Byzantiad - Trouble at Antioch

"Whilst the crisis in Thrace was being played out (see previous postings), another developed at the other end of the Empire, when the Amir of Tripoli, Doumai Ed Din, brought an army across the Orontes River, and began raiding about the ancient city of Antioch.  Hastily gathering a column to oppose the Fatimid incursion, the Commandant of this remote region of the Empire, Constantine Constantinopoulos, gathered hastily what strength he could and set out to bring the invaders to battle.  

The battle lines drawn: Fatimids on the right.

Upon a flat plain, the Romans (Byzantines) drew their array with the centre standing upon the only significant feature all around, the gentle eminence of St Symeon. In his haste to encounter the Islamic invaders, Constantine lacked some of his heavy cavalry. Nevertheless, he hoped to give a good account of himself in this first action..."

Michael Psellophanes, Byzantiad.

Byzantine Army upon the Hill of St Symeon

One slight problem with this part of the campaign, as I've mentioned before: I don't have  Fatimid Egyptian army. I am tempted to get one, if only to field a unit of Sudanese ghulams - black men dressed uniformly in black - hard to resist! For the moment, though, this Fatimid army is made up of 'ring-ins' to represent the disparate troop types. The mixed arms infantry units were formed by an element of spears fronting one of bows; the spears of course by two elements of spears.

The 'Fatimid' army

It so happens this army is very similar in make-up to the Byzantine, so this particular invasion looked to have a fair chance of success. However, the Byzantines fought the first battle with just five units facing the Fatimids' six. The army comprised:

Byzantine:

Commander, Constantine with Heavy Cavalry - 3SP
1 Heavy Cavalry unit (kavallarioi - lance bow)- 2SP 
1 Light Cavalry unit (prokoursatores - lance, bow) - 2SP
1 Protected Bowmen unit (skoutatoi - spear, bow) - 2SP
1 Loose Order Spear unit (peltastoi - spear, javelins) - 2SP

5 units, 11SP

Fatimid Egyptian:

Commander, Doumai Ed Din with Heavy Cavalry - 3SP, elite
1 Heavy Cavalry (ghulam - lancers, lance, bow) - 2SP
2 Protected bowmen ('abid - spear, bow) - 4SP

1 Loose order spearmen (Dailami - spear, javelins) - 2SP
1 Light Cavalry (Berbers - lance, bow) - 2SP

6 units, 13SP

Early clashes result in very heavy casualties
to both sides!

The Byzantines formed up with the infantry on either flank, skoutatoi on the right, pelstastoi on the left, whilst upon the hill stood a heavy cavalry unit fronted by the light horse. Constantine remained with his personal unit in reserve, ready to intervene where he was most needed. For their part, the Fatimids led off with the skirmishing light horse in the centre, the infantry forming the whole forward battle line - Dailamis in the centre, the 'abid on the flanks. Behind these the heavy cavalry remained in reserve.

A rare win of the initiative by the Byzantines.
They were not to keep it long...

As was their wont, the Fatimids opened the ball, surging across the plain and loosing forth volleys of arrows against the Byzantines. Down came the cavalry from the hill, forward came the foot, to meet the Egyptians in a mighty clash upon the plain. A considerable blood letting it turned out to be; both sides losing 3SP. But the peltastoi lost 2 of them; and routed from the field.  In the centre, the prokoursatores fled also, where they were intercepted by Constantine and brought back in hand. For these Fatimid successes, the Byzantines exacted a heavy toll, all along the front. 

Constantine intervenes (far flank)

Wresting the initiative from the enemy, Constantine led his reserve against the victorious Fatimid right wing.  There they were at once successful, the 'abid collapsing into a cloud of fugitives scattering along the plain. The fighting elsewhere was beginning to go against the Byzantines. Although crushing the light horse before them, the heavy cavalry were in turn put to flight by Dailami javelinmen.  On the Egyptian left, the 'abid began gradually to force back the Byzantine right.

