Latin Empire

Strengths & weaknesses

• Strong Tradition
• Easier to recruit due to Tradition

Description

Chosen from the most courageous and disciplined of warriors, these men are handpicked to serve as the personal guards in the courts of foreign kings and emperors. Their terrifying masks are only matched in terror by their fierce reputation in battle.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

These artillery pieces resemble giant crossbows, on a simple wheeled carriage. They can hurl javelins with great accuracy, and the power of these machines means that their bolts can pierce any armour.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

These artillery pieces resemble giant crossbows, on a simple wheeled carriage. They can hurl javelins with great accuracy, and the power of these machines means that their bolts can pierce any armour.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Constructed of wood and capable of flinging stones large enough to crush a man's head, the catapult was a common site on the ancient Roman battlefield. Now in the medieval era, the catapult is being replaced by newer and more powerful weapons.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Constructed of wood and capable of flinging stones large enough to crush a man's head, the catapult was a common site on the ancient Roman battlefield. Now in the medieval era, the catapult is being replaced by newer and more powerful weapons.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

The counter-weight Trebuchet is an evolution of the man-powered mangonel and catapults dating back before the 11th century. It has quickly spread throughout the world as an effective siege engine capable of lobbing large wall- crushing boulders.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

The Chronicle of Tocco emphasizes how essential crossbowmen were for the defence of fortifications. In the Frankokratia Greece, the defence of fortresses in Mainland Greece and in the Aegean Sea relied on small companies of mercenary soldiers who were mostly crossbowmen. This is true for the Venetians, and the Angevins in Albania. These crossbowmen are not necessarily Latins - in the 1380s, the duke of Athens Nerio Acciaiuioli employed a Syntrophia (company) of Tzangratores led by Michael Syrianos. (Savvas Kyriakidis, Warfare in Late Byzantium 1204-1453 (Brill, 2011) p. 110)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

The Assizes de Romanie and Chronicles of Morea enumerate the baronies of Morea (with the names of their barons), precisely giving the number of fiefs that each barony should have. Then follows the number of vassals that each baron was due to provide for the principality: each ‘great’ baron should have 2 banners (flamoura, banière) and the baron should in person attend, while every fief of the baronnie should provide 1 knight and 2 sergeants on horseback; the other barons who had 4 fiefs, would have 1 banner and 1 knight and 12 sergeants on horseback with his own banner; every knight who had a fief would serve personally and the sergeants who had a ‘serganterie’ too. The Aragonese Chronicle added that a considerable number of fiefs were given to Greeks, but this is not confirmed by other sources. Only the names of barons are given in the Chronicles, and none of them was Greek. One should thus conclude that Greek archontes were to be found among the ‘knights’ and perhaps among the ‘sergeants à cheval’, but not among the barons as such. (Benjamin Hendrickx, Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx, Indigenous and Local Troops and Mercenaries in the Service of the ‘Latin’ Conquerors of the Byzantine Empire After 1204, Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2, pp. 45-46)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Knights would often dismount and fight on foot when the situation demanded it. Dismounted they make excellent heavy infantry.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

PLACEHOLDER

Strengths & weaknesses

• Capable of both Melee and Ranged fighting

Description

The Gasmouloi were persons, born after 1204 from a Frankish father and a Greek mother, their name arriving from the French gas (‘guy’) and the Latin mulus (mule). They were either the offspring of married couples or of illegitimate unions (‘bastards’). It appears that they were rejected by the Francs, but accepted by the Byzantines. Therefore it has been accepted that they were ‘pro-Greek’, which explains their acceptance and use in the Byzantine army and especially the Byzantine navy after the recapture of Constantinople by the Byzantines. However, there are also those who were proud of their Frankish origin and were ‘anti-Greek’. It is for instance speculated that the author of the original Chronicle of Morea would have been a Gasmoulos, who was proud to be part of the Frankish establishment. (Benjamin Hendrickx, Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx, Indigenous and Local Troops and Mercenaries in the Service of the ‘Latin’ Conquerors of the Byzantine Empire After 1204, Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2, p. 48)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

PLACEHOLDER

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

PLACEHOLDER

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

The Turkopoles were always an effective element in an Latin realm army based in the Orient. As early as end 1204 or beginning 1205 Hugues of Tabarie and his brother Raoul as well as Thierry of Termonde arrived from the Holy Land in Constantinople with a large military contingent, including Tourkopouloi. Turks also played a role in the Morea. They were originally used by the Byzantines in their wars against the Princes of Achaia as well as at a much later stage during the period of the Catalan occupation of the Morea (Benjamin Hendrickx, Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx, Indigenous and Local Troops and Mercenaries in the Service of the ‘Latin’ Conquerors of the Byzantine Empire After 1204, Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2, pp. 49-50)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Everywhere the Latins left garrisons under a Latin commander. The limited information in the sources shows that a minimum of Latin knights and soldiers manned these castles. While this may have been sufficient for small fortifications, for bigger centres and towns, however, much more men were needed, and one must accept that the old tradition continued to be applied according to which the inhabitants of the kastra, the kastrenoi, were obliged to do some military service to guard the castle. These forces then probably served under their own officers, but still under the general command of the Latin commander of the kastron. This situation was perhaps more common in the Latin Morea, where also Greek burgenses are mentioned.The kastrenoi traditionally had to deliver this servitium because they had a higher status than the ‘simple’ citizens, living in the city outside the protective walls of the akropolis or kastron (Benjamin Hendrickx, Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx, Indigenous and Local Troops and Mercenaries in the Service of the ‘Latin’ Conquerors of the Byzantine Empire After 1204, Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2, pp. 47)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

The existence of Greek militias and other troops in Constantinople in the service of the Latin emperors cannot be doubted. They may have taken several forms: (a) as guild militias, (b) as military service imposed on some groups of citizens, and (c) as formal troops. In Byzantium – as in the Western medieval cities – guilds had their own militia. While in the West these guild militias formed the corn of the military power of the cities (which strived at autonomy, if not virtual independence), in Byzantium they remained subjected to the Emperor. The guilds survived under Latin rule. (Benjamin Hendrickx, Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx, Indigenous and Local Troops and Mercenaries in the Service of the ‘Latin’ Conquerors of the Byzantine Empire After 1204, Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2, p. 46)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Low-quality Missile Troops

Description

Crossbow militia are inexpensive units formed to protect settlements. Being able to train townsfolk quickly in the use of the crossbow allows these units to be garrisoned frequently and the stopping power of the crossbow can make their withering fire lethal.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Geoffrey de Villehardouin himself, mentioned that when leading the expedition to deliver Renier of Trit, had also “arbalestriers a cheval” with him, i.e. mounted arbalesters, who most probably were recruited in Greece, and did not come from the West (Benjamin Hendrickx, Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx, Indigenous and Local Troops and Mercenaries in the Service of the ‘Latin’ Conquerors of the Byzantine Empire After 1204, Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2, p. 50)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

"Squires are used to do what a knight would consider too low, and mounted sergeants are used to do what a squire would consider too low even for him" -- "Since common peasant couldn't afford a horse, but there was still the need for a rapid scout unit (and noble knights considered scouting a dishonourable task), trusted sergeants who showed cunning behaviour were given second-choice horses and used as a light and fast cavalry force, usually sent ahead of the main army to scout the area and harass enemy light troops or carriages. Being fast, they can easily outmanoeuver infantry and heavy cavalry, allowing them to hit fast and hard unprotected targets such as archers or supply convoys, but they should never be used against actual cavalry and trained infantry."

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

"To be ranked a servant may seem ridiculous to a noble, but for most, it is the best they can hope to achieve" -- Coming from the Latin term "servientem", meaning "servant", sergeant is a rank used in almost every European army of the time (and still today). While each nation had its own technical meaning for the rank, generally the sergeant was the highest rank a low-born commoner could aspire to, since all higher offices were reserved for the nobles. Being promoted sergeant required that a soldier had survived many battles, and had performed many acts of valour (usually visible from the scars most sergeants sported), and meant better equipment and a higher salary (usually a larger part of the loot), which for most soldiers could mean the difference between returning to their homes as a serf and becoming an actual free land-owner. Usually sergeants oversaw training and equipment of small units, and led them in battle. Sometimes, sergeants were grouped together and used as a powerful fist to break the enemy lines, or to defend a focal point: well armed and experienced, these veterans are not to be underestimated.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Greek Archontes allied to the Latin lords supplied large contingents organized in Allagia, from their Pronoia, In the same fashion to what they would’ve done under the Byzantine Empire. As an example, reportedly the army of the Duchy of Athens contained as many as 6000 Thessalian and Bulgarian cavalry under 18 Greek Nobles, plus tens of thousands of mixed Greek and Slav infantry. The "Slavs" supplied mostly Archers and Spearmen. (Wargames Research Group, 1978) p, 16)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Low-quality Missile Troops

Description

The term thelematarios is defined by the Greek medieval historian Pachymeres as being land cultivators land cultivators in Chryseia, who were ‘between the Romans and the Italians’ and ‘free-willed’. Chronicle of Morea however, uses the term for whatever groups without discipline and therefore ‘free-willed’, without referring exclusively to any ethnicity or nationality. they formed a sort of militia or a kind of ‘gendarmerie’, probably having as task to impose security and order in the region they inhabited under Latin rule. (Benjamin Hendrickx, Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx, Indigenous and Local Troops and Mercenaries in the Service of the ‘Latin’ Conquerors of the Byzantine Empire After 1204, Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2, pp. 48-49)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Knights would often dismount and fight on foot when the situation demanded it. Dismounted they make excellent heavy infantry.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

These knights dominate both society and the battlefield in medieval Europe. Under the feudal system each man owes military service to his lord in return for protection, a grant of land, and the peasants to work it. Trained as warriors from birth, their favourite tactic is the headlong charge. Despite the simple tactics, their strong armour, heavy lances, and martial prowess mean that only the most resolute can resist them

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

It is slow to reload and lacks the distance of drawn bows but makes up for it in power.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

