It is generally agreed Hittites liked to use their chariots close up, in hand-to-hand fighting, rather than shooting arrows from afar, as the Egyptians preferred.
That is why the latter's chariots were designed to be as lightweight as possible, emphasising speed and manoeuvrability. Under Thomas's rules, light chariots have a 24cm move, and may turn without penalty.
It is often pointed out that the axle of an Egyptian chariot was set at the rear of the carriage, which, among other things, helped stability, making for a better firing platform.
By contrast, a Hittite chariot had the axle set further forward, which made the carriage more robust and able to carry a heavier load.
Under Thomas's rules, such heavy chariots have a 20cm move, but lose half their movement allowance if turning more than 30°.
It seems both sorts of chariots carried a bow, spear(s) and javelins, whatever the crew were personally armed with, but the Egyptians emphasised shooting arrows, the Hittites getting stuck in.
The big question is: how many men made up the crew of a Hittite chariot (everyone agrees an Egyptian chariot had a crew of two)?
I have seen the following confidently asserted:
1. Hittite chariots carried a crew of three - warrior, driver and shield-bearer.
2. Hittite chariots normally had a crew of two, but a man equipped with a shield was added for Kadesh to counter (how?) the Egyptian chariots' greater speed and manoeuvrability.
3. The Hittites had moved to a three-man chariot some time before Kadesh, but the Egyptians, although once picturing such chariots on a monumental relief, had forgotten this fact, and were caught by surprise when enemy chariots at Kadesh had three men per car.
4. Hittite chariots had normal two-men crews, but 'chariot runners' were added to chariot squadrons, and these warriors would sometimes be helped to get to the front by being given a ride.
A sizeable part of the Hittite army consisted of chariots supplied by vassals and allied kings, and it is said that at Kadesh the Hittite king, Muwatalli II, gave each of these chariots a third man, just like his own chariots had.
Many of these allied chariots were light ones, emphasising archery on the Egyptian model, rather than being heavy melee vehicles.
A third man in such a car would have brought new meaning to the future proverb: two's company, three's a crowd.
He certainly would not have helped stability, and would hardly have been needed, especially in a chariot designed for long-range shooting as chariot crews were usually the best armoured men on the battlefield.
All in all, I incline to option 4 above, but the point is to a large extent moot as it does not affect how heavy chariots operate under Thomas's rules.
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| Six squadrons of heavy chariots |
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| Two squadrons of light chariots |
Naturally, light chariots are capable of hand-to-hand fighting, and, under Thomas's rules, roll an extra die per base in the first round of a melee, just like heavy chariots.
However, heavy chariots perform much better than light chariots in hand-to-hand fighting against open-order infantry, open-order cavalry and light chariots, rolling three dice per base, while light chariots in such melees get one die per base (both heavy and light chariots also get their first-round bonus).
Against close-order archers, one die per base is rolled by light chariots, but heavy chariots receive two dice per base.
As for saving throws, light chariots count as having medium protection, while heavy chariots have heavy protection.
Now we come to the issue of quality.
As I stated in yesterday's post, Egyptian close-order spearmen and open-order archers have average morale, while the javelinmen count as levy, and the Royal Chariot Squadron should obviously be elite.
The situation with the Hittites is not so simple.
Under Thomas's rules, Hittite heavy chariots are elite, while allied Syrian light chariots have average morale.
Clearly, in my refight, the Hittites' two squadrons of light chariots are supplied by allies, and should have average morale.
That leaves six squadrons of heavy chariots, two of which could be classified as Allied, and therefore have average morale.
Should the remaining four squadrons - the 'real' Hittite squadrons - be regarded as elite?
On the whole, I think that is too many, and I have decided only two should have such status, the others being average.
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