Pre-Islamic Arabs versus New Kingdom Egyptians

It was to be camels versus chariots as my Arabs (Yemenites to be precise) take on Dave's Egyptians.

The Egyptians out scouted the Arabs and deployed on a hill with woods on a flank.

The Arabs surge forward.

The Arabs have the upper hand and feel confident.

The Egyptians use Decisive Initiative and destroy the Arab centre.

It's all over.

Only as their morale broke were the Arabs finally able to rout two of the Egyptian units.

As they say:

A Quick Game
Is
 A Good Game

Later Fatimid Egyptian versus Later Merovingian

This was a companion game to One Sided Miniature Wargaming Discourse: Later Merovingian versus Later Fatimid Egyptian

This time I would run the Egyptians and face the Merovingians played by Phil.  In the club's Basic Impetus competition Phil will be facing Mark B who runs Later Fatimid Egyptians.

The Egyptians were out scouted and face six units of Merovingian heavy cavalry on open terrain.

There are some gentle hills and broken ground on the extreme right of the battlefield.

The Egyptian skirmishers on both wings rush forward to engage the enemy,

the Mamelukes and archers move forward to get in bow range,

but their infantry hang back.

The Merovingians easily clear the Egyptian skirmishers away on both flanks.

Action looks imminent for the Mamelukes who have closed up to face their foe.

While the Egyptians have lost both units of light cavalry,

the Mamelukes have got the better of their opponents

and their infantry has withstood the first charge of the enemy.

The Mamelukes have prevailed,

but their infantry is in trouble.

The Merovingian left flank has been eliminated.

However, the same fate seems about to befall the Egyptian left.

The battle is now in the balance.  

A loss of one more unit will break either side.

Closing in for the kill.

The advantage is with the Egyptians.

Victory for the Fatimids.

New Kingdom Egyptians versus New Kingdom Egyptians

Some of my Carthaginians and Arabs stood in for a New Kingdom Egyptian army to face Karl's New Kingdom Egyptians in a practice game for the club's Basic Impetus competition.  I will refer to my army as the Pseudo Egyptians.

The Pseudo Egyptians out scouted the Egyptians, 

finding them deployed on a range of gentle hills with a wood to their left flank.

The Egyptian chariots on the left flank advanced and suffered for it.

The Pseudo Egyptians shuffled their chariots to their left.

The Egyptians advance their centre.

The Pseudo Egyptians also advance their centre.

The Egyptian chariots move forward and suffer for it.

The first clash goes badly for the Egyptians who either crumble or fail to contact.

It will take a while for the Pseudo Egyptian chariots to rejoin the fight,

but their infantry has carried the centre and the Egyptians flee.

Classical Indian versus Scots

That's Scots 1418-1429AD run by a descendent, Mark Woods.

What's a mere two thousand years between armies?

The Scots have been out scouted and deployed in echelon 

between a bit of a wood and some broken ground.

No edge of the table shenanigans here!

A bit of a cautious advance.

Skirmishers are soon engaged.

Closing in.

Contact!

Elephants to the fore!

Pachyderms about to make pappadums of the Scottish heavy foot.

The Indian general announces as the remaining Scots flee,

"We gave 'em curry!"

BIG BATTLES Thematic Byzantines versus Later Abbasid Arabs

An historical match up using Basic Impetus 2.0 Big Battles option.  Brad and John commanded the Byzantines while Karl and I had command of the Arabs.

With Big Battles the benefits of out-scouting and deployment are not so critical.

Terrain was kept to a minimum, just two gentle hills.

Arabs on the right and Byzantines on the left.

The two armies are very similar.

Although the Arab has a lot more infantry.

The Byzantine cavalry wings rush forward.

The Byzantine cavalry (as seen from their side) takes significant casualties.

While the Arab foot advance as quick as they can,

their cavalry is happy to stay shooting at the Byzantines.

The Byzantine cavalry is trying to get into contact.

As seen from the Byzantine side, their cavalry is getting bogged down.

After some success the Byzantine right wing has collapsed

and the Arabs are now focussing on breaking their left wing.

With both wings broken the Byzantine centre stands forlorn on their hill.

Game over.

Classical Indian versus Anglo Danish

A club competition battle.  I went into this expecting hairy barbarians but was confronted by pointed sticks and stones. Richard was my opponent.

The Anglo-Danes were out scouted and deployed on a gentle hill.

There is an impassable area called "The Mountain" in the centre of the battlefield.

The Indians start to shuffle to the left and the Danes follow suit. 

A bit of wait and see.

The Indians decide on a full move to their left.

The Indians recover their order.

The Indians start to advance.

The Danish knights skillfully charge the Indian light cavalry,

 who had just routed some of the Danish slingers, 

so that they can't evade, 

but fail to follow up.

Both sides are now close. The Indians are busy firing.

The Danes that have not been disordered push on.

The Indians hold against the first charge.

But it is short-lived as the Indians lose most of their right wing.

Climax of the battle.  

The Indian general with his elephants trundles forward.

The Indian chariots close on the Danish knights

and the Indian light cavalry are about to charge the flank of the main unit of Danes.

Sadly it was not to be.

Indian general and his elephants did well.

The chariots failed to pursue and finish off the Danish knights.

And the light cavalry inflicted serious damage but took too many casualties and routed.

I think I failed to add to 1 to their Cohesion Test for charging a flank. It would have made all the difference as the dice roll was a 3 and they had one hit on a VBU of 2. But it's too late now, I'm knocked out of the competition.

Later Merovingian versus Later Fatimid Egyptian

Nothing like a bit of practice pre match.  I cobbled together some Frankish types to face Mark B's Fatimids.

Out scouted, the Franks deploy aggressively with their flanks protected 

by difficult terrain on the left and a lake on the right.

The Fatimids are on a gentle hill.

The Franks get straight into action

and it all starts to fall apart.

The Franks keep on fighting, hoping their luck will change.

It doesn't.

Decisive win to the Fatimids.

STP

Some supplementary photos: