The Knights of Islamic Spain

Gripping Beast's Plastic Arabs are good for the bulk of your force, whether you are skirmishing or doing mass combat, but you are going to need to supplement them with some heavy infantry.  And for that, metal figures are currently the only option. My first era of interest in wargaming was El Cid Spain and over the years I have picked up a decent variety of ranges from a few companies.

Gripping Beast produces several lines of Arabic or Islamic themed miniatures.  Below are some Andalusian infantry, the Arab or Arab-Spanish warriors of early Medieval Spain, which I painted recently.

The knights of Cordovan Spain were poets as well as warriors. Christian warriors from Europe including the mighty El Cid often took up service among the rival emirates in southern Spain. There, the Christians were exposed to ballads, poems and refined court manners.  After returning to their own lands, the influence of Muslim Spain can be seen in the culture of troubadour songs, chivalry, and courtly love that developed in feudal Europe during the high Middle Ages.

Andalusian warriors were also showy in their dress and armor. The poem below, from eleventh century Spain, makes note of the brilliant styles:

The Two Moorish Knights

Upon two mares both strong and fleet,
White as the cygnet's snowy wing,
Beneath Granada's arching gate
Passed Tarfe and Belchite's King.

Like beauty marks the dames they serve;

Like colors at their spear-heads wave;

While Tarfe kneels at Celia's feet,

The King is Dorelice's slave.

With belts of green and azure blue
The gallant knights are girded fair;
Their cloaks with golden orange glow,
And verdant are the vests they wear.

And gold and silver, side by side,
Are glittering on their garment's hem;
And, mingled with the metals, shine
The lights of many a costly gem.

Artizan Designs also produces a line listed as "Moors," an overly general term, for their offerings include Andalusians, Berbers and Sudanese Africans.

This pack of eight included two poses, one of whom wears chainmail under his robes and the other quilted armor.  I painted these a couple of years ago (or more) but did some retouching, especially on the shields.

Overall, I think the Artizan wins the shoot-out.  The Gripping Beast figures have less distinct facial features and some of the chain mail detailing is a little muddy.  And while the splayed arm pose on the Artizan figure is awkward, it is dynamic on the game table.

Andalusian Cavalry

My El Cid/Spanish project continues to expand with this unit of recently completed Andalusian Cavalry from Gripping Beast.  The set of ten contained a mix of Christian/Muslim knights, befitting the mercenary nature of some of the Taifa kingdoms' armies.

The only issue I have ever had with any Gripping Beast figures is the choppy or rudimentary look of the horses.  On these, I have no complaints.  The details are sharp, especially on the heads and harnesses.

Also completed this week, after about 6 weeks in the making, is this Norman watchtower.  I originally intended for it to be the keep for a castle complex, but that proved to be too ambitious.  Castles are nice to have, but there has yet to be a rules system that wants to fully tackle the intricacies of ancient and medieval siege warfare. The sides are built from Hirst Arts blocks and the floors from molded plastic sheets found in the railroad modeling section of a hobby store.

With that in mind, I changed it to a stone coastal watchtower with a hay signal beacon on top.  The floors and door are removable and can hold about a dozen models inside. 

The hay stack is made of Milliput and the groove on the side will be used to attach a steel wool "fire." Below, some Norman archers take aim.

I have some WIP photos that I might attach with a write up soon. 

Not So Angry Monks

Not a great deal of figure painting this week - four monks, six slingers, a few Vikings - but I have got an interesting terrain project that I should finish soon.  It is a Spanish church based on San Pedro de La Nave. 

SAGA recently added Angry Monks as a sword for hire unit for Christian factions only.  They are basically a non shooting levy that generate SAGA dice if they are in close proximity to the Warlord. Additionally, when killed, they allow the controlling player to re-roll a spent SAGA die and place it on the table.

The Gripping Beast figures in the first two rows were painted a couple of years ago.  I recently added the four in the back from Black Tree's monks based on the Cadfael series. None of them are particularly angry looking, most are dour and a couple look menacingly stern.  Maybe they can make the raiders feel guilty.