These knights dominate both society and the battlefield in medieval Europe. Under the feudal system each man owes military service to his lord in return for protection, a grant of land, and the peasants to work it. Trained as warriors from birth, their favourite tactic is the headlong charge. Despite the simple tactics, their strong armour, heavy lances, and martial prowess mean that only the most resolute can resist them

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Knights would often dismount and fight on foot when the situation demanded it. Dismounted they make excellent heavy infantry.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Knights would often dismount and fight on foot when the situation demanded it. Dismounted they make excellent heavy infantry.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

These knights dominate both society and the battlefield in medieval Europe. Under the feudal system each man owes military service to his lord in return for protection, a grant of land, and the peasants to work it. Trained as warriors from birth, their favourite tactic is the headlong charge. Despite the simple tactics, their strong armour, heavy lances, and martial prowess mean that only the most resolute can resist them

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

"Squires are used to do what a knight would consider too low, and mounted sergeants are used to do what a squire would consider too low even for him" -- "Since common peasant couldn't afford a horse, but there was still the need for a rapid scout unit (and noble knights considered scouting a dishonourable task), trusted sergeants who showed cunning behaviour were given second-choice horses and used as a light and fast cavalry force, usually sent ahead of the main army to scout the area and harass enemy light troops or carriages. Being fast, they can easily outmanoeuver infantry and heavy cavalry, allowing them to hit fast and hard unprotected targets such as archers or supply convoys, but they should never be used against actual cavalry and trained infantry."

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

"To be ranked a servant may seem ridiculous to a noble, but for most, it is the best they can hope to achieve" -- Coming from the Latin term "servientem", meaning "servant", sergeant is a rank used in almost every European army of the time (and still today). While each nation had its own technical meaning for the rank, generally the sergeant was the highest rank a low-born commoner could aspire to, since all higher offices were reserved for the nobles. Being promoted sergeant required that a soldier had survived many battles, and had performed many acts of valour (usually visible from the scars most sergeants sported), and meant better equipment and a higher salary (usually a larger part of the loot), which for most soldiers could mean the difference between returning to their homes as a serf and becoming an actual free land-owner. Usually sergeants oversaw training and equipment of small units, and led them in battle. Sometimes, sergeants were grouped together and used as a powerful fist to break the enemy lines, or to defend a focal point: well armed and experienced, these veterans are not to be underestimated.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Knights would often dismount and fight on foot when the situation demanded it. Dismounted they make excellent heavy infantry.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

These knights dominate both society and the battlefield in medieval Europe. Under the feudal system each man owes military service to his lord in return for protection, a grant of land, and the peasants to work it. Trained as warriors from birth, their favourite tactic is the headlong charge. Despite the simple tactics, their strong armour, heavy lances, and martial prowess mean that only the most resolute can resist them

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

It is slow to reload and lacks the distance of drawn bows but makes up for it in power.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

These knights dominate both society and the battlefield in medieval Europe. Under the feudal system each man owes military service to his lord in return for protection, a grant of land, and the peasants to work it. Trained as warriors from birth, their favourite tactic is the headlong charge. Despite the simple tactics, their strong armour, heavy lances, and martial prowess mean that only the most resolute can resist them

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Knights would often dismount and fight on foot when the situation demanded it. Dismounted they make excellent heavy infantry.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Knights would often dismount and fight on foot when the situation demanded it. Dismounted they make excellent heavy infantry.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

These knights dominate both society and the battlefield in medieval Europe. Under the feudal system each man owes military service to his lord in return for protection, a grant of land, and the peasants to work it. Trained as warriors from birth, their favourite tactic is the headlong charge. Despite the simple tactics, their strong armour, heavy lances, and martial prowess mean that only the most resolute can resist them

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

"Squires are used to do what a knight would consider too low, and mounted sergeants are used to do what a squire would consider too low even for him" -- "Since common peasant couldn't afford a horse, but there was still the need for a rapid scout unit (and noble knights considered scouting a dishonourable task), trusted sergeants who showed cunning behaviour were given second-choice horses and used as a light and fast cavalry force, usually sent ahead of the main army to scout the area and harass enemy light troops or carriages. Being fast, they can easily outmanoeuver infantry and heavy cavalry, allowing them to hit fast and hard unprotected targets such as archers or supply convoys, but they should never be used against actual cavalry and trained infantry."

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

"To be ranked a servant may seem ridiculous to a noble, but for most, it is the best they can hope to achieve" -- Coming from the Latin term "servientem", meaning "servant", sergeant is a rank used in almost every European army of the time (and still today). While each nation had its own technical meaning for the rank, generally the sergeant was the highest rank a low-born commoner could aspire to, since all higher offices were reserved for the nobles. Being promoted sergeant required that a soldier had survived many battles, and had performed many acts of valour (usually visible from the scars most sergeants sported), and meant better equipment and a higher salary (usually a larger part of the loot), which for most soldiers could mean the difference between returning to their homes as a serf and becoming an actual free land-owner. Usually sergeants oversaw training and equipment of small units, and led them in battle. Sometimes, sergeants were grouped together and used as a powerful fist to break the enemy lines, or to defend a focal point: well armed and experienced, these veterans are not to be underestimated.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

"Squires are used to do what a knight would consider too low, and mounted sergeants are used to do what a squire would consider too low even for him" -- "Since common peasant couldn't afford a horse, but there was still the need for a rapid scout unit (and noble knights considered scouting a dishonourable task), trusted sergeants who showed cunning behaviour were given second-choice horses and used as a light and fast cavalry force, usually sent ahead of the main army to scout the area and harass enemy light troops or carriages. Being fast, they can easily outmanoeuver infantry and heavy cavalry, allowing them to hit fast and hard unprotected targets such as archers or supply convoys, but they should never be used against actual cavalry and trained infantry."