The blood letting continues - three units 
eliminated, and the Byzantine centre gone

So far, the Fatimid reserves had stood aloof, but with the Byzantine wings separated by a large gap in the centre, the opportunity to isolate and conquer both was not to be denied.  

The difference between victory and defeat:
the Egyptians have reserves in hand; the Byzantines don't.

Whilst the heavy horse charged Constantine's personal unit front and flank, the Dailami foot kept the prokoursatores busy. In the distant corner of the field, the 'abid continued to drive the skoutatoi altogether from the field.

Byzantines beleaguered 

Fighting back hard, the embattled Byzantine horsemen were giving rather better than they got, inflicting an SP loss on the Fatimid heavies, but the battle was really already lost. Regaining the initiative, the Egyptians were able to forestall any attempted counterattack by the skoutatoi. The Byzantine reserve areas could not be defended nor the base line recovered. The surviving units drew off to fight another day.

Egyptians seize the initiative, and prevent 
a Byzantine recovery.  The battle is over...

This was an undoubted Fatimid success, although, had the Byzantines won that final initiative roll, they might yet have fought on. Yet the losses in strength points came down in Byzantine favour. It 4SP lost eliminated the peltastoi and a unit of kavallarioi. The Fatimids also lost 2 units (light horse and foot) and took an extra 2SP hits - a total of six.  

As it transpired, the next battlefield proved identical to this one (quite randomly, I assure you!). In the circumstances it seemed reasonable to suppose that both sides withdrew from hence, the Byzantines to reorganise and accept a reinforcement; the Egyptians to continue raiding around about. In a few days, a second battle would be fought around the Hill of St Symeon.

To be continued...

Byzantiad - Pecheneg Raid 3

Opening clashes

 Pecheneg Raid 3 - Battle of Heraclea

"Not for nothing was Isaac Salonikos renowned for his determined attacking play in the fashionable game of war, petzia, or skaki, as it was beginning to be called.  Few were his defeats, but on the occasions of defeat, he was ever eager to retrieve his fortunes in another game.

First blood this time to the Byzantines

So it was in warfare. Two successive defeats - both of which might well have been victories - were not enough to discourage this commander. So it was that, at the forest close by the Thracian town of Heraclea, he once again caught up with the raiding Patzinaks. Apart from the hound-like tenacity of the Roman leader, the Patzinaks were by this time heavily laden - encumbered, withal - with booty. Already their thoughts were perhaps leading them towards beginning their homeward journey, that they might enjoy the rewards of their violent emprise.

Placing his peltastoi on the right as most suited to fighting in woodland, he set the skoutatoi on the left, supported by his least reliable cavalry unit, and installed himself at the head of the main body of cavalry in the centre. The onset of the barbarians was met at once by the determined advance of the Romans..."
Michael Psellophanes,  Byzantiad. 

The skoutatoi forced back momentarily; 
the Byzantine centre edging the raiders back

The rout of the Pechneg right wing light horse

The opening clashes to begin with met contrasting fortunes in the three sectors of the field. On the left the skoutatoi were forced back by the horse and foot archers both, though not without serious loss to the light horse (1SP). In the centre, Strategos clashed with Khan - and it seemed that the Roman leader would prevail, driving back his adversary. On the right, the peltastoi, fighting at the wood edge, were being held by the Pecheneg light horse. 

Isaac Salonikos's band overthrown, but the 
Pecheneg leader himself has been forced 
from the field

Returning to the attack on the left, the Romans threw back in rout the light horse before them, and followed up to bring the bowmen into a combat with spear and sword. On the right, the peltastoi also began to assert some dominance, gradually edging back the light horse to their front.  

Total victory on the Byzantine left!

Then, disaster struck in the centre. The impetuosity of the Byzantine charge drove back the Pecheneg leader well enough, but the latter was taking a fearful toll. Salonika's personal command disintegrated, he himself unhorsed in the fray. For the briefest of moments, it seemed yet again, the Byzantines would know defeat.