The best use that I can imagine for Angry Monks would be to surround the Warlord and function as human shields.  However, since they are a levy, you cannot use them to take wounds for the Warlord under his special rules.  If you like to play unpredictably, the extra dice from your martyred monks could make for some wild situations, but I do not see them ending up on my game table as anything other than background for a scenario - maybe escort "baggage." If anyone can suggest a good tactical use for the monks, please let me know.

Cadfael is one of my favorite mystery series and I like these Black Tree figures.  They have nice proportions, expressive faces and are a bit taller than the Gripping Beast monks.  

Link to Studio Tomahawks PDF for Angry Monks

Here is a Shadowforge female Viking flanked by a Wargames Factory and Gripping Beast plastic figures.  I only have the single figure, so I based her as a Warlord.

Finally, I am now about half way finished with my forty plastic figures from the Gripping Beast Dark Age Warrior box.  The flexibility of these figures is such that with appropriate skin tones and fabrics, they can pass for anything from Vikings to Andalusian slingers.  I plan to put together about fifteen slingers from the set. 

Andalusian Noble Cavalry

The invasion of Spain in 711 AD by the Umayyad Caliphate was accomplished by a small number of high ranking Arabs, supported by large numbers of Berber tribesmen. Over the next centuries, they built a prosperous and successful society on the Iberian peninsula.  The city of Cordoba had a half million inhabitants (making it the largest city in western Europe) and boasted 3,000 mosques.  

Seemingly on the fringe of Europe, Muslim Spain was nonetheless an important point for the diffusion of new ideas and goods into early medieval Europe.   From Muslim Spain, Europe was introduced to chess, the lute and reintroduced to the writings of ancient Greeks. Besides scholars, warriors from Europe came to Andalusia for a variety of reasons. Some went to fight against the Muslims.  Others went there in exile and to serve as mercenaries in wars between rival emirs.  When they left, the French, Spanish and Normans took back polo, jousting and a love for poetry that would fuel the romantic ideals of chivalry well into the Renaissance.  

Andalusian Cavalry from Artizan

Elite cavalry in Andalusia was initially based on the Syrian junds of the Umayyad Caliphate, but these Arabs were a numerical minority in al-Andalus. The Berbers were initially the bulk of the infantry forces, though Berber and African cavalry were more common by the eleventh century. The noble cavalry of Andalusia's great cities were well equipped and colorful. They often wore chain or scale armor, with surcoats over the armor, a style that was later picked up by western knights. Tactically, their role was to support infantry with light weapons and quick maneuvers. Shields born personal designs or emblems. Again, it was a style that would later be imitated by Christians.   

Influences ran both ways, however.  From Christian warriors, Andalusians picked up an appreciation for Frankish swords and the couched lance charging style.  

Mounted archers were rare, but not unheard of, especially if recruited from Turkish sources. More common would have been crossbowmen, mounted and on foot. Andalusian city militias were equipped with crossbows, and a number of better off among the citizenry could have wielded their crossbows from the expedient position upon a horse.

Mounted Arab archers from Gripping Beast

Mounted Crossbowmen, from Artizan

Conquest Normans into Andalusians

After a number of posts on my Castilians and El Cid armies, it is time to move to the other end of the peninsula, the Moors of Spain, or Al-Andalus.


Warriors of Al-Andalus

The peoples who made up the fighting forces of Muslim Spain were drawn from many places.  As many historians have noted,the Arab invasion of Spain by the Umayaad Caliphate in 711 AD was not entirely Arab or Muslim.  The initial invasion force was led by the Arabs, but the bulk of the troops were Berbers, who had in recent years been conquered by the Umayaad Arabs, and not completely converted in the early eighth century.   Tensions between Arabs and Berbers characterized the Spanish emirate throughout its existance, with open warfare first breaking out in the 740s.

The Arabs were disproportionately a urban population in Spain, with the countryside dominated by Berbers and native Christians, who slowly converted to Islam over the next two hundred years.  These Spanish Christians served in Andalusian armies, for reasons of both compulsion and loot, along with slave troops purchased from Christian lands, Africa and the Middle East.


