Salmünster's Franco-Prussian War Memorial

Four names are listed

Timber!

MANY towns in Britain are known for having historic half-timbered buildings, but arguably the country most famous for such architecture is Germany.

It even has a Timber-Frame Road, running almost 3,000 kilometres from the Elbe river in the north to Bodensee (Lake Constance) in the south.

While not on the official route, Salmünster has several fine examples of such buildings.

Salmünster also has several houses with wooden shingles as an extra protection from weathering, including the extensively covered house below.

Knightly Amble

THERE was a footpath leading past Stolzenberg Castle, so I followed it to see where it would take me.

I soon came upon colourful coats of arms on a tree

I had a choice of trails to follow, and I picked one called Stolzenberger Ritterblick, which I later learnt means something like Views of the Knights of Stolzenberg Castle.

The route turned out to be circular, which was handy, and was not without interest

The trail is well waymarked - much better than you get in Britain.

Orange usually shows up well from a distance

There were a couple of times when I was unsure as to which path to take.

I find the best course of action in such circumstances is to choose the more promising path, give it five minutes of brisk walking, while keeping a sharp lookout, and if no more waymarks appear, double back and try the alternative route.

Both times when I was uncertain I chose the right path, but I got lucky when what I thought was a waymark - you might be able to see it on the lefthand tree - proved to be sawn-off branch (but I was on the correct route anyway)

Clear views over mainly flat terrain

Just one shrine on the seven-plus-kilometre trail, at least as far as I noticed

Some natural colour

Striking cemetery at the finish in Bad Soden

Ruined Castle

SLIGHTLY more than 275 metres above Bad Soden are the ruins of Stolzenberg Castle.

It was probably first built in the 1000s to control trade along the Via Regia (Royal Road), which connected the Rhineland with Silesia.

The castle was badly damaged in the mid-13th century by "inimicos ecclesie" (enemies of the Church), who were not specifically identified but are thought to be a group of excommunicated nobles behind a series of attacks on Church property in the area.

William of Holland, the papal candidate to be King of the Romans (ie uncrowned Holy Roman Emperor, often rendered as King of the Germans), gave the abbot of nearby Fulda Abbey permission to rebuild the castle in 1252.

It later fell into disrepair, and was rendered useless as a defensive stronghold during the Knights' Revolt of 1522-3.

Note how high the entrance is on the keep, which is more-or-less the only part of castle to have survived

View of Bad Soden old town from the top of the keep

Information board about life in the castle

How Stolzenberg Castle may have looked in its heyday

Salty Spa Town

AM just back from a 10-day trip to Bad Soden-Salmünster, about 35 miles from Frankfurt in the central German state of Hesse, 

The municipality consists of two main towns, Bad Soden and Salmünster, which were joined in 1974, and now has a population of about 13,000.

Salmünster is probably the older, believed to have been settled by the 800s, and first mentioned in a document as Salchenmunster, albeit more than a century later.

Early-morning view of Salmünster when walking from Bad Soden, the top of St Peter & St Paul Church visible through the trees

The church was built from 1737-45, replacing a building dating from the settlement's founding

Soden, or originally probably Sodin, was founded by the monks of nearby Fulda Abbey in the early 900s.

It later enjoyed a boom after highly salinated wells were discovered, making for profitable salt works.

Production ceased in the late 1500s, but a salty well rediscovered in 1837 formed the basis of a spa industry, and led to the town receiving government approval of a name change to Bad Soden in 1928.

The old rathaus (town hall) of Soden, built in 1703 and now hireable for weddings

Great Brazilian

BACK in October I told how much I enjoyed News From Tartary, an account of a 3,500-mile journey across China and into India undertaken in 1935 by Peter Fleming, older brother of James Bond-author Ian.

The following month I ordered two more books by the elder Fleming, the first of which, Brazilian Adventure, I recently finished.

It tells of a failed expedition to discover the fate of an explorer who went missing in the Amazon jungle in 1925.

Brazilian Adventure - failed search, but successful writing

The book was highly praised - "extraordinarily good," Sunday Times; "crammed with sound observation," JB Priestly - and I certainly do not demur.

More Assyrians Painted

Professional unit of mixed spears and bows - 10mm figures from Newline Designs

Fabulous Book

I HAVE been quite fortunate recently with my choice of reading material, and that is very much the case with William J Hamblin's Warfare In The Ancient Near East To 1600 BC.