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

"I... do profess and promise chastity, giving up all property, and obedience to God and the Blessed Virgin Mary and to you...Master of the Teutonic Order, and to your successors, according to the Rules and Regulations of the Order. And I will be obedient to you, and to your successors, even unto death." -- The Ritterbrüder are the highest ranking members of the Teutonic Order, taking an additional vow of chastity: usually members of great German noble houses, these men fear no enemy, both in politics and on the battlefield. Armed and equipped with the finest products of the Empire's most renowned blacksmiths, the Ritterbrüder ride into battle atop powerful steeds, pride and joy of generations of breeding.Their charge can shatter all but the most stubborn pike formations, and usually their enemies don't even try to resist, breaking formation in a desperate attempt to flee their doom, only to be trampled upon by their stallions. The Ritterbrüder however aren't invincible, as all this armour makes their charge quite slow: as such, light skirmishers can safely shower them in arrows and javelins, only to retreat when the Ritterbrüder try to chase them. Thus, they must be supported by light troops, otherwise they might find themselves cornered and taken out one by one by a cunning foe.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

"Half-brother, Double the fury" -- The Haldbrüder were full-fledged members of the Order, but ranked lower since they took only half the oath (they didn't take the chastity vow). Still, their zeal, fanatism and martial prowess match their higher ranking brothers. Being usually members of minor noble houses, they can afford horses and finely crafted armours, and as such serve as medium shock cavalry, trampling over lesser enemies while the Ritterbrüder engage the enemy elite troops. Since their armours aren't as heavy as the ones used by the Ritterbrüder, they are better at flanking the enemy and fighting against the fast Lithuanian cavalry.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

The first primitive gunpowder siege artillery, bombards were created in China and Western Europe in the early 14th century and spread to the rest of the world by the late 14th century. They are forged from bronze or iron, and designed to fire stone balls that crumble enemy defences.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

The Tocco family of the County Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos; then of the Despotate of Epirus; faces the fact that the kind of feudal army as defined in the Assizes of Romania wasn’t feasible to support a large enough army from the less-developed lands they possess in Greece. Therefore, they must rely on an army of Mercenaries, native militia, supported by a network of strongholds. The Mercenary army itself comprised of Latins, Greeks, Serbs, and mostly, Albanians. Which leaders, are given lands and fiefs. The Greeks and Albanians in Tocco’s armies are commanded by their own noble officers, which in turn subordinated to the Italian Capitanos higher up (Benjamin Hendrickx & Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx (2009) The Military Organization and the Army of the Despotate of the Tocco (14Th-15Th Cent.), Acta Patristica et Byzantina, 20:1, 218-219)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Renowned Unit
• Superior Capability
• Capable of both Melee and Ranged fighting

Description

The arrival of the Catalan Company of the Orient in the Eastern Roman Empire is a pivotal moment of history. Their successful military campaigns in the far-flung cities and territories of Anatolia; their leader’s death from treason, most likely upon the orders of the son of the man who had hired them, emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos; the unfortunately famous Catalan vengeance, which ravaged broad regions of Thrace, Macedonia and Thessaly; their victory against all odds over the crème de la crème of the French cavalry in the Battle of Halmyros; and the consequent occupation and domination of the duchy of Athens and later the duchy of Neopatria for more than 70 years; overcoming all sorts of internal and external threats, those are sufficiently compelling ingredients to elevate a military campaign incorporating some of the best light infantry of their era, the Almogavares, into a legend. (Eusebi Ayensa i Prat, Catalan domination in Greece during the 14th century: History, archaeology, memory and myth. Catalan Historical Review, 13: (2020) 43)It should be noted that even after the collapse of Catalan control over Duchy of Athens, Catalans remained active throughout the Aegean into the 15th century as Mercenaries. Some even fought in the 1453 Siege of Constantinople. (Ian Heath, "Armies of the Middle Ages, Volume 2: The Ottoman Empire, The Eastern Europe, and the Near East 1300-1500" (Wargames Research Group, 1984) p. 28)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

