Fortune had indeed smiled upon this evening as all- round good guy, Mr. Sid Ben visited Cardiff’s Firestorm Games to reenact the titanic clash between Ancient Egypt and those nefarious raiders the Hittites. Light and nimble Egyptian chariotry against the slow but impactful barbarian carts. Who would triumph?

An interesting game in an attempt to recreate the first day of the Battle of Kadesh 1274 BCE.
The house rules were that the Egyptians (NKE) were spread along the length of the 8’ table in their Divisions of Amun, Ra, Seth and Ptah. Amun was in and around the camp, the other 3 divisions spread out and facing North so their right flank was exposed to the Hittite advance.
Amun and Ra deployed, then 2 Hittite divisions, then Set followed by the rest of the Hittites and finally Ptah at the bottom.

The 2 Hittite chariot divisions could deploy 3 boxes in, the allied and poor quality Syrian command 2 Boxes in and the Hittite infantry 1 box in.
The Hittites had no camp as they had left it far behind on the far side of the Orontes so could not replen lance or ammo. Hopefully this would mean they would run out of steam after an initial success as happened historically.

The NKE were spread out and on the match so only units within 6 boxes could replen ammo so the rearward divisions needed to catch up with the rest of the army. Another house rule was that the NKE chariots, although light could fight other chariots (even the Hittite non light ones) frontally and charge them if they wanted.

Both forces were equal with about 200 points and 4 commanders. The coin count was 22 for the NKE and 17 for the sons of Hatti.
The Hittites deployed with their poor Syrian command on the right close to the city of Kadesh. The main Hittite chariot force to the left and the Hittite infantry behind the main chariot force. So looking for a concentrated attack planned by the Hittites using their powerful chariots.
The enthusiastic Hittite commanders recording their anticipated glorious victory.

The battle went in a very similar manner to the actual one. With the Hittite attack on Amun although experiencing initial success was thrown back with heavy losses through the heroic endeavours of Pharaoh.

The Hittite chariots smashed into the divisions of Ra and Seth, scattering Seth. Historically it was Ra that was scattered.
Ptah lagged behind for much of the battle, Keith the commander drawing a ridiculous succession of 1s over several turns. When they finally got involved Ptah was doing serious damage to the Hittite left wing, but by then it was too late.

By the time the Egyptians broke. the Hittites had only 2 coins left. A very close finish. Close enough that Pharaoh could inscribe his temples showing his “glorious” combat.

Our thanks to Sid for this amazing, closely fought game! All the minis are 10mm in scale and the collection is a stunner. Hopefully Pharoah will do better next time against the Northern barbarians!