The subtitle of Holy Warriors At The Dawn Of History might have put me off if I had noticed it.

But the author did not use the book as a vehicle for pushing a wacky theory.

Rather he pointed out that much warfare in the early days of history, and in pre-historical times for that matter, was justified on religious grounds, with kings claiming to be acting on behalf of, and with the aid of, various gods.

500+ pages of brilliantly informative and exciting history

Hamblin, who died in 2019, was associate professor of history at Brigham Young University, Utah.

The book has taught me much about early warfare in Mesopotamia, with warring city states such as Ur and Kish.

In my ignorance I had thought such conflicts would be dull to read about, my views perhaps overly influenced by the clumsiness of early chariots. I now know better.

His coverage of later times was much more familiar to me, although again I learnt plenty.

The book was published in 2006, but the only parts that seem a little dated to me, admittedly a layman, concern his coverage of the Hyksos 'invasion' of Egypt. But that is a small part of a much greater achievement.

Slingshot Issue 357

The Mar/Apr journal of the Society of Ancients

Another issue full of interesting articles, the pick for me being Björn Floderus's Thibron, Ptolemaios And The Battle For Kyrene: Part 1 - Historical Background.

Unfortunately it is tougher reading than it should be as it comes with 35 endnotes, some of which simply repeat what has already been stated, and all of which could have been incorporated in the main body.

Summarising The Changes

HERE is a barebones summary of the changes I plan incorporating in future battles using Neil Thomas's biblical rules from Ancient & Medieval Wargaming.

Move Variation

Roll a die when a unit uses 75% or more of its movement allowance. 6: add 25% to the distance covered; 1: subtract 25% from the distance covered

Sling Range

Same as for bows on foot, ie 24 cm

Mounted Bow Range

20cm

Who Moves First?

Dice at the start of each turn, higher score moving first. Great general: +1; poor general: -1.

Terminology

Use heavy, medium and light as classes of defensive armour and/or shields; use close order and open order for formations.

Speeding The Game
Hits are scored on 5+.

If a hit is not saved, throw a die to decide its effect:

Quality...Lose Base...Fall Back 3m*
Elite             1-2              3+
Average       1-3              4+

Poor            1-4              5+

A victor in a melee that has not lost a base may follow up a loser that has fallen back, thus immediately forcing another round of hand-to-hand fighting.
*A unit that for any reason cannot fall back loses a base (this includes where falling back would take a unit off the table).

Generals

One elite unit is designated as the general's, receiving a +1 modifier when testing morale. If the unit is destroyed, all friends in line-of-sight immediately test their morale, and all other friendly units test their morale at the start of the next turn.

Victory

An army losing more than half its units has lost the battle.

Unit Activation

Each unit moves, shoots, tests morale, etc, before the next unit does likewise.

Battle Length
Maximum 15 turns before nightfall usually ends fighting.

Difficult Terrain

Use the same combat table as for fighting in woods.

Cover

Troops behind cover get an extra die per base in the first round of hand-to-hand fighting.

Number Of Turns - The Verdict

I DISCUSSED here how many turns a battle should be allowed to run, concluding that 12 seemed about right for most of the campaigning season in biblical times.

The Battle of Palm Hill ended with me conceding halfway through turn nine, when defeat the following turn was inevitable.

However, it may be that in a battle with more preliminary manoeuvring - Palm Hill basically consisted of Egyptians advancing and attacking a static Hebrew defence - it might not be possible to reach a conclusion in 12 turns, even though a decision would probably have been arrived at in real-life.

Accordingly I plan to increase the number of turns a battle can last to 15.

Last year's Biblical Dry Run battle, using Neil Thomas's unmodified biblical rules from Ancient & Medieval Wargaming, was unfinished when we had to call time after 12 turns, so I probably should have learnt my lesson from that

Moving & Shooting - The Verdict

IN most wargaming rules a player first moves his units, then resolves missile shooting, followed by melees, and finally morale tests, or a sequence like that.

But for the Battle of Palm Hill I adapted an idea from Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame rules in which a single unit performs all the above functions, or at least as many of them as it is able to and wants to perform, before another unit does likewise, and so on until the whole army has had its turn.

I think this makes for more interesting combat action, and gives a more realistic feel.

