Hatti versus Hanigalbat Chariots Rampant Game

 

Side view of the table

Hittite force deployed

Mitanni force deployed

Hittite attackers advance

Mitanni chariots suffer casualties from shooting

Hittite chariots on the left flank
are destroyed by shooting

Hittite chariots

Hittite spearmen and guardsmen

Hittite spearmen and skirmishers

Last Saturday afternoon I played a solo Chariots Rampant game out in the shed with my 15mm Hittites and Mitanni. I've just been reading Trevor Bryce's latest book Hattusili, the Hittite Prince Who Stole an Empire, it's a fascinating read, highly recommended, quite a bit of it is speculative but very interesting none the less. Writing about Suppiluliuma I (1350-1322 BC) he says:

he undertook the biggest challenge of his reign - the annihilation of Hatti's arch enemy, the kingdom of Mittani. After a long, hard-fought war lasting almost two decades, Suppiluliuma succeeded in demolishing the kingdom, rounding off his conquests by capturing the last Mittanian stronghold, the city of Carchemish on the Euphrates. We are now in the year 1326 or thereabouts. A rump kingdom called Hanigalbat was all that remained of Mittani, and Suppiluliuma promptly converted it into a Hittite puppet state.

Trevor Bryce, Hattusili, the Hittite Prince Who Stole an Empire, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2025, p.17.

In my game the Mitanni chariots suffered early casualties from shooting but on the other flank the entire Hittite chariot unit was destroyed by shooting. The Hittite guardsmen charged the Mittani spearmen but retreated battered and at nearly half strength. On the Mitanni left flank the Hittite chariots charged and destroyed some skirmishers forcing the Mitanni spearmen to retreat and protect their flank. The Hittite chariots charged the spearmen but were forced to retreat, at this stage the game was evenly poised. The Hittite guardsmen and spearmen then both routed after failing courage tests. The Mitanni had repelled this Hittite attack.

Mitanni spearmen and skirmishers

Mitanni chariots and skirmishers

Mitanni spearmen and archers

Hittite guarsdmen charge Mitanni spearmen

Hittite guardsmen retreat battered
and nearly at half strength

Mitanni spearmen on the left
retreat to protect their flank

Hittite chariots charge the Mitanni spearmen
but are forced to retreat

The battle is evenly poised

Hittite spearmen and guardsmen rout,
the Mitanni have repelled the Hittite attack

Samnite Linen Legion

 

Here are some Samnites from the archives, the Linen Legion described by Livy in his The History of Rome (Book 10.38.12.), who fought at the Battle of Aquilonia during the Third Samnite War:

...when the leading Samnites had been bound by this imprecation, the general named ten of them and bade them choose every man another, and so to proceed until they had brought up their number to sixteen thousand. These were named the "Linen Legion," from the roof of the enclosure wherein the nobles had been sworn, and were given splendid arms and crested helmets, to distinguish them from the rest.

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0155%3Abook%3D10%3Achapter%3D38

These are all Crusader Miniatures figures that I painted about nine years ago. I have a Pen and Sword book on the Third Samnite War by Mike Roberts but haven't read it yet!

Last Sunday we went on a camping trip to Barrington Tops and Ganguddy-Dunns Swamp, near Rylestone in the Wollemi National Park. Below are a few pics from our trip.

Creek crossings at Barrington Tops
were high after all the rain

Beech Forest Walk 

Thunderbolts Lookout

Soggy camping at Polblue Swamp

Brumbies

Polblue Swamp creek

A wallaby

The Firs, Barrington Tops

Campsite at Ganguddy-Dunns Swamp

Dammed Cudgegong River

Pagoda Lookout

The Weir was built in 1921 to provide
water for the Kandos Cement Factory

Mitanni and Canaanite Infantry

 

Here are some 15mm Mitanni infantry and Canaanite javelin men. The Mitanni infantry are by Chariot Miniatures and the Canaanite javelin men are by Essex Miniatures. I'll try the Mitanni against my Hittites in a Chariots Rampant game soon.

Early New Kingdom Egyptian Chariots

 

Here are some 15mm early New Kingdom Egyptian chariots by Khurasan Miniatures. These are from the 18th Dynasty, part of the army of the great Egyptian warrior pharaoh, Thumose III. At the bottom is a combined shot of the infantry and chariots I've painted to date.

Norse versus Anglo-Danes Midgard Game

 

Armies deployed from the Anglo-Danes' side

Opposite end

Anglo-Dane left flank and centre

Anglo-Dane right flank and centre

Norse left flank and centre

Norse right flank and centre

Armies close, skirmishers shoot

Last Thursday afternoon Garry came over and we played a Norse versus Anglo-Danes Midgard game out in the shed. We diced for sides and Garry commanded the Anglo-Danes defenders and I commanded the Norse attackers. The Anglo-Dane skirmishers were on target early on but the Norse were able to get in the first charge with a bonus Get In! movement activation. In the Midgard rules a charge or winning marker allows that side to reroll any ones for each round of combat which can prove very handy at times. 

Single combats between heroes are fought first and are an important way of gaining or losing reputation tokens in the game. The Norse lost three heroes in single combat but were winning the early melee combats. In the end it proved to be a very hard fought game with the Anglo-Danes eventually winning on their right flank while the Norse won on the left. Both armies were exhausted and fought to a standstill, with two reputation tokens each remaining, so we called it a draw.

Anglo-Dane archers and slingers are on target

Norse straighten their line and Anglo-Danes hold

Norse charge with a bonus
Get In! movement action

Norse are winning the melee combats but
have lost three heroes in single combat!

Anglo-Danes win on their right flank
but the Norse win on the left

The game ends in a hard fought draw

Last weekend I drove up to the Blue Mountains to visit friends, mountain bike and attend the Blue Mountains Music Festival at Katoomba on the Saturday afternoon. Below are a few pics of some of the mountain bike rides we did. The BMMF music is a roots, blues and folk music festival which has been running for about thirty years but which I've never been to before. The highlight for me was seeing the eighteen year old Irish country blues guitarist and singer Muireann Bradley, perform with brilliant covers of songs by Memphis Minnie, Mississippi John Hurt, Elizabeth Cotten, Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Blake and Sam McGee. I've been a massive country blues fan since I was seventeen and used to go to a lot of the blues, jazz and folk gigs and festivals around the traps. She recorded her first album when she was seventeen and learnt guitar from her father since the age of nine. Here's a link to her website and a video performance of When the Levee Breaks:

 https://www.muireannbradley.ie

https://www.muireannbradley.ie/video/

Rydal showground

Rydal single tracks

View of Mt Banks from my friends' house

Blackheath single tracks

Start of the Oaks single tracks on the
Wentworth Falls to Glenbrook ride