Battle of the Kalka River 1223

[stockwellpete]

This battle was requested by Sabratha.

EDIT: Version 2

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15461007/Battle ... 20PWv2.rar

There are a number of scenario rules
i) the mounted Vladimir-Suzdal unit will not move until turn 10.
ii) the Kievan contingent will not move before turn 5 unless all the other Rus units have completely crossed the Kalka river before then. Please note that if, for example, all the other Rus units have completely crossed by turn 3 then the Kievan contingent may also move during turn 3.
iii) the two flank contingents of the Mongol army will not move until turn 2

[Sabratha]

i) I have represented the very large Kievan contingent on the Rus side as a mixture of foot and horse (the battle was fought in what is Ukraine today) - but I have made the other contingents from Chernigov, Galicia, Volhynia, Kursk and elsewhere as entirely mounted. Is this correct?

ii) do we know who the commander of the Kursk contingent was?

iii) were there other crossing points (e.g. fords) of the Kalka river apart from the bridge?

iv) what was the nature of the stockade that the Kievan troops built for their defensive position? Ditches? A palisade?

v) were there Kurdish and Turcoman mercenaries fighting with the Mongols?

Thanks for any help with these points.

Ok, here is what I know:
I) I don't think so. The Dnepr is a formidable river, a bit larger than the Rhine. And just like the Rhine, it was less of an obstacle and more of a highway in these days (still is to a point). The infantry would sail down the Dnepr in boats, while I remember reading that the infantry from Galicia sailed down the Dnester, through the black sea and up the Dnepr. So I'd assume all the principalities, save maybe Vladimir-Suzdal, would send some infantry. That would explain the vast numbers mentioned by the chronicles. (I personally don't believe in the 80 000 figure, but 30 000 seems plausible once we add the Polovtsian steppe archer army to the total of the Russian side). Most authors however suggest that the infantry was mostly poor ly trained, badly motivated, unarmored rural levies.

IV) I would assume first a palisade. A palisade was in that period a first and foremost type of field fortifications in slavic armies. Once they had a palisade up, they could add other elements such as a ditch, but a palisade would IMHO be the center of any field works of the period. However the big question is, if they had time and timber to build it in the first place.

II) It was the Prince himself - Oleg Yurij Svyatoslavich http://www.ourfamilyhistories.org/getpe ... 59&tree=00. Also not sure if you picked this one up (sorry if I'm stating the obvious) but the Vladimir-Suzdal force was not led by their own prince, but by prince Vasilko of Rostov (a relative of the prince of Vladimir-Suzdal).

III) Nobody knows for sure. The historians seem to be still arguing about the precise site of the battle. Either way, its likely that the Kalka river was more of a big stream rather than a full sized river, as the steppe today in this area is devoid of large rivers. Of course this was the 1200s and the climate may have ben less arid, plus some historians suggest that the usually small river was swollen by spring rains.

V) Your guess is a good as mine, but I would assume that even if some were there, their total number would be rather insignificant in a battle of these proportions. Judging from the sources, the Brodniki would be the largest non-Mongol continget of the Mongol side.

[stockwellpete]

Thanks for that, Sabratha. I will incorporate this info into the scenario on Sunday. I have also found this now, which is helpful . . .

http://www.xenophon-mil.org/rushistory/ ... /kalka.htm

[stockwellpete]

I am currently play-testing this scenario with Sabratha.

[stockwellpete]

Version 1 now available at the top of the thread.

[stockwellpete]

I am doing some more work on this one with Sabratha now. There will be a version 2 shortly whereby the Mongol army is reduced by around 50pts. This should make it more balanced as the historical rules mean that the various Rusyn contingents arrive at different times during the battle.

[Sabratha]

We went through a playtest, so far the Mongols (all superior) seem to have too much of an edge. So likely some will get downgraded to average and we shall see how it goes from there.

[stockwellpete]

Version 2 now available at the top of the thread.

[Sabratha]

Allright, I'll give it a whirl.