Mycenaean Lion Rampant Libyan Stats

So far as I can tell there was nothing particularly good or bad about Libyan forces back in the day. Among the Libyans there was not much armour about or even a systematic use of shields. I’ve gone for archers for the Libyan missile troops but equally and perhaps more fun they could be fielded as Bidowers.  

As no one seems to have talked of the ferocity of Libyan warriors I've eschewed the Fierce Foot category in favour of Yeoman spears with javelin throwing ability.

The Libyans seem to have been of average competence and numerous.  With that in mind here are my proposed stat’s for them.

Unit Name: Chariots of Libya – one unit	Points: 6 Models: 2 Chariots 4 runners
Attack 6+	Attack Value 3+
Move7+, Max. Movement 5"	Defence Value5+
Shoot 6, range 8”	Shoot Value Hit on 4
Courage 3+	Armour 4
Special Rules	Counter-charge

Unit Name: Mighty Mesh Wesh – one unit	Points: 6 Models: 12
Attack 6+	Attack Value 4+
Move 5+, Max. Movement 4"	Defence Value 4+
Shoot 6, range 3”	Shoot Value Hit on 5
Courage 4+	Armour 3
Special Rules

Unit Name: Warriors	Points: 4 Models: 12
Attack 6+	Attack Value 5+
Move 5+, Max. Movement 4"	Defence Value 4+
Shoot 6, range 3”	Shoot Value Hit on 4
Courage 4+	Armour 1
Special Rules

Unit Name: Archers	Points: 4 Models: 12
Attack 6+	Attack Value 6+
Move 6+, Max. Movement 4"	Defence Value 4+
Shoot 6+, range 3”	Shoot Value Hit on 4
Courage 4+	Armour 1
Special Rules

Mycenaean Lion Rampant Sea Peoples Stat's

Like every other gamer who read The End of the Bronze Age by Drews I have pondered how the Sea Peoples, nemesis of all chariots, would fare on the table top. I’m about to find out. 

At the moment I am treating all of the various Sea Peoples the same.  Experience or just the desire for variety might change that.  Here are the stat’s for Sea Peoples for Mycenaean Lion Rampant. They are, in Lion Rampant terms, fast moving Expert Serjeants with the javelin throwing ability of Foot Yeomen.  A handful in other words-but so were the Sea Peoples.

Unit Name: Sherden	Points: 6 Models: 12
Attack 6+	Attack Value 4+
Move7+, Max. Movement 4"	Defence Value 4+
Shoot 6, range 3”	Shoot Value Hit on 5
Courage 4+	Armour 3
Special Rules	Counter-charge

As you can see my Sea Peoples retinue is a bit of a one trick pony, they swiftly advance, throw javelins and go in for the kill.

The toys are mostly Black Hat with some Chariot Miniatures mixed in.

Mycenaean Lion Rampant Chariot Stat's

I thought I’d done this an age ago, but seemingly not.  As you can see the ideas are quite simple we have three different type of chariot warriors.  They have a lot in common but there are differences.  

The Hatti charioteers exemplify the ideal, the Libyans are still reaching for it and the Mycenaeans are doing something different.  I’m an 'Arial Dogfight' and shoot ‘em up sort of chariot gamer favouring the model proposed in Slingshot by Ian Russell-Lowell.  

Contra Drews I’ve not gone for Mycenaeans with composite bows, instead they have javelins which they expertly cast and advantageous long spears. Note how powerful the composite bows are.  They are going to outrange and hit harder than all other bows on the table.  I had thought of giving the Libyans ordinary bows but reasoned if they could they could meet the expense of using chariots they could afford composite bows too.

Unit Name: Chariots of Hatti	Points: 6 Models: 2 Chariots 4 runners
Attack 6+	Attack Value 4+
Move7+, Max. Movement 5"	Defence Value5+
Shoot 6, range 8”	Shoot Value Hit on 4
Courage 3+	Armour 4
Special Rules	Counter-charge

Unit Name: Chariots of the Mesh-Wesh	Points: 6 Models: 2 Chariots 4 runners
Attack 6+	Attack Value 4+
Move7+, Max. Movement 5"	Defence Value 5+
Shoot 6, range 8”	Shoot Value Hit on 4
Courage 3+	Armour 3
Special Rules	Counter-charge

Unit Name: Chariots of Mycenae	Points: 6 Models: 2 Chariots 4 runners
Attack 6+	Attack Value 3+
Move7+, Max. Movement 5"	Defence Value5+
Shoot 6, range 3”	Shoot Value Hit on 4
Courage 3+	Armour 4
Special Rules	Counter-charge, Battle Taxi-can either dismount and remount as part of a normal move.

