'Byzantiad' - A Pecheneg raid

Byzantines versus Pechenegs. 

Having read Bob Cordery's account of a battle between the Byzantine strategos, Demis Roussos (an incarnation of one Professor Gary Sheffield, or maybe it was the other way around), and that inscrutably unscrupulous Seljuk Sultan Chor Derrai, I was reminded that I had work to do on a Byzantiad rule set that the Archduke Piccolo was suggesting about the middle of last year.  Bob very kindly told me that their battles were inspired by my chapter in the Third Portable Wargames Compendium. 

Even with ten units against nine, the Pechenegs 
look rather sparse: 34 horse figures plus two war 
wagons against 80 Byzantine figures

Well, in turn, what I read inspired me in turn to return to the Byzantiad and investigate further the ideas I began exploring last August. The battles fought between Bob and the Professor were played out on a 10x7 square grid, with 6 units the side. That offers plenty of room, in which especially the more mobile Turkish light horse might flit about. That didn't seem to help the Turks so much, though.

First contact: Pecheneg horse archers at once rout 
the Byzantine light horse.

Now, I had been looking to 12-unit armies on my hex-grid table. That seemed to be a good 'fit'. Check out the link above. But it seemed in the context of their game to see how things would look on my 10x10 square grid. It fairly quickly became apparent that 12 units might be a bit on the much side, but as 6 units looked (to me) a tad sparse, I settled on a 9 unit army standard, with the Byzantines the benchmark.

Now, this whole topic also induced my scratch-building a couple of War Wagons for my Turkic Pechenegs, and a couple of battles between a provincial Byzantine Army of the early 11th Century, and a force of Pechenegs - two more disparate armies one could scarcely hope to field. At once a certain problem presented itself. To explain, let us begin with the armies:

Provincial Byzantine:

Commander Strategos Kantharos Khymos (+1SP)
1 x Strategos Retinue: Heavy Cavalry = 2SP (elite, Commander's unit)
3 x Thematic Heavy Cavalry (Kavallarioi) @2SP = 6SP (average)

1 x Light Horse Lance (Prokoursatores) = 2SP (average)
2 x Protected Bowmen (Skoutatoi) @4SP = 8SP (average)
1 x Loose Order Spearmen (Peltastoi) = 4SP (poor)
1 x Javelin Light Infantry (Akontistai) = 2SP

9 units, 25SP, including the commander's +1. The army is exhausted after losing 9SP, and routs upon the loss of 13.

Pecheneg Raiding Party:

Commander: Tyrach Kosma (+1 SP)
1 x Commander's personal retinue: Heavy Cavalry = 2SP (elite)
7 x Light horse archers @ 2SP = 14SP (average)
2 x War Wagons @4SP = 8SP

10 units, 25SP, including the commander's +1. The army is exhausted after losing 9SP, and routs upon the loss of 13.

Now the reader who hasn't fallen asleep will observe ten rather than nine Pecheneg units. The reason has to do with the composition of the respective armies and their strength points. A 9-unit Pecheneg army has fewer SPs, a deficiency possibly exacerbated by the qualitative differences: the heavier Byzantine horse, for starters. So, standardising the unit numbers upon the Byzantine, other armies may add units to equalise the Strength Points. Then the question of balance becomes a matter between one side's weight, and the other's mobility.


 

The lines close. You would think that the Pecheneg 
horse archers would be overwhelmed by their weightier
adversaries, wouldn't you?

So to the first battle. And right away, the Muse of Wargame battles, Hexahedra, makes a mockery of all our cogitations. The first clash, between the prokoursatores and the horse archers, went wholly and at once in favour of the latter. Although the Byzantine horse archery was enough to force their Pecheneg adversaries to give way; by way of requital the latter's archery simply shredded the prokoursatores out of the battle. 

The Byzantines charge into close contact...

I won't report this battle blow by blow, except by the captions in the pictures. Suffice otherwise to say that the action went just about all the Pecheneg way. I played them pretty aggressively, charging in even against the heavier Byzantine horse, and taking on the infantry as well. Losing 9SPs to just 4, The Byzantines drew off, under pressure but in good order. They escaped without further loss, that is to say, they were not reduced to rout.

Initiative roll, and activation die

The heavier Byzantine horse gets an extra die for
close combat. Both sides retreat 2 squares

Next along the line, shooting before contact:
nothing much happening here! 

Pechenegs get the better of it here,  
forced back but at heavy cost to the Byzantines.

In their own turn Tyrach's entourage also takes losses 
though forcing back the Byzantine kavallarioi

Both sides lose heavily in this clash: 1SP each.

The point at which the Byzantines concede the palm. 
A heavy cavalry unit destroyed, and the skoutatoi 
reduced to half strength.

This action was very brisk: all done and dusted in four turns. So decisive was the Pecheneg victory, I decided that the jury was still out on play balance!