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Huns

Historical Overview Section

The Huns first appeared in Europe in the 4th century, pitching up just to the north of the Black Sea around 370. They soon got to work causing trouble, and crossed the Volga to attacked Early Alans, who were soon subjugated. The combined Hunnic/Alan armies then started harassing the poor Ostrogothic settlements of the area, leading the Ostrogothic king to commit suicide and leave the problem to his great-nephew, Vithimiris. This was a bad deal, as he was killed during a battle against the Alans and Huns in 376, and the outcome was the subjugation of most of the Ostrogoths. With the remaining Ostrogoths on the run, the Huns next had a punt at the territory of the Visigoths under Athanaric who tried to head them off at the pass so to speak, sending an expeditionary force beyond the Dniester which the Huns avoided and attacked Athanaric directly. The Goths then retreated into the Carpathians where they had grandstand seats as in 395 the Huns began their first large scale assault on the East Roman Empire.

Huns attacked in Thrace, overran Armenia, and pillaged Cappadocia. They entered parts of Syria, threatened Antioch, and swarmed through the province of Euphratesia. Emperor Theodosius left his armies in the West so the Huns stood unopposed until the end of 398 when a force composed of Dominate Romans and Early Visigothic or Vandal? Goths succeeded in restoring peace.

During their momentary diversion from the Eastern half of the Roman Empire, the Huns moved further west, and Radagaisus had a holiday in Italy at the end of 405. There the Huns were up for any sort of rumble, and many were employed as mercenaries by both East and Western Dominate Romans and by the Goths. Uldin, the first Hun known by name headed a group of Huns and Early Alans fighting against Radagaisus in defense of Italy! But even so, the Hunnic Empire now stretched from the steppes of Central Asia into modern Germany, and from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea, and given this was their job, the Eastern Dominate Romans began to feel the heat, which was turned up in 408 by Uldin's Huns when they crossed the Danube and captured a fortress in Moesia. Uldin then proceeded to ravage Thrace, and refused to be bought off cheaply although his subordinates were more easily bribed and many deserted.

Attila (406 – 453), also known as Attila the Hun, was leader (Khagan) of the Huns from 434 until his death in 453. He and his brother were co-rulers, and they together were two busy chaps, and invaded the Balkans twice, marched through Gaul as far as Orleans before being defeated at the Battle of Chalons. On a quiet afternoon they also invaded the Persian Empire, but a defeat in Armenia by the Sassanid Persians caused the brothers to give up on this attempt, and go back to Europe, where instead they broke a peace treaty signed with Rome by accidentally crossing the Danube at the head of a vast army, laying waste to many Illyrian cities and forts. Meanwhile the Early Visigothic or Vandal? Vandals under Geiseric captured the Roman province of Africa in 440 and the Sassanid Persian Shah Yazdegerd II invaded Armenia in 441. As the Romans struggled to deal with this war on two fronts, they stripping the Balkan defenses, and so Attila, seeing a clear path through Illyria into the Balkans, gave them a third front in 441. The Hunnish army took Belgrade and Sirmium before halting for a rest in 442, buying time for the Foederate Romans to tee up an opposing army. The Huns got going again in 443, in a whirlwind campaign of battles and sieges taking Sofia, Plovdiv and Arcadiopolis, destroying a Foederate Roman army outside Constantinople but being stopped by the double walls of the Eastern capital. A Roman second army was defeated near Callipolis (modern Gallipoli) and Emperor Theodosius was forced to buy off Atilla with a huge wedge of cash.

After Atilla's brother met with an unexpected and very, very unfortuate accident Atilla ended up in sole control of the Khaganate. In 447 he rode south into the Eastern Roman empire through Moesia, and the Foederate Roman army under the Gothic magister militum Arnegisclus met him in the Battle of the Utus and was defeated, though not without inflicting heavy losses. The Huns were left unopposed and rampaged through the Balkans as far as Thermopylae. In 450 Attila conidered attackking the powerful Later Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse, making an alliance with (Western) Emperor Valentinian III in order to do so, but a horrible mix-up with a ring and a pretty lady saw him accidentally come to be promised half the Western Roman Empire, which of course the Western Emperor wasn't too keen on. Attila therefore gathered his vassals—Gepids, Ostrogoths, Rugians, Scirians, Heruls, Thuringians, Alans, Burgundians, among others - and began his march west ready for a rumble like no other.

