At this period, Byzantium relied on a lot of Mercenary allies, which at best would fight and at worst would not turn up when required to muster and defend the empire.
We play our bigger game on longer tables, this one was 8 1/2 foot x 5 foot. The Seljuk Turks are various manufacturers, as are Alan's army.
The Turkish spawling army head for Constantinople after over coming the outlying Christian garrisons and patrols. The Turkish army is 596 points in Sword and Spear rules.
Hearing of this substantial force heading his way the Emperor musters his army to meet the foe on a plain just North of Aleppo. With 594 points and many mercenary units in his force.
With the Emperor's many scouts and he was fighting on a battlefield of his choosing, he watched as the Seljuks deployed for battle and the deployed to counter.
Seljuks Deploy
Byzantines deploy
Turn 1-The Seljuks made the opening move and deployed out to the flanks. The Byzantines send out their light horse to counter and deadly shooting (Turks bad dice) from their Light Horse, scatters one unit of LH on the Seljuks left. First blood to the Christian army.
Casualties Turn 1
Turn 2-The Seljuks move up in the center and take out a unit of archers with some accurate shooting and a gap appears the the Christian Center. Along the line the Seljuks are getting ready to coordinate their next move
As the Christian knights move up their formations, a unit of Seljuk armoured cavalry could not contain their enthusiasm and charged into was was the best unit on the table, and with great combat dice caused 2 casualties ( 1 more and that unit would break). The Byzantine Captain also survived the Commander casualty test.
Christian Casualties Turn 2
Turn 3 - Saw the Seljuks pushed their left and initiate melee the the knights again. The Christian orange dice rolls can be seen just behind where, a moment ago a units of mounted knights stood!
The Seljuks pursued into the unit to the left in the pic and caused a casualty. The day was looking bright for Allah!
On the Turkish right it was ebb and flow with light casualties on both sides
End of turn Situation:
The Seljuks were pressing the Christian right
Christian Casualties were building, End of turn 3 (11 points)
Turn 4- The Turks had a really good round and shot away two more units, leaving a big split in the Christian line. Unable to plug it as the Emperor had committed his reserve units to bolster his far right flank.
The Turks start to push back the light horse on their right.
Both armies centers were still holding firm
Christian Casualties end of turn 4 (17 points)
Turkish Casualties end of turn 4 (10 points)
Turn 5 - The Turks had a very good round and before all the dice were drawn the Emperor capitulated and through himself to the mercy of the Turkish commander
The Turks were combating all along their line
A great game that was closer than it looked. Many thanks to Alan for the game
Notes from Alan, post game
Great pix Phil, and a very tight game with the big clashes mainly going the Turkish way. We have found that these cavalry army games can be very brutal, the armies move fast and cavalry v cavalry is bloody with the follow-ups. But win or lose, putting out big 28mm armies from this very colourful era is always a pleasure. Good news is you can play these big games and get a decision in an evening
In the game, from the Byzantine pov the crack Latinikon (Franks) really did not turn up for the game, and collapsed in short order (I think they are commanded by Arsene Wenger) and too few of the other crack Byzantine units put the big hits in when needed (my Turkopoloi ran after taking a few shots - I reckon Phil's Turks bribed them). As to nationalities tonight I fielded Turks, Bulgars, Varangians (Vikings & English), Franks, Pechenegs, Cumans, Arabs and Armenians plus a few Byzantines ;)
The Turks are a tough foe as although unit for unit the Byzantines are (potentially) better, the huge Turkish shooting capability means you often are carrying a wound into action (no longer fresh) and so their cheaper cavalry can survive the hits and put in a succession of shocks themselves. The Byzantine heavy foot is also formidable, but slow, and by the time it got into action it really was too late to matter.
Interestingly by this period the Byzantines themselves were mainly using Peltastoi as foot in the field - good quality medium massed archers - and those I used acquitted themselves quite well in the game, I think a big bag of them is a must at Salute! The poor quality militia archers I experimented with were just fodder to the Turk shooting.
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