The Assizes de Romanie and Chronicles of Morea enumerate the baronies of Morea (with the names of their barons), precisely giving the number of fiefs that each barony should have. Then follows the number of vassals that each baron was due to provide for the principality: each ‘great’ baron should have 2 banners (flamoura, banière) and the baron should in person attend, while every fief of the baronnie should provide 1 knight and 2 sergeants on horseback; the other barons who had 4 fiefs, would have 1 banner and 1 knight and 12 sergeants on horseback with his own banner; every knight who had a fief would serve personally and the sergeants who had a ‘serganterie’ too. The Aragonese Chronicle added that a considerable number of fiefs were given to Greeks, but this is not confirmed by other sources. Only the names of barons are given in the Chronicles, and none of them was Greek. One should thus conclude that Greek archontes were to be found among the ‘knights’ and perhaps among the ‘sergeants à cheval’, but not among the barons as such. (Benjamin Hendrickx, Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx, Indigenous and Local Troops and Mercenaries in the Service of the ‘Latin’ Conquerors of the Byzantine Empire After 1204, Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2, pp. 45-46)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

PLACEHOLDER

Strengths & weaknesses

• Capable of both Melee and Ranged fighting

Description

The Gasmouloi were persons, born after 1204 from a Frankish father and a Greek mother, their name arriving from the French gas (‘guy’) and the Latin mulus (mule). They were either the offspring of married couples or of illegitimate unions (‘bastards’). It appears that they were rejected by the Francs, but accepted by the Byzantines. Therefore it has been accepted that they were ‘pro-Greek’, which explains their acceptance and use in the Byzantine army and especially the Byzantine navy after the recapture of Constantinople by the Byzantines. However, there are also those who were proud of their Frankish origin and were ‘anti-Greek’. It is for instance speculated that the author of the original Chronicle of Morea would have been a Gasmoulos, who was proud to be part of the Frankish establishment. (Benjamin Hendrickx, Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx, Indigenous and Local Troops and Mercenaries in the Service of the ‘Latin’ Conquerors of the Byzantine Empire After 1204, Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2, p. 48)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

PLACEHOLDER

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

The Catalan Company of the Orient might be famous for their Almogavares, but the Catalan Company also brought the light cavalry of Hispania, forged from warfare against the Zenata Berber cavalry of North Africa, to Greece. If Ramon Muntaner to be believed in the numbers of men presented, at 1303 the Company brought 1500 horsemen to Constantinople (Eusebi Ayensa i Prat, Catalan domination in Greece during the 14th century: History, archaeology, memory and myth. Catalan Historical Review, 13: (2020) 44

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

PLACEHOLDER

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

The Turkopoles were always an effective element in an Latin realm army based in the Orient. As early as end 1204 or beginning 1205 Hugues of Tabarie and his brother Raoul as well as Thierry of Termonde arrived from the Holy Land in Constantinople with a large military contingent, including Tourkopouloi. Turks also played a role in the Morea. They were originally used by the Byzantines in their wars against the Princes of Achaia as well as at a much later stage during the period of the Catalan occupation of the Morea (Benjamin Hendrickx, Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx, Indigenous and Local Troops and Mercenaries in the Service of the ‘Latin’ Conquerors of the Byzantine Empire After 1204, Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2, pp. 49-50)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Everywhere the Latins left garrisons under a Latin commander. The limited information in the sources shows that a minimum of Latin knights and soldiers manned these castles. While this may have been sufficient for small fortifications, for bigger centres and towns, however, much more men were needed, and one must accept that the old tradition continued to be applied according to which the inhabitants of the kastra, the kastrenoi, were obliged to do some military service to guard the castle. These forces then probably served under their own officers, but still under the general command of the Latin commander of the kastron. This situation was perhaps more common in the Latin Morea, where also Greek burgenses are mentioned.The kastrenoi traditionally had to deliver this servitium because they had a higher status than the ‘simple’ citizens, living in the city outside the protective walls of the akropolis or kastron (Benjamin Hendrickx, Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx, Indigenous and Local Troops and Mercenaries in the Service of the ‘Latin’ Conquerors of the Byzantine Empire After 1204, Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2, pp. 47)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

The Assizes de Romanie and Chronicles of Morea enumerate the baronies of Morea (with the names of their barons), precisely giving the number of fiefs that each barony should have. Then follows the number of vassals that each baron was due to provide for the principality: each ‘great’ baron should have 2 banners (flamoura, banière) and the baron should in person attend, while every fief of the baronnie should provide 1 knight and 2 sergeants on horseback; the other barons who had 4 fiefs, would have 1 banner and 1 knight and 12 sergeants on horseback with his own banner; every knight who had a fief would serve personally and the sergeants who had a ‘serganterie’ too. The Aragonese Chronicle added that a considerable number of fiefs were given to Greeks, but this is not confirmed by other sources. Only the names of barons are given in the Chronicles, and none of them was Greek. One should thus conclude that Greek archontes were to be found among the ‘knights’ and perhaps among the ‘sergeants à cheval’, but not among the barons as such. (Benjamin Hendrickx, Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx, Indigenous and Local Troops and Mercenaries in the Service of the ‘Latin’ Conquerors of the Byzantine Empire After 1204, Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2, pp. 45-46)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

