Background
The Battle of Manzikert or Malazgirt was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire on 26 August 1071 near Manzikert, Iberia (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, eastern Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army and the capture of the emperor Romanos IV Diogenes played an important role in undermining Byzantine authority in Anatolia and Armenia, and allowed for the gradual Turkification of Anatolia. Many Turks, traveling westward during the 11th century, saw the victory at Manzikert as an entrance to Asia Minor.
Foraging parties under Bryennios discovered the main Seljuk force and were forced to retreat to Manzikert. Romanos sent the Armenian general Basilakes and some cavalry, as Romanos did not believe this was Alp Arslan’s full army. The cavalry was routed, and Basilakes was taken prisoner. Romanos then drew his troops into formation and sent the left wing out under Bryennios, who was almost surrounded by the rapidly approaching Turks and forced to retreat. The Seljuk forces hid among the nearby hills for the night, making it nearly impossible for Romanos to counterattack.
On 25 August, some of Romanos’ Turkic mercenaries came into contact with their Seljuk kin and deserted. Romanos then rejected a Seljuk peace emissary. He wanted to settle the eastern question and the persistent Turkic incursions and settlements with a decisive military victory. He understood that raising another army would be both difficult and expensive. The emperor attempted to recall Tarchaneiotes and his half of the forces, but they were no longer in the area. There were no engagements that day, but on 26 August, the Byzantine army gathered itself into a proper battle formation and began to march on the Seljuk positions, with the left wing under Bryennios, the right wing under Theodore Alyates, and the centre under the emperor. Andronikos Doukas led the reserve forces in the rear – a foolish mistake by the emperor, considering the dubious loyalties of the Doukas family. The Seljuks were organized into a crescent formation about four kilometres away. Seljuk horse archers attacked the Byzantines as they drew closer; the centre of their crescent continually moved backwards while the wings moved to surround the Byzantine troops.
The Byzantines pressed on despite the arrow attacks and captured Alp Arslan’s camp by the end of the afternoon. However, the right and left wings, where the arrows did most of their damage, almost broke up when individual units tried to force the Seljuks into a pitched battle; the Seljuk cavalry simply disengaged when challenged, in the characteristic Parthian tactics of steppe warriors. With the Seljuks avoiding battle, Romanos was forced to order a withdrawal by nightfall. However, the right wing misunderstood the order, and Doukas deliberately ignored the emperor’s order to cover the army’s withdrawal and marched directly back to the Byzantine camp outside Manzikert. With the Byzantines thoroughly confused, the Seljuks seized the opportunity and attacked. The Byzantine right wing was almost immediately routed, thinking they were betrayed either by the Armenians or the army’s Turkish auxiliaries. Some authors suppose that Armenians were the first to flee, and they all managed to get away, while by contrast, the Turkish auxiliaries remained loyal to the end. Other sources suggest that Armenian infantry stoutly resisted and did not turn tail, not abandoning the emperor as many had. When Romanos saw the boldness of the Armenian foot soldiers, he displayed great affection for them and promised them unheard-of rewards. In the end, the emperor’s personal troops and these Armenian foot soldiers suffered the heaviest casualties in the Byzantine army. The left wing under Bryennios held out a little longer but was also soon routed. The remnants of the Byzantine centre, including the emperor and the Varangian Guard, were encircled by the Seljuks. Romanos was wounded and taken prisoner by the Seljuks. The survivors were many who fled the field and were pursued throughout the night, but not beyond that; by dawn, the professional core of the Byzantine army had been destroyed, while many of the peasant troops and levies who had been under the command of Andronikus had fled.
The Game
TJ had just purchased a huge painted collection and wanted to get them on the tabletop. Unfortunately, we do not really like any of the current ancients rules on the market. However, Lion Rampant second edition was recently released and we thought it was worth a try. The original game had some issues, but this version seemed to have fixed those. So, why not give them a test drive.
TJ set up the game and brought in all the troops. It was basically the Byzantines versus the table (the Turks were mostly hidden). It would be a good test to see how light cavalry horse archers do against formed troops.
The Byzantines were divided into four units (left, center, right and reserve) and started on the table with some of the Turks visible. The turks would be revealed as they came into line of sight and when released from Lehigh the back hill.
The Byzantine players made their plan. The right and center would go towards the Turkish camp and stay in close support. The reserve would then follow up the center and left, who it arrived. The left would swing around the hill to check for hidden units and then join the main army. The plan did not survive contact with the enemy!
The initial move on the left uncovered more Turks, which immediately put the flank under very strong pressure. The archery favored the Turks and they were able to get the advantage. Under the pressure, the left finally started to pull back to the main army in stages.
On the right, the Turks engaged right away. The Byzantines tried to counter the Turks at their own game and got spread out and extended the flank. This proved problematic, as the left flank eventually collapsed from the fire and maneuver of the Turks.
The center advanced unmolested and started to spread out towards the bank fights, also spreading themselves out. The main Turkish force arrived and swept over the hill and attacked the spread out Byzantine, hitting a number of units in the flanks. The reserve was sent in to try to fill the holes and stabilized this for a bit. However, the center forces were spent at this point.
With the right flank gone and the center buckle, we called the game as a historic Seljuk victory. The game played out in a few hours and seemed to work out. We will give the rules another try with forces that are more set piece and see how that goes!
- Manteuffel
Because of its significance you would imagine it a battle often played? But I see it rarely reported. Perhaps that’s because the nature of the action offers limited scope to game differently? Anyway interesting and detailed post.
I think ancients are pretty much dominated by tourney games and that has limited historical battles. It is also a case of the information on the OOBs being much more limited. The kind of makes things a bit of an article of faith! I have been watching History March channel on Youtube a lot recently… I actually think these videos could be very helpful in doing a lot of those fights at a macro level, without spending days doing research for in exact info!