El Cid Again

I had the beginnings of a Moorish Spain Project here a few years ago.  The tag was Tell Cid. Passible witty, if you got the reference. Perhaps puzzling otherwise. It stalled, the project that is.

Anyhow, now it is back courtesy of a War Hammer publication -El Cid. It is years old and I bought it from a lad in Germany. The El Cid book is great for inspiration and I’m pleased with it. Nice to get it from Germany and in a timely fashion too. Last week I got Brent Oman's Ancient and Medieval Battle Command from the USA. I also got Harman Murtagh's The Irish Jacobite Army. They arrived in the same post.

One of the many things I enjoy about the hobby is its international aspect. There was an international trade network in the Bronze Age too. Until the Collapse.

So where are we? I thought I should do a Billhooks/Lion Rampant size force for each of the contenders. A protracted rummage through the Lead Pile and its sibling the Box of Forgotten Projects produced the following:

The Black Guard of Yusuf Ibn Tashfin. These fellows will get a second unit and some archers. Donnington New Era figures, you have to drill the hands which sometimes works.

Christian Town Militia. A couple of Museum figures and the rest from Essex via Colonel Bill's. Note the flag of St. Pelagius.  There were two St. Pelagius, this one's the scholar. I like the simplicity of this unit.

Basque light cavalry from Baueda. I have a few of these and they aren't bad at all. Not very lively though.

Andalusian Cavalry from Donnington New Era. Nice enough, paw drilling necessary.

Berber cavalry with a jolly Berber flag. Also from the brand of the broken hand.  I like these.

Mercenary Caballeros from Baueda. Part of a job lot and sold as Sicilian Normans. I think they work for Spain. One can take a flag, I have yet to locate one.

Mercenary Crossbows from Museum. Much to like I think.

Andalusian Town Militia from Forged in Battle. Arabs, should you want some.  Forged in Battle are good. I have lots of their Arabs. I intend to add green stuff tassels to the larger shields suiting them for Spain.

That's it so far but the project is securely re-launched.

I'll put the next batch up when they are done. Handily, most units could fight on either side.

Berbers for Billhooks

 

There are of course Berbers and Berbers.  I’m thinking of Berbers in Spain.  Of course, Berbers are and were Berber, with Berber military traditions.  A quick look at Moorish and Numidian forces in ancient days shows the roots of that tradition.  Broadly speaking I’m going to end up with a list of units rather than a specific army list.   

 

This is my thinking so far.

When the ground was right, restrictive to cavalry and close formation troops, massed Berber skirmishers could attack in waves hurling javelins at close range.  On one such occasion they lured veteran Arab cavalry into dismounting to pursue them into difficult ground.  The Berbers then attacked destroying the Arab force.

 

On open ground other tactics were required and found. These revolved around the veiled spear men you see above.

Some tribes enjoyed a better military reputation than others.  Unfair?  Maybe.  It does allow us to vary the rating of units.  For example, we might have:

 

Veteran Berber spear men or Levy Berber spear men.  The veterans might be Retinue in Billhooks terms.   

Berber spear men might also be in a block with a second rank of archers.  The archers might be levy or might not.  A third rank of cavalry stood behind the archers.  Importantly, the cavalry could advance directly through both lines of infantry when the time came for a counter attack.

Sub Saharan troops loom large in Berber Armies.   

They might be mercenaries and so retinue.  Or, military slaves and so possibly not.   

They could be spear men or archers or a highly rated Black Guard unit. I've just ordered a unit of the latter because...El Cid.

 

Berber skirmishers were very good.  Fortunately, Billhooks already provides for such fellows.  I’ll use the Kern stat’s. Often such Berber infantry formed a second line behind the spear men and threw javelins over their heads.  The spear men leveled their spears, butts firmly grounded and knelt behind their shields to facilitate that.  This means we should allow our Berber skirmishers to form up to carry out that function.

That leads us nicely to Berber tactics in set piece battle.  The light cavalry deployed on the wings or in front of the army.  The light infantry was on the flanks.  The centre was formed of spear men with supporting archers or javelin throwers.  Behind this more cavalry waited.

The idea was to absorb the enemy charge and counter charge when they were disordered.  On occasion this was combined with a flank attack.

If you are interested in the Crusades, you might now be thinking “Just like the Fatimid’s battle tactics.” A moment later you might add "and Frankish tactics in Outremer".

This raises the interesting question were all Berber cavalry light skirmishers?  I don’t know the answer.  I can say that Berber cavalry in Fatimid armies did not skirmish but fought hand to hand.

Here is another thing, Berber armies could manoeuvre in response to drum signals. I think that calls for a special card.  My take is simple, the card will allow the whole army to advance or retire a single move.  It can be played once in a game.

That’s it so far.  More soon.

And so, to 12th Century Spain!

 

 

 

Who doesn't like a purple horse, or a green one? I'm much taken by the image above.  Let's take it line by line.

 

In the first line we have two archers, unarmoured and, judging by the tall pointed caps, Muslims. The cap being required of them by law. A trumpeter of sorts also un-armoured but he carries a sword and shield.  Then, a front rank of well armoured men.  Banners are flying, shields are mainly round with a couple of kite shapes.  Infantry or dismounted hidalgos?  In either case I'd say the archers are firing over the front rank.  We will keep that in mind. There are lots of arrows coming the other way too.

 

The second line next.  Has the lad on the lower left lost his cuddy or does he represent infantry ready to exploit a cavalry success? The hidalgos ride with a long stirrup and have quite high cantel saddles.  That's the sort of thing I associate with hard charging cavalry.  Note the over hand spear grip.  Good to thrust and to throw.  

 

 

That would be the old Visigoth tradition. Older still the Celts of the region liked to thrust and throw spears from horseback.  The British refugees to Asturias also came from that cavalry tradition.  Then we have accounts of Spanish hidalgos joining in the skirmishing between vying light cavalry.  Something to think about there.

 

 

It could be, in Billhooks terms, pre- game that the owning player must declare his hidalgos "knights" or "cavalry".  Or, a "special card" enabling him to reverse the choice, should that card appear. 

 

 

Two things more to consider.  Spanish hidalgos mostly had the close combat edge over their Muslim mounted and armoured opponents.  Likewise hidalgos took on Frankish knights on a seemingly equal basis.  On balance it looks like Knghts.

The last line seems to be a king doing king stuff.  Judicial  murder in this case.  There was a lot of that about.  The fetters indicate it is formal rather than informal homicide.

 

Now, to the point.  This is the first post of a new Spanish Project.  This one is tentatively called "Tell Cid".  As is becoming my practice it will feature two or more armies and a new set of rules. More on that as we go.

I have some new toys from Donnington New Era.  You have to drill hands and stick on shields.  I've broken 4 figures so far.  That said the results with the survivors are very nice.

Above we have the hidalgos of Asturias and Galicia.  The banners may not be historical but to me they speak to something of Green Spain.  I'll probably expand this into two units.

 

Here we have some Berber cavalry.  The flag is one currently favoured among some Berber people and I'm sticking with it.  

 

 

These lads could fight for or against the Arabs on their own part.  They also hired out to Christian armies betimes.  When not doing those things they raided Christian Spain and beyond.

 

I wish you a Happy New Year for '23.  More soon.