Surun!!!
Another two team campaign ideated to be played and finished in a single session. This time late Turkish armies will face the many enemies that tried to stop their expansion and plunders.
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Turkic expansion began in the 6th century. The Gok Turks
under the leadership of Bumin Khan and his sons they established the first
known Turkic empire around 546, taking the place of the earlier Hsiung Nu
as the main power in the region. They were the first Turkic tribe to use
the name "Türk" as a political name. The empire was split into a western
and an eastern part around 600, merged again 680, and finally declined
after 734.
Following the Gok Turk emipre, Turkic tribes quickly spread westward across all of Central Asia and by the 10th century most of Central Asia was settled by Turkic tribes. After the Gok demise, the Turgesh, a Turkic tribal confederation emerged from the ruins of the Western Turkic Kaganate. In time, the Turgesh, themselves a branch of the greater Tardush subdivision of the On Okh (Onoq, Ten Arrows) or Western Turks, managed to build up a considerable if short-lived Kaganate (699-766). The east branch was succeded by the Turkic speaking Uighur, one of many distinct cultural groups brought together by the trade of the Silk Route at Turfan, which was then ruled by China's Tang Dynasty. The Uyghurs founded a large Khanate, that lasted until the Mongol Invasions The last dominant power in Central Asian before the Mongol conquest, was the Qarakhanid confederation, that, weakend by internal strifes, was reduced by Seljuqs to vassal state and later crushed by Mongols. The Mongol invasion ended the Turk domination in Central Asia. |
The teams will play individual games, each one representing a different period of Turk expansionusm.
The Turk armies will be selected from III/11 list, with special options picked no more than once by the turkish team. This means there will be just one Turgesh or Uighur army, as example.
The turkish enemies will pick one of the following nations, with the army using the 550-1212 AD time span options:
II/38 Hsiung Nu
II/ 61 Hsien Pi
II/69 Sassanid
II/79 (only northern dynasties)
II/80 (only Chionites)
III/8 Central Asian city states
III/13 Avar
III/14 Early Bulgar
III/15 Tibetan
III/16 Khazar
III/20 Sui and Tang Chinese
III/31 Ummayad Arab
III/32 Volga Bulgar
III/37 Abbasid Arab
III/39 Late Tang Chinese
III/42 Sha To Turkish
III/43 Khurasanian
III/44 Tribal Mongolian
III/56 Pecheneg
III/64 Ghaznavid
III/67 Hsi Hsia
III/74 Seljuq
III/80 Cuman
IV/8 Ghurid
IV/15 Qara Khitan
IV/24 Khwariziam
IV/35 Mongol Conquest (not in China)
The team that will score more points will win the war. The losing team must pay a drink to the winners
Report
On the fateful day we met, there were four battles:
Uighurs vs Tribal Mongolian
As Uighur defender I tried to set up some difficult going to force a frontal attritional combat between my infantry and the enemy cavalry. With a bare left wing, I deployed using a corps echelon to push my infantry all over the open going combat line. My opponent refused this confrontation and tried to pierce my army from the opposite side, risking a deployment in difficult going moving second
Uighur LhF advanced up to the enclosed field edge to trap inside the enemy ILhS horde, to slow it and give time to reinforcement to arrive. Tribal Mongolian swarmed around my advanced line.
Uighur LhF are engulfed and destroyed, but killed a fair number of enemies and let Tibetan, BwI and more Uighur mounted to arrive and cage the enemy army
Losses were very high for both armies. Uighur right corps was disheartened and then broken. Same fate for the Tibetan allied corps. The Tribal Mongolian lost the lefternmost command and the ME transmission disheartened the other two Mongol commands
Disheartened penalties doomed the Tribal Mongolian army, here in its last stand: 17-8 for the Uighur. The gamble of deployment in the difficult almost paid off.
Qarakhanids vs Mongol Conquest
On a bare battlefield, Mongol conquest smaller army attacked outflanking the turks
The Qarakhanid reaction stopped the manouver on the left flank
On the left both enemy corps fighting each other disintegrated.
Both the armies where near th breaking point, the balance being broken by the mongol guard cavalry n the center. Turks lost 5-20
Central Asian Turks vs Chionites
The Turks deployed on a couple of gentle hills, with the Chionite horde offset and massed on the right
The Turks tried to hold the deep enemy formation while a flying column run behind the hunnic army
The Hunnic attacked hard all over the front, sending a corps back to deal with the enemy threat in the rear. The battle was very bloody, ending with the Turks losing 9-16
Uighur vs Ummayad Arab
The battlefield was full of difficult going leaving just the left flank open enough to fight the battle.
The Arab attacked on the open flank using better Cv and the Tibetan ally
The Uighur infantry held well the Arab attacks, but the Turk wings were overwhelmed: 14-11 to the Ummayad
The final score was 58-42 for the turk enemies. Four hotly fought and balanced games. Combat between steppe armies is always a close affair