Never hit a Hittite

 We had another bash with Basic Impetus this morning, with Peter fielding the Hittites against my New Kingdom Egyptians. I was hoping for a different result than last time, and  I got it. 

It was worse. 

Waaayy worse. 

I came acropper once one of my chariot units got pinned down on my left flank by some light infantry. 

My infantry in the centre should have been a match for their Hittite counterparts, but clearly no-one had told them that and they struggled to hold the centre.

The Hittite chariots proved decisive, using missile attacks to weaken my infantry before charging home, and continuing on after using my troops as speed bumps. 

My general tried to do the same and got stuck  and mobbed. 

Eventually, my casualties piled up and the army reached and quickly passed its break point, survivors fleeing the field after only breaking a single Hittite unit. 

A disappointing result, but a fun game, which is all that matters.  

New Kingdom Egyptians ( By Red Copper)

 New Kingdom Egyptians ( By Red Copper)

I just finished up  ( for now) my latest army for Basic Impetus, a New Kingdom Egyptians from  Red Copper Miniatures. They are usually available as true 15mm, but Campaign Miniatures offers them in 18mm as well, so that was what I chose. 

They are printed in a very study but flexible resin. Clear up is easier than metal figures and the detail is superb. They are effectively 28mm models printed smaller, so the fine detail is what you would expect in the larger scale. They also possess a lovely degree of animation, and a nice selection of poses within the range, so there is a sense of dymanism and motion to them .

There is heavy foot and massed archers in the range, along with the obigatory chariots , including one of Ramases II himself. These are particularly lovely and energetic. There is also a number of support troops available ; Numidian spearmen & skirmishers and ferocious looking Lybian mercenary warband types, looking suitably invincible.

I usualy stick to DBM basing for most of my ancients, so they will be compatible with everything else, but as this is my first foray into 15mm Bronze Age, there was nothing to match with, so I used Impetus bases, which allow for a more interesting figure lay out, and a desert theme for the bases, to better fit the setting. I will continue this with the Hittites, Assyrians & Sea Peoples armies. 

The Whole army , perched atop an Ikea storage tin

A close up of the Egyptian Infantry and archers with  vassal skirmishers 

6 chariots ( 3 units ) so far with some of the mercenary troops.

 

Skirmishers and the Royal Guard heavy foot unit behind.

Lybian Mercenaries  adding a bit of barbaric splendor ( and a dangerous charge bonus).


The range is a joy to paint. I hope to have their rivals, the Hittites finished & table ready shortly for a few games of Basic Impetus & King David. 

Basic Impetus, Hittite Vs NKE

Today we played Basic Impetus, for the first time in too long. This was also our first proper Chariot Era game, and we used Hittite Empire vs New Kingdom Eyptian, both from around the era of Kaddesh.  We both fielded the standard army with one change each, the Egyptians dropping a unit of chariots in exchange for two units of Lybian warbands, and the Hittites dropping a unit of vassal for in favour of a unit of Canaanite archers.  The terrain was rather sparse, but still managed to get in the way .

Initial deployment.  Heroic Egyptians on the left, Evill Hittites on the right.

Hittite vassal foot & Canaanite archers.

Egyptian General in Chariot.

Hittite Vassal Chariots

Hittite Chariots

Egyptian Light Infantry holding the Evil Hordes at bay.. Temporarily...

Egyptian Archers, Light Foot & Lybian mercenary warbands advance 

Two outmanouvered Egyptian units try to hold off greater numbers on the right flank. 

Decisive infantry clash on the left (I hoped ) before it disintegrated into a dogfight. 

Infantry prepare to charge which their more mobile social betters exchange insults & missile fire.

A battered Hittite chariot on the spot where two Egyptian units made a brief last stand

 Defiant Egyptian archers who haven't yet realised that they have lost.

We were a bit rusty on the rules, but it quickly came back to us, like misdeeds from a drunken haze. Ed to the Evill Hittites, I the Heroic New Kingdom Egyptians (NKE). 

The terrain was mostly to the far flanks, just a bit of scrub in the centre for the skirmishers to hide in. The first few turns were mostly maneuver, nothing spectacular as we were both feeling our way forward, unused to either army. 

Eds chariots on his left hit mine on my right, and initially drove them back, but his charge ran out of steam and devolved into a slow slogging match that he eventually won, although took a beating in the process. His stronger left flank advanced while his right sat nearer the baseline. 

My stronger left advanced, with my three infantry units engaging three good quality Hittite foot, including their General. My chariot mounted General had a bash at some Hittite chariots but to little effect. I managed to get in my own way trying to get around some impassable terrain and blocked my own archers. 

