Carronade 2011: Qadesh or Khadesh

However you spell it, Qadesh was the game Simon put on at Carronade as a sort of Society of Ancients Battle Day game for Scotland.  The game was played twice, and I ran the Hittites in the second game.  Rather than try to model the whole running fight as well as the set pieces, Simon very sensibly depicted the swirling fight around the partially established Egyptian camp. 

Above: angled view of some rather nice Hittite chariots

Some of their Egyptian opponents

A posed shot of how they look in combat

Mark wanted a comparison shot to show the different axles.  The Hittie chariot on the left has its axle centred under the car, while the Egyptian on the right has the axle at the rear of the car.  I think there is something of an ongoing debate about this: the rearmost position suits the lighter chariots, while the heavier ones need the extra support in the centre.  This is because all of the weight would otherwise be on the horses. 

The Hittites are about to attack the camp from two directions.  The shot above is taken from behind my side of the table.  I have all the lighter chariots, while the King himself leads the heavies in from the other side.  We both have some light infantry in support.  The Egyptians (including Ramesses) are massed in and around the camp, with some chariot forces on both flanks, back to back.  The rightmost Egyptian chariot unit as you look at the photo is commanded by the Egyptian Prince.

A shot of the Egyptian defenders facing my front left.

The defenders to my front right.

And the centre.  One unit of chariots and some light infantry are lurking outside the temporary defences, with some archers in reserve.

My plan is not subtle...

...as you can see.

I do hang back a bit on my right.  I don't want to commit here until I see what the Egyptian Prince does.

I simply attack with the massed chariots in column.

On the other side, The Hittie King (Stuart) has reached the camp's ramparts with his heavier chariots.

My chariots have crushed the light infantry in front of them, but are stopped by the ramparts.  This provides the enemy light archers with a rather lovely large target.



I promptly retire these units, just as their compatriots to the left of this photo above break through in their turn.  The reason for retiring on my right here is to do with the way morale works in the rules.  I need to keep the momentum going but if I lose a unit or two to shooting, there could be a cascade morale effect on my leftmost units.  This would stall the advance into the camp itself.  So I retire my two right units, both of which are feeling the attrition.  The Hittite King, meanwhile, fails to see the tactical sense behind my decision and shouts across the field that if I don't keep fighting, he'll slaughter all of my relatives.  He is obviously deeply unfit to rule, since my sensible precaution will obviously win the battle for us without the loss of expensive chariot units.  Ramesses isn't the only one who can rewite history!





Meanwhile, at the far left, Pharaoh has helped his chariots to destroy some of ours.

However, at the same time to my right, my light chariots meet Stuart's heavies in a victory dance over the crushed remains of the Egyptian prince.

And in the camp itself, some Egyptian archers meet the same fate, caught between my light chariots and the Hittite King.

Just to finish off: a small vignette of Egyptians leading some captives.

It wasn't a subtle plan, but it worked: a Hittite victory, to make up for the defeat earlier in the day.  Thanks are due to Simon for supplying the whole lot, except for my old mat.