Battle Of The Apocryphal Well - Final Preparations

MY opponent for this battle will be my regular wargaming opponent, who I will call Reg.

As my guest he gets to choose which army to command, and has opted for the Assyrians, who, although outnumbered by eight units to seven, have the 'weightier' force.

We will also be using the optional terror rule, which stipulates that enemy troops in hand-to-hand combat with any but open-order Assyrian infantry have to test their morale before the first round of the melee.

Note also that the Tutub infantry have both spears and bows, and can shoot with half their bases each turn, even if also moving.

However, the advantages do not all lie with the Assyrians. An army that loses more than half its units is defeated, which for the Egyptians, who start with eight units, means they can keep going until five units are destroyed, but the Assyrians, starting with seven units, will have lost if four are eliminated.

All units must start within 3cm of the army's baseline, and between the west and east hills (given the somewhat unlikely names of Coptic and Manak in Charles Grant's account).

My general will be part of the chariot squadron, but Reg has a choice - his commander can be with either of his two elite units, the Eshnunna cavalry or the Tutub infantry. He has picked the former.

Finally, each player now makes a sketch of his initial dispositions, and then it will be time for battle.

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Assyrians (left-right): Eshnunna close-order elite cavalry, Repiquum levy javelinmen, Akalate close-order archers, Tutub elite professional infantry, Tarbisa biblical infantry, Hassuna close-order archers, Zarzi open-order cavalry

Egyptians (left-right): Pharoah's elite light chariots, Ka open-order archers, Koth open-order archers, Ptah biblical infantry (yellow shields), Ra biblical infantry (blue shields), Senekht biblical infantry (red shields - one base akew!), Kush open-order archers, Lacish levy javelinmen

Bird's-eye view from above the west hill - Egyptians on the right, Assyrians on the left

Looking from behind the Egyptian lines, after adding tumbleweed to break up the terrain (it will have no effect on the game)

As usual I will write up the battle as it proceeds.