Lion Rampant – Scouting before Dyrrhachium, October 1081.

Background

The Battle of Dyrrhachium took place on October 18, 1081 between the Byzantine Empire, led by the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118), and the Normans of southern Italy under Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria. The battle was fought outside the city of Dyrrhachium (present-day Durrës in Albania), the major Byzantine stronghold in the western Balkans, and ended in a Norman victory.

Following the Norman conquest of Byzantine Italy and Saracen Sicily, the Byzantine emperor, Michael VII Doukas (r. 1071–1078), betrothed his son to Robert Guiscard’s daughter. When Michael was deposed, Robert took this as an excuse to invade the Byzantine Empire in 1081. His army laid siege to Dyrrhachium, but his fleet was defeated by the Venetians. On October 18, the Normans engaged a Byzantine army under Alexios I Komnenos outside Dyrrhachium. 

The Norman fleet of 150 ships including 60 horse transports set off towards the Byzantine Empire at the end of May 1081. The army numbered 15,000 men, including about 1,300 Norman knights. The fleet sailed to Avalona in Byzantine territory; they were joined by several ships from Ragusa, a republic in the Balkans who were enemies of the Byzantines.

Robert soon left Avalona and sailed to the island of Corfu, which surrendered because of a small garrison. Having won a bridgehead and a clear path for reinforcements from Italy, he advanced on the city of Dyrrhachium, the capital and chief port of Illyria. The city was well defended on a long, narrow peninsula running parallel to the coast, but separated by marshlands. Guiscard brought his army onto the peninsula and pitched camp outside the city walls. However, as Robert’s fleet sailed to Dyrrhachium, it was hit by a storm and lost several ships.

Meanwhile, when Alexios heard that the Normans were preparing to invade Byzantine territory, he sent an ambassador to the Doge of Venice, Domenico Selvo, requesting aid and offering trading rights in return. The Doge, alarmed by Norman control of the Strait of Otranto, took command of the Venetian fleet and sailed at once, surprising the Norman fleet under the command of Bohemond as night was falling. The Normans counter-attacked tenaciously, but their inexperience in naval combat betrayed them. The experienced Venetian navy attacked in a close formation known as “sea harbour” and together with their use of Greek fire “bombs”, the Norman line scattered, and the Venetian fleet sailed into Dyrrhachium’s harbour.

Robert was not discouraged by this naval defeat, and began his siege of Dyrrhachium. In command of the garrison at Dyrrhachium was the experienced general George Palaiologos, sent by Alexios with orders to hold out at all costs while Alexios himself mustered an army to relieve the city.

Alexios advanced from Salonica and pitched camp on the river Charzanes near Dyrrhachium on October 15. He held a war council there and sought advice from his senior officers; among them was George Palaiologos, who had managed to sneak out of the city. A majority of the senior officers, including Palaiologos, urged caution, noting that time was with the Emperor. Alexios, however, favoured an immediate assault, hoping to catch Guiscard’s army from the rear, while they were still besieging the city. Alexios moved his army to the hills opposite the city, planning to attack the Normans the next day.

Guiscard, however, had been informed of Alexios’ arrival by his scouts and on the night of October 17, he moved his army from the peninsula to the mainland. Upon learning of Guiscard’s move, Alexios revised his battle plan. He split his army into three divisions, with the left wing under the command of Gregory Pakourianos, the right wing under the command of Nikephoros Melissenos, and himself in command of the centre. Guiscard formed his battle line opposite Alexios’s, with the right wing under the command of the Count of Giovinazzo, the left under Bohemond and Guiscard facing Alexios in the centre……….

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dyrrhachium_(1081)

The Game

We wanted to give Lion Rampant II a second try with a fight that was more poky in nature. TJ brought his newly purchased 28mm medieval collection and set up a battle to represent the scouting before the Byzantine attack at the Battle of Dyrrhachium.

I arrived a bit late to the game, but jumped in right away. The forces had already started their engagements with one another using archery.

Both forces started close to the center of the table. Each force was given the objective of exiting off the opposite game table edge left corner. Victory would be determined by the number of units exited. We decided not to remove figures, since each unit is its own formation. Instead, we just marked casualties with die markers.

The initial movements put the Normans in a position to isolate the Byzantine light cavalry on the flank and shoot it up with archery fire, before the main forces could clash. The terrain was difficult, so the trap would be hard to escape. So we thought…. Unfortunately, between poor activations and arrow quality, the Byzantines not only got the better of the archery fight, they left the Normans isolated in the difficult terrain!

The main battle lines then clashed in the center. Unfortunately, the Norman’s hearts were not in it and they continually failed morale checks. Slowly but surely, there units started to leave the fight….

With time starting to matter and the advantage layer out, the Byzantines massed their forces and started to head for the exit with earnest. The Normans tried to slow them down and hold off the onslaught, but to no avail, as they were just pushed out of the way or just refused to engage with the enemy.

The Byzantines exited with a majority of their army, as the Normans cleared up the few tail end stragglers. The bright side was they did take out Alexios and his guards during the fight! Even with that, the game ended as a bit of a one sided affair. The Byzantines were able to swat the Normans and maybe set themselves to change history at the following battle!

• Manteuffel