The existence of Greek militias and other troops in Constantinople in the service of the Latin emperors cannot be doubted. They may have taken several forms: (a) as guild militias, (b) as military service imposed on some groups of citizens, and (c) as formal troops. In Byzantium – as in the Western medieval cities – guilds had their own militia. While in the West these guild militias formed the corn of the military power of the cities (which strived at autonomy, if not virtual independence), in Byzantium they remained subjected to the Emperor. The guilds survived under Latin rule. (Benjamin Hendrickx, Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx, Indigenous and Local Troops and Mercenaries in the Service of the ‘Latin’ Conquerors of the Byzantine Empire After 1204, Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2, p. 46)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Low-quality Missile Troops

Description

Crossbow militia are inexpensive units formed to protect settlements. Being able to train townsfolk quickly in the use of the crossbow allows these units to be garrisoned frequently and the stopping power of the crossbow can make their withering fire lethal.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Geoffrey de Villehardouin himself, mentioned that when leading the expedition to deliver Renier of Trit, had also “arbalestriers a cheval” with him, i.e. mounted arbalesters, who most probably were recruited in Greece, and did not come from the West (Benjamin Hendrickx, Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx, Indigenous and Local Troops and Mercenaries in the Service of the ‘Latin’ Conquerors of the Byzantine Empire After 1204, Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2, p. 50)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

"Squires are used to do what a knight would consider too low, and mounted sergeants are used to do what a squire would consider too low even for him" -- "Since common peasant couldn't afford a horse, but there was still the need for a rapid scout unit (and noble knights considered scouting a dishonourable task), trusted sergeants who showed cunning behaviour were given second-choice horses and used as a light and fast cavalry force, usually sent ahead of the main army to scout the area and harass enemy light troops or carriages. Being fast, they can easily outmanoeuver infantry and heavy cavalry, allowing them to hit fast and hard unprotected targets such as archers or supply convoys, but they should never be used against actual cavalry and trained infantry."

Strengths & weaknesses

• Low-quality Missile Troops

Description

The existence of Greek militias and other troops in Constantinople in the service of the Latin emperors cannot be doubted. They may have taken several forms: (a) as guild militias, (b) as military service imposed on some groups of citizens, and (c) as formal troops. In Byzantium – as in the Western medieval cities – guilds had their own militia. While in the West these guild militias formed the corn of the military power of the cities (which strived at autonomy, if not virtual independence), in Byzantium they remained subjected to the Emperor. The guilds survived under Latin rule. (Benjamin Hendrickx, Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx, Indigenous and Local Troops and Mercenaries in the Service of the ‘Latin’ Conquerors of the Byzantine Empire After 1204, Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2, p. 46)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

While the crossbow is relatively easy to use and powerful, it leaves the user quite vulnerable during the slow reload process. These men brought large pavise shields, which they use to take cover while they reload.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

"To be ranked a servant may seem ridiculous to a noble, but for most, it is the best they can hope to achieve" -- Coming from the Latin term "servientem", meaning "servant", sergeant is a rank used in almost every European army of the time (and still today). While each nation had its own technical meaning for the rank, generally the sergeant was the highest rank a low-born commoner could aspire to, since all higher offices were reserved for the nobles. Being promoted sergeant required that a soldier had survived many battles, and had performed many acts of valour (usually visible from the scars most sergeants sported), and meant better equipment and a higher salary (usually a larger part of the loot), which for most soldiers could mean the difference between returning to their homes as a serf and becoming an actual free land-owner. Usually sergeants oversaw training and equipment of small units, and led them in battle. Sometimes, sergeants were grouped together and used as a powerful fist to break the enemy lines, or to defend a focal point: well armed and experienced, these veterans are not to be underestimated.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

These knights dominate both society and the battlefield in medieval Europe. Under the feudal system each man owes military service to his lord in return for protection, a grant of land, and the peasants to work it. Trained as warriors from birth, their favourite tactic is the headlong charge. Despite the simple tactics, their strong armour, heavy lances, and martial prowess mean that only the most resolute can resist them

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Knights would often dismount and fight on foot when the situation demanded it. Dismounted they make excellent heavy infantry.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Knights would often dismount and fight on foot when the situation demanded it. Dismounted they make excellent heavy infantry.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

These knights dominate both society and the battlefield in medieval Europe. Under the feudal system each man owes military service to his lord in return for protection, a grant of land, and the peasants to work it. Trained as warriors from birth, their favourite tactic is the headlong charge. Despite the simple tactics, their strong armour, heavy lances, and martial prowess mean that only the most resolute can resist them

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

"I... do profess and promise chastity, giving up all property, and obedience to God and the Blessed Virgin Mary and to you...Master of the Teutonic Order, and to your successors, according to the Rules and Regulations of the Order. And I will be obedient to you, and to your successors, even unto death." -- The Ritterbrüder are the highest ranking members of the Teutonic Order, taking an additional vow of chastity: usually members of great German noble houses, these men fear no enemy, both in politics and on the battlefield. Armed and equipped with the finest products of the Empire's most renowned blacksmiths, the Ritterbrüder ride into battle atop powerful steeds, pride and joy of generations of breeding.Their charge can shatter all but the most stubborn pike formations, and usually their enemies don't even try to resist, breaking formation in a desperate attempt to flee their doom, only to be trampled upon by their stallions. The Ritterbrüder however aren't invincible, as all this armour makes their charge quite slow: as such, light skirmishers can safely shower them in arrows and javelins, only to retreat when the Ritterbrüder try to chase them. Thus, they must be supported by light troops, otherwise they might find themselves cornered and taken out one by one by a cunning foe.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