Here is a group of four Conquest Normans beginning their conversion into Andalusian troops.  Tunics were extended into robes, and adding turbans and headgear.  The set's round shields were also used, as the heart shaped Arab shields did not come into popular usage until the twelfth century.

Finished and painted, the shield patterns on the two below were lifted from some Andalusian pottery designs of the time. 

Here are the conversions in the ranks with some Artizan Moors.  They fit in very well in terms of scale and heft.

Troops of Arab descent in Spain were most likely from the cities of Spain (which were some of the largest in Europe at the time), and functioned as an urban militia.  As such, these are depicted as wearing finer clothing in bright colors.

Overall, the conversion process was useful practice for my poor (but hopefully improving) sculpting skills.  For time reasons, I would not want to convert a whole box of Normans into Arabs, unless one needed a few extra Moors for a low cost.

Next time, Andalusian cavalry and commanders.

El Cid and King Alfonso VI

I thought the parallels between El Cid and King Alfonso effectively paralleled the often contentious relationship between the dukes of Normandy and their lords, the kings of France. The quickest and easiest way to get these two leaders of Spain into SAGA was to use current battleboards. El Cid and his great cavalry seemed a good match for the Norman battleboard. King Alfonso VI, who outmaneuvered his brothers and brought the force of Spain upon the fractured taifa kingdoms, should play the Frankish battleboard. To preserve game balance, El Cid and King Alfonso's abilities are closely modeled on William the Bastard and Charlemagne.  

Norman dice made for King Alfonso's Spanish warband

El Cid

Like many great heroes of the Dark Ages, there is much we do not know about the life of Rodrigo Diaz and what is known has become entangled with legend. The hero of the Poema de Mio Cid (The Lay of the Cid) was a valiant warrior whose tragic flaw was being right when his king was wrong. While more realistic in tone than many medieval epics, the Lay of the Cid has the protagonist and capturing lions barehanded. Historically, Rodrigo was certainly a great warrior who was respected by both Christians and Muslims in eleventh century Spain.  He also had a great many enemies, and was dismissed by some as a mercenary with little loyalty or conviction.  

  

He was born in 1143 or a bit later, in the village of Vivar, not far from the town of Burgos. This was during the reign of King Ferdinand, who united most of Spain before his death in 1065, and the division of his kingdom among his sons Sancho, Alfonso and Garcia.  As the son of a nobleman, Rodrigo was raised to fulfill the duties of a king's man on the frontier.  While in his teens, Rodrigo became attached to the household of Sancho and rose to the position of alferez, or armiger (Latin), the trainer of Sancho’s household troops.  He served Sancho for six years, until the King was killed outside of Zamora.  Sancho’s murder possibly involved his sister Urraca, as well as his exiled brother Alfonso.

After Alfonso’s ascension to the throne of Castile and Leon, Rodrigo took a position in his court, though not one as high as in Sancho’s administration.  After his unwelcome obstruction of a Christian led raid in a Muslim kingdom, Rodrigo was exiled by Alfonso.  He quickly took up employ in the court of al-Mu'taman of Zaragoza.    

Rodrigo later returned to the service of Alfonso, but his fame and independence made him a difficult vassal to the king.  Rodrigo later took the city of Valencia, and for the last years of his life, held the realm as an independent sovereign.    

Hero of the Reconquista: as a hero of Castile, Rodrigo generates three SAGA dice at the start of each turn, instead of the usual two for other Warlords.

Duelist: As a frequent champion for his lord, Rodrigo was a master of single combat.  When engaging in melee with another Warlord, El Cid gains an extra attack die, allowing him to fight with six attack dice, rather than the five of other Warlords.

Campeador: As a recognized leader of men, El Cid can attract a variety of units to his warband. Any Warriors or Hearthguard units in Rodrigo’s warband may have bows.  Bow equipped Warriors and Hearthguard have an armour characteristic reduced by one (bow equipped Warriors have an Armour of 3 and bow-equipped Hearthguards have an Armour of 4) due to their lack of protection.  These models may be fielded as Christian or Muslim, and generate SAGA dice as any other unit.  


