DBA Armies

III/43 KHURASANIAN 821 AD - 1073 AD

The Arabs used the term “Khurasan” for Khurasan proper (the north-eastern province of modern Iran), but also more broadly to include Khwarazm, Transoxania, Seistan and modern Afghanistan. The Khurasanian leader Tahir “the ambidextrous” led the Abbasid army of Khurasan to victory in the Abbasid civil war of 810-813 and was rewarded with the governorship of Khurasan. His descendents “the Tahirids” were semi-independent but loyal Abbasid subjects. In 861, Ya’qub ibn Layth Saffar seized power in Seistan and by 873 had destroyed the Tahirids and taken over Khurasan, founding the Saffarid dynasty. The Samanids took Khurasan proper from them in 900, but the Saffarids held Seistan as Samanid and then Buyid, Ghaznavid and Seljuq vassals with considerable autonomy until 1073. The Samanids were governors of Transoxiana under the Abbasids and Tahirids, but became independent after the Tahirids fell. They came to control much of eastern Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia, but in 999 their territory was divided between their Ghaznavid former vassals and the Qarakhanid Turks. The army’s core was a palace force of Turkish ghulams, forming a counter-balance to the Khurasanian nobles’ troops. Both had lance, bow and mail, but the ghulams are more likely to have added horse armour. What may be Khurasanian professional infantry are described in the Shah-nama of Ferdawsi. They include armoured spearmen, armoured and shielded archers and armoured javelinmen who are probably Dailami. Reference: The Great Arab Congquests H. Kennedy.

III/43a — Tahirid Army 821 AD - 873 AD

List: 1 x General and noble cavalry (Cv), 1 x noble cavalry (Cv), 1 x Khurasanian horse archers (LH), 3 x spearmen (Sp), 3 x archers (4Bw or Ps), 1 x Dailami javelinmen (4Ax), 1 x mutatawwi’a volunteers (3Wb), 1 x slingers (Ps) or peasant levy (7Hd)
Terrain: Dry
Aggression: 1
Enemies:
Allies: III/37b

III/43b — Saffarid Army 861 AD - 1073 AD

List: 1 x General and ghulams (Cv), 1 x noble cavalry (Cv), 1 x Khurasanian horse archers (LH), 2 x spearmen (Sp), 2 x archers (4Bw or Ps), 2 x mutatawwi’a volunteers (3WDb), 2 x Indian archers (3Bw), 1 x Dailami javelinmen (4Ax) or slingers (Ps) or peasant levy (7Hd)
Terrain: Dry
Aggression: 1
Enemies:
Allies: III/25c or III/38 or III/74b

III/43c — Samanid Army 900 AD - 999 AD

List: 1 x General and ghulams (Cv), 1 x ghulams (Cv), 1 x noble cavalry (Cv), 1 x Khurasanian horse archers (LH), 3 x spearmen (Sp), 3 x archers (4Bw or Ps). 1 x Dailami javelinmen (4Ax) or Turkish horse archers (LH), 1 x slingers (Ps) or peasant levy (7Hd)
Terrain: Dry
Aggression: 1
Enemies:
Allies: (III/11b and/or III/58c) or III/38 or III/43b or III/64a