DBA Armies

IV/24 KHWARIZMIAN 1186 AD - 1246 AD

This list covers the Khwarizmian state from its founding by dissident vassals of the Seljugs until the final defeat of the heroic Jelal ad-Din by the Mongols in 1231. It then covers the continuation of his army as a “Free Company” in Syria that supplied 10,000 horsemen to the Ayyubid sultan in 1244 and captured Jerusalem for him. Later that year, with 5,000 of the sultan’s own troops under Baybars, they defeated the combined forces of the rulers of Homs, Damascus, Kerak and the Crusaders at La Forbie. Unrewarded for this, they changed sides in 1246 to join Ismail of Damascus, but were largely annihilated by the sultan’s forces. The state’s army consisted of the ruler’s professional armoured cavalry with horse armour, lance and bow and a few elephants; armoured cavalry provided by the emirs; city militia (who provided infantry but rarely ventured far from the city); hill-dwelling farmers, herdsmen and bandits who provided poorly-armed horsemen (plentiful only when winning and paid) and tribal confederations of nomads such as the Qangli (a Cuman tribe who provided fierce but unreliable mercenaries, who after changing sides were massacred by the Mongols as just too unreliable). Reference: Armies & Enemies of the Crusades 1. Heath.

IV/24a — Khwarizmian state Army 1186 AD - 1231 AD

List: 1 x General (Cv), 3 x lancers (Cv), 2 x hillman, herdsman or bandit horse archers (LH), 1 x archers on camels (Mtd-3Bw), 1 x militia archers (3Bw) or Persian cavalry (Cv), 1 x elephants (El) or Turkomans (LH), 2 x Qangli horse archers (LH), 1 x Qangli foot (SHd) or Persian or Tajik levies or slaves (7Hd)
Terrain: Arable
Aggression: 1
Enemies:
Allies: III/11b or IV/8 or IV/15

IV/24b — Khwarizmian refugee Army 1232 AD - 1246 AD

List: 1 x General (Cv), 3 x lancers (Cv), 1 x archers with camels (Mtd-3Bw) or Kurds (3Kn), 1 x Persian cavalry (Cv), 6 x Turkoman horse archers (LH)
Terrain: Arable
Aggression: 3
Enemies:
Allies: IV/6a