Historical Overview Section
The Magyars are the ancestors of the Hungarians, however during this period all ethnic groups in the steppes were nomads with almost identical material cultures, making a definitive identification of the Magyars and their homeland almost impossible.
The Khazar Khaganate was the dominant power in the steppes between the rivers Dnieper and Volga after around 650, controlling a multi-ethnic empire with the Magyars one of the groups who lives in close symbiosis/and incipient fusion with other groups such as the Alans, Bulgars, and Onogurs.
The earliest certainly identifiable events of the Magyars' history occurred in the 830s when the Bulgarians hired them to fight against their Byzantine prisoners, who rebelled and tried to return to Macedonia in the late 830s - the Byzantines routed them on the banks on the Lower Danube. According to the Annals of St. Bertin, Rus' envoys who visited Constantinople in 839 could only return to their homeland through the Carolingian Empire because "the route by which they had reached Constantinople had taken them through primitive tribes that were very fierce and savage". Ibn Rusta wrote that the Khazars "used to be protected from attack by the Magyars and other neighboring peoples" by a ditch!
Over time they came to be centred in the region of Levedia, but were bumpd out by the Pechenegs after they ended up on the wrong end of a war with the Khazars and had to migrate out of the Khazars reach. This saw most of the Magyars resettle in Etelköz, where the Khazar Khagan subsequently sent an envoy to them suggesting they accept his suzerainty as long as they could agreeon one overall Magyar leader - which they did, starting the process of crystallizing the many tribes.
They then threw off the Khazar yoke, and started subjecting the neighboring Slavic peoples, and making piratical raids on them selling those captured during these raids to the Byzantines in Kerch on the Crimean peninsula. A plundering raid in East Francia in 862 was the Magyars' first recorded military expedition in Central Europe. The Magyars returned to Central Europe in July 892, when they invaded Moravia in alliance with Arnulf, king of East Francia
When the Samamids attacked the Turks in 893, this displaced the Turks into Pecheneg lands, and in turn the Pechenegs into Magyar territory. The Magyars were away at the time, busy invading Bulgaria in alliance with the Byzantine Emperor Leo the Wise so the unexpected Pecheneg invasion destroyed the unguarded dwelling places of the Magyars, forcing them to leave the Pontic steppes and seek refuge over the Carpathian Mountains.
The Magyars occupied their new homeland in several phases, initially settling the lands east of the Danube and only invading the March of Pannonia after Arnulf of East Francia died in 899. They destroyed Moravia before 906 and consolidated their control of the Carpathian Basin through their victory over a Bavarian army in the Battle of Brezalauspurc in 907
Using the army in ADLG
- It's very Hunu/Mongol, but with decent numbers of Elite HCv so is less afraid to fight than many similar armies
- A fortified camp seems a must as you will end up leaving it exposed as you dance around the table
- Not sure the foot are worth taking - you will need to use the bowmen as LF to protecT any Mediocre Spear you take, which means you then have no proper archers to harass enemy cavalry.. so maybe a couple of archers, and maybe Slave Javelinmen as well to sit in patches of rough terrain on the steppe is the best choice if you feel the need for pedestrians?
Useful Links
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- Magyar Army usage statistics from the ADLG ranking site
Army Lists
Sample army lists for this army
200 Points
Competent
3 Nobles Heavy Cavalry Bow Elite
2 Horse Archers Medium Cavalry Bow ------
2 Horse Archers Light Cavalry Bow ------
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Brilliant
2 Nobles Heavy Cavalry Bow Elite
2 Horse Archers Medium Cavalry Bow ------
2 Horse Archers Light Cavalry Bow ------
2 Guardsmen Heavy Cavalry Impact Elite
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Ordinary Included
1 Nobles Heavy Cavalry Bow Elite
4 Horse Archers Light Cavalry Bow ------
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Fortified Camp