Accordingly I will keep this mechanism for future battles fought under Neil Thomas's biblical rules from Ancient & Medieval Wargaming.

We, ie my regular opponent and I, felt it was one of the best things when we tried Cordery's ancient rules in our On The Table battle.

Egyptians faced off against Assyrians using a gridded battlefield in On The Table

Winning Conditions - The Verdict

IN Neil Thomas's rules in Ancient & Medieval Wargaming an army is not beaten until it is reduced to 25% of its starting strength.

I explained I was modifying this to the "more realistic" figure of below 50%.

Actually, this is not a huge change as armies in Thomas's biblical rules always consist of eight units, so below 50% is three units, only one more than reduced to 25%.

Nevertheless it is a change, and we felt the end of the Battle of Palm Hill did not  come too early.

Confusion among the Hebrew lines in the middle of the battle

Generals - The Verdict

DESIGNATING one unit on each side as the commander's unit seemed to work well, adding extra spice to the biblical rules from Neil Thomas's Ancient & Medieval Wargaming.

It was interesting to see how the two tabletop generals handled the rule during the Battle of Palm Hill.

My opponent sent all three of his chariot units forward in a cavalier manner that saw Pharoah's squadron quickly lose three of its four bases.

'Reg' subsequently pulled the royal squadron back so it was well out of harm's way as the loss of Pharoah could have been catastrophic for the Egyptians' chances.

I took a very different approach, holding back the elite Ephraimites, who were considered to include the person of Joshua, the Hebrew leader following the death of Moses.

This kept my commander very safe, but it meant a powerful unit took no part in the battle until well after it had been effectively decided.

Probably neither of us got this aspect of the rules right, and it will be interesting to see how it is handled in future battles.

The royal chariot squadron, reduced to one base, can be seen in the distance just before it retreated to behind the main body of the Egyptian army

Speeding The Game - The Verdict

IN fighting the Battle of Palm Hill, the most radical changes I made to Neil Thomas's biblical rules from Ancient & Medieval Wargaming were probably those related to Speeding The Game.

The details, including ideas adapted from Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame books, can be read by clicking on the link above.

We felt they generally worked in making combat resolutions quicker, without, and here is the key point, ruining Thomas's mechanics.

I write "generally worked" because the battle did see a protracted melee between Egyptian Sherden and Simeonite auxiliary infantry in a patch of rocky ground.

But it has to be remembered both units were elite, which reduces the speed of suffering casualties, and neither of us felt the melee was unrealistically long.

So I plan to keep these changes for future battles using Thomas's biblical rules.

The melee in the rocky ground, observed by Benjaminite slingers on the slope of Palm Hill, with a unit of Egyptian spearmen in the foreground and a band of ordinary Hebrew auxiliaries passing beyond the rocky ground

Terminology - The Verdict

THERE is not much to be said about this.

It is confusing to refer to troops with no or little armour as "Heavy" just because they fight in a relatively tight formation.

As briefly discussed here, it is much better is to use close-order and open-order for formations, and light, medium and heavy when referring to breastplates, shields etc.

Command & Control - The Verdict

NEIL Thomas reckons there is no need for rules restricting generals' choices as players will make enough mistakes by themselves.

As I stated when discussing command and control before, I am far from convinced by this argument.

Certainly, when armies consist of many more units than is normally the case under Thomas's rules, for example in my Mid-18th century wargaming, I like to have some sort of command-and-control mechanism, my current favourite being a pip system a la Phil Barker and the Wargames Research Group.

However, I felt two of my changes to the biblical rules from Ancient & Medieval Wargaming, a) Move Variation and b) dicing at the start of each turn to see who goes first, added the necessary uncertainty in the battle that command-and-control systems are designed to produce.

I therefore intend keeping those changes, and, at least for now, not adding any other command-and-control mechanism.

Looking from behind the Egyptian advance at the end of turn one

Sling Range - The Verdict

THERE is little to add to this - slingers were not routinely outranged by archers in biblical-era battles, as I discussed here and here.

Accordingly, in future battles fought under Neil Thomas's biblical rules from Ancient & Medieval Wargaming, I will keep the range of slings and bows on foot the same, ie 24cm.

However I am less sure that the range of mounted bows should be as short as 16cm, which means foot bows receive a 50% bonus.

This seems too much, and I am strongly leaning towards increasing mounted-bow range to 20cm.

