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Historical Overview Section

The Tibetans from the 7th Century to 1065 AD.
From the 7th to the 11th century a series of emperors ruled Tibet. Throughout the centuries the empire grew and in the time of the emperor Songtsan Gampo (a Jedi from the sub-par 2nd film in the Star Wars series) Chinese records mention envoys being sent between the empires, and in 635-36 an attack on Tibet by the Chinese Emperor. After a Tibetan campaign against China in 635-6, the Western Wei to early Tang Chinese emperor agreed (only because of the threat of force, according to Tibetan sources) a truce and provided a Chinese princess to Emperor Songtsan Gampo.

Between 665-670 the Khotan was defeated by the Tibetans, and a long string of conflicts ensued with the Western Wei to early Tang Chinese Tang Dynasty. In the spring of 670, Tibet attacked the remaining Chinese territories in the western Tarim Basin. With troops from Khotan they conquered Aksu, upon which the Chinese abandoned the region, ending two decades of Chinese control. They thus gained control over all of the Chinese Four Garrisons of Anxi in the Tarim Basin in 670 and held them until 692, when the Chinese finally managed to regain these territories. In 702 China and Tibet concluded peace which lasted only until the Abbasid Arab Caliphate and Göktürks became increasingly prominent during 710-720. The Tibetans were allied with both. Tibet and the Western Wei to early Tang Chinese Tang Dynasty fought on and off in the late 720s. At first Tibet (with Göktürk allies) had the upper hand, but then they started losing battles. After a rebellion in southern China and a major Tibetan victory in 730, the Tibetans and Göktürks sued for peace.

In 734 the Tibetans married their royal line to the Göktürk Qaghan. The Western Wei to early Tang Chinese allied with the Abbasid Arab Caliphate to attack the Göktürks. After victory and peace with the Göktürks, the Chinese attacked the Tibetans, but whilst the Tibetans suffered several defeats in the east, the Göktürk empire collapsed from internal strife. By 750 the Tibetans had lost almost all of their central Asian possessions to the Chinese. However, after Gao Xianzhi's defeat by the Caliphate and Later Horse Nomad Qarluqs at the Battle of Talas (751), Chinese influence decreased rapidly and Tibetan influence began to increase again. Tibet conquered large sections of northern India from the Later Hindu North Indians and during this time.

In 755 Late Tang to Five Dynasties China had been greatly weakened by the An Shi Rebellion, which would last until 763. In contrast Tibet was resurgent across Central Asia and they attacked into the territory of the Tang emperors, reaching the Chinese capital Chang'an (modern Xian) in late 763 however the Later Horse Nomad Uyghurs, nominal allies of the Tang emperors, continued to make difficulties along Tibet's Northern border and toward the end of this king's reign Uyghur victories in the North caused the Tibetans to lose a number of their allies in the Southeast.

At the beginning of the 9th Century there was a protracted war with the Abbasid Arab Caliphate, in which the Tibetans captured a number of Caliphate troops and pressed them into service on the eastern frontier. Tibetans were active as far west as Samarkand and Kabul but Abbasid Arab Caliphate forces began to gain the upper hand, and the Tibetan governor of Kabul submitted to the Caliphate and became a Muslim about 812 or 815. The Caliphate then struck east from Kashmir, but were held off by the Tibetans. In the meantime, the Later Horse Nomad Uyghur Khaganate attacked Tibet from the northeast. Strife between the Uyghurs and Tibetans continued for some time

This was the apogee of the empire, and under the reign of the emperor Ralpacan, in the opening years of the ninth century, its influence extended as far south as Bengal and as far north as Mongolia. Upon the death of Emperor Langdarma around the end of the 9th Century a succession dispute caused civil war which effectively ended centralized Tibetan administration until 1247

Using the army in FoG

  • Wall of Cataphracts!
  • The fortified camp has been clarified as a typographical error - so is not compulsary
  • The army is small, so it doesn't need a lot of generals or a huge command radius because of that - 3xTC may do.
  • The LF are filler and have little use except to stand in front of the cats to stop them having to charge skirmishers.
  • The LH stay close to the cats so something may be caught when they charge alongside the cats.
  • The armd spear can look after themselves and fill a lot of empty table one rank deep. They should go down first, then can quickly move out of the way.
  • The Abbasids can protect the flanks.
  • Put lots of difficult terrain down against mounted armies.
  • Against lots of LH on steppes the cats can go 1 deep and quickly change formation, being drilled.
  • Never forget that the cats dismount as Off Sp if you are facing knights. Ooooh, heavily armoured offensive spear. Pikes are the only thing that the cats are minus against if they choose their best mounted/dismounted option. And that only at impact.
  • Put all the generals in combat.
  • Nothing moves fast enough after routing to get far enough from the enemy to be rallied, so don't bother.
  • Since the Cats are drilled it would be a waste in 6's, so keep them in 4's

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.

Painting and Collecting the Army

  • Paint schemes, insignia, shield designs? Put it here.

15mm Manufacturers supplying figures for this army

This is just people with Tibetan Cavalry ranges - lots of generic cataphracts and Mongol figures might also work. A listing of who supplies what can be found in my 15mm Suppliers directory You can see some of the figures in the Ancients Photo Gallery also on this site

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Army Lists

Sample army lists for this army
Name of Army / Date
Tibetan and Khazar, with one IC and one Allied General

  • Tibetan 1st Cataphracts CT Heavily Armoured Superior Drilled - Lancer Swordsmen - 4
  • Tibetan 2nd Cataphracts CT Heavily Armoured Superior Drilled - Lancer Swordsmen - 4
  • Tibetan 3rd Cataphracts CT Heavily Armoured Superior Drilled - Lancer Swordsmen - 4
  • ---- All catas dismount as HF Heavily Armoured Superior Drilled - Offensive Spearmen - -

  • Tibetan Archers MF Protected Average Drilled Bow - - 6
  • Tibetan 5th Cataphracts CT Heavily Armoured Superior Drilled - Lancer Swordsmen - 4
  • Tibetan 4th Catapracts CT Heavily Armoured Superior Drilled - Lancer Swordsmen - 4

  • Allied Khazar W Turkish Nobles CV Protected Superior Undrilled Bow Swordsmen - 4
  • Tibetan 6th Cataphracts CT Heavily Armoured Superior Drilled - Lancer Swordsmen - 4
  • Allied Khazar W Turkish Nobles CV Armoured Superior Undrilled Bow Swordsmen - 4
  • - ALL Khazar nobles dismount as HF Armoured Superior Undrilled - Offensive Spearmen - -
  • Allied Khazar W Turkish Lhorse LH Unprotected Average Undrilled Bow Swordsmen - 4


An army from Phil

  • 3xTC
  • Camp
  • 5x4 Cats
  • 2x4 undrilled superior abbasids
  • 1x6 LF bow
  • 1x4 LH Bw Sw
  • 1x8 Armd Def Sp


Uber 1 dimensional list 795 points

  • FC
  • TC x 3
  • 8 BG each of 4 Cataphracts, Heavily Armoured, Superior Drilled, Lancers/Swordsmen


Add your list here

  • 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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