Dark ages snow battle - Siege of Constantinople 717

[mikos khan]

A few weeks back I decided to do a skirmish game related to a topic that has long fascinated me - The 2nd Siege of Constantinople in 717-718.  This particular game was a fight between an Arab foraging party and a force of Bulgars during the winter of 717.  The objective was for the Arabs to enter on one board edge and exit the opposite side of the table with most of their baggage train intact and obviously the objective for the Bulgars was to stop them.  At first everything went well for the Arabs as their camel troops drove off a couple of units of Bulgar horse archers and the baggage train was able to advance unhindered.  However, things changed pretty quickly when the Bulgar heavy cavalry got into the game and was able to destroy the Arabs only heavy cavalry unit and the horse archers were able to regroup and return to the fray.  At this point it became obvious how the game was going to turn out and the Arabs conceded the game.     

[mikos khan]

The Arabs enter the board

[mikos khan]

Arab camelry

[mikos khan]

The Bulgars arrive

[mikos khan]

The final clash

[Codsticker]

Great looking game; what rules did you use?

[fred]

A very atmospheric table!

I’m thinking the poor camels would not have liked the snow very much.

Where are the ice pools from, they are very nice?

[James Morris]

Love this!  Unique and visually impressive.

[Sunjester]

Nice looking table and an unusual subject, well done. i also would be very interested in where the icy ponds came from.

[leadfool]

the rules we used were Lion Rampant, with the modification that a units failure to move does not stop the entire side from failing to move.

The ponds were a California Game convention flea market purchase.  They were "Frostgrave" terrain.

Maybe the Camels were Bactrian camels, that are used to the cold. 

The battle was a near run thing with the Arabs claiming victory, and the Byzantines (NAITM) thinking not enough of either force died.   

NAITM is Not Appearing in This Movie. 

[Little Odo]

Great looking table and miniatures.

With regards the camels, I saw a documentary just the other day about camels in the Ice Age - they are well adapted/suited to cold as well as hot climes - their hump(s) store energy for when food is scarce, they have very thick, furry hides to protect from sun or cold, and their feet are ideally suited for walking on snow or sand.

[anevilgiraffe]

those frozen ponds are superb...

[KD47]

WOW.   Great looking game and minis!   The terrain is top notch.  The stand of leafless winter birch trees really does it for me.   You guys probably had a great time with this one.

[leadfool]

The leafless birch trees were a "Micheals" after Christmas decoration sale. 

[Stryder]

Great looking game! Looks like it was fun.