Gonzalo Rides Again

 

Last year I noted that my Italian Wars Game "Gonzalo" was completed two years previous. That's 3 years in all, and counting. Gross neglect, and tardy of me to be sure.

Now my Italian Wars interest is back and so is Gonzalo.

David at Not By Appointment made me some flags for the famous Captains of the day. We are going to see them below, and one from Stuart at Army Royal. The command stands each comprise of two Venexia Gendarmes (Big 15s) and a Blue Moon trumpeter. Let me introduce them to you.

Pierre Terrail, Seigneur de Bayard. Universally acknowledged to be without peer or reproach. Incredibly he paid the peasantry for provisions rather than plundering them. A true paladin and popular with everyone. 

As you can see Venexia and Blue Moon work well enough together.

Louis de Tremouille, top of the page and above. You can see the cross of St. Denis replacing impressa on the French Commanders surcoats.

John La Palais, as above, so below as the Occultists used to say. Stuart Mulligan made the flag.

The last of the French today.

Two pic's of Berault Stuart.

All French so far of course. Well Berault was a Franco-Scot. He was also one of those Stuarts and therefore if I recall right, of Breton descent. So going back far enough, a Dumnonian.

To catch up I have more Spanish Commanders to do.  

The first is Diego Mendoza. His impressa was Fortuna’s Wheel.  The Spanish heavy cavalry could not match the numbers of the French gendarmes. Interestingly they seem to have trained to fight as both impact lancers and skirmishing jinetes. Even de Cordoba might fight as a jinete if he thought it called for.

Note the two versions of Fortuna's Wheel below. Favoured by Louis de Tremouille and the Spanish Commander Diego Mendoza. 

Being a fighting noble was chancy. Capture by a fellow noble mostly meant ransom. No such surety pertained if the commonality got their hands on you. A nod to Fortuna must have seemed a prudent precaution. 

The Spanish Colonela combining targeteers, pikes and shot.

I intend 3 of these. Not all of the same size because that varied.

Note above front a Gladiator Arquebusier wearing a feathered beret matches nicely with the otherwise all Venexia formation.

Next, we have some Imperial Landsknects from Venexia. The flags are from Pete's Flags. In Gonzalo I differentiated the fighting style of these German pikemen from that of the Swiss.

There we go, back with a bang. While we are on the Italian Wars let me commend the Helion series to you. Refreshingly good.

Counts and Pilgrims- In the Days of the Cid

 

The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella is one of the glories of Christendom. It was, and is, a place of pilgrimage. 

Time was if you walked from your home nation to Santiago you got a free billet in the equally glorious Palace of The Catholic Kings. At least you did in my young day. That pilgrimage is known as the Camina.  

Santiago, St. James, was the patron saint of the Re-Conquista. It was from the Rainy West that the Re-Conquista was launched. Green Spain as it is often called. Extra manpower was always welcome.

Crusaders could fight for Christ and fulfil their vows on the Spanish marches. Sometimes a spell fighting and visiting the shrines of Spain was enough. Those who had done it wore a scallop shell to indicate the achievement. For others a stop off on the way to Outremer was useful.

Currently I have no Crusaders for Spain. Although any Norman figures would do well enough. Instead I was minded for something more exotic. English perhaps or Scandinavians. I settled on Norse Irish meaning the dwellers in the Viking settlements of Ireland. Both they and the native Irish enjoyed going on Pilgrimage. Here they are. 

Essex figures. I think their long robes look nice in a Spanish context. 

You might recall in a previous Cid post we looked at Moorish Emirs. 

Here you see my Christian Counts and a martial Bishop. 

Figures from Donnington.

With that my Spanish Army is game ready.

Ancient Spain

 

Here are my Ancient Spanish. Allies or opponents to Romans and Carthaginians depending upon circumstances. Ancient writers always gave their martial qualities five stars and a recommendation. Above Forged in Battle Light Horse and Minifigs slingers. 

Another variant on the theme. Forged in Battle Spanish Heavy Cavalry supporting young warriors from the same stable. The young warriors have slings but are eager to fight close to. Consider them a sort of long range Velite. 

The two units in cameo.

Forged in Battle heavy infantry. Five to a base in Civitates Bellantes and considered "Javelinmen".