The de-factor Western Emperor Aëtius moved to oppose Attila, gathering troops from among the Early Frankish Franks and Burgundians, and the Celts, and even the Later Visigothic Kings decided that Atilla was such a threat that they were best off allied with the Romans. The combined armies met near Catalaunum (modern Châlons-en-Champagne). The two armies clashed in the Battle of Chalons, whose outcome is commonly considered to be a Pyrrhic victory for the Visigothic-Roman alliance. Theodoric was killed in the fighting and Aëtius failed to press his advantage, according to Edward Gibbon and Edward Creasy because he feared the consequences of an overwhelming Visogothic triumph as much as he did a defeat. From Aëtius' point of view, the best outcome was what occurred: Theodoric died, Attila was in retreat and disarray, and the Romans had the benefit of appearing victorious.

Undaunted, Attila returned to Italy in 452 to claim his half of the Empire, and his army sacked numerous cities. The Romans lacked both the balls and the strength to offer battle, but instead managed to harass and slow Attila's advance with a light force, so that when Attila finally halted at the River Po his army were suffering from a spot of tummy trouble probably caused by too much rich Italian food. After an appeal from the church, Attila decided some time at home was needed, and left Italy ... but only because he really planned to strike at Constantinople again! The Eastern Romans had been naughty and has stopped paying the huge wedges of cash from the last settlement - partly because multiple invasions by the Huns and others had left the Balkans with little to plunder, so the consequences of a punitive mission were bound to be limited.

Before he could sort the proto-Byzantines out however, Attila died in the early months of 453, as at at feast celebrating his latest marriage he suffered a severe nosebleed and choked to death in a stupor. Ooops!

Using the army in ADLG

  • Elite Medium Cavalry are actually pretty good value, and may be the only form of Medium Cavalry which are not pants
  • Using Mediums is a lot better than using too many lights, as the Mediums can at least stand and fight, and they shoot a lot more than LH too

Beating Solid Heavy Foot Armies in ADLG With Mounted Shooting

First, decide what is each side’s “theory of victory” in this match-up? If you don’t have conception or plan about how you win you probably won’t…

Huns: If you answer is something like, “run up shoot at the Romans until they break” this might work against some people but it is likely to result in a draw at best. If the answer is “ride around the Romans flank, shoot them a bit, and hope the Romans don’t react so I can flank charge…” again might work against some but still isn’t very robust.

The right answer is a combination of these. Maximize shooting to the extent you can to try and accumulate a lot of damage against the heavy foot army, effectively lowering their break point from 21 to 10-13 or so. Maneuver against one flank that appears most vulnerable and be prepared to sacrifice 3-4 MC into the front of the legions to hold them in place while 2-4 MC work to get on the flanks.

The rest of your army keeps shooting and keeps the bulk of the enemy infantry from participating in the decisive fight. You can also see why I prefer to avoid an army this light. The “heavier” your shooty cav army is the more effective it is going to be at that decisive charge – which is the game winning maneuver. An army with a hammer, like Ghaznavids with their Elite Elephants, Elite M Sw Impact, and Impetuous M Sw are nasty hammer to hit something with while HC Bow maneuver on the flank.

15mm Manufacturers supplying figures for this army

Nearly everyone has Huns in their ranges, some of which hare subsumed into generic Eastern/Eurasian steppe armies ranges. See other specific lists for allied contingents and subjects.
You can see some of the figures in the Ancients Photo Gallery also on this site

Image Image Image Image Image

Army Lists

Sample army lists for this army
Codgers 2024 Frith
110 Huns
Brilliant
2 Nobles Heavy cavalry bow Elite
4 Horsemen Medium cavalry bow Elite
5 Horsemen Light cavalry bow ------
==
Competent Included
1 Nobles Heavy cavalry bow Elite
3 Horsemen Medium cavalry bow Elite
4 Horsemen Light cavalry bow ------
==
Ordinary
4 Horsemen Light cavalry bow


Southern League 2023 R4
Competent
1 Nobles Heavy Cavalry Bow Elite
3 Horse Archers Medium Cavalry Bow Elite
2 Alans Light Cavalry Bow ------
1 Horse Archers Medium Cavalry Bow ----
2 Archers Bowmen ------
==
Brilliant
3 Horse Archers Medium Cavalry Bow Elite
1 Horse Archers Light Cavalry Bow Elite
2 Horse Archers Light Cavalry Bow ------
2 Heruls & Sciri Heavy Cavalry Impetuous ----
==
Ordinary Included
1 Nobles Heavy Cavalry Bow Elite
1 Horse Archers Medium Cavalry Bow Elite
1 Horse Archers Light Cavalry Bow Elite
1 Horse Archers Light Cavalry Bow ----

