The medieval era: a clash of swords and armor, archers winning the day against charging knights, the dust and roar of melee, lords’ banners snapping crisply in the breeze, high castle parapets withstanding mighty sieges. These are the familiar images that likely come to mind and captivate the imagination when played out on the table in the brilliant Levy & Campaign series.

My name is Justin Fassino and I am currently designing the next series entry entitled SELJUK: Byzantium Besieged 1068-1071, a game about the maneuvering between the Seljuk Turks and Eastern Roman Empire leading up to the pivotal Battle of Manzikert in August 1071. These military matters would ultimately be the first tremors of a multi-century tectonic shift that would see permanent settlement of Anatolia by central Asian steppe tribes, the First Crusade, the creation of the Ottoman Empire, and the end of Rome as a political identity.

If you’ve played NEVSKY, Levy & Campaign volume one, you probably also now link medieval military campaign operations with slogs through the muddy rasputitsa, the maneuvering of hungry armies, and the (un)reliability of commanders and their levies. When it released in late 2019, the game was a revelation to me, tantalizingly teasing a future collection of titles all focused around unique logistical mechanics and a novel portrayal of medieval warfare, all wrapped up in lavishly presented obscure (to me) historical topics and eras. The more I peeled back the layers, the more it revealed its deep mechanics and systems, which in turn had me excited for more as soon as possible.

But it wasn’t until I encountered a single capability in NEVSKY, a card which granted the Rus faction a single special unit marker, that the context of what Levy & Campaign could represent as a game system became fully clear to my mind’s eye. That capability card was the Kipchaks & Mongols special unit; in a game full of snarling armored knights and deadeye crossbowmen fighting through the frozen north, here were these small tan wedges swiftly riding their horses into battle, firing their arrows with supreme skill, and evading melee attacks thanks to their skirmishing discipline. Not only were they good fun, but they also got my mind racing with possibilities.

Through their presence in the game, there existed a working model of traditional European warfare in the medieval period that could integrate the fighting style and evocative imagery of steppe riders; why couldn’t you do a whole game around that premise?

Enter the first seeds of the idea for SELJUK.

A New Way to Fight

In this new setting, during the 11^th Century apogee of Eastern Roman power, come the thunderous hooves of central Asian tribesmen with their powerful archery and nomadic desire to find more pastures for their animals. On the arid plateau of Anatolia, the fate of Eastern Rome would be decided as the military might of Islam came face-to-face with the powerful Orthodox Christian empire grown from the seeds of antiquity. And when these events culminated on the fateful day of the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the old world of the Eastern Mediterranean as envisioned by Constantine the Great would change forever.

Unlike previous series games set in Western Europe, gone would be the towering stone fortifications of Spain, England, and France, to be replaced by the small, lightly protected settlements of multiple cultures and religions comingling at the crossroads of east and west. Instead of a core of mail-clad foot soldiers, armies in this setting would be characterized by skilled horsemen who used bows from the saddle, hordes of warbands streaming in from the Caucasus range and Eurasia, and the struggle for dominance across the open plains of Syria.

To begin with, I had three main goals for bringing Levy & Campaign to this new theater and time:

1. Reflect the highly asymmetric nature of both factions’ objectives
2. Create compelling gameplay that highlighted the organizational differences between the militaries of a centralized bureaucracy versus a dispersed semi-nomadic people
3. Provide players operational challenges and decision points that accurately reflect the history and era

Leaning Into Asymmetry

The idea for this game also required me to come up with new ways to represent the political and military goals of the factions. This wasn’t the same grudge match from NEVSKY over land and influence. Seljuk leadership was not interested in conquering territory, and in fact was not interested in defeating the Romans as a main objective at all. As a Sunni Muslim culture, the Seljuks had their sights set on the Shi’a realm of the Fatimid Caliphate as part of the schismatic battle over the wider Islamic world. The military power of the Seljuk Sultanate used its influence to create alliances with pagan Turkic nomads of the east and encouraged them to roam widely into Anatolia and Syria to settle and plunder for their vast herds of livestock, making their enormous food requirements someone else’s problem.

The Romans believed they were fighting a conquering army and viewed these encroaching forces like they would any of their traditional enemies. That couldn’t have been further from the truth, and while the Seljuks ravaged the countryside and sacked towns and settlements, the Romans struggled to respond. In game terms, the victory conditions for both sides reflect this situation, challenging the players to fight their opponent on their own terms.

Not-Quite-Feudalism

Levy & Campaign in Asia Minor presents a new view of medieval geopolitics. Eastern Rome was more highly centralized bureaucracy than it was traditional Western European feudal state. In the Turkic Islamic world, absolute political power rested with the Sultan and the military elite who served him. And while there was a concept of service in exchange for land, that land was ultimately owned by the state itself (or their subservient institutions) and not necessarily a single noble or their family. Militarily, the Roman Empire organized the army into regional themata, provincial administrative regions where local soldiers would provide for the defense of the area and could be called upon as levies during imperial campaigning.

In a game of SELJUK, while the Roman player does have standing forces for each of their lords, they also have the ability to raise these thematic troops during the campaign phase or use them in defense to guard against Seljuk sieges or ravaging. But as regional manpower is a finite resource, losing them in battle will weaken the frontier borders against Seljuk incursions in future seasons, so judicious use of these units is critical.

On the Seljuk side, the Sultan could draw on the might of his vast allies across the Sultanate, such as the Marwanid dynasty in southeastern Anatolia, vassal subjects of Ganja from high in the rugged mountains of Armenia, and elite Ghilmān cavalry units raised from childhood from every corner of the Sunni world. Seljuk lords and their forces from all three of these umbrellas serve as the main tools for the Turkic player, while the more nomadic segments of the military can be empowered to go about attritional warfare and maneuver.

The Long Road From Constantinople

Anatolia is a big place, nearly 30% larger in land area than the Iberian peninsula, its next closest European geographical analogue. While it could leverage a mostly professional army and immense wealth and resources through its centralized administration, fighting a war on its borders hundreds of miles away was politically and militarily challenging. Armies had to march across the entire empire to reach the enemy. This meant long supply lines over rough, barren terrain, extreme weather in the hot and cold seasons, and communications challenges between the imperial palace and field commanders.

The Seljuks, on the other hand, were fleet of hoof thanks to their equine culture. They could operate in smaller war bands, and their smash and grab tactics meant they were always on the move before they could be caught. They were an enemy almost perfectly equipped to defeat Roman fighting doctrine.

Both sides will have to leverage their strengths against the other to force their own campaign tempo on the game. The unpredictability of battle in Levy & Campaign can swing what looks to be a sure victory into a rout, so choosing when to engage the enemy will continue to be a big decision for players.

Manzikert Awaits

SELJUK: Byzantium Besieged is a project that I am very passionate about, both because it’s my first wargame design, but also because it covers a period of history there is next to no gaming on, despite it being incredibly important to the European medieval era as a whole. The drama of the personalities and unexpected twists and turns of the historical narrative make for a rich playground, and Volko Ruhnke’s outstanding systemic foundation for Levy & Campaign make it, in my view, the best tool to try and tell those stories on the table. Delivering players experiences in new periods of history is one of the reasons the series distinguishes itself from other wargames, and I am excited to see how players confront the unique challenges SELJUK’s new setting provides.

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If you’d like more information about SELJUK after reading the article above, you can watch this overview video, also by Justin Fassino. Enjoy!