DBA Armies

III/11 CENTRAL ASIAN TURKISH 550 AD - 1330 AD

This list covers Central Asian Turkish armies from the emergence of the “original” Turks until the final demise of the Turfan Uighur state. The Gok Turks (T’u-chueh to the Chinese) rebelled against the Juan-juan in 551 and established a vast empire bordering on Byzantium, Sassanid Persia and China, but this split into eastern and western khanates about 582. The western Turkish khanate broke up during a Qarluq revolt in 630, but was later re-established and fought against the Arabs in Transoxiana in the eighth century. The eastern khanate submitted to the Chinese in 630, was restored about 680 and destroyed by a Uighur revolt in 744. The Uighurs then ruled Mongolia until overthrown by the Kirghiz in 840, then created a new state at Turfan in the Tarim basin about 860. They became tributary to the Qara-Khitai in 1130, then to the Mongols in 1209 AD and finally disappeared around 1330 in the course of a dispute between the Yuan Chinese and their unassimilated Mongol rivals. Other tribes fared similarly. The Kirghiz controlled Mongolia from 840 until driven out by the Khitan in 920; and then remained in their southern Siberian homeland until they submitted to the Mongols in 1207. The Toquz Oghuz “nine tribes”, (called “Ghuzz” by the Arabs, “Ouzoi” by the Byzantines and “Torki” by the Russians) migrated into the central Asian steppe around 780 AD, chasing the Pechenegs westward. Under pressure from Kimaks and Kipchaks, some Oghuz groups led by the Seljuq clan pushed into Iran after 1000 AD (becoming known as “Turkomans”) while others moved into the south Russian steppe. The Qarakhanids “Black Khans” were a dynasty of the Qarluq that relied mainly on ghulam slave cavalry. They conquered Transoxiana from the Samanid Khurasanians in 999 and became vassals of the Qara-Khitai in 1130. Contemporary depictions of all these peoples show lamellar-armoured cavalry with bow, sword and slung shield, of whom some also have lances and/or barded horses. References: Armies of the Dark Ages 1. Heath, Slingshot 249, The Year of the Horsetails R.F. Tapsell (novel).

III/11a — Turfan Uighur Army 860 AD - 1330 AD

List: 1 x General (Cv), 2 x noble cavalry (Cv or LH), 3 x horse archers (LH), 3 x archers (3Bw or Ps), 3 x spearmen (Sp)
Terrain: Steppe
Aggression: 3
Enemies:
Allies: III/11b or III/15

III/11b — Other Turkish Armies 550 AD - 1330 AD

List: 1 x General (Cv), 2 x noble or ghulam cavalry (Cv), 6 x horse archers (LH), 1 x archers on Bactrian (2-hump) camels (Mtd-3Bw) or foot archers (3Bw or Ps) or horse archers (LH), 2 x levy spearmen (7Hd) or horse archers (LH)
Terrain: Steppe
Aggression: 3
Enemies:
Allies: II/8 or III/14a or III/15 or III/31 or III/56
⚠ Unresolved allies: II/8