More of the same below.

Once again. High morale and with some armour.

Old and new. Essex, Chariot and QRF.

More Spanish light cavalry.

QRF Slingers below.

Minifigs slingers. Old I know, but there is a lot to like. 

A final group of young warriors.

The last of the Spanish heavy cavalry.

Should you be Ancient Spanish inclined Forged in Battle are well worth a look. I'm also becoming interested in Cromarty Forge plastic/resin. I'm reliably told that they scale with Essex and that they do not break if they hear you swearing. Promising.

Andalusian Warriors and Soldiers-El Cid

 

Today let’s consider the Andalusians. Those with more subject knowledge than I conclude the following. Above Slav Mercenaries.

The Andalusian nobility were well motivated and skilled warriors. Very well mounted and compared to Christian Hidalgo more lightly protected. More your swift javelin throwers who can hit and evade. Actually, many Hidalgos fought just like that. What gave them the edge and all agree they had it, was the Christian fondness for a decisive charge.

From this we might conclude that against Jinete of any kind the Andalusian nobles have a good chance of winning.

They might also ride down skirmishers or do something fast and clever to overrun missile men, formed or not.

Steady close formed foot could be reduced with missilery rather than immediately charged head on.

Unless numbers dictated otherwise Andalusian nobles shouldn’t expect too much if they met a Spanish cavalry charge head on.

This all makes sense to me. The lessons are easily absorbed.  Things to do, things to avoid.

Likewise, Andalusian Jinete are good light cavalry. Meeting their Christian or Berber equivalents on level terms. Form dictates function. Or, is function dictates form? Either way we are talking about good light cavalry.

Things take a turn for the worst when we consider the infantry of Al Andalus.  The skirmishers were not the best but they could and would skirmish. It was the close order infantry that everyone thought was markedly inferior. Their only edge was sartorial it seems. Man for man they seem to have been wealthier than their foes. Below Berber Warriors.

I don’t know why this disparity should have been so marked. It may be that the mounted element of the Andalusian Armies was descended from the professional soldiers of the original conquering Arab Army. Perhaps the infantry were comprised of the descendants those who arrived later or had converted for better conditions. I have a couple of books coming that may shed some light.

Whatever the cause, attempts were made to effect redress. The easiest was to employ steady mercenaries-expensive. The other was to adopt the crossbow. The Andalusians did both.

There was sound reasoning for the Papal Ban on the crossbow. It could kill better skilled and protected warriors from a relatively safe distance. In terms of the order of society promoted by Frankish Christianity the crossbow was a serious threat to the establishment. That was a world where Nobles Fought, Clerics Prayed and everyone else worked. Where would that World be if the peasants could kill the nobles before the nobles killed the peasants?

I’m going to give my Andalusians two crossbow units. They won’t have high morale but they will shoot hard.

The mercenaries could be Christian warriors, or Berbers or the Soldiers of the defunct Caliphate of Cordoba. The latter could be Slavs or Sub Saharan Africans who had been enlisted on the Mamluk model. All of the forgoing were capable fighters. Importantly, Christian knights could be and were hired to deliver the missing deadly charge.

Above, you see my Andalusians and their mercenaries so far.

More El Cid

 

Having returned to the Reconquista I find myself on a roll. Much had been done before the abandonment. Little was needed to complete new units.  There are re-enforcements for every faction.

Here are some Andalusian javelin men. Skirmishers or a second rank behind the spearmen.

Berbers from Donnington New Era and the very old Originals.

 

The new above, the old below. Berbers could be found on all sides.

 

The Andalusians get two new units of horse archers.

 

All from Forged in Battle.

 

As are these heavy cavalry.

These Andalusian slingers too.

Now to the Christians. 

 

They get some heavy cavalry. The elite of the Christian armies. Donnington New Era figures. The ones top of the page are Minifigs.  

Like the Berbers Christian soldiers fought for Andalusian and Berber armies. The Andalusians likewise for Christians and Berbers.

 

More Christian Jinetes. 

Some Basque javelin men from Minifigs.

Old Glory archers, perhaps Goths or some such. I think they will do for Spain.

In terms of rules I intend to co-opt Dan Mersey's Clerics and Heroes concept.