My infantry destroyed two opponents, but enemy general stood firm. My General put in a less than stellar effort and was routed by the Hittite chariots, putting my under a lot of pressure, but then my archers took out his General so we were both tethering near our break point. At this stage, his battered chariot on his left finally made it back into the fight and hit my beleaguered light foot from behind, breaking the army.

 A Hittite victory , although a costly one, but a great game with plenty of laughs. Looking forward to a rematch.  All the figures are printed resin from Red Copper and painted by me. 

King David

 Had a solo game today of King David, an older game that was the precursor of Basic Impetus.

Today was just a trial run to give the rules a go, and spot any mistakes in my understanding of the rules before introducing them to a friend.  The rules are intended for Biblical battles, with army lists covering around 1600BC to about 600BC. 

All models and the buildings came from Campaign Miniatures in Spain, the tents I used for baggage I have had for so long,I no longer remember their origin. 

The armies were around 165 points each, with about 200-250 being standard. 

Initial Set up from the Hittite Side

The initiative rules are interesting and unpredictable. Each side rolls 1D6 , with bonuses for good commanders. The winner activates as many units as their D6 roll, the opponent does the same, then the player who won initiative activates another 1D6 units and so on.  I found it best to mark each unit with a small die once it had been activated so it wouldnt be moved again in the same turn. 

Archery is a single D6 roll, hit on a 4+ at short range, 5 + at medium, and 6+ for long, with penalties for moving. A single hit will destroy a unit unless a saving throw is made, with heavier units having the best throw. 

Melee is a single die roll each, adding a number for troop type and various tactical factors, like heavy troops or chariots in bad going or a flank / rear attack etc, followed by a saving throw for the loser. 

Troops making the save in melee make an about face & a half move away from the enemy who can pursue. It is possible for multiple fights to happen between two units in a single turn if contact is maintained. 

The army breaks when half its strength is lost, with higher values for higher priority units . 

The game ended as an Egyptian victory once the Hittiite commander was shot from behind by a roving Egyptian light chariot. 

Overall, I found the rules very enjoyable and look forward to trying them again, 

Dead Zone

Hi Guys

 Ed came down last week with a new game from Mantic called Dead Zone. He had picked it up the week before and assembled all the models etc so we were ready to go. The game is set in the same universe as Mantics 40K clone "Warpath" but the rules and scale are completely different. We have played warpath with about 70-80 figures on a 6' X 4' board, from the Deadzone boxset we played about 12 figures a side on a 2' square board. The Warpath rules are very similar to Kings of War, their fantasy counterpart, but for Deadzone the rules are unique. Each player has about 10-12 figures per side, and the initiative passes from player to player after activativing one figure, so you carry out the actions for a single model, then the opponent activates a single model etc so both players are continualy envolved. In addition, a lot of the tests are based on oppossed die rolls, so you are active even doing your opponents action.

There are two factions in the box, a high tech human force with cool armour and a variety of weapons, and the Plague force who are basically sci fi zombies. Some of them are ex human soldiers, still carrying guns which is unusuall for Zeds, some are hulking monsters from earlier waves of infection. The humans would not look out of place in a lot of scifi settings, the plague would be usable in horror or sci, and would suit a resident evil style game very well, they even have a pair of zombie attack dogs in the starter force.

The box contains a set of cool modular buildings with raised walkways connecting them and a variety of debris to scatter on the board as cover. The board itself is a good quality mat, two foot square, divived into 3 inch squares in an 8x8 pattern. All movement and ranges are measured in these squares  and there is a limit of how many figures can occupy any given square at one time.

There is a deck of cards per faction, which contains stat cards for each figure, mission cards to give each player their in game objectives, and cards which give temporary bonuses to you, or causes problems for you opponent.

The rules are D8 based. To perform an action, you roll a given number of dice against the appropiate stat and count the successes. Cards can increase the number of dice you roll. Your opponent rolls against their own appropiat stat, you then compare the numer of successes you have each scored. Uusually a draw favours the defender, if the attacker scores more it will be a minor success, doubling or tripling the defenders number of successes will get a more severe result.

There are various other factions, including Marauders (Orks), Forgefathers ( Dwarves), Asterians ( Eldar) and rebels who are a mix of various humans and aliens. There are also support options for each race and some races have walkers as well. Each force can have one mercenary which are unique characters with their own stats.

All in all, we really enjoyed the game, and were impressed by the quality of everything in the boxed and liked the completeness of it. Rather than a weak force as a starter, you get a good strong force for each side. I am looking forward to the next game ( I will try the plague forces next time) and will pick up my own copy of the boxed set next time I am in the game shop. I might have to get the Marauder starter set while I am at it.....