Loading...
 
Page actions
Print

Khwariziman

Khwarazmian

Navigation - HomePage - The Rise of Rome - Storm of Arrows - Immortal Fire - Legions Triumphant - Swords and Scimitars - Eternal Empire - Decline and Fall - Wolves from The Sea - Swifter Than Eagles

Historical Overview Section

Khwarezm covers a series of states on the Amu Darya river delta of the former Aral Sea, in Greater Iran (now modern Uzbekistan), extending across the Ust-Urt plateau and possibly as far west as the eastern shores of the northern Caspian Sea. Their neighbours to the south were the Khurasanian Dynastiess, to the north the Early Alans, to the southeast Kangju and Sogdian Transoxiana, and on the northeast with the Hunnic tribes of Transoxiana.

Khwarezm was a province of the Ghaznavid Empire from 992 to 1041, but in1077 the governorship of the province, which now belonged to the Seljuk Turks fell into the hands of a former Turkic slave of the Seljuq sultan allowing them to throw off Abbasid Arab control and found the Khwarezmid Empire which by the early 13th century ruled over all of Persia under the Shah Allah al-Din Muhammad II. Around 1141 Yelü Dashi took control of Khwarezm, making it part of the Kara-Khitan Khanate. Then from 1218 to 1220 Genghis Khan and his Mongols launched the invasion of Central Asia and destroyed the Khwarezmid Empire, leaving the then Sultan to flee to India, although the fast-moving Mongols caught up with him before he got there and defeated him and his army at the Battle of Indus. The Sultan escaped and sought asylum in the Sultanate of Delhi, but this was turned down as delhi was indebted to the Abbasid Arab Caliphate, who were still somewhat narked that the secession of the Khwarazm empire from their own sphere of influence. The Mongol control over his homeland was however light, and the Sultan was able to return to Persia, gather an army and reestablish his kingdom - but spent the rest of his days struggling against Mongols, pretenders to the throne and the Seljuk Turks of Rum. He lost his power over Persia in a battle against the Mongols in the Alborz Mountains and fled to the Caucasus and captured Azerbaijan in 1225, setting up his capital at Tabriz. In 1226 he attacked the Georgian kingdom and sacked Tbilisi. Following on through the Armenian highlands he clashed with the Ayyubid Egyptians, forcing them into an alliance with the Seljuk Turk Sultanate of Rûm. After many more scrapes, he was murdered in 1231 by an assassin hired by the Seljuks or possibly by Kurdish highwaymen.

Further remnants of the army raided south into Seljuk lands in Syria for the next several years, calling themselves the Khwarezmiyyas and were hired as mercenaries by one faction among the Ayyubids in a civil war. They then invaded Christian-held Jerusalem in 1244, triggering a call from Europe for the Seventh Crusade, but the phone lines were busy and as it turned out, no-one pitched up and the Crusaders would never again be successful in retaking Jerusalem. After taking Jerusalem, the Khwarezmian forces continued south, and on October 17 fought on the side of the Egyptians at the Battle of Harbiyah, northeast of Gaza, killing the remains of the Christian army there, some 1,200 knights. It was the largest battle since the Battle of the Horns of Hattin in 1187. The remains of the Muslim Khwarezmians served in Egypt as Mamluk mercenaries until they were finally beaten by Mansur Ibrahim some years later.

Using the army in FoG

  • Like other shooty cavalry armies, your battle plan is usually to stake out as much ground as possible to block enemy Second Moves, at least in some sectors, and leave ample manoeuvre room behind your lines. Getting first move is very helpful so losing the PBI roll is preferred by some players, although your tough Cv may be willing to face the enemy in close combat, so its therefore less critical to keep lots of manoeuvre room to the rear.
  • Sometimes you are lucky and the enemy deploys with a hanging flank you can readily outwing and envelop, or a good flank march opportunity presents itself, but often the terrain and enemy dispositions limit you to a frontal approach of disrupting, loosening and disjointing the enemy line of battle with shooting, threats, and uncontrolled enemy charges in order to expose gaps, flanks and other weak spots you then exploit with concentrated shooting or timely charges
  • Destroy or flee enemy Skirmishers, draw their mounted and aggressive foot away from their other troops by skirmishing - he will have to charge shooters to reduce their effect - pick off isolated detachments, and provoke charges where possible. Work around his flank and hunt his BG count filler such as Mobs and LF.
  • Ultimately your cavalry will need to be the ones to win the battle for you by running down your opponents - remember this and don;t expect your LH to do all the work in eroding enemy morale and competence to breaking point.
  • One common mistake with all Shooty cavalry is to take advantage of the possibility evade too often - superior armoured cavalry swordsmen are still very potent combat troops against most enemies, and it is often better to advance in 2 ranks (inflicting more shooting as a result) and take on any enemies in hand to hand combat.
  • The time to commit is once an enemy has gone disrupted, or if they have lost bases - waiting and skirmishing in the hope they go fragmented may well be gilding the lilly.

UK Tournament Results with this army

User-contributed links about this army:

Allies

Put information on allied contingents here - including recommendations on which to use, and why.

15mm Manufacturers supplying figures for this army

You can see some of the figures in the Ancients Photo Gallery also on this site. This listing only covers "arabic" figures - Turk/Hunninc/Mongol figures are omitted as nearly everyone does some of them.

Image Image Image Image


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

Alternative Lists & Historical Interpretations

((Alternative <Insert name of Army Here>))

eBay Listings

UK Bookstore


Created by admin. Last Modification: Tuesday 12 of November, 2019 19:00:13 GMT by admin. (Version 11)
Comments
Page Loads for The Wiki
View Traffic Stats for the Wiki

The graphical theme on this wiki is a clumsily tweaked version of the very nice Faulkner theme from Demus Design. The good bits come from them, anything iffy comes from madaxeman.com

Some of the material on this site comes from Wikipedia. It is reproduced in both edited and unedited forms under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

Wikipedia Affiliate Button

Any content contributed to this site is also provided under the terms of this same license, and by providing content you are both agreeing to these terms and confirming that any content you provide is not covered by any other copyright or restriction. If you are an author or owner of content which you believe is being reproduced on this site without authorisation or in breach of existing copyright please contact the webmaster. As this site is open for public editing, www.madaxeman.com takes no responsibility for the accuracy of content herein.

About This Site & Privacy Information

Google Search