For most battles this would only be used by charioteers, who would still be at a disadvantage range-wise compared with foot archers, but not so extremely.

Two bands of slingers

Move Variation - The Verdict

WE both felt the Move Variation rule worked exactly as intended, adding a realistic layer of uncertainty to the battle.

There was no example of rival units rushing to seize a strategic point, which is when move variation would really come into its own.

But its presence throughout the Battle of Palm Hill affected outcomes, and helped improve the appearance of an advancing army, in this case the Egyptian, by making its line a little ragged instead of robotically uniform.

I will definitely be keeping move variation in my adaptation of Neil Thomas's biblical rules from Ancient & Medieval Wargaming.

Looking from behind the Egyptians early in the battle

Summing Up The Battle Of Palm Hill

FOR a long time the battle seemed to hang in the balance.

Indeed my opponent remarked afterwards that he bitterly regretted sending his chariots forward early in the battle in such a cavalier manner.

Disaster nearly struck the Egyptians when their royal squadron, which had Pharoah with it, was reduced to one base.

If the squadron had been eliminated, every other Egyptian unit would have had to take a morale test, either immediately or at the start of the next turn, which could have led to serious losses.

But Pharoah pulled the royal squadron out of the front line, and kept the other squadrons away from the bulk of the Hebrew army, and so unlikely to suffer serious harm.

Meanwhile I played a waiting game, which may have been a mistake as the Egyptian units on their right flank gained a local superiority over my men.

Even so the Hebrew collapse, when it came, was quite shocking in its speed.

One thing we agreed on was that the rules, based on Neil Thomas's biblical section in Ancient & Medieval Wargaming, but with significant amendments and supplements, partly based on Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame ideas, worked well.

I propose to look at those changes to the core rules with a view as to which to keep, and whether further tinkering is advisable.

Battle Of Palm Hill - Turn Nine

Situation after eight turns

Pharoah wins the dice-off (6-5, after a 4-4 draw) to see who goes first.

He immediately orders the Sherden to exit the battlefield. The unit is lost, but I have to remove two units of my own. This is because of a rule Neil Thomas uses to simulate the demoralising effect of an army having its camp and/or baggage pillaged. When an infantry unit, other than open-order light infantry, exits the battlefield on the enemy's side of the table, it is lost, but takes two enemy units with it.

I choose to give up my single-base Issacharites and the doomed auxiliary infantry beside the eastern rocky ground.

This reduces the Hebrew army to four units, and I will not be able to stop another Egyptian infantry unit exiting the northern edge of the battlefield, so I concede.

Battle Of Palm Hill - Turn Eight

Situation after seven turns - the Hebrews still hold Palm Hill, but the fighting around the eastern rocky ground is intensifying

Pharoah wins the dice-off (4-1) to see who goes first.

He starts by manoeuvring the right-flank chariots so they have a clear shot at my auxiliary infantry behind the eastern rocky ground. The bowmen score two hits, but I roll a pair of 6s as saving throws, meaning both hits are cancelled.

The Egyptian spearmen now charge my auxiliaries. Both sides roll one die per base, and I score three hits while the spearmen score two. None of the hits is saved. The three suffered by the Egyptians are resolved as the loss of a base and the forced fallback of 6cm. The unit's morale suffers, meaning another base is lost. My two hits are both resolved as forcing fallbacks, but since that would take the unit off the battlefield, two bases are lost instead. These losses represent a most unfortunate example, from my perspective, of bad generalship in that I should never have put my men in such peril.

The Egyptian right-flank archers are just out of range of my men on Palm Hill, so Pharoah advances his unit 8cm.

The Sherden in the rocky ground renew their melee against my Simeonites, scoring a tremendous three hits, while suffering none. However two of the hits are saved, although the final one results in my men losing a base, and their morale collapses, despite being elite troops, meaning their final base is also removed.

The marine archers in the centre of the battlefield shoot at my four-base Benjaminite slingers on Palm Hill, scoring a hit that causes my men to lose a base, and a further one is lost to poor morale.

Finally the left-flank chariots fall back slightly and shoot at the Issacharite javelinmen, scoring a hit, which causes my men to lose a base, and a further one to poor morale.

