From a blog run by Magnus Ingvarsson, 2017
The Army of John I Tzimiskes
Of all the Byzantine Army set-ups (pre-11th century, of course), none are more intriguing or popular than the Army at the time of John I Tzimiskes. The reasons for that are myriad, not the least of which is the fact that Tzimiskes' force was so varied that one doesn't necessarily need to buy complete Byzantine sets in order to field a comprable force. However, one needs to be careful with buying and combining alternate sets, as one tends to go overboard and make their army less-Byzantine and more foreign than it actually was.
Background
John I Tzimiskes (hereafter referred to as simply Tzimiskes) was the Byzantine Emperor for roughly twenty years in the 10th century (969-987). He is widely credited with securing the Empires Northern borders after reaching an agreement with the Rus, as well as regaining the Holy City of Jerusalem and Antioch (assisted, in large measure, by internal conflicts in the Islamic Caliphate and the beginnings of the Turkish invasion of Persia). He is lauded as one of Byzantiums best Emperors, though his death threw the Empire into a bit of turmoil as various factions clashed with each other, opening the Empire to various Slavic, Norse, Islamic, and other threats.
The Sins of Army Composition
One of the largest sins people trying to do a Tzimiskes build commit is by filling their ranks with Varangians. This is a cardinal sin; while Tzimiskes agreement with Sviatoslav of the Rus (ending the conflict between them) did call for "four-thousand warriors to serve the Emperor at Tsargrad", they were by no means the majority of his army. These Varangians were not viewed as cannon-fodder, and were not peasents with sticks; many were fairly well-trained warriors, with decent equipment. They are credited with helping Tzimiskes achieve his victories as shock troops at the right moment.
However, many people simply fill their ranks with Rus peasant spearmen or axemen; I have seen some extreme cases where a Tzimiskes army had a ratio of Varangians to Byzantines of 2:1! Many people do this to save points for their more elite tagmata units and heavy cavalry, or just to swarm enemy positions with fodder; this, however, breaks the purpose of having a Tzimiskes army and should disqualify them from a tournament bout.
Example Composition
An ideally built Tzimiskes army, with the standard point limit, should end up looking something like this-
Tagamata
1 Commander Unit (Either a generic Byzantine General [900-1000 set] or a Tzimiskes piece)
10-15 Vigla (Super Elite Heavy Cavalry; the point differential with getting the generic General or Tzimiskes is just about enough for five more Vigla)
20 Scholae (Elite Heavy Cavalry)
Cavalry
30 Katafraktoi (Heavy Cavalry)
30 Koursorses (Medium Cavalry)
40 Horse Archers (Light Ranged Cavalry)
Infantry
100 Varangian Infantry (Rudimentary armor/shields, axes or spears, maybe some swords)
50 Varangian Elite Infantry (Scale or chainmail armor, swords, shields)
25 Varangian Skirmishers (Mixture of bows and javelins)
50 Armenian Skirmishers (Mixture of bows and javelins)
100 Armenian Spearmen (Shields/Spears)
50 Byzantine Archers (Light equipment)
200 Byzantine Infantry (Shields, chainmail, swords and spears)
Auxillary
75 Other Foreigners (Could be Frankish axemen, Scythian horse archers, etc.)
An army like this, with some minor variations, is considered to be the ideal custom-Tzimiskes set up. Scenario battles are, of course, a different animal, but in regular tournament play, an army like this is the standard for a Tzimiskes Byzantine set.
As always, happy fighting!
The Army of John I Tzimiskes
Of all the Byzantine Army set-ups (pre-11th century, of course), none are more intriguing or popular than the Army at the time of John I Tzimiskes. The reasons for that are myriad, not the least of which is the fact that Tzimiskes' force was so varied that one doesn't necessarily need to buy complete Byzantine sets in order to field a comprable force. However, one needs to be careful with buying and combining alternate sets, as one tends to go overboard and make their army less-Byzantine and more foreign than it actually was.
Background
John I Tzimiskes (hereafter referred to as simply Tzimiskes) was the Byzantine Emperor for roughly twenty years in the 10th century (969-987). He is widely credited with securing the Empires Northern borders after reaching an agreement with the Rus, as well as regaining the Holy City of Jerusalem and Antioch (assisted, in large measure, by internal conflicts in the Islamic Caliphate and the beginnings of the Turkish invasion of Persia). He is lauded as one of Byzantiums best Emperors, though his death threw the Empire into a bit of turmoil as various factions clashed with each other, opening the Empire to various Slavic, Norse, Islamic, and other threats.
The Sins of Army Composition
One of the largest sins people trying to do a Tzimiskes build commit is by filling their ranks with Varangians. This is a cardinal sin; while Tzimiskes agreement with Sviatoslav of the Rus (ending the conflict between them) did call for "four-thousand warriors to serve the Emperor at Tsargrad", they were by no means the majority of his army. These Varangians were not viewed as cannon-fodder, and were not peasents with sticks; many were fairly well-trained warriors, with decent equipment. They are credited with helping Tzimiskes achieve his victories as shock troops at the right moment.
However, many people simply fill their ranks with Rus peasant spearmen or axemen; I have seen some extreme cases where a Tzimiskes army had a ratio of Varangians to Byzantines of 2:1! Many people do this to save points for their more elite tagmata units and heavy cavalry, or just to swarm enemy positions with fodder; this, however, breaks the purpose of having a Tzimiskes army and should disqualify them from a tournament bout.
Example Composition
An ideally built Tzimiskes army, with the standard point limit, should end up looking something like this-
Tagamata
1 Commander Unit (Either a generic Byzantine General [900-1000 set] or a Tzimiskes piece)
10-15 Vigla (Super Elite Heavy Cavalry; the point differential with getting the generic General or Tzimiskes is just about enough for five more Vigla)
20 Scholae (Elite Heavy Cavalry)
Cavalry
30 Katafraktoi (Heavy Cavalry)
30 Koursorses (Medium Cavalry)
40 Horse Archers (Light Ranged Cavalry)
Infantry
100 Varangian Infantry (Rudimentary armor/shields, axes or spears, maybe some swords)
50 Varangian Elite Infantry (Scale or chainmail armor, swords, shields)
25 Varangian Skirmishers (Mixture of bows and javelins)
50 Armenian Skirmishers (Mixture of bows and javelins)
100 Armenian Spearmen (Shields/Spears)
50 Byzantine Archers (Light equipment)
200 Byzantine Infantry (Shields, chainmail, swords and spears)
Auxillary
75 Other Foreigners (Could be Frankish axemen, Scythian horse archers, etc.)
An army like this, with some minor variations, is considered to be the ideal custom-Tzimiskes set up. Scenario battles are, of course, a different animal, but in regular tournament play, an army like this is the standard for a Tzimiskes Byzantine set.
As always, happy fighting!
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