Who Were the Akkadian's Historical Enemies?

Who were the more common foreign enemies? Aside from waring against their neighboring Southern city-states, there were the Elamites (from what is now Northern Iran) to the East. The first recorded instance of war between Sumerians and Elamites is around 2700 B.C., arguably the forerunner to an "Iran-Iraq war" (fought in the same salt-marsh area around Basra). The Gutians came from this area as well. To the North, what would later become the Assyrians started off as an Amorite (or Amurrus) vassal state, and the Uratu came from this area as well. To the South West were the Syrians. East and North were the forerunners to the Medes.

Where do I find More Info?

One of the best places to start is with Armies of the Ancient Near East (by Nigel Stillman and Nigel Tallis), One of the Wargames Research Group publications. There's a detailed history with unit formations starting around page 15, and the excellent line drawings starting on Page 126 (alone) are worth the price of admission. You can also find the earlier Armies and Enemies of Ancient Egypt and Assyria (by Alan Buttery) frequently on eBay auctions. Although this is more sparse, and not quite as well accepted, it is a good place to identify who those earlier (more obscure) wargame models are supposed to represent! (Like Uratians and Medes, that are still available at flea markets but otherwise unidentifiable). Keep an eye out for back issues of Military History (Oct 2002 had a good article on Sargon for example).

In 15mm, there are a number of excellent models available from Essex and Old Glory. Have a look in their catalogs, next time some free funds pop up for "new" Bronze Age armies. And Falcon offer some very nice armies that can also be mixed in (OK, so there are some subtle differences between the three makes, and you MAY want to keep all of the figures in one matched unit). For those of you who scour the flea markets, there are suitable figures available from Chariot Miniatures (a bit smaller than the first three) as well as some auxiliaries that can be hired from Minifigs (similar height, but underfed little guys).

Hope this is a useful thumbnail, and if enough people like it, we'll keep on exploring some other options.