This was very much a copy fo Paul Dawsons list below, but with the addition of 2 Impetuous Herul cavalry, on the basis that I owned them and hadn't out them on table before. They also can act (in theory) as a semi-expendable bowling ball to throw into the enemy line and stop part of it advancing, creating a sort of island which an enemy will have to break formation to flow around, creating gaps and opportunities for the Huns to exploit

Paul Dawson / Roll Call 2023
Ordinary Included
1 nobles with general Heavy cavalry bow Elite
1 horse archers Medium cavalry bow Elite
1 horse archers Light cavalry bow Elite
1 horse archers Light cavalry bow ------
==
Brilliant
1 nobles with general Heavy cavalry bow Elite
3 horse archers Medium cavalry bow Elite
2 horse archers Light cavalry bow Elite
1 horse archers Medium cavalry bow ------
2 bowmen Bowmen ----
==
Competent
5 horse archers Medium cavalry bow Elite
1 horse archers Light cavalry bow Elite
2 horse archers Light cavalry bow ------

Bretagne: Winning list Roll call 2023
Fortified Camp
Strategist
2 Huns nobles + gen Heavy cavalry bow Elite
6 Huns horsemen Medium cavalry bow Elite
4 Huns horsemen Light cavalry bow Elite
==
Ordinary included
1 Huns nobles + gen Heavy cavalry bow Elite
2 Huns horsemen Medium cavalry bow Elite
2 Huns horsemen Light cavalry bow Elite
==
Ordinary Included
1 Huns horsemen + gen Light cavalry bow Elite
2 Huns horsemen Light cavalry bow Elite

List used as the basis for the pre-made army pack available for sale on the Fighting 15's website]
Strategist
2 Nobles HCv Bow Elite
2 HOrsemen Med Cv Bow Elite
4 LH Bow Elite
==
Competent
3 Horsemen Med Cv Bow Elite
2 LH Bow
==
Ordinary
3 Horsemen Med Cv Bow Elite
2 LH Bow Elite
2 Alans Med Cv Bow
(The Army Pack figures can be used for all sorts of other options!)

USTT 2018 Huns 200ap
Competent
2 Nobles HC Bw Elite
2 Horsemen MCv Bow Elite
2 Horsemen LH Bow
==
Strategist
4 Goths HI Sword Impetuous Elite
4 Non-elite Goths
4 LI Bow
==
Ordinary
1 Horsemen MCv Bow Elite
1 Horsemen LH Bow Elite
1 Horsemen MCv Bow
1 Horsemen LH Bow

Strategist
5 MCv Elite Bow
2 HC Elite Bow Nobles
4 LH Bow
==
Competent
4 Heruls HC Impetuous
2 LH Bow
==
Competent
2 LH Bow
2 MCv Elite Bow

200 points
Strategist
4 armour + does not count in 1st round Heavy swordsmen impetuous Elite
2 Light infantry bow ------
2 do not charge H I unless they are disordered Heavy cavalry impetuous ------
==
Ordinary
1 can turn and exit zone control p34 Heavy cavalry bow Elite
3 Medium cavalry bow Elite
1 P 34 as above and and turn back Light cavalry bow Elite
1 Light cavalry bow ------
==
Ordinary
1 Heavy cavalry bow Elite
3 Medium cavalry bow Elite
------- ----
1 Light cavalry bow Elite
1 Light cavalry bow ------


Hunnic
Strategist
4 Heavy swordsmen impetuous Elite
2 Light infantry bow ------
4 Heavy cavalry impetuous ------
==
Ordinary
1 Heavy cavalry bow Elite
2 Medium cavalry bow Elite
1 Light cavalry bow Elite
1 Light cavalry bow Elite
==
Ordinary
1 Heavy cavalry bow Elite
2 Medium cavalry bow Elite
1 Light cavalry bow Elite
1 Light cavalry bow Elite

200 Points
Andy's List played at Roll Call

Corps 1: Competent

  • 6 Medium Cavalry Bow Elite
  • 1 Light Cavalry Bow Elite


Corps 2: Competent

  • 6 Medium Cavalry Bow Elite
  • 1 Light Cavalry Bow Average


Corps 3: Competent

  • 2 Medium Cavalry Bow Elite
  • 4 Light Cavalry Bow Elite
  • 2 Light Cavalry Bow Average

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