Mycenaean Lion Rampant

I had a load of Bronze Age posts for different retinues for Chariots Rampant including some of my own thoughts on how chariots might be represented on the table.  All fell victim to the iconoclasm of Photobucket.  Now, I’m two chariots and eight runners away from completing the various forces I want to play.  So, let’s have a quick visual recap of the Mycenaeans including a link to my chariots post.  

https://withob.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/the-chariots.html

I decided to represent my chariot units with two chariots and 4 accompanying runners.  The runners are to track casualties and don't actually fight.  

The same unit having been 'battle taxied'.

The Yeoman Spears in 'schiltron'.

The archers, Paris is worth a Mass?

And enough of these fellows for a unit of Fierce Foot. All toys from Museum Miniatures.

Project Round Up

You will have noticed I have a few small projects on the go.  I thought I’d do a quick round up to remind myself where I’ve got to.

French and Indian Wars

All done apart from two bases of abatis.  Though I’m tempted to add some French standard bearers in full uniform as opposed to waistcoats.

Jacobites ’19 and ‘45

A lowland/ English unit, the Irish Piquets and another unit of Highlanders to paint.

Boxers

I have a Russian force to paint and I want some of the new Blue Moon Tigermen and Jingals.  I have enough ready for a game of The Men Who Would Be Kings.  I’ve also got a lot of Chinese scenery planned.

Chariots Rampant

Two Syrian chariots to paint and we are game ready. 

Nap' Rampant
Awaiting figures but a good start made.

Romans Rampant

I’m finessing the stats which is proving straightforward and searching out what figures I have to hand.  The latter is good reflection of later Roman realities-you field the army you can rather than the one you’d like to.  Luckily, I found an unpainted legion, well 12 figures, it wouldn’t have been a show without Punch.

Zulu War

Both sides are now done, cattle have been bought, painted and based.  I’ll stick some pics up shortly. 

Most of this is Dan Mersey's fault and I thank him for it.  Lots of lost projects revitalised there.

Roman Rampant Notes

Here are some of the things I think should be included to reflect what we know, or think we know about the period.

Hun asymmetrical bows out shot anything else. No long-range deduction works for me as a means of reflecting this.

Some cavalry, armoured or not, were charging cavalry-to fight they charged straight in and hit hard. Unarmoured Men at Arms perhaps. Hit hard, die fast, try and avoid missiles.

Some armoured cavalry could both charge and skirmish depending on the tactical need.  Add the skirmish and evade function to their stats.

Some cavalry specialised in mass shooting.  Improve their shoot stat for initiating firing.  No skirmish or evade.  They trot into range and shoot.  Can counter charge if kontos armed.

Not all barbarian foot majored in the wild charge.  Some seem simply to have provided a stable support around which their cavalry operated. Schiltron rule seems to apply.

Barbarian comitatus were the equal of any Romans because they too were well equipped, highly trained and experienced full timers with high morale. One unit only in each retinue.

David Sullivan’s (see previous post) suggestion for pila/dart armed Romans will also work for Frank infantry with angon or francesca.

Other barbarians liked to throw things too when charging, short range only hit on a 6 otherwise treat like pila.

I’ll post some stats and suggest who they might apply to soon.  

The Problem with Hatti

Hatti was the capital of the Hittites, a powerful civilisation that left us the usual sculpture, some fantastic cuneiform tablets including a manual on chariot training and the odd literary mention elsewhere.  Biblical Uriah was a Hittite for example and you cannot have a battle of Kadesh without Hittites.

Scholars though seem to have struggled to identify any particular Hittite evidence as opposed to evidence of the peoples of Hatti.  Some decided there were no Hittites in the sense that there were Mycenaeans or Sardana.  It seems Hatti arose from the existing pre - Hittite peoples of the region and established its dominion over others.  A home - grown imperium if you like.  So that’s the Hittites unless scholarship has moved on.