The Byzantines were not to be denied this time. Despite their own losses, the skoutatoi reduced the enemy bowmen into a crowd of fugitives, and the peltastoi on the right continued their relentless drive. Soon not one Pechneg unit remained upon the field of battle.

Pechenegs driven from the field

At this point, the four surviving Pecheneg units had all been herded into the 'rear reserve' area, a zone permitted under the rules to hold two. So two light horse units had to be eliminated - presumably made off into the countryside, thence to find their way home as best they could. With just two units remaining, the Pechenegs could not hope to recover their fortunes. They fled.

Isaac Salonikos, unhorsed in battle, observes his victory on foot.

The losses to both sides were a deal fewer than they had been in the previous two battles, just 4SP apiece, not counting the elimination of two units from the overcrowded reserve zone.  But it was an undoubted Byzantine victory this time, and brought a term to the Pecheneg raid. There is, I think, no need to depict the Byzantine chivvying the defeated raiders back across the Bulgar border, nor, I dare say, Bulgar light horse escorting the raiders back across the Ister (Danube) River. So ended the Pecheneg raid.

Final victory for the Byzantines!

To be continued: The Fatimid Invasion - Crossing the Orontes.

Byzantiad - Pecheneg Raid 2

 Pecheneg Raid - Battle of Adrianople

"Following his hard-fought victory over the Romans at Anchialus, Khan Torol led his Patzinaks deeper into the Imperial interior, rieving, sacking, burning and plundering all the way. His army might have been tracked by the smoke of burning farmsteads and villages, and the tales of woe from refugee townsfolk.   

Byzantines try to envelop the Pecheneg left

Undaunted by his earlier reverse, the Strategos, Isaac Salonikos intercepted the raiders on the banks of the Lefkopotamus River, its early spring spate this day somewhat abated to little more than a rill.  Lining the near bank with his main body, he left his better cavalry bandon hidden on the other side of the river, ready to fall upon the Patzinak left as they pushed forward.

That Salonikos had no intention merely to defend the river line was very soon made clear.  All along the front, his line advanced, and the battle quickly developed into the Roman attempt to envelop the raiders' left wing.  Although the Patzinaks held the wings, and even inflicted loss upon the Romans, their centre was driven in.  The early auspices seemed to light upon Roman arms..."
Michael Psellophanes, Byzantiad.

The fighting is favouring the raiders so far...

This really and truly ought to have been a Roman (i.e. Byzantine) victory, despite the early blood-letting (losses of strength points) very much in favour of the raiders.  However, the driven Pecheneg centre was soon back, and the battle between the bowmen and the peltastoi was then settled in favour of the former.

The peltastoi have lost 2SP and must rout...

At once, the Byzantine reserves had to be thrown in on the left, whilst the battle on the rest of the front remained unresolved. True, the flanking cavalry was forced back, but that setback was only momentary. Once again they returned to the charge. All the same, the loss of 4SP against just 1SP, indicated that the Byzantines might be facing a second defeat.

Salonikos himself shores up the broken left

Fearing for his bowmen on the right, the Khan joined that part of the fight with his entourage of nobles. The fight between his light horse archers and the Byzantine heavies ought to have been settled in favour of the latter, but the lighter horse were more or less holding their own. The cavalry routed one band of light horse, but the skoutatoi having been driven back across the stream, freed a second light horse band to prevent an immediate breakthrough. Despite the disparity in losses, and the disappearance of the peltastoi the Byzantines seemed at least marginally to have the edge.

The fighting grows keener

For a space, the deadlock remained unresolved, the Byzantines even losing another strength point (5-3 now in Pecheneg favour).  Then the unengaged skoutatoi once more entered the fray, just as the cavalry in the centre put the opposing light horse to the rout.  Salonikos now had the victory in the hollow of his hand...

Initiative roll - a very rare Byzantine 'win'

... and here is where I made a rather large mistake. Those two dice you see is the initiative roll at this point - and it was a very rare 'win' to the Byzantines (the Pechenegs seemed to have a monopoly on the initiative during these battles). Since it was the Byzantines' move, and the Pecheneg reserve area is empty, I ought to have called the battle here - a Byzantine victory. I have no idea why I didn't.

