Part 1 [LW142]
Part 2 [LW143]
Part 3 [LW144]
Egyptian Saga
In the temple to Hathor on the hill the Pharaoh accompanied by the commanders of his forces and selected local dignitaries began the pre-dawn religious celebrations to the soon to arrive Sun God.
The cold early morning mist, in the area around which the Border Infantry Regiment were bivouacked, hid the tired sentries from the quietly moving forward mass of Numidians of the Red Pharaoh [B]. Stealthily the lightly clad warriors crept towards the sleeping infantrymen, who were completely unaware of their peril.
On the west bank the elite infantry regiment were breaking camp in anticipation of an early move to the next town to be visited by the Blue Pharaoh and the torches of the troops looked like clouds of meandering fireflies from a distance [H]. Meanwhile in the chariot lines only the drivers were about looking to their steeds while their noble masters dreamed of glory and loot in their spacious tents [G & F].
At the Gates of Horus the sleeping sentry wrapped in his blanket was swiftly despatched by an enemy from the mist cloaked river. While in Abnub the early risers began their daily chores and the smoke from the cooking fires began to curl upwards into the still dark sky.
With a silent rush the Numidians overpowered the southern sentries and were in amongst the sleeping soldiery, but the discipline of the attackers was lax and they began to scream their warcries, which alerted the sleepers. Warned they may have been but the disorganised southern soldiers were no match for the rampant northerners and within a short space of time the Border Regiment was streaming in rout back towards the city hotly pursued by the warband.
The noise from the conflict spread on the limp morning breeze and soon from around the city area the alarm was raised by voice and instrument.
The shrill sound of the rams horn trumpeting their call to all was heard and quickly acted upon by those guarding the Pharaoh who bolt the gates to the temple and manned the twelve foot high brick walls. Within the compound were all the commanders of the various units that were accompanying their master on his whirlwind visit. This meant, of course, that they were effectively cut-off from their commands and were unable to organise their men against the unexpected and unprepared for attack.
- Wargaming Note
I am fully aware of the characters of my beloved commanders and can plan my tactics around their known strengths and weakness’, but of their second-in-commands I had no knowledge. Also reality stepped into the game in that I recently purchased “The Warrior Pharaoh – Rameses II and the Battle of Qadesh” by Mark Healey and published by Osprey. Very interesting and thought provoking book and I will relate more from it later. However, what it did point out to me was that harnessing up a chariot with a couple of excitable horses and getting such a unit into an organised formation is not done in the twinkling of an eye, that this gamer had in mind. There needed to be a ‘time lapse’ brought into the game in order to give the attackers the advantage of surprise they had earned by their cold night march.
Obvious wargaming solution was to throw a die and the resulting number would be how long it took the unit to get into a fighting formation. In the good old days when I started gaming that would have been no problem because we only had D6! The trouble is nowadays there are all sorts of different types of dice. That was one of the problems and another was the playability of the actual time lapse, or in other words the time taken to prepare should be such that the defenders would have an outside chance of meeting the attackers formed for battle.
With this in mind I toyed with a few ideas and am not sure that I have achieved the ‘ideal’ solution but will try it until it works! I calculated that the Numidians would be able to move at their best pursuit speed and get to the first chariot unit lines within about 3 moves, without any distractions like looting, victory celebrations or the like. This meant the charioteers could not form up until at least the 4th game move with my rationale being that in the previous 3 moves they were harnessing up their steeds and getting into line etc. I could have gone for; by the 1st move 1/3rd of the unit would be ready, by the 2nd move 2/3rd of the unit would be prepared and by the 3rd move all would be harnessed but not in formation and came up with the conclusion it was too unwieldy. If the chariots were attacked before the 4th game move then they would be caught flat-footed and have to fight as a disorganised rabble. (Pretty strict when you consider it was myself I was putting into jeopardy with this ‘instant’ rule).
“Back to the Table”
Now those who have forgotten will be glad to be reminded that the main objective for the Red Pharaoh, supported by the Numidians was to kill the Blue [and true] Pharaoh. This meant that the dash was on for the temple but only by the false Pharaoh because the warband forgot their orders and continued the pursuit and slaughter of the decimated Southern Border Regiment.
