Cuman

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Historical Overview Section

The Cumans were a nomadic Turkic people who inhabited a shifting area north of the Black Sea known as Cumania (nooo, surely not??) along the Volga River. They eventually settled to the west of the Black Sea and played a role in the development of Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Moldavia, and Wallachia.

The first burst upon the world stage when they came into the grasslands of Eastern Europe in the 11th century, from where they launched attacks and raids on the Byzantine Empire, the Middle Hungarians and the Rus, but in typical medieval fashion they also worked with the Byzantines, and at the Battle of Levounion in 1091 a combined Komnenan Byzantine-Cuman force led by Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos crushed the Pechenegs, effectively removing them as a political entity from the map of Eastern Europe. However they were not loyal to the Byzantines, and allied with the Middle Bulgarians and Vlachs during the Vlach-Bulgar Rebellion and played a significant role in the rebellion's final victory over Byzantium and the restoration of the Middle Bulgarian dynasty's independence by 1185. They also gave a slapping to the Rus even when the latter were led by the Great Prince Vladimir Monomakh of Kiev in the 12th century (at the Battle of the Stugna River).

Things weren't all plain sailing however, and like most other peoples of medieval Eastern Europe, the wheels came off the Cuman politico-militarys non-industrial complex when they were unable to put up an effective resistance against the relentlessly advancing Mongols, being finally crushed in 1238, when a Cuman and Early Russian army was defeated near Astrakhan. Previously, in 1229, they had asked for asylum from king Béla IV the Early Hungarian, who in 1238 finally offered refuge to the remainder of the Cuman people. Béla hoped to use the new subjects as auxiliary troops against the Mongol Invasion, who were already threatening Hungary, but when the Mongols blitzkreiged the country the ungrateful Early Hungarians instead decided to blame their new residents (as spies), attacking the settled Cumans and forcing them from the country, although they were invited back once the Mongol Invasion threat had receeded.

Some Cumans joined the Tatar Golden Horde khanate, others remained east and south of the Carpathian Mountains and established a country named Cumania (I still don't believe this), in Moldavian or Wallachian territory. The Cuman influence in the region of Wallachia and Moldavia was so strong that the earliest Wallachian rulers bore Cuman names (Tihomir and Bassarab I).

Using the army in FoG

• A textbook Armoured Shooty Cavalry core with masses of LH or less well protected cavalry leads you to adopt a fairly standard game plan of harassment with massed LH, and a well timed heavy cavalry punch to break through weak points in the enemy line. Only one choice of terrain - steppes - means you should go for the IC to give you a +4 on initiative and make sure you can play on your favoured open terrain.
• The limited infantry contingent is likely to prove more of a liabililty than a benefit, although 6 4-point LH might allow you to sneak in a cheap unit to boost your break point somewhat if the 40-point LH blocks dont add up to 800 or 900.

UK Tournament Results with this army

Useful Links

User-contributed links about this army:

• The Cuman Codex History page
• Cuman Migration on Romanian History site
• DBA Overview from fanaticus potted history
• Cumans in the Encyclopedia of the Ukraine

Cuman and Hungarian Soldiers in the Saint Ladislaus legend including:

• . Mural in the Székelyderzs (Dârjiu) Unitarian Church, Romania
• . larger image of the left.* . larger image of the centre.* . larger image of the right.* . larger image of the far right.
• The Saint Ladislaus legend in the Képes Krónika
• The Saint Ladislaus legend in the Fresco of the Catholic church of Gelence (Ghelinïa), Románia
• . detail of left (2.6MB)
• . detail of centre left
• . detail of centre right
• . detail of right
• The Saint Ladislaus legend in the Fresco of the Tereske church, northern Hungary
• . larger image
• The Saint Ladislaus legend in the Fresco of the Türje church, western Hungary
• . larger image
• The Saint Ladislaus legend in the Fresco of the Velka Lomnica church
• . larger image
• The Saint Ladislaus legend in the Fresco of the Bibarcfalva (Biborteni) church, Romania
• The Saint Ladislaus legend in the Anjou Legendarium, Vatican Library
• The Saint Ladislaus legend in the Church of Rimavska Bana (Rimabánya), Slovakia
• . detail of the girl and St Ladislaus
• . detail of the Cumans
• The Saint Ladislaus legend in the Church of Sepsikilyén, Transylvania
• . large image of the left
• . large image of the centre
• . large image of the right
• The Saint Ladislaus legend in the Unitarian Church of Homoródkarácsonyfalva / Craeciunel / Krötschendorf, Romania
• . large image of the left
• . large image of the right
• The Saint Ladislaus legend in the Church of Bántornya, Slovenia
• The Saint Ladislaus legend in the Church of Maksa, Romania
• The Saint Ladislaus legend in the Chronicle of Johannes de Thurocz (Thuróczy János), 1488
• . a larger image

Allies

• Alan, Later : Dates: Any Swords and Scimitars page 23 : Can be fielded just as lots of Bw/Sw LH, with optional Armoured Cv (with Bw or Lance) to give it an edge. 1 unit of armoured lancers or shooty cavalry might be worth adding, as it gives you a possibility of fielding 22 armoured cavalry rather than just 16 in the Cuman list. Having one or 2 units of LH allied as well would do no lasting harm, giving you a slightly cheaper general to boot.

15mm Manufacturers supplying figures for this army

Realistically you may well be looking at using Gothic/Avar and/or Magyar and even Turkish mounted figures for this army, possibly supplemented by Skythian type horse archers. There are plenty of manufacturers with such ranges. Do also check Byzantine ranges, as Cumans appear as allied troops to Byzantines and so may be listed there also
You can see some of the figures in the Pecheneg Photo Gallery also on this site

• Essex Miniatures Slavs, Goths & Turks, as well as Cumans liste din a Crusader range
• Donnington Slavs & Goths & Turks
• Museum Miniatures Some of the mounted asiatics may be OK, but are a bit Arab-ish
• Gladiator Miniatures by Fighting 15's (Previously Black Hat) Dark ages range for Eastern Europe are good - some Cuman figures
• Old Glory 15's, Slavic range, Asiastic Horse Archer Army range
• Magister Militum - Goths, dark Ages
• Minifigs - Dark age goths and some Cumans in Byzantine ranges
• Irregular Miniatures Dark Ages ranges, some Pecheneg figures
• Lancashire Games - Goths, Sarmatians
• Tin Soldier - Slavic Range
• Vexilia Eastern European medievals, some of which are Black Hat figures.
• Isarus - sold by 15mm.co.uk Gothic & Hunnic ranges
• Outpost Wargame Services - Avars & Slavs
• Khurasan Miniatures - Avars
• Viking Forge Sarmatians
• Battle Line Miniatures - Sarmatians, Goths
• 50 Paces.com - Sarmatians, Slavs

Core Troops

Which troops are absolutely needed for this army, and what are your thoughts on how to organise, paint and buy them.

Army Lists

Sample army lists for this army

Name of Army / Date

• Using asterisks inthe edit mode creates a bulleted list in the actual site
• This is a lot easier to do than easier than setting up tables
• For FoG I suggest listing your army in order or march
• with troop desctiptions on each line, for example
• 4 HF Armoured Average Drilled Impact Foot Swordsmen
• 8 LG Undrilled Unarmoured Poor Bowen
• Dont forget to include your Generals !!!

Include any notes you want here, including comments on how to use - or play against - the army.

Remember to leave a line before you copy the above section as a template for your own list

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