Battle Report #9: Arab Raid and Byzantine Ambush
This is an old favourite scenario. It is not balanced in points and
involves mostly Byzantine allied and thematic troops springing a trap against a
strong 10th c. Arab recon force weighed down with hostages and loot.
The setting was most impressive. As the Arab columns, advancing through
the deep gorge, were coming up to the dry wadi, they were still apprehensive of
the towering hills to their right and the rocky outcrops to their left that
became smoother as they approached the exit of the gorge.
Leading the column were a few hundred Bedouin
scouts on camels, followed by camel-mounted infantry (two units of 1500 men
each). Behind them rode their emir with his 1000-strong bodyguard cavalry. The
van was flanked by a few light javelinmen and slingers on both sides. In the
middle of the column rode the Arab commander of the expedition and his own
retinue of 1000 heavy horsemen. They, in turn were flanked by over 2000 light
horse lancers on both sides and a few more light armed troops. Behind them came
a strong force of mounted foot bowmen (1500) and the rearguard, which included
more cavalry (1000), light horse lancers (1000), the booty, 1500 mounted bowmen
and a few more javelinmen.
The column stretched for quite a way and only
needed to cross the bridge over the steep wadi to be safe. Little did they know
that the troops of the region, under the Protonotarios of the Armeniakon theme,
had already raided and destroyed the local Arab garrison and were waiting in
ambush. The Byzantine force was small and consisted of some 2500 light archers,
crossbowmen and slingers, two thematic cavalry tagmata of 1000 men
(ill-equipped), one 700-strong band of Frankish mercenaries under their own
leader, two large units of -not exceptional- Asian light horse and a small 500-strong force of Imperial
Marines who had lost their ships a few weeks before.
The problem of the Byzantines was that they
lacked a coherent plan and that they had mistimed their crossing of the wadi
bridge with their heavier troops until it was almost too late.
The first indication the Arabs had that something was amiss, just as the
column was exiting the gorge, came when Asian light horsemen appeared over the
crest of the hills to their right shooting very rapidly at the bewildered camel
scouts in front. They were joined moments later by crossbowmen appearing near
the rear of the column and by slingers near the middle. It was a trap!
The Arab commander
in front had little experience and was on his first real mission away from his
uncle (which is why he had failed to reconnoitre this last pass in the first
place). The camelmen did not last long and their camels were mostly shot under
them before they had a chance to react. The only troops to move effectively
were the flank guards, brave Kurdish javelinmen, who immediately attacked the
enemy slingers and crossbowmen.
The Arabs had only begun to settle down from
their surprise when more enemy archers and slingers appeared to the left this
time. They could see what was happening, but their C-in-C had no idea what to
do. Instead of moving forward at full speed he stopped the column and sent all
light troops to chase off the enemy, left and right. His heavy infantry did
nothing but sit behind its shields and suffer the odd casualty.
The rearguard commander, the most experienced, was very anxious about
the halt and wanted to gallop ahead to secure the passage, but the entire
column was in mayhem. The bowmen, just in front of the rearguard, were
deploying to shoot at the infidels to the right, which they did successfully
after a short exchange of shooting. This allowed the light javelinmen to scale
the steep cliffs and chase the few Rumi survivors, but at some cost to
themselves. The light cavalry lancers further ahead also charged the Asian
horse archers over the lower hills near the wadi and the C-in-C could see with
satisfaction that they managed to scatter most of them. The situation on the
right seemed to be under control when, all of a sudden, the victorious light
horse lancers were seen fighting against more opposition. Could they have come
up against heavier enemy forces?
On the left, the situation was not as promising and the enemy archers
and slingers were taking their toll of the foot below forcing the Arab C-in-C
in the centre to order a limited attack with his heavy cavalry. It was a bad
idea. Half measures cannot succeed and despite his capturing over 300 of the
enemy with this unsupported attack, he lost almost half his bodyguard in the
process. Worse still, the remnants with himself at their front, went off raging
in pursuit and disappeared over the hills. The
centre of the column simply froze in place unable to move. Only the
bowmen proved effective by moving ahead to cover the gap left by the departing
horsemen.
The rearguard, without much knowledge of what was happening further
ahead suddenly saw with horror a small force (about 700-strong) of enemy horse
archers coming their way from behind the hills to their right. The commander
gathered his bodyguard and the light Bedouin lancers and moved off to meet them
before they could attack the precious baggage. The infantry bowmen were still a
long way behind and by the time they assembled the mounted force had to charge
unsupported. Fortunately, their opponents’ shooting left a lot to be desired.
They charged over and over against the evading horse archers and the third time
success! They caught them and sent them fleeing towards the bridge, behind the
hills. No more threat from that quarter.
Meanwhile, on the hills in the centre-right, the situation was becoming
critical. The Arab light horse was nowhere in sight and its place had been
taken by what appeared to be enemy heavy horse, although it did not appear to
be moving in any threatening way. In the gorge below, the inexperienced leader
of the vanguard had finally begun to move, but was strangely deploying his
heavy infantry in a blocking position across the gorge. A few minutes later the
reason became apparent to all: the bridge was being crossed by what appeared to
be heavy horsemen of the western sort. They appeared well-mounted and their
equipment seemed first rate. Could they be the feared Franks of the west? What
was worse, enemy mounted troops appeared to have crossed the wadi further to
the left, which meant they must have found a crossing.
Having cleared the right from the enemy horse archers the rearguard
commander thought he had finally prevailed, but at that moment, the Arab C-in-C
appeared over the hill to their left pursued by enemy light horsemen! Their
position was rapidly becoming precarious. The Frankish heavy horsemen up front
had completely avoided the blocking force of infantry, which were being assaulted
by Rumi cavalry instead, and were coming directly towards the rearguard through
the lower hills on their right. As an experienced leader he decided that it was
time to support the rest of the column and stop protecting the loot so he
ordered an all out charge with his cavalry against the oncoming Franks. By the
time his lancers approached their foes it became painfully apparent that there
were no more friendlies on their flanks and their charge was met by more enemy
horse archers, light crossbowmen -survivors of earlier engagements- and the
Franks themselves. Both the heavy horse and the light lancers fought well,
pushing the Franks back, but the enemy was uphill and had the advantage of
missile power. Seeing they would be overwhelmed, the Arabs turned in order and
broke off the action. They were lucky to have escaped with their lives.
Meanwhile, the vanguard infantry was holding its own in the gorge, until
a Rumi arrow hit their inexperienced commander and brought him down from his
horse. His depleted bodyguard just broke and galloped in panic towards the
rear. This proved to be the breaking point and all collapsed. Of the vanguard
the only ones to have put up a fight were the heroic infantry who, after
successfully stopping the Rumi cavalry, were eventually captured and were
executed the following day. In the centre, the numerous bowmen were completely
bewildered seeing a friendly unit charging one moment, an enemy one the next.
They also mounted up and took to the rear.
The rearguard commander seeing the disaster
ordered a full withdrawal. The survivors took what loot they could carry and
ran, the enemy obviously being more concerned with rounding up prisoners.
The Byzantines having lost over 800 light infantrymen and over 500 cavalrymen
of all sorts, had received a bloody nose and had only succeeded because they
had been facing mostly inexperienced Arab leaders. What was worse, the Frankish
mercenaries without distinguishing themselves, had then demanded a very large
cut from the loot.
Nevertheless, the losses on the Arab side were
simply devastating. They had lost 1500 top quality heavy infantry, over 1000
devoted bodyguard cavalry, some 1000 light Bedouin lancers and more than 500
light javelinmen.
Some of them had still gotten away with some of
the loot though…