Biblical Update - Midianites

I AM yet to field a Midianite army on the tabletop, but I have all the necessary figures, including an abundance of camelry.

The relevant list in Neil Thomas's Ancient & Medieval Wargaming is as follows.

CAMELRY bow-armed, open-order, light protection, average 2-4 units

SKIRMISHERS open-order javelinmen, light protection, levy 2-4 units

SLINGERS open-order, light protection, levy 2-4 units

ARCHERS open-order, light protection, levy 0-2 units

What this means is that even if a wargamer takes the full allowance of four units of camelry, all of whom are of average quality, the other four units of the army will be levy.

To my mind, 50% levy is too high, and I will change this to be that half of all non-camel units will be levy, and the other half average.

In addition, under my adaptation of Thomas's biblical rules, one of the units of camelry will have the 'general' - perhaps the title chieftain, sheikh or commander is a better choice - and thus be elite.

The Midianite list, which is meant to represent any Arab tribal army, has a special rule for camels.

This states that they have a movement allowance of 16cm and enjoy a saving roll of 4+, rather than 6, which is the norm for troops with only light protection, "if attacked by horses in hand-to-hand combat."

Two points leap out at me.

Firstly, the wording implies that if camelry attack cavalry or chariots, they do not get an enhanced roll - it only applies if the horsemen attack the camels.

Later, on the same page, Thomas writes: "(Camelry) may be able to repel chariots and cavalry owing to its enhanced armour saving-roll against horses."

I find it hard to believe this is what is really meant, and I will be giving camelry a 4+ saving roll in melees with cavalry and chariots, no matter who attacks whom.

The second point is that camelry's movement allowance of 16cm is not only 8cm less than that of light chariots and open-order cavalry, but is 4cm less than heavy chariots and close-order cavalry.

I accept that horses generally move quicker than camels, but I do not accept that camelry, which, remember, is in open-order, would manoeuvre slower than cavalry in close-order, even if the close-order would, perhaps, not have been as tight as it later became as cavalry developed over the centuries.

Accordingly I am giving camelry a movement allowance of 20cm, ie the same as heavy cavalry and chariots.

Bedouin camelry in action as part of an Assyrian-led army that took on Egyptians, using Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame ancient rules, reported on my blog just over a year ago