My Hittite retinue for Mycenaean Lion Rampant is going to have two squadrons of chariots, one unit of foot sergeants for the regular troops and the rest as conscript bow or spear.  

I’m interested to see how it copes with the Sea Peoples.

Sea Peoples

The Sea Peoples almost seem to have been the Huns of their day.  Great and once invincible empires fell or declined and a dominant military technology was rendered redundant.  The old palace culture was destroyed because the charioteers who benefited by it and protected it, could no longer do so.

Drews, a scholar well worth reading, thinks that the Sea People infantry could match the chariots because they were equally well armed and armoured, swift moving and quite prepared to take the fight to the enemy. There were also relatively speaking lots of them.

In his view their armour reduced the effectiveness of the composite bow, forcing the charioteers to come to close range, the infantrymen then surged forward seeking to kill the chariot horses with javelins, and then despatching any stranded charioteers by virtue of equality of skill and equipment and advantage of numbers. It’s a compelling vision.

Against the old order’s infantry, the Sea Peoples were invincible, only the Heroes could match them in skill and arms and there simply were not enough of them. 

Interesting stuff for the table I think, anyhow here are my Sea People.  These ones are Black Hat and Chariot.

The Chariots

So, the chariots, what do we know?  Firstly, chariots were an innovative military technology that enabled the Aryans* and their imitators to dominate the battlefield wherever they went.  Making and maintaining chariots was complex and expensive.  Providing, training and feeding the horses was equally so.  Each chariot had a long tail of technicians and specialists behind it, all of whom needed reward and bed and board and that’s before we get to the specialist crew.

Chariots were fast moving and durable, the horses and crew were trained to have high stamina.  Some protection was provided to the crew by the vehicle itself although as it was of light construction more was needed.  Various armours were provided to the fighting crewman, thin bronze plate for the Mycenaeans and full length bronze scale coats further east.  The expensive investment of time and resources was being protected.  The horses were more vulnerable and couldn’t be up armoured in the same way without compromising speed and stamina.  

The consensus is that chariots fought by shooting down their opponents from outside the effective range of return fire of most opponents.  This was enabled by using the more effective and very expensive composite bow.  Against other chariots they dueled until one side prevailed.  There may, or may not, have been a convention among charioteers not to harm each other’s valuable horses which could then be taken as prizes by the winners. This all seems to work for middle eastern armies.

To model this on the table, what we need is a fast - moving missile platform whose crew can out range all opponents not similarly equipped.  Invulnerable except to equals unless they get caught in melee or stray into enemy effective missile range.  Not too hard to achieve within the Lion Rampant framework.  First, as a special rule, use the existing skirmish rule shoot/move/move /shoot as an ordered action. Second, and trickier, the charioteers bows should out range all others and be more effective.  We could just do away with the long range shooting penalty for chariot troops using composite bows.  Otherwise, its increasing the range for composite bow fire or reducing the range of non composite bows. 

If, and it’s just an if, Mycenaean chariots were intended for close combat we need a different model.  Missilery is now a javelin much shorter ranged than the composite or indeed any other bow or sling. 

The chariot is just as swift but now the charioteer must bring his warrior into prime position to spear their chariot borne opponent. There is absolutely no requirement to envisage such combat as a ‘joust’.  An Arial ‘dog fight’ might be a better comparative image. 

Against spear armed foot this model of chariot squadron could simple pass along the opposing frontage hurling javelins or swiftly dismount a band of heavily protected heroes who would make mincemeat of anyone in front of them.

Some of this is straight forward, an ordered 'dismount' move to taxi the heroes in and another 'remount' to pick them up.  This gives us two newly dismounted Mycenaean heroes in Dendra armour who will each throw 6 attack dice, heroic indeed.   Likewise javelin throwing, an ordered skirmish move and shoot at a range of ''3 works for me. 

I'm going to use two chariots per unit, since they can take 6 hits I'm adding 4 non fighting chariot runners who can be removed as casualties mount.  A nicer aesthetic than my usual markers I think.

To try this out using Lion Rampant I'm going to use Mycenaeans versus a Sea People and Libyan alliance in a Hammer and Anvil scenario.  All I'm waiting for is a delivery from Warbases.

*Not to be confused with any 20th century politically ideologized concept of Aryans.