That is because Thomas is using Egyptologist David Rohl's controversial - putting it mildly - new chronology, which has not found mainstream acceptance, but is popular with conspiracy theorists.
More conventional dates are found in version 3.0 of De Bellis Antiquitatis, where Phil Barker and Sue Laflin-Barker give 1543-1069 BC.
The dates are not important for my current purposes - what counts are the units in the A&MW list, which is as follows (using my terminology, where it differs from Thomas's).
CHARIOTS Bow-armed light chariots, elite 1-3 units
SPEARMEN Biblical infantry, light protection, average 2-4 units
ARCHERS Close-order bows, light protection, average 1-2 units
SHERDEN GUARD Auxiliary infantry, medium protection, elite 0-1 unit
The list has a special rule that allows one unit of spears to be upgraded to medium protection, thanks to the men having body armour as well as shields.
This mostly strikes me as very reasonable, except for one thing - the defensive protection of the spearmen.
Under Thomas's biblical rules, all troops are classified as having light, medium or heavy protection.
He writes: "If a soldier is equipped with a breastplate or a shield, he counts as having light armour; if he has a breastplate and a shield, he has medium armour. These ratings can be augmented if the man has extra armour, horse armour, or an unusually large shield."
To my mind Egyptian spearmen, at least the ones in my collection, have unusually large shields, and so I am going to classify all such units as enjoying medium protection.
That makes the corrected list as follows.
CHARIOTS Bow-armed light chariots, elite 1-3 units
SPEARMEN Biblical infantry, medium protection, average 2-4 units
ARCHERS Close-order bows, light protection, average 1-2 units
SHERDEN GUARD Auxiliary infantry, medium protection, elite 0-1 unit
This incidentally does away with the special rule for upgrading the protection of one unit of spears.
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| An Egyptian army using the deployment suggested in A&MW |
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