The situation critical for the Pechenegs

Seeing the Pecheneg centre disappear scattering across the plain, the local cavalry commander bethought himself to strike into the rear of the embattled Pecheneg right. Meanwhile, the other flank looked equally parlous for the raiders.

I might have guessed how it would go. It were ever thus. The cavalry's 'shooting before combat' was a frost, and the close combat into the rear of the Pecheneg horse went D6=1 for the Byzantines; D6=6 for the Khan. The hit upon the Byzantines meant to kiss a strength point goodbye. 

Utter disaster for the Byzantines! The kill off the 
bowmen, but at such a cost!

The follow-up went no better. Once again the Pecheneg horse went unscathed, the Byzantines took a second hit, and routed. On the riverbank, Salonikos took over from his hyperkerastai and finally spitted the enemy bowmen upon his lances. The cost was high, his personal command depleted. Upon the Khan's counter-attack, they promptly collapsed. Salonikos himself was caught up in the rout and barely escaped harm (the dice roll for risk of personal injury was OK). By a miracle, the Kkan Torol had broken out of encirclement.

  

Having successfully fought his way out of a trap
Khan Torol now sets out to finish off the
enemy

So quickly had fortunes reversed, and they didn't end there. The hyperkerastai soon went the way of the kavallarioi. The long unresolved fight upon the Byzantine right at last reached its conclusion - the remaining Byzantine heavy horse also breaking off and fleeing into the hills. It was left to the skoutatoi to make their way from the field. Themselves battered from the tough struggle, the Pechenegs let them go. 

No wonder. They had lost 8SP, the Byzantines lost 11.  But the raid could continue...

Now, as I really ought earlier to have called the Byzantine victory, I did consider (looking back over it) doing so, and ignoring the subsequent game events. But that seemed to be a waste of further exciting moments, so I stayed with the result of this one as narrated. Two victories have the Pechenegs chalked up. When next Salonikos catches up with them, it will be not far from the Gates of Byzantium...

To be continued - the Battle of Heraclea

Byzantiad - the Pecheneg Raid 1

 

"The raid of the Pechenegs into Eastern Thrace proved eventful and destructive, the Skythians almost reaching the Gates of Constantinople before finally being turned back. Twice had Isaac Salonikos been in the cusp of victory before suffering defeat; in the final battle was on the verge of defeat, his personal bodyguard scattered and fled, before he emerged victorious. Such were the harrowing three weeks in Thrace.

The Army of Salonikos first encountered the raiders not far from the Imperial frontier, upon a bare plain west of Anchialus..."
Michael Psellophanes Byzantiad

Battle of Anchialus.

In the following battle accounts - eventful as they are - I will try to keep the narratives brief and let the pictures tell most of the story.  The battle of Anchialus was the first of three, and twice during its course, the Byzantines seemed on the verge of victory. They even began by drawing not only first blood but the second as well.  With an army seemingly the more powerful, this was looking perhaps too easy. But events flattered to deceive.

To begin with, the Byzantine provincial army lacked the stamina of the more regular Imperial forces:

 Byzantine Provincial (Thematic) Army:

1 x Commander: Isaac Salonikos Thematic Heavy Cavalry unit (Average)- 3SP 
2 x Thematic Heavy Cavalry regiments - @2SP = 4SP (one 'Average' the other 'Poor')
1 x Protected Bowmen - 2SP
1 x Bow Light Horse - 2SP 

1 x Loose Order Spear/Javelins unit (poor) - 2SP 

6 units, 13SP

3.Pechenegs:
1 x Commander: Khan Torol with Noble Heavy Cavalry - 3SP (elite)

4 x Bow Light Horse @2SP = 8SP
1 x Bowmen @2SP 

6 units, 13SP

As the attackers, the Pechenegs opened the ball; thereafter all turns began with an 'initiative roll', the high scorer going first.  I'll have something to say on that topic during the course of the narrative!

