Constantinople beleaguered... a campaign idea.

I've come up with an idea for a campaign using the FP3x3PW (Fast Play 3x3 Portable Wargame) system, the setting being the Byzantine Empire c.1000-1050AD. This is the Empire under attack by several enemies - three to be exact: Bulgars (a people centuries before were called Huns), Pechenegs (a nomadic people that frightened even the Turks) and Abasgians (Georgians).

A Pecheneg horse archer letting fly...

'First Pass' army lists:

Bulgar:

1 Elite Heavy Cavalry - Bow/javelins

1 Heavy Cavalry - Bow/Javelins

3 Light Cavalry - Bow/Javelins

1 Poor Infantry - Spear

Pecheneg:

1 Elite Heavy Cavalry - Bow/ Javelins

1 Heavy Cavalry - Bow/ Javelins OR 1 War Wagon OR 1 light cavalry unit

4 (Poor) Light Cavalry - Bow

Abasgian:

1 Elite Heavy Cavalry - Lance

1 Heavy cavalry - Lance

1 Infantry - Spear

1 Infantry - Spear OR Bow

2 Light Cavalry

Byzantine (3 Armies, each comprising):

1 Elite Really Heavy Horse (Kataphtaktoi) - Lance, bow, mace, mean attitude;

OR 1 Elite Heavy Cavalry (Tagmatic Kavallarioi) - Lance/ Bow;

OR Light Horse (Lance/ Bow or Javelin)

1 Elite Infantry (Varangian Guard or Rus) - spear;

OR 1 Infantry (Skoutatoi and Toxotai) Spear/ Bow;

2 Heavy Cavalry - (May be 'Elite' (Tagmatic Kavallarioi) OR 'Average' (either Kavallarioi) OR 'Poor' (Thematic Kavallarioi)

1 Infantry - Spear/ Bow

1 Poor Infantry (Peltastoi) - Spear

OR Average Light Infantry (Slingers (Sphendonistai), Bowmen (Toxotai) or Javelinmen (Akontistai)

OR Average Light Horse (Prokoursatores), Lance/ Bow

NOTES ON Byzantines:

1/ Only 1 Army may have the Kataphraktoi and Varangian Guard. The other two (or three) must use other options. If the Emperor takes the field, he commands the army with these elite units.

2/ No Army may have more than 1 Light Horse unit

3/ No Army may have more than 1 'Elite' Kavallarioi

4/ The Byzantine Player MAY elect to substitute ONE army with an all-mounted Army.

It may comprise:

1 Elite Heavy Cavalry

3-4 Heavy Cavalry (may be 'Average or Poor')

1-2 Light Cavalry

Byzantine Dramatis Personnae:

Emperor Dementius

George Maniaces (There really was such a dude)

Demetrios Psychopathes

Michael Lounatikos

I may shortly elaborate on this in my blog...

Well, here's the blog entry.  I have since added a map - a test of concept:  

This has added three potential 'players' - Normans, Fatimid Egyptians and although part of the Empire, a large region around Antioch that is the bailiwick of a certain rebellious and ambitious Byzantine Duke name of Evgenes Apostas.  It is unlikely, though, the the Fatimids will really be part of the campaign, as (a) I don't have a Fatimid Army, and (b) at the time I am considering, the Fatimids were on good terms with the Byzantine Empire.  The Normans will probably be involved in a separate campaign, c.1050AD, led by one Bohemond of Taranto, or someone like him.  For the rest, the map may lend itself to more extensive campaigning of a different type, which might include naval elements.

Campaign moves will be point-to-point, the battles taking place at - or in the neighbourhood of - each point.  The Pecheneg 'points' have been illustrated by stylised war wagons to signify temporary camp locations, rather than permanent settlements.  

Victory will carry an army to the next point along the road; defeat carry the army back towards its capital.  If the Empire captures a 'barbarian' 'capital' by winning a battle there, that will signify a conquest; if a 'barbarian horde' wins a battle at Constantinople, they will be be rewarded with kudos for winning the campaign, and bought off possibly with Imperial territory.  However, Duke Eugenes Apostas will probably succeed in deposing the Emperor... 

It is always possible that the Pechenegs will fight Bulgarians, and Abasgians will have a crack at Duke Evgenes's lands.  

A word on the accompanying cartoons:

This is really indulging in a little nostalgia.  I did these back in 1998, as 'character concepts' for a project I was engaged in that year.  This was a correspondence course, one of the eight for a Diploma.  This was a proper Diploma - the National Diploma in Children's Literature - taken by correspondence over several years, for which, though no longer extant, I still claim the letters after my name 'Dip. Ch. Lit.' - it was that kind of Diploma (why the University of Canterbury axed it, I have no idea, and I suspect neither does the University of Canterbury). The topic of this particular course was The Moving Image - basically film or video adaptations of children's (and young adult) stories. 

As part of the course we got to try our hand at stop motion animation, going through the whole process of concept, story-boarding, drawing the pictures, and laying out the instructions for how the pics were to be processed.  The thing was supposed to be just 5 seconds long, which, at 12 pictures a second, means 60 pictures all up.  Of course film is 24 frames a second, but each picture is filmed over two frames - standard for all stop motion animation.  

There are ways of saving effort, e.g. for repetitive action, simply recycling the pictures for each repetition; and for pauses and stills, you just film the images over more than 2 frames. 

I really got into this, and, under the title of The Alexiad created a 30 second epic based on a real incident: a mishap to one Pakourianos, Domestic of the West, in battle against the Pechenegs in 1086.  I had to study up how to animate galloping horses, zooming in on a distant shot, figuring how long it would take to draw and shoot a bow (the Pecheneg horse archer fleeing), how the arrow would bounce off a shield (might have been better to have stuck in).  There was quite a bit to think about.  I was very pleased with the end result.  The thing was recorded (several times) on VHS, for which we unfortunately no longer have a reader, and I never did copy it onto another medium...

The closing pic here discloses the nature of the ... erm ... mishap to the ...uh .. late Domestic of the West... 

Incident with reference to Anna Comnena's
Alexiad (English Translation).