Alfonso VI

The second of three sons, Alfonso inherited the heartland of his father's kingdoms. An uneasy peace existed between the three brothers, but when their mother died in 1071, open warfare broke out.  At first, Sancho and Alfonso allied together and split Garcia's lands of Galicia and Portugal.  After turning on each other, Sancho defeated Alfonso and exiled him to Seville.  While dealing with an uprising in Zamora (not far from Seville, it should be noted), Sancho was murdered and Alfonso took the throne, declaring himself emperor of Spain in 1077.

Alfonso was a strong and effective ruler, and although he was dedicated to the reconquest of Spain, he did not believe in persecuting his Muslim subjects. He also cultivated close ties with France and brought to Spain Cluniac monks to standardize religious practices and rites. He died in 1109, leaving no male heir.
Hero of the Reconquista As the heir of his father Ferdinand and ruler of Spain, Alfonso must lead a Spanish warband and generates three SAGA dice at the start of each turn, (not two as other Warlord).  Alfonso may be represented as either mounted or on foot.  Any warband led by Alfonso must include at least one point of mounted Hearthguard.

King of Castile and Leon: Alfonso only generates four Attack Dice in melee and not five as other Warlords. His subjects expect him to lead the army, not exchange blows with the enemy.  While recognized as a capable warrior in his own right, he may not voluntarily engage in melee combat with enemy unless accompanied by friendly units.

Charisma: When Alfonso uses his We Obey special rule, he may activate up to three friendly units (if on foot) or two friendly units (if mounted).  The range of his activation is extended to M, and not S as with other Warlords.  

Alfonso, from Crusader Miniatures, warriors from Gripping Beast

In a few days, a battle report El Cid v. Alfonso will be posted, along with my reactions from my first play-through on the Frank's battleboard. 

Spanish Caballeros

The Caballero Hidalgos and Caballero Villanos were the core of the Christian armies of Spain in the tenth through twelfth centuries. In fact, the prevalence of cavalry in Spanish armies meant that it did not become an exclusive role for the wealthy elite, and frontier landowners capable of affording a horse were expected to ride in war.

Heavier cavalry was a bit lighter than in northern Europe, because the realities of frontier warfare on a variety of terrain demanded quick moving men and mounts.  Spears were used overarm and downward, with the couched style introduced in the late eleventh century.  Shields were generally round, and tasseled in imitation of Muslim Andalusian styles.

Model Sources:

The two best sources for El Cid era miniatures are Crusader and Gripping Beast.  Both are of fairly high quality and mix well together, although there are features inherent to each range.  Crusader models tend to be a little bulkier and heftier than Gripping Beasts, which is not a criticism of either, but a point worth noting.  The sculpting on both lines is of high quality, although on average, the Crusader tends to be sharper, especially on the faces.  Gripping Beast earns points for variety.  There is a "sameness" to many of the Crusader figures, even across several of their lines.  Additionally, the Crusaders' only include round shields, even though historically, a mix of round and kite shields would characterize the period.

The models with green and yellow shields are in El Cid's party, and the red and yellow are primarily Castillians.

In plastic, there is no dedicated range, but Conquest Games' Normans, especially the unarmored figures, can make very good caballero villanos with the included round shields.

Conquest Games, Gripping Beast and Crusader Miniatures

YouTube Recommendation


La Spada del Cid a 1962 Spanish movie that is dubbed in German on YouTube. Good costuming and location shooting. Even though I could only understand one out of five words, it was good background noise for the painting table. Of course, Heston's El Cid is hard to beat, but it's interesting to see other takes.



Next week, a look at leaders of the Spanish armies in the eleventh centuries, along with some homebrew Saga cards.

Spanish Military Service, 1000-1200 AD

My blog posting as been very sparse in 2013 to date.  Hopefully, that should change in the coming weeks, as I have been furiously painting Spanish, Andalusian, Berber and Sudanese armies for a series of posts and write ups in the coming weeks.


Forced into the mountainous north by the Umayyad invasion in 711 AD, the Christian nobility clung to the kingdom of Asturia.  In the ninth and tenth centuries, the Christian kingdoms restrengthened and gradually expanded south.  On the Spanish plains the Asturian kings needed to develop a strong cavalry force, capable of defending the frontier and operating with some degree of self sufficiency.