These knights dominate both society and the battlefield in medieval Europe. Under the feudal system each man owes military service to his lord in return for protection, a grant of land, and the peasants to work it. Trained as warriors from birth, their favourite tactic is the headlong charge. Despite the simple tactics, their strong armour, heavy lances, and martial prowess mean that only the most resolute can resist them

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Knights would often dismount and fight on foot when the situation demanded it. Dismounted they make excellent heavy infantry.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Knights would often dismount and fight on foot when the situation demanded it. Dismounted they make excellent heavy infantry.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

These knights dominate both society and the battlefield in medieval Europe. Under the feudal system each man owes military service to his lord in return for protection, a grant of land, and the peasants to work it. Trained as warriors from birth, their favourite tactic is the headlong charge. Despite the simple tactics, their strong armour, heavy lances, and martial prowess mean that only the most resolute can resist them

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

"Half-brother, Double the fury" -- The Haldbrüder were full-fledged members of the Order, but ranked lower since they took only half the oath (they didn't take the chastity vow). Still, their zeal, fanatism and martial prowess match their higher ranking brothers. Being usually members of minor noble houses, they can afford horses and finely crafted armours, and as such serve as medium shock cavalry, trampling over lesser enemies while the Ritterbrüder engage the enemy elite troops. Since their armours aren't as heavy as the ones used by the Ritterbrüder, they are better at flanking the enemy and fighting against the fast Lithuanian cavalry.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

"I... do profess and promise chastity, giving up all property, and obedience to God and the Blessed Virgin Mary and to you...Master of the Teutonic Order, and to your successors, according to the Rules and Regulations of the Order. And I will be obedient to you, and to your successors, even unto death." -- The Ritterbrüder are the highest ranking members of the Teutonic Order, taking an additional vow of chastity: usually members of great German noble houses, these men fear no enemy, both in politics and on the battlefield. Armed and equipped with the finest products of the Empire's most renowned blacksmiths, the Ritterbrüder ride into battle atop powerful steeds, pride and joy of generations of breeding.Their charge can shatter all but the most stubborn pike formations, and usually their enemies don't even try to resist, breaking formation in a desperate attempt to flee their doom, only to be trampled upon by their stallions. The Ritterbrüder however aren't invincible, as all this armour makes their charge quite slow: as such, light skirmishers can safely shower them in arrows and javelins, only to retreat when the Ritterbrüder try to chase them. Thus, they must be supported by light troops, otherwise they might find themselves cornered and taken out one by one by a cunning foe.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

PLACEHOLDER

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

This fearsome artillery piece is the pinnacle of late Medieval gun engineering. With greater range, damage and accuracy than all the guns that come before it, no enemy emplacements nor troops can stand up to its fearsome bombardment

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

The Gun to end all Guns. The Great Bombard is made for one purpose only, the utter destruction of enemy defences. This massive Bombard fires a stone ball weighing well over half a ton, obliterating any but the most massive walls in one shot. Unfortunately the down side of all this firepower is that it takes an eternity to reload.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Resembling the iron bowl from which it gains its name, the Mortar was created to lob shots over intervening walls. Useful in dealing with units skulking behind walls for protection, or to whittle away besieging troops outside your own walls. The mortar's capabilities makes it an excellent siege weapon for both attacker and defender.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

The Tocco family of the County Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos; then of the Despotate of Epirus; faces the fact that the kind of feudal army as defined in the Assizes of Romania wasn’t feasible to support a large enough army from the less-developed lands they possess in Greece. Therefore, they must rely on an army of Mercenaries, native militia, supported by a network of strongholds. The Mercenary army itself comprised of Latins, Greeks, Serbs, and mostly, Albanians. Which leaders, are given lands and fiefs. The Greeks and Albanians in Tocco’s armies are commanded by their own noble officers, which in turn subordinated to the Italian Capitanos higher up (Benjamin Hendrickx & Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx (2009) The Military Organization and the Army of the Despotate of the Tocco (14Th-15Th Cent.), Acta Patristica et Byzantina, 20:1, 218-219)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Renowned Unit
• Superior Capability
• Capable of both Melee and Ranged fighting