Opening the battle by pressing the raiders back with heavy loss, the Byzantines began to find Pecheneg resistance stiffening. Their own casualties began to mount. At the same time a feature developed among the following events that spoke of the Khan Torol's energy and cunning (He kept winning the initiative rolls. In the course of three battles I think the Byzantines 'won' the initiative rolls maybe as many times: three). Although the cavalry routed the Pecheneg left flank light horse, with victory in sight, the skoutatoi in the centre collapsed shortly after. 

Suddenly the Byzantine horse found themselves isolated on the right flank, before Salonikos himself could intervene. Assailed front and flank, barely half the cavalry broke clear. The peltastoi on the left also fell back when the enemy bowmen in front of them fell back to discover a band of horse archers peppering them with arrows. The rout that followed was as complete as the surprise. Only the light horse hyperkerastai remained to hold this flank.

As the Byzantine line fell back to regroup, the Pechenegs also reorganised themselves for a final attack. The light horse formed on the left, to face the Byzantine cavalry; the bowmen faced off the Byzantine light horse; his own entourage of nobles squared up against Salonikos himself.

So impetuous was the Khan's onset that he almost broke through and drove Solonikos's band almost altogether from the field. Only barely did the latter remain in action. Returning to the charge, the Byzantines  refused to be shifted any further. (Although driven from the field of battle proper, as the initiative passed to the Byzantines at the end of the Pecheneg turn, they had the opportunity to strike back. They didn't quite succeed in forcing their way back, as the subsequent pictures reveal, but nor were they driven off. The close combat was to continue unresolved until the Byzantines were defeated elsewhere on the field).

Meanwhile, the Byzantine flanking forces had broken off from their own adversaries. The chance to fling themselves upon the flanks of the Khan's isolated bodyguard was not to be missed. And now, faced momentarily by odds of three to one, surely it was all up for the raiders?

Not a bit of it. The Pecheneg heavy cavalry stood fast - long enough for help to arrive. Although the Byzantine right flank cavalry routed the band of light horse that tried to attack them in flank...

...  and even attempted an enveloping attack of their own, ...

  

...  Dame Fortune cast her dice in favour of the Barbarians. The Byzantine light horse were driven under a hail of arrows from the field. The last of the heavy cavalry broke and fled. So heavy had been the losses, that the Byzantines could no longer maintain the field. As the sky clouded over in the late afternoon, the Byzantines, such as remained, drew off to the south. 

The Pechenegs were free to resume their burning and plundering...

This one was quite a scrap, the Pechenegs losing 8SP in winning the battle, the Byzantines 10SP. The thing could so easily have gone either way.

To be Continued: Pecheneg Raid 2 - Battle of Adrianople.

Byzantiad - the Narrative Begins

Pecheneg raiding force sweeping through
the coastal plains of Thraces

"The winter of imperial content following the coronation and investment in the purple of the young Dementius Katanyxis was followed by a spring of travail and a summer of woe. The provinces along the Mesogesean littoral had long been disaffected, and, after the warm glow of a new rule had faded, once more the mutter of sedition began making itself heard. Fortunately, the northern provinces, apart from remote Cherson, were on the whole well in hand, and the relations with the peoples beyond the frontiers there were as cordial.

Then, as February thawed into March, the Strategos of Southern Italy, George Kantankeros, announced himself the despot of Campania and Apulia, and declared himself independent from and no subject of Byzantium.

Naturally, the new Emperor was eager to test his sword, however reluctant to shed the blood of his subjects. The landowning military family Kantankeros had long been imperial rivals, and were themselves descended in a direct line from porphyrogenites. Such a rival might well not content himself with a none-too-rich territory at the southern end of Italy, and make a serious bid for the Imperial throne itself. The likelihood could not be risked.

At once the Emperor outfitted an expedition from the Imperial forces based around Byzantium to bring the nascent despotate back into the Imperium, and to decorate the walls of Brindisi with Kantankeros's head and extremities. By early April, his sea going transports and warships were across the Ionian sea, and the Imperial Army landed upon the Italian shore before Kantankeros could organise a fleet to stop them.