To encourage settlement on the frontier, small landowners were granted commissions of land in exchange for military service.  This was not a feudal relationship per se, the small farmers were not of high enough status to become royal vassals and there was no ritual performed on either party's behalf.  Rather, it was a contractual relation.  Into the eleventh century, settlement became more numerous and organized.  Towns were created by royal charters, called fueros, and land was granted on the basis of cavalry service (caballerias) and infantry service (peonias).

Caballero Hidalgos or later just Hidalgos - greater and lesser knights who did have a feudal relationship with the king or a count (comes in Spain).

Caballero Villanos - most important class in the towns of central Spain.  Along with a small number of hidalgos, they formed a urban military aristocracy that gave Spanish towns of the eleventh and twelfth centuries a different character than Italy, with its merchant elite. They functioned as light horsemen and the jinete, referring more to a style than a type of soldier, involved fast moving and maneuvering cavalry equipped with javelins.

Above, a group of hidalgo villanos. Though not as well armored as knights, their horses, shields and clothing indicate wealthier status. Below, several groups of foot soldiers. Figures are from Crusader Miniatures.

Below, a group of fairly well equipped spearmen, perhaps some urban militia. The two on the right are from Gripping Beast.

Peones -small landowners and tenants not able to afford a horse and the requisite equipment gave their service as a peones, or foot soldier. Better equipped and trained foot soldiers bore a shield, spear and sword.  Skirmishers, drawn from the shepherds or Basque hill people, were proficient with bow, sling or javelin.  

Below, Spanish archers in fairly colorful garb, probably from trade with Arabic merchants to the south. All figures from Crusader Miniatures

Duties of the Spanish soldiers were to guard the towns and frontier, especially the herds of livestock. Far from just defenders, Caballeros and Peones were expected to go on the offensive and raid enemy territory, be it Muslim or Christian.  Raiding was also an opportunity for advancement, with soldiers at all levels enriching themselves through plunder and ransom.

Military service was essential to the reconquest of the Iberian penninsula, but Spanish kings were well aware that overly burdensome terms of service would not attract the necessary populations to the frontiers.  Age exemptions only applied to those over 70 years, which speaks to relative health of older people in  pre-modern times.  As always, one could purchase their way out of service, and the fee was twice as much for a caballero as a peony.  Family situations were also considered, with the newly married or those caring for sick relatives capable of receiving temporary exemptions.

Wargaming the Period

There are several good options for wargaming the early Reconquista period.  I do not own a copy of the Warhammer Ancient Battles El Cid supplement, but it was quite popular.  Reconquista army lists for Field of Glory were found in both the Wolves from the Sea and Oath of Fealty supplements.

My current preferred large battle historical system game is Clash of Empires, and my eventual goal is to build a 2500 to 3000 point Spanish army.

SAGA is my other favorite game currently.  While a Spanish supplement is highly likely in the next year or two, adapting a current battleboard is the best option.  The three classes of men, Hidalgos, Caballero Villanos and Peones fit into SAGA's divisions, and the best analog is probably the Norman or Breton battleboard.


Sources

Lourie, Elena. "A Society Organized for War," Past and Present, No. 36, December 1966, pp. 54-66.

Powers, James ."Frontier Military Service and Exemption in Municipalities of Aragon and Castile, vol. 45. Military Affairs.

Portugal in the Age of El Cid

This post and hopefully the next few will be about an El Cid project a friend and I have worked on for almost two years. At various points we wrote our own rules, used other established rules systems, and now might try to get these into our SAGA games. I volunteered to paint a big chunk of his figures and he wanted them to represent a Portuguese force. Properly defined however, there was no Portugal in the mid to late eleventh century, the era of the Cid and the rise of Castile and Leon.  

Though Portugal was not recognized as a sovereign kingdom until 1143, the political separation of the western lands of the Iberian peninsula has a long history.  It was organized under the Romans as the province of Lusitania.  Following the Roman era, the Suevi tribes controlled western and northwestern Iberian lands until their absorption into the Visigothic kingdom.  The collapse of the Visigoths against the Arab invasion in 711 put most of the Iberian peninsula in Umayaad control. A small portion of the northwest, Asturia, was the refuge of the Visigothic nobility and the Basques controlled the mountainous northwest.