A catastrophic half-turn for the Hebrew cause

I start by charging the Egyptian spearmen with my auxiliary infantry beside the eastern rocky ground. My men are doomed anyway, but at least this way they might just take an enemy unit with them. Both sides score a hit. I save the hit my men suffer, but the Egyptians are forced back 3cm. I take the chance to follow up and continue the melee, but my men suffer two hits while inflicting none. However one hit is saved, and the other is resolved as falling back 3cm. Pharoah chooses to follow up, but this time the fighting is inconclusive.

My right-flank Benjaminite slingers shoot at the marine archers, but without effect.

The other band of Benjaminite slingers fires at the other unit of Egyptian archers, but also without effect.

The Issacharite javelinmen bravely, despite being reduced to a single base, advance and hurl their javelins at the chariots ahead of them, but I roll a miserable 1.

My ordinary auxiliaries on Palm Hill turn, costing them half their movement allowance, and start down towards the Sherden in the eastern rocky ground, covering 5cm thanks to the Move Variation rule.

Finally I at last activate the Ephraimites, sending them in support of the ordinary auxiliaries, and they also cover 5cm thanks to move variation.

The Hebrew cause is now a lost cause, but I am not conceding as I want to play another turn to illustrate an interesting rule in Neil Thomas's Ancient & Medieval Wargaming

Battle Of Palm Hill - Turn Seven

Situation at the end of turn six

I win the dice-off (4-2) to see who goes first.

My Issacharite javelinmen edge down the western slope of Palm Hill to hurl their javelins at the oncoming Egyptian chariots, scoring two hits (and very nearly three - I rolled 6, 5 and 4). Neither hit is saved, and, despite the charioteers being elite, a base is lost, the rest of the squadron falling back 3cm. However the charioteers pass the compulsory morale test.

Benjaminite slingers on top of Palm Hill, having reorganised, advance and shoot at at the Egyptian archers to their front, but ineffectively.

The other band of Benjaminite slingers line up to shoot at the other unit of Egyptian archers, but also fail to score a hit.

My auxiliaries behind the eastern rocky ground advance around it, but having to turn to face the approaching Egyptian spearmen uses up half their movement allowance.

Next I fight the continuing melee in the rocky ground, but only the Sherden score a hit. However, I roll a 6 saving-throw to negate it.

Finally I pull back slightly the three-base auxiliaries on top of Palm Hill, and once again leave the Ephraimites where they are.

Casualties can expect to start mounting as the armies close in

Pharoah starts with his left-flank chariots shooting at the Issacharites, scoring two hits. I save one, and the other is resolved as the unit falling back 3cm.

Next his right-flank archers shoot at the slingers ahead of them, also scoring two hits. Again I save one, and again the other hit is resolved as forcing the unit back 3cm.

The other archers shoot at the same target, scoring one hit, causing the slingers to fall back a further 3cm.

Next up is the melee in the eastern rocky ground. This time my Simeonites inflict two hits, while only suffering one. However, Pharoah's saving throws both come up 5, which is enough as the Sherden have medium armour. I also roll 5, but that is not enough for men with only light protection. However, my resolution roll of 3 causes the Simeonites to fall back 3cm, rather than lose a base, as they are elite. This forces them out of the rocky ground, and the Sherden follow up to initiate another round of hand-to-hand fighting. The result is again two hits to one in favour of the Simeonites. But again the Sherden's hits are saved, while mine is again resolved as forcing the unit back 3cm, taking the men to the edge of the battlefield. Naturally the Sherden again follow up, but this time inflict no hits, while suffering two themselves. Neither hit is saved, and the Sherden are forced back 6cm. I now choose to exercise my option to follow up, but the only hit is scored by the Sherden, and once again my men are forced back 3cm. The Sherden again follow up, and both sides inflict two hits. One of mine is saved, but the other results in the loss of a base, although the Simeonites' morale remains steady. One of the Sherden's is saved, and the other forces them back 3cm. Since my men lost a base, there is no possibility of them following up, and so the epic melee ends, at least for this half-turn.

The right-flank chariots advance and shoot at the auxiliaries who have just emerged from behind the eastern rocky ground, scoring a hit, but it is saved.

The Egyptian spearmen advance towards the same auxiliaries.

The fighting between Palm Hill and the palm grove is likely to prove pivotal for the battle

Battle Of Palm Hill - Turn Six

Situation after turn five, looking from behind the Egyptian lines towards Palm Hill

Pharoah wins the dice-off (3-2, after a 2-2 tie) to see who goes first.