The disturbance not far from the quay alerted the on-watch sailors of the various vessels and swiftly the rudely awakened crews began to manouvre their ships away from the shore nearest the fighting. On the Roman trireme the professional marines swiftly stood-to and manned their ballistas while on the three merchant ships organized chaos reigned with scared sailors tripping over themselves in order to warp their charges away from the ever nearing fighting. The canal basin was a mess of ships whose lines and rigging became entangled in the dawn light.
On board the Egyptian coastal command ship, although she had not yet got her full compliment of sailors and marines, there were sufficient men available to warp her to the safety of the far, or Abnub shore.
Ignoring the chaos in the canal basin and the busy but out of control Numidians, the Egyptian Red Pharaoh and his personal entourage galloped directly for the hill on which the temple stood and his prey awaited. It was here that the terrain thwarted the attack in that the path to the summit was only wide enough for one chariot at a time and basically formed a bottleneck at the base. There was considerable time lost by the Red Pharaoh while he ordered his men to dismount and attack the temple on foot, which was not a plan that the nobles who were highly trained to fight from their chariots embraced with enthusiasm. The speed of the chariot attack and the confusion of the night approach march had left the Red Pharaoh’s infantry tramping way back, with the nearest unit being level with the red stele [Lone Warrior 144, map on page 24] and in no way able to support the attack.
To add to the Egyptian Red Pharaoh’s problems the enemy Infantry Guard had hurriedly withdrawn up the hill when the southern Border Infantry Regiment had come streaming towards them in panic. The Guard had formed up with their backs to the temple wall and were prepared to sell their lives dearly, but unfortunately being assault troops, had no missile men with them. This was soon noted by the Red Pharaoh, who ordered his dismounted charioteers to fire on the lines of Guardsmen. The accurately aimed arrows soon caused gaps to appear in the ranks of the southern infantrymen and the Red charioteers moved slowly up the hill to get a better shot.
In the Temple the Egyptian Blue Pharaoh, his commanders, priests and small bodyguard manned the walls and prepared to assist the guardsmen who by now were cowering under their shields in an attempt to not fall victim to the whizzing missiles from the bottom of the hill. Pharaoh and his commanders were all excellent marksmen but there were only a limited number of bows and arrows available because, apart from the king their chariots containing their weapons had been taken to the Guard Chariot lines to be brought back at a prearranged time. The Bodyguard had mixed weapons but were too few in numbers to make much impression on the slowly advancing Reds. Things looked extremely black for the men on the hill and in the temple.
- Wargaming Note
It was at this point I felt a ‘Qadesh or Kadesh moment’ coming on and I was ready to mount my chariot and go thundering down the hill into the ranks of my enemies scattering them to the wind like so much chaff! However, commonsense prevailed and I realised that it would be a suicide mission for one lone chariot to attack a unit of first class archers and hope to survive, let alone defeat them! The moment passed and I resorted to more conventional types of combat.
The depleted Infantry Guard was ordered to advance and engage the enemy archers at close range. Closing ranks and locking their shields the warriors began to move slowly forward down the steep hill maintaining their formation, while under constant missile fire. The Blue Pharaoh and his commanders along with the Bodyguard left the shelter of the Temple and strengthened the ranks of the downward moving phalanx of spearmen. Aware of the change in the situation the Red Pharaoh quickly mounted his chariot and had his trumpeter order his men to do the same. During the brief respite from the arrows that this gave the advancing infantrymen, they quicken their pace and broke into a trot which became an uncontrollable charge with the Blue Pharaoh being swept along with the excitement himself.
At the base of the hill the chariots of the False Pharaoh began to sort themselves out and the men of the Blue Pharaoh swept down the hill screaming loud their war cries, towards their milling enemy.
Here endeth Part IV, because there is an excellent programme ‘Ancient Egyptians’ due on the TV very shortly and my brave warriors will have to collect another coat of dust until I return to relate what was going on, on the other bank.
More Chariot Saga
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