Description

The arrival of the Catalan Company of the Orient in the Eastern Roman Empire is a pivotal moment of history. Their successful military campaigns in the far-flung cities and territories of Anatolia; their leader’s death from treason, most likely upon the orders of the son of the man who had hired them, emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos; the unfortunately famous Catalan vengeance, which ravaged broad regions of Thrace, Macedonia and Thessaly; their victory against all odds over the crème de la crème of the French cavalry in the Battle of Halmyros; and the consequent occupation and domination of the duchy of Athens and later the duchy of Neopatria for more than 70 years; overcoming all sorts of internal and external threats, those are sufficiently compelling ingredients to elevate a military campaign incorporating some of the best light infantry of their era, the Almogavares, into a legend. (Eusebi Ayensa i Prat, Catalan domination in Greece during the 14th century: History, archaeology, memory and myth. Catalan Historical Review, 13: (2020) 43)It should be noted that even after the collapse of Catalan control over Duchy of Athens, Catalans remained active throughout the Aegean into the 15th century as Mercenaries. Some even fought in the 1453 Siege of Constantinople. (Ian Heath, "Armies of the Middle Ages, Volume 2: The Ottoman Empire, The Eastern Europe, and the Near East 1300-1500" (Wargames Research Group, 1984) p. 28)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

The arrival of the Catalan Company of the Orient in the Eastern Roman Empire is a pivotal moment of history. Their successful military campaigns in the far-flung cities and territories of Anatolia; their leader’s death from treason, most likely upon the orders of the son of the man who had hired them, emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos; the unfortunately famous Catalan vengeance, which ravaged broad regions of Thrace, Macedonia and Thessaly; their victory against all odds over the crème de la crème of the French cavalry in the Battle of Halmyros; and the consequent occupation and domination of the duchy of Athens and later the duchy of Neopatria for more than 70 years; overcoming all sorts of internal and external threats, those are sufficiently compelling ingredients to elevate a military campaign incorporating some of the best light infantry of their era, the Almogavares, into a legend. (Eusebi Ayensa i Prat, Catalan domination in Greece during the 14th century: History, archaeology, memory and myth. Catalan Historical Review, 13: (2020) 43)It should be noted that even after the collapse of Catalan control over Duchy of Athens, Catalans remained active throughout the Aegean into the 15th century as Mercenaries. Some even fought in the 1453 Siege of Constantinople. (Ian Heath, "Armies of the Middle Ages, Volume 2: The Ottoman Empire, The Eastern Europe, and the Near East 1300-1500" (Wargames Research Group, 1984) p. 28)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

The Assizes de Romanie and Chronicles of Morea enumerate the baronies of Morea (with the names of their barons), precisely giving the number of fiefs that each barony should have. Then follows the number of vassals that each baron was due to provide for the principality: each ‘great’ baron should have 2 banners (flamoura, banière) and the baron should in person attend, while every fief of the baronnie should provide 1 knight and 2 sergeants on horseback; the other barons who had 4 fiefs, would have 1 banner and 1 knight and 12 sergeants on horseback with his own banner; every knight who had a fief would serve personally and the sergeants who had a ‘serganterie’ too. The Aragonese Chronicle added that a considerable number of fiefs were given to Greeks, but this is not confirmed by other sources. Only the names of barons are given in the Chronicles, and none of them was Greek. One should thus conclude that Greek archontes were to be found among the ‘knights’ and perhaps among the ‘sergeants à cheval’, but not among the barons as such. (Benjamin Hendrickx, Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx, Indigenous and Local Troops and Mercenaries in the Service of the ‘Latin’ Conquerors of the Byzantine Empire After 1204, Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2, pp. 45-46)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

PLACEHOLDER

Strengths & weaknesses

• Capable of both Melee and Ranged fighting

Description

The Gasmouloi were persons, born after 1204 from a Frankish father and a Greek mother, their name arriving from the French gas (‘guy’) and the Latin mulus (mule). They were either the offspring of married couples or of illegitimate unions (‘bastards’). It appears that they were rejected by the Francs, but accepted by the Byzantines. Therefore it has been accepted that they were ‘pro-Greek’, which explains their acceptance and use in the Byzantine army and especially the Byzantine navy after the recapture of Constantinople by the Byzantines. However, there are also those who were proud of their Frankish origin and were ‘anti-Greek’. It is for instance speculated that the author of the original Chronicle of Morea would have been a Gasmoulos, who was proud to be part of the Frankish establishment. (Benjamin Hendrickx, Thekla Sansaridou-Hendrickx, Indigenous and Local Troops and Mercenaries in the Service of the ‘Latin’ Conquerors of the Byzantine Empire After 1204, Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2, p. 48)

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

Vlastela were high feudal nobility which ruled over large swaths of land, or even whole provinces (either hereditary as baština or conditionally as pronija). War was personal obligation of noble, and rich and powerful would bring along their large entourage. Dressed fine armor (often imported from famous workshops of Italy), Vlastela fought as heavy armored cavalry lancers.Charge of Serbian heavy cavalry was fearsome, and it could decide the outcome of the battle. Ironically some of their greatest military feats were in Ottoman service; chief example being defeat of the great crusade at Nicopolis in 1396. As last Serbian Tsar Urosh “the weak” discovered, vlastela - if left unchecked, could become a threat to their own state too. Their factionalism, personal rivalry and ambition could do as much damage as enemy armies.

Strengths & weaknesses

• Ordinary Unit

Description

First finding use in the 14th century, gunpowder weapons became more and more available over time, with lower costs of productions from local manufacturing of gunpowder. Firearms would become a staple of 15th century armies and eventually surpass all other missile weapons as better designs became available.