Over the last couple of years I've been accumulating rule sets for miniature battles during the ancient period. "To the Strongest" was the most recent acquisition. This time I pulled out "
Sword & Spear," by Mark Lewis.
The Egyptians and Hittites are almost completely rebased - finally! So I used the free to download
army lists and put together two armies at about 200 points. The Egyptians had one more unit because Hittite heavies are expensive! Here are the lists:
| Unit |
Cost |
Number |
Total |
AV |
Tot.AV |
Army Point Total |
| Egyptian
Chariots |
28 |
2 |
56 |
4 |
8 |
206 |
| Close Fighters |
15 |
4 |
60 |
3 |
12 |
|
| Archers |
15 |
3 |
45 |
3 |
9 |
|
| Pharaoh |
45 |
1 |
45 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Camp |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
|
| |
|
|
0 |
|
32 |
|
| Hittite Heavy
Ch |
40 |
2 |
80 |
4 |
8 |
206 |
| Syrian
Chariots |
24 |
1 |
24 |
4 |
4 |
|
| Hittite Spear |
15 |
2 |
30 |
3 |
6 |
|
| Javelinmen |
9 |
1 |
9 |
2 |
2 |
|
| Slingers |
9 |
1 |
9 |
2 |
2 |
|
| Levy Foot |
9 |
1 |
9 |
3 |
3 |
|
| Emperor
Wattilis |
45 |
1 |
45 |
|
0 |
|
| Camp |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
|
Allocating activation dice.
The initial first turn sees Egyptian bow, and Hittite chariots advance.
Wattilis charges!
Charging Heavy chariots are brutal. Well, I got really lucky in the roll and wiped out the spearmen. I probably should have allocated the activation die to the spear. Still learning...
The second Hittite impact chariot would follow and annihilate the Egyptian Chariot above.
End of second turn.
Not sure if I had enough to turn the Hittite chariots, missed the "Undrilled" bit. But Ramses still managed to get on their flanks.
And the Hittite emperor found himself in deep trouble...
Fortunately he survives.
After the early initial charge of the Hittites, I really thought the Egyptians were going to lose. You can see the Hittite chariot in contact with the Egyptian camp, which only had a single hit remaining. In one of the pictures above you can see the other Egyptian chariot unit in melee with Syrian chariots. That was a close battle too, but one that the Egyptians won. With the loss of a group of slingers and Wattilis's chariot unit, the Hittites had to do an army wide discipline test. Wattilis's move to his remaining chariot unit put the rest of his army out of command. A unit of spearmen with 2 hits from some Egyptian bow failed their discipline test and routed, sending the remaining Hittite skirmisher routing. Game over for the Hittites.
I almost put this game away after the initial Hittite charge. The long list of conditions for when a unit didn't get impetus was also a bit daunting. I'm glad I kept at it because it was a real nail biter and I had a great time once I got into the flow of the turn. I still have lots to learn and look forward to the next game.
