Siege of Lachish - 701 BC

Our most recent Command & Colours outing afforded another opportunity to field my Hittite city walls.  As it was a siege I had to supplement them from my box of wooden blocks.  Still the ensemble looked pretty impressive.

 The black pipe cleaners marked the edges of the Assyrian ramp - built in order to negate the stout walls.

 Graham and Tom led the Assyrians.  Most of the figures are actual Assyrians but the siege engines are represented by Roman artillery

 As the Assyrians blundered forward the Caananites - led by John - managed to set alight both siege engines - the rotters!

 The Caananite figures were actually mostly Egyptians.  Close enough?

 After losing the siege engines the Assyrians made several more assaults...

 ...but the Caananites saw them all off.

Eventually the Assyrians conceded - a walkover for the Caananites this time but I'd like to try this scenario again.

Megiddo 1457BC again

Having tried out this scenario as a solo game, last week I unleashed it on real players!  Tim C and Martin led the Canaanites while John was Thutmose III of Egypt.  This game also saw the debut outing of my 15mm Hittite City Walls - bought at COW last July and painted a few days before the game.  Here are the Canaanite chariots drawn up before the gates of Megiddo.

 The armies arrayed for battle.

 Thutmose (later know as 'The Napoleon of Egypt') led the army personally.

 The Egyptian left led the hostilities with some skirmishing cavalry.

 Soon Thutmose dashed forward and unleashed a hail of arrows.

 The Canaanites soon got their right flank nicely lined up

 The Egyptians get stuck in again.

 The Pharaoh's lads had the numbers...

 ...but it didn't go to plan - even a general perished!

 Next the Canaanite chariots rumbled forth...

 ...bitter fighting ensued...

 ...and verily they smote the enemy.  By now the Egyptians were really struggling

but soon it was allover as the Canaanites emerged victorious.

An what of Thutmose?  Well he survived the battle but is now know to history as the 

'Napoleon III of Egypt'....

Megiddo 1457BC

Having spent a bit of time re-boxing my 25mm pointy-stick era figures to make finding the required toys for a game a bit easier, I celebrated by setting up and playing through a solo Command & Colours game.

The historical battle saw Thutmose III (later - much later - know as the Napoleon of Egypt) duffing up the Canaanites outside the city of Megiddo.

 For the Egyptian army I used my actual Egyptians, while the Canaanites were assembled from my Assyrians and the 'Random Biblicals' box.

Some of the figures were doing some splendid silly hat wearing.

Thutmose opened by moving forward his left wing

The Canaanites responded on the same wing

Thutmose then played his 'killer card'.

His chariots (bottom of the frame) dashed forward and arrows were twanged at the enemy.  The dice reveal that one Canaanite chariot was eliminated!

The Egyptians then trundled off again.  Cheeky!

The Canaanite right was sent against the foe...

...and soon honours were even.

The Egyptian right engaged in some skirmishing to annoy the enemy...

...prompting a 'sh*t or bust' charge by the Canaanite chariots and cavalry!

The ensuing bloodbath saw off an Egyptian chariot...

...making the 'score' 2:1.

A whirling melee developed in the centre

Beset by enemies on all sides, the last Canaanite chariot - and it's accompanying general - died horribly.

A load of Egyptians milling around.

By now the Egyptians were well in the lead....

...and their left surged forward.

The Canaanites replied in kind.

This evened things up a bit

But the Egyptians - led in person By Thutmose got stuck in again...

...and killed a further enemy unit, clinching a victory for the Pharaoh.

Last Wednesday I tried the same game but with real players.  Report coming soon...

Chariots at dawn - Kadesh 1275BC - part 2

Back at Kadesh, Rameses (right) had led his division out of the camp - and here come the Hittite infantry!

The infantry are light troops (Auxilliaries in C&C and what used to be called Light Medium Infantry in WRG) so this could be an interesting fight.

The Egyptians have the worst of it, losing a chariot - but the infantry retire...

...so both sides take a breather.

Rameses leads another sortie - with mixed results...

 ...but is forced back to camp.

A further flurry of Hittite spears and arrows leads to the loss of Rameses's guard unit, meaning he has to test to survive.  A helmet means he is dead.  Bugger.

The final score.  This was a 'six-banner' battle and for once it wasn't a very close run thing!  6-1 in favour of the Hittites.