Background[]
Nicaea (Greek: Νίκαια), located on the eastern shore of Lake Askania (Ασκάνια), had been captured by crusader forces from the Seljuq Empire on June 19th 1097. The crusaders left on June 26th for Jerusalem and Nicaea was handed over to Byzantine control.
Arrival of the Possessed[]
On November 21st 1126 the first sighting of an infected occurred just outside Nicaea. The city was immediately put on high alert with the army ready for an impending battle. Surely enough, on November 24th an entire horde of around 3000 infected arrived.
The battle[]
The Byzantine forces formed a defensive position. Archers positioned themselves atop the walls while the Varangian Guard stood outside the city walls as the front line, with half the main infantry stood behind them. A bloody battle ensued that would last just under two days. The Byzantine forces were well armoured which helped to prevent the infected from biting them. However, the large numbers of infected meant that they could overpower the Byzantine infantry. On the first night of fighting, 210 Byzantine soldiers and around 1260 infected had been killed.
On November 25th, the Byzantine forces killed the last of the infected, though having lost 372 men. By the time the next horde of infected would arrive the Bosporus Wall would be nearly complete.