This was something that Clive and I had been discussing for ages, and now it actually took place. The scene was somewhere in the Roman East, probably in the province of Palaestina Secunda, around the time of the emperor Heraclius.
Arabic forces, newly united under the banners of Islam are pushing north, and are opposed by a mostly infantry force of Romans, near a ruined temple complex from classical times.
The ground is dominated by the temple ruins, which are overlooked by a hill on one side and some rough ground on the other. The Romans have information that an Arab flank attack can be expected on their right.
The massed ranks of Arab foot make a daunting impression on the thinner Roman lines. The Roman troops are mainly medium foot and local skirmishers, with some armoured infantry and cavalry.
Before long, both sides are advancing towards the temple complex, with the Arab foot troops getting there faster. Medium foot and skirmishers don't suffer movement penalties in these ruins, but gain the benefit of being in cover for melee purposes.
Arab cavalry emerge on the Roman right and a unit of armoured cavalry charge into combat.
To the left of the temple ruins, Arab cavalry charge the Roman medium archers on the hills.
An early success for the Romans as a unit of Arab foot breaks and routs. The Romans must capitalise on this to have any hope of throwing the Arab forces back.
On the Roman right, the armoured cavalry fail to destroy the Arab horse, but are in turn wiped out.
The disorganised Roman foot need to get into a defensive line to have any hope of surviving.
Disaster on the Roman left as a unit of skirmishing slingers is simply ridden over by the cream of the Arab cavalry, who are now able to exploit the gap made. More Roman armoured cavalry sweep round to engage the Arab horse archers who are firing on some Roman medium foot.
Things could go either way in the centre where the Arabs and Romans exchange archery fire.
The Romans manage to get a unit in position to take the Arab foot in the flank.
The elite Arab cavalry sweep round behind the Roman lines.
Two Roman units break and rout in the centre. Things are looking bleak. Surely that unit of javelin skirmishers cannot survive for much longer?
The Arab cavalry charge the archers on the hills, who manage to survive the onslaught.
On the right, the Romans have stabilised and formed a defensive line, which is being attacked by skirmishing mounted archers.
The skirmishing javelin troops are inevitably wiped out, causing a unit of Roman medium foot to flee. It looks all over for the Romans.
The Roman and Arab foot on the Roman centre-right clash, with one unit being wiped out in a single round of combat.
The remaining heavy foot take a lot of damage. It is obvious that the Romans have lost the battle.
In the end, the result had a lot of historical resonance. The Arab armies that swept up into the Roman Levant were more than a match for their Roman opponents, leading to the loss of what had formerly been the Diocese of the East (until abolished by the administrative reforms of Justinian the Great), followed by the loss of Egypt.
With the loss of these regions, the empire went into a decline. The process of Hellenisation, which had been formalised under Heraclius gathered pace, leading to the end of the Roman Empire of Late Antiquity. The smaller empire that survived was weakened, but still wealthy and survived to expand again in later centuries. This is the empire that we know today as the Byzantine, although its inhabitants always considered themselves to be Romans and the emperor was referred to as Basileus and Autokrator, rather than Augustus Imperator.
The empire survived and prospered, being the most powerful state in Early Mediaeval Europe, but declined in the 11th century and suffered the ignominy of being sacked by Latin Crusaders in 1204, a blow from which it never recovered, although the capital Constantinople, the seat of the Basileus until the end was not finally lost to the Ottomans until 1453.
A very accurate fight!
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