Under the Asturian king Alfonso III, western  territory was recaptured in 843 and the settlement of Porto Cale was established where the Duro River met the Atlantic.  As a buffer zone between Galicia and Al’ Andalus, Alfonso awarded it to his vassal Vimar Peres.

The ninth and tenth centuries were the golden age of the Cordoban Caliphate. Andalusia was the wealthiest and most sophisticated power in western Europe and though Islamic, attracted Christians eager to study medicine, science and work as mercenaries. The height of this power was reached under the vizier Al-mansur (Almanzor, 938-1002). He waged war on Castile and Leon, raiding as far as Santiago. After 1031, the political balance shifted decisively towards the Christian kingdoms. In that year, the last Cordoban caliph was removed and Andalusia was divided into numerous rival taifa kingdoms.  Meanwhile, the Christian kingdoms were consolidating under King Fernando the Great.  In the west, Fernando was campaigning well below the Tagus River on the Muslim held city of Badajoz. As Christian held land expanded around Porto, the County of Portugal was formed.  The Christian armies at this time were not actively looking to reclaim the peninsula for the extraction of tribute payment, paria, was much more lucrative than conquest.

Throughout the tenth century, the County of Portugal remained more or less a part of the Kingdom of Leon.  The death of Ferdinand in 1065 resulted in the division of his kingdom into three parts.  His eldest son, Sancho, received Castile; Alfonso, the favorite, received the heartland of Leon; and the youngest son Garcia was granted Galicia, which included the County of Portugal. In 1070, Count Nuno Mendes, a decendant of Vimar Peres, rebelled against Garcia and was defeated in 1071 at the Battle of Pedroso.  Thereafter, Garcia took the title King of Galicia and Portugal, the first to refer to it as a kingdom. 

Nuno Mendes, Rebel King of Portugal

Ferdinand's lands were not divided for long. In 1071, the two eldest sons attacked and divided attacked and divided Galicia, with some sources claiming that Sancho's alfarez Rodrigo Diaz personally captured Garcia. A year later, Sancho was dead, murdered by unknown assassins and Alfonso VI was king of Leon, Castile and Galicia. As for the county of Portugal, Alfonso named his son-in-law Henry, brother of the Duke of Burgundy, as count.  

Count Henry of Portugal

Alfonso death at age 72 in 1109 after more than forty years on the throne was the catalyst for Portuguese independence.  Succession was an open question. With only surviving daughters, the eldest, Urraca was widowed but with a male child.  Her sister Theresa and brother in law Count Henry were far from obedient vassals. Their child, Afonso, was finally proclaimed King of Portugal and captured Lisbon with English crusaders in 1147.

Wargaming Portugal

Historical opponents for an eleventh century Portuguese warband are plentiful and varied. Most obvious would be Andalusians and, later, the Almoravids. Equally prevalent as opponents was other Christian Iberians, or a combined Christian and Moorish force. While El Cid was a mercenary captain for the taifa city Zaragoza, he once fought off a raid that included the Count of Portugal.

The Portuguese elite was equipped and fought like the rest of Iberia's Christians, wearing mail, armed with spear and sword and with horsemanship skills that rivaled the Normans. As a frontier region, Portugal was more more heavily influenced by Andalusian dress and military styles. Infantry was comprised of property owning men from towns and their lord's estates who saw war as an opportunity for adventure and plunder. They were equipped with spear and sword, with the round shield giving way to the Norman kite shield later in the eleventh century. To defend against raids, peasant, especially those from shepherding backgrounds, were competent with the sling and javelin.

My next post will be a look at these skirmishers, and some historical fiction dealing with Reconquista Spain.

Sources

Fletcher, Richard. The Quest For El Cid. Oxford University Press, 1989.

Luscombe, David and Jonathon Riley Smith, eds. The New Cambridge Medieval History vol. IV c.1024 - c.1198 Part II. Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Nicolle, David. El Cid and the Reconquista 1050-1492. Osprey, 1988.

Maps from Wikipedia used under Creative Commons license.