5.5 Hittites - The First 500 Points

The goal I am striving for with my Hittite army is to crush my opposition under the hooves and wheels of my chariots. Actually, I get the most satisfaction out of seeing a well painted army on the table top. I do enjoy playing and the 'research' is fun as well, but if I have to choose playability, historical accuracy, or aesthetics I choose aesthetics. Now this doesn’t mean I’ll have an elephant in my Hittite army. What it does mean is if I had to choose between two Hittite chariots the deciding factor will be which one I think looks better, not which one is more ‘historically’ correct. On to the playability aspect, well I insist on having chariots in my Sumerian army. That should say it all.

Now let us move on with the Hittites. Building a 500 point WAB army is rather tough. It is hard getting everything one wants in a 1000 point army and it is impossible for me to do so with 500 points. But I need to start somewhere. Normally, I start with the general but at 500 points, generals exceed the limit on characters. No big deal though thanks to the Tale painting incentives. So instead I move on to the chariots. When I think of Hittites, I think chariots. The list allows you to have a lot, historically they were considered to go heavy on chariots, and chariots look good on the table. So, for fun, I will go with a squadron of 3 3-man chariots and a Squadron of 3 2-man chariots. I will also grab a unit of 9 Syrian/Hurrian chariot runners.

One might ask, “Hurrian runners! What about Hittite runners?” Here is the deal. I said it was hard to build a 500 point WAB list. I wanted Hittite chariot runners but I couldn’t afford them. Then I hit upon the idea, I’ll start my 500 point force as an army of Arzawa and my free general will be Madduwatta! “Where and who?” one might easy ask. Well follow the links or read Collapse of the Bronze Age: The Story of Greece, Troy, Israel, Egypt, and the Peoples of the Sea. Basically Madduwatta was an upstart Anatolian who, though not a great general, seemed to stick around for awhile and give the Hittites headaches. He was a vassal, neighbor, and enemy (not necessarily in that order) of the Hittites. And to make this work with my project, I’m going on the principle that people of Arzawa dressed and fought similarly to the Hittites.

So back to my idea, with Madduwatta and Arzawa in mind I eventually plan to build a 1000 point Arzawa army and 2000 point Hittite army. They both can be combined for the occasional 3000 point WAB game. Why do that? Well, I have a bunch of Old Glory Hittites that I don’t like so much. I like O.G.s Egyptians but not their Hittites. I would sell them, but who would buy them? Plus, it is hard for me to let go of minis. Anyway, the second part of my Arzawa idea was to delegate the O.G. Hittites to the army of Arzawa and make use of other manufactures for my Hitties proper.

But I digress, and that will all be worked out later. After the chariot runners, I selected a 16 man group of Hittite spearmen and a 12 man group of Hittite archers. All totaled up that will give me 500 points of Hittites without a general. Add in the free general, selected as a Vassal King (perfect for Madduwatta) and I have a legal 640 WAB army. And to show off my army in unpainted glory, I’ve added a picture below:

1. Newline Designs Light Chariots


2. Newline Designs Hittite King


3. Old Glory Spearmen


4. Old Glory Archers


5. Old Glory Chariots


6. Foundry Northern European Bronze Age Javelins

The Newline figures will become part of my proper Hittite army. The Old Glory figures will be for my Arzawa force and the Foundry Bronze Age javelins will be useful for a number of Bronze Age armies including my Northern European one. Altogether they work will for my 500 'Hittite' point force.