow makes for us interesting contests and adapted uses within engagements.

I figured the final New Kingdom Chariot will be a medium chariot, with bronze barding on the horse and matching protection for the archer.

Then finally mounted Egyptian scouts. I found reference to these in the Warhammer Ancient Battles campaign book, these Foundry figures had been hanging around since the beginning of the Covid years... They will make an interesting scout unit, they might need another pack but for now I am calling these done.

Project complete......

Ok I say complete but looking at the storage boxes now and there is room for another foot unit and a single skirmish unit. so perhaps we might see for more Sea People or some Libyans who knows in the future but for now the draw is empty of any additional spare metal.

Next up the final linked game for this campaign session with an attack on the Hittite camp.

The long round north - Kings of Bronze #5

Yet another solo outing for Overseer Huharmati's and his Hittite raiding party.

After a string of successes Huharnati was heading north with his loot, when he was set upon by an Egyptian force looking to recapture the stolen booty. I picked what I thought was a reasonable escort force and provided the NYE's with +1 for each scale of troops, Lights, Regulars and Heavy. 

Dicing for where each blind would be coming on and the make up of each unit, Egyptians started to flood the table heading straight for the ramshackle village. Far too many 8,9, and 10's were rolled.

Decisions, decisions..... I planned on pinning the raiders in the village leaving the column to push on via the left flank. The javelin skirmishers rushed forwards to engage with the first of the Egyptian archers.

A column of mixed archers and spears marched through the village as light chariots skirted the right hand side of the village. The cards feel badly as the Hittites failed to get moving.

With the luck of the chips the Egyptian's were able to deploy fully in front of the village and loosed a volley of arrows, which peppered the Hittite formations. To counter this I was forced to bring up the heavy chariot as many of the Hittites forces were still unable to move.

The Heavy Chariot smashed into the unarmoured archers.... whilst the Hittite spear block was forced to line out as Egyptian light chariots rushed forwards.

The heavy chariot smashed into the unarmoured archers who turned and fled losing over half their number.

Meanwhile the chariots had crept just a little to close to the Hittite spears, I pushed them forwards catching the chariots cold and driving them backwards. 

Having regrouped from the routing of the archers, I sent the heavy chariot into the main body looking to disrupt them from their harassing fire.

Disaster strikes..... the archers are no match for the heavily armoured battle wagon however the only casualty is the leader of the chariot struck down in a lucky shot.

Broken Egyptians flood backwards through the village. The Chariot had once again done its work but shock was beginning to mount on the now leaderless chariot.

On the right the Egyptian spear block march forwards clashing spears with the main Hittite spear block, breaking their formation and sending them backwards without any losses of their own.

As the Hittites reformed they are hit by the light chariots. Light chariots are not the best in close combat, but against a weakened unit they can make an impact. I am starting to think it might be time to pull back the pack camels as the force morale starts to creep downwards for the Hittites.

With the Hittite ranks broken and being outnumbered 2:1 the Egyptians pressed on through the rough ground, things were looking nasty for the Hittites but miraculously the New Kingdom attackers were beaten back. It was now a race to the bottom with both sides force morale now only one poor result from breaking point.

Overseer Huharmati's jumped on the chariot and raced forwards catching an element of the shattered spear unit in the flank.

The spear unit broke and ran, the risk had paid off and the Egyptian force morale fell below zero. Just as they were about to strike a final blow. The Egyptian forces retired from the table.

After game thoughts....

Well that was a near run thing, I am still working out some of the kinks in the chariot rules around movement and firing which now seem a little more balanced around turning circles. Allowing the chariots to evade if attacked in the flank or rear seems reasonable which also leaves them vulnerable if caught facing forwards.

I did consider making light chariots a skirmish unit with no ability to close with formed bodies, their weakened combat power seemed ok if engaged in combat,

The heavy chariot is great against unarmoured troops their lack of saving throws was the difference in each combat result, which often tipped the balance.

Another one for the Hittites but only close, next up an attack on Huharnati's camp.