"Then were captured their horses, their chariots of gold and silver were made spoil, their champions lay stretched out like fishes on the ground."

The Battle of Megiddo (1479 BC) New Kingdom Egyptians vs. Syro-Canaanite/ Ugaritic By Stefanos Skarmintzos > Battles > DBA Resources > Fanaticus

The Battle of Megiddo refers to one of three major battles fought near the ancient site of Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley of northern Israel. This scenario features the Battle of Megiddo (15th century BC) - between Egyptian forces under the pharaoh Thutmose III and a large Canaanite coalition. By moving fast and taking an unconventional rout the Egyptian army surprised and defeated the enemy coalition. The victors started looting and missed the opportunity to take the city of Megiddo, but in the end the local prince surrendered to the Pharaoh.

The Armies

Egyptian (New Kingdom Egyptian, DBA 1/22)

Syrian Alliance (Syro-Canaanite or Ugaritic, DBA I/20)

Deployment

The Egyptian is the Attacker and deploys first on the high ground

The Syrian deploys in front of the fortified city of Megiddo

Game Map (ASCII)

    ================Egyptian Baseline================
    h h # # . R . . . h h h h h h h h h h h . . # # #
    h h . . . R . . . . h h h h . . . . . . . . . . .
    . . . . . R . . . . . h h . . . . . . . . . . . .
    . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o o
    h # . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o o o
    h # . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o o o
    . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . f . . . . . . . .
    . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
    . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
    . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R
    . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R h
    . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R h h
    . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . h
    . , . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . .
    . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . .
    . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . .
    . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . .
    . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . . .
    . . . . . . R . . . . . . . . R . . . . . . . o o
    o o . . . . . R . . h h . . R . . . . . . . . o o
    . . . . . . . h R h h h h R . . . . . . . . . . .
    . . . . . . . h h R h h R h . . . . . . . . . . .
    . . . . . . . h h Megiddo h # . . . . . . . . . .
    ================= Syrian Baseline================

SCALE: The space between each dot/letter is one inch.

TERRAIN KEY:
.=Good Going (Good Going)
#=Rough/Broken Ground (Bad Going)
h=Gentle Hill (Good Going)
H=Steep Hill (Impassable)
c=Cliff (Impassable)
f=Light Wood (Bad Going)
F=Heavy Wood (Impassable)
s=Stream
r=River
M=Marsh/Bog (Bad Going)
B=Built Up Area
o=Orchard (Bad Going)
R= road

Terrain Notes

The Syrian camp is the city/fort of Megiddo; treat as fortified BUA.

Orchards are actually palm and fig groves.

The roads are the Palestine commercial roads to leading to Megiddo, hence the importance of the city.

Special Rules for BBDBA

If you like to play this as a Big Battle scenario then make one Syro-Canaanite command Mittani allies with troops from that army list. One Egyptian command must be mercenary command with troops drawn only from the infantry of Minoan, Libyan or Nubian army lists.

If experienced players want to add suspense start the battle without the allies and mercenaries.
Mittani will enter in column from the road on the Egyptian left while mercenaries start entering in column from the road at the Egyptian baseline. Psiloi support troops of their own nationality only.

Victory Conditions

Normal DBA.

Background Resources

Most of what we know about Tuthmosis III's Battle for Megiddo was compiled by the military scribe, Tjaneni, and inscribed on the walls of the Hall of Annals in the Temple of Amun at Karnak in ancient Thebes (modern Luxor).  See translation.



 

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Last Update:  12 August 2006

Thanks to Stefanos for contributing this scenario.
Comments and feedback welcome and can be sent to Chris Brantley.