He starts by ordering his right-flank chariots to advance and shoot at my Simeonites in the eastern rocky ground. However they drag their heels, or at least the horses drag their hooves, as the squadron only advances 16cm (Pharoah rolled a 1 under the Move Variation rule), leaving them out of mounted-bow range.

Next the Sherden enter the rocky ground and engage the Simeonites in hand-to-hand fighting. Since this is a battle in difficult terrain between two bands of auxiliary infantry, both get one die per base. My men fail to score a hit, but the Sherden are slightly more successful. However the one hit they register, while not saved, is resolved as my unit falling back 3cm, rather than losing a base. Pharoah exercises his right to follow up, and so another round of meleeing takes place, still in the rocky ground. This time both units inflict two hits, and none is saved. One of the hits my men suffer results in the loss of a base, but the other only causes them to fall back a further 3cm (I rolled a 3, which is enough to avoid the loss of a base when the unit is elite). The Sherden suffer similarly - a base lost, and falling back 3cm. Both units pass their compulsory morale tests.

The Egyptian close-order archers in the centre of the battlefield shoot at my slingers in the rocky ground on Palm Hill, scoring one hit. This is halved because units in such terrain effectively count as being in cover, but on a 50:50 roll the half becomes a full hit. My saving throw fails, but the hit is resolved as forcing my men back 3cm. Since they cannot fall back through the Ephraimites, they have to retreat to the latter's right, between the auxiliary infantry and the Issacharite javelinmen. Since the gap is too small for the unit to fit through in good order, my opponent and I agree that, even though the slingers are in open order, they would become a disorganised and confused mess, requiring a turn to reorganise (we felt this was the fairest interpretation). 

The other unit of Egyptian close-order archers advance, but only 6cm instead of its full allowance of 8cm, thanks again to the move-variation rule. However both units of spearmen advance the full 8cm.

Finally the left-flank chariots advance 24cm and shoot at the Issacharite javelinmen on Palm Hill, but unsuccessfully (Pharoah rolled two 3s, 2 and 1).

The Egyptian attack continues, but in a somewhat uncoordinated manner

Close-up of the confusion among Benjaminite slingers atop Palm Hil

I start by ordering the Issacharites to advance and hurl their javelins at the approaching chariots. They score a hit, which is not saved, but is resolved as the chariots being forced back 3cm.

The Benjaminite slingers on Palm Hill reorganise, but cannot move this turn.

The auxiliary infantry next to the rocky ground on the hill charge the approaching marine spearmen. The latter are not quite caught in the flank, but the Hebrews are uphill of their opponents, and so receive an extra die per base in the first round of the melee. The eight dice produce four hits, but the marines, despite only having two bases, fight back with two hits. One of the four hits is saved, but two of the other three are resolved as the loss of a base, meaning the marine spear unit is eliminated. However, they manage to eliminate a base of the auxiliaries, and cause the remainder to pause and fall back 3cm, but morale holds good.

The two-base Benjaminite slingers, recently expelled from the eastern rocky ground, manoeuvre along the hill (movement on hills is not normally penalised), and shoot at the Sherden, but without success.

The Simeonites charge the Sherden for another round of hand-to-hand fighting, both units scoring a hit. However the Sherden save their hit, while my men's is resolved as falling back 3cm. The Sherden again follow up their success to initiate another round of meleeing, this time scoring the only hit, and again my men fall back 3cm, this time ending up just outside of the rocky ground. The Sherden again follow up. Two auxiliary units fighting in open terrain receive one die per base (the same as when up against each other in difficult terrain). Again the Sherden score the only hit, which forces my men back to the edge of the battlefield. Not surprisingly, the Sherden again follow up their success, and since my men have nowhere left to retreat to (units that exit the battlefield cannot return), a hit resolved as causing a fall back of 3cm will instead mean the loss of a base. The Simeonites at last prevail, by two hits to one. I save the hit my men suffer, but the Sherden are not so fortunate. However, both hits are resolved as falling back 3cm. This time it is my turn to exercise the right to follow up, and the melee continues into the rocky ground, where the Simeonites score the only hit. However, it is saved, which brings this half-turn of frantic meleeing to an end, with honours even and apparently very little blood spilt despite the toing and froing.

