Harrapan

(Indus Valley 2200 BC onwards).

These armies represent the forces of the well established Indus Valley Harrapan culture, modern day Pakistan, Western India and Eastern Afghanistan. A major trading partner with Mesopotamia their goods extended as far as Ebla and Syrian cities. They provided troops for the Great Revolt against Akkad and the Third dynasty of Ur.

Their culture is something of an enigma as the voluminous ancient texts available are yet to be deciphered leaving us with information based largely on archaeological interpretation. Militarily we are well informed of Indian warfare in the Vedic age of the second millennium, but not as much with the lesser known large civilisations of the third millennium which lack obvious images of warfare.

The importance of Harrapan civilisation to conflict in Mesopotamia is based largely on trade. The Indus Valley is located far from Mesopotamia and there are no direct records of major military operations conducted by either peoples. Indus civilisation was as well advanced as that in Mesopotamia at this time. The large cities were very similar in organisation and layout. They were surrounded by walls in highly organised societies. Inhabitants of the ancient Indus river valley developed new techniques in handicraft and metallurgy (copper, bronze, lead, and tin). The civilization is noted for its cities built of brick, roadside drainage system, and multistoried houses, many techniques in advance of Mesopotamian culture. According to some archaeologists, more than 500 Harappan sites have been discovered.

Trade networks linked this culture with related regional cultures and distant sources of raw materials, including lapis lazuli and other materials for bead-making. Villagers had, by this time, domesticated numerous crops as well as various animals, including the water buffalo. Early Harappan communities turned to large urban centres by 2600 BCE, from where the mature Harappan phase started ending shortly after the close of the third millenum. There are many archaeological finds of ‘standardised’ systems being used by Harappan peoples and it seems that for the most part there were important central city-states of authority governing an area leading to this uniformity.

Despite the fact that there seems to be a lack of detail of direct military conflict, such a huge number of interrelated trading city-states must have caused the similar pressures in the Indus Valley as those of Mesopotamia which as we know led to conflicts amongst those peoples. A number of burial sites of this time indicate victims of large scale massacres, which is likely to have occurred in organised conflict of some sort. The evidence at this stage is still inconclusive.

We have evidence of military weapons including arrow heads and bronze and copper weapons, no doubt using the trade relations of copper rich Magan/Dilmun for the raw materials for these implements. Knives, sickles, axes and spears all form the arsenal of Harrapan forces. We also have representation of two and four wheeled drawn by oxen seemingly depicted as being of a ‘quicker variety’ that could have a military capability, this is highly subjective however.

Military interactions with Mesopotamian culture is first known when Rimush launched a campaign against Parahshum in Elam, winning a great victory at the battle of the Middle River (c. 2273}, which involved a contingent of troops from Meluhha – the Indus Valley  – serving in the anti-Akkadian coalition. Manishtusu’s (2269–2255) campaign against the Persian Gulf could quite possibly have included operations against the Indus Delta given the previous Meluhha force who fought Rimush, but again, details are scarce.

With the increasing military emphasis in the south of the Akkadian empire and the influence and rise of the Third Dynasty of Ur in the Persian Gulf it is not without reason that this would've given rise to the possibility of clashes between Indus and Mesopotamian forces.

Troop Type	Number	Q	P	CV	Range	Pts
General (mounted or on foot)	1	-	*	5	n/a	50
Sub General (foot)	2	-	*	5	n/a	50
Captain	1 per unit	R	*	5	n/a	20
- change to veteran/levy	any	V/L	*	5	n/a	25/15
Guard	0-1	V	*	4	n/a	16
- change to Archers	0/all	V	P	2	4/8	9
Axemen	0-1	V	U	5	n/a	18
Spearmen	0-3	R	P	3	n/a	5
- exchange for Pike	all	R	P	3	n/a	5
Kulli Tribesman	1-2	L	U	special	2/4	3
- upgrade to Regulars	0-half	R	P	special	2/4	8
- upgrade to Shielded front rankers	0-half	R	P	special	2/4	8
Massed Archers	1-3	R	U	2	4/8	6
Archer Skirmishers	0-3	R	U	n/a	4	4
Javelin Skirmishers	0-2	L	U	n/a	4	2
- upgrade to Regulars	0-half	R	P	special	2/4	8
Slingers	0-4	L	U	N/A	4	2
Baluchi or Sind Archer or Javelin auxiliaries	0-1	R	U	n/a	4	4

Harrapan Civilisation Allies and Enemies

Dynastic Sumerian

Akkadian

Early Eblan

Old Elam

Zagros Mountain

Hattian Kingdoms

Neo -Sumerian

Amorite Nomads

Magan

Harrapan

2700 BC

2600 BC

2500 BC

2400 BC

2300 BC

2200 BC

2100 BC

2000 BC

 

Special Rules & Notes

• Nil