It was at this moment that Barbarians chose to make incursions into both ends of the Empire. First, the Patzinaks (Pechenegs) were permitted by the Bulgars to cross their territories and begin burning and plundering about Anchialus. The Strategos of Thessaloniki, Isaac Salonikos, at once gathered his full strength to intercept the raiders.

Intercepting column of 
Isaac Salonikos

At the other end of Empire, the long-festering enmity between the Fatimid Caliphate and the Empire burst into open warfare, as the Emir Dumai Ed Din carried a large army into the region about Antioch. The Strategos at Seleucia entrusted to the guardianship of the Levantine frontier, Constantine Constantinopoulos, hastily gathered what force was immediately to hand, and caught up with the Fatimid Army not far from the ancient city..."    Michael Psellophanes, 'Byzantiad'

First battles - to contain barbarian raids and to put down a revolt.

So much for the chronicler's narrative.  All this was decided by dice rolls as follows:

Xenographical Relations: 
I have decided to conflate Barbarian and Byzantine attitudes into a single series of dice rolls instead of two. The reason was that we got a situation in which a reasonably friendly power (2 rolled) was extremely disliked by the Empire (6).  This seemed to me too hard to reconcile, so I just went with the initial series:

1.  Lombards - 4 = not especially friendly; not especially hostile relations. Cool, but not in a very good way.
2.  Bulgars - 2 = Quite cordial relations for the moment, and likely to last a while.
3.  Pechenegs - 6 = Pechenegs (Patzinaks according to Byzantines) get the urge to take a slap at the empire.  Plunder, loot and booty all beckon. Especially booty.
4.  Rus - 1 = Very friendly relations exist between Empire and the Principality.  Those stupid Patzinaks  have probably timed their raid very badly!
5.  Abasgian - 2 = Cordial relations with Empire
6.  Armenians - 4 = Relations a little strained, but not yet dangerously so.
7. Seljuks - 2 = On good terms with Empire
8. Fatimids - 6 = Very hostile towards Empire, embark upon a raid that might yet morph into jihad - all out war.

Clash of Pecheneg and Byzantine, upon a featureless 
plain not far from Anchialus.

Provincial Affairs:
1. Brindisi - 6 = Local commander declares himself an independent and autonomous despot of the territories he governs.  This is open insurrection, though not yet a bid to take over the whole Empire
2. Mystras - 5 = Not at all happy; a lot of popular murmurings against the central power 
3. Thessaloniki - 4 = Not bad, though signs that maybe the spirit of insurrection at the Imperial fringes is beginning to have its effect a deal closer to the centres of power.
4. Nicaea - 1 = Staunch.  The Domestic of the Schools can be trusted to keep matters in hand
5. Cherson - 5 = Disaffected.  It is possible that the Emperor might be forced to call upon the Rus to help out there should Cherson (Crimea) break into open revolt.
6. Koloneia - 1 = Loyal and trustworthy
7. Seleucia - 5 = Disaffected.  However, subject to attack from without, is far more likely to be called to their loyalty to empire than otherwise
8. Constantinople - no roll, not with the Emperor present! But were he to depart... 

Now, as defending forces seek to intercept invaders, they must roll for the first clash to determine the size of the force immediately available.  The results are;
D6 = 1, 2: 4 units only, selected from the 6 unit list
D6 = 3, 4: 5 units only, selected from the 6 unit list
D6 = 5, 6: all 6 units available.
Note that, if defeated, in subsequent battles the defending army in increased by 1 unit until the maximum of 6 is reached.

In this instance the battles are to be:

Battle of Anchialus - 6 Pecheneg attackers vs 6 Byzantine defenders
Battle of Antioch - 6 Fatimid attackers vs 5 Byzantine defenders
Battle of Brindisi - 6 Imperial attackers vs 4 Provincial defenders.  



  To be continued: 'The Patzinak Raid'.