My auxiliary infantry on the side of the hill turn, using up half their movement allowance, and move behind the rocky ground, the idea being for them to confront the four-base Egyptian spearmen.

Both armies have seven of their eight units remaining, albeit some in better shape than others

Sherden and Simeonites melee in the eastern rocky ground, watched by Benjaminite slingers on Palm Hill, while a band of Hebrew auxiliaries pass beyond the rocky ground, and Egyptian spearmen approach from the south

Battle Of Palm Hill - Turn Five

Situation after turn four

Pharoah won the dice-off (2-1) to see who goes first, which is likely to be of special importance this turn.

He begins by ordering the Sherden to charge my Benjaminite slingers in the eastern rocky ground. Since Sherden are auxiliary infantry, they have no problems entering rocky ground. The difficult-terrain combat table, rather than the normal melee table, is used for such hand-to-hand fighting. Auxiliary infantry in a melee with other troops, ie troops who are not auxiliary infantry, receive two dice per base, while all other troops in difficult terrain always get one dice per base (note there is no bonus for charging). The Sherden score an exceptional five hits, while my slingers inflict none, so it is shaping up to be a massacre. I manage successful saving throws for two of the hits, but the other three have to be resolved. Thankfully only one results in the removal of a base, the other two causing my unit to fall back a total of 6cm. This they are able to do by falling back to the right of the Simeonites, who are behind them, the direction being decided by a 50:50 die roll (if there had been other friendly units blocking such a retreat, further bases would have been lost). Having lost a base in hand-to-hand combat, the Benjaminites have to take a morale test, and I roll a 3, meaning they narrowly fail it, so losing a further base. Pharoah declines to use the follow-up rule, by which the Sherden could have forced a further round of meleeing, presumably fearing the Sherden would be too exposed to flank attacks.

Next the right-flank chariots advance slightly and shoot at the Gadites near the palm grove, scoring a stupendous three hits with their four dice. My saving throws are inadequate, and so the last base of Gadites is removed, meaning my Hebrew army is the first to lose a unit.

The left-flank chariots shoot at the Issacharites descending the hill, scoring two hits, neither of which is saved. One hit is resolved as a lost base, the other causes the javelinmen to fall back 3cm, Fortunately, for me at any rate, their morale remains good.

The left-flank archers shoot at my slingers on the hill, but miss.

The left-flank spears advance 8cm, slightly diagonally right, to support the Sherden.

The right-flank spears advance similarly, but lose half their movement allowance for deviating more than 30 degrees from a straight line.

The single-base royal squadron advances 8cm, staying well away from any potential trouble.

Judging from the quality of this view, a heat haze seems to have descended over the battlefield

Close-up of the Sherden on the edge of the eastern rocky ground, supported by units of Egyptian spearmen

I start by ordering my slingers on the hill to shoot at the left-flank Egyptian spearmen, scoring one hit. This is the Egyptian marine unit that has been upgraded to medium armour, but Pharoah's saving roll of 4 is one short of the required score. A further die roll shows the hit is resolved as the loss of a base, which is compounded by another base being lost to poor morale.

I pull the Issacharites on the Hebrew right flank back on top of the hill.

My slingers who have been driven out of the eastern rocky ground shoot at the marine archers, scoring a hit, which is not saved, but is resolved as causing the unit to fall back 3cm.

The Simeonites in the same rocky ground charge the Sherden, which means a melee between two elite units of auxiliary infantry. Both sides get one die per base, and both sides score a hit. I save mine, but the Sherden just fail (Pharoah again rolls a 4, when 5+ is needed), and the hit is resolved as forcing the Sherden back 3cm. I use the melee follow-up rule to advance my Simeonites and force another round of hand-to-hand fighting, which takes place right on the edge of the rocky ground. A question arises - should we use the difficult-terrain melee table, or the normal one? Actually, it does not matter since either way both units receive one die per base, and so we leave the question unanswered (at least for now). Unfortunately the Simeonites' eagerness backfires on them, when they score no hits but suffer two. Neither hit is saved, but thanks to their elite status the Simeonites do not lose a base, instead falling back 6cm.

I order the non-elite auxiliaries on the hill to advance 8cm, but they prove reluctant, edging forward only 6cm thanks to the Move Variation rule.

The Hebrews have lost a unit, but the army presents a compact formation on Palm Hill