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.

Gripping Beast Plastic Arabs - Review and First Look

Having good experiences with Gripping Beast's previous plastic releases, I preordered their Arab Spearmen and Archers boxed set.  A quick plug for my favorite online retailer - Architects of War - my order arrived on Friday, .

The box contains eight identical small sprues and there is no separate command sprue.  Each sprue contains five unarmored bodies and eight heads.  Three of the bodies have premodeled left arms for shield carrying warriors.  The other two bodies have attachable arms that can be used as archers or light spearmen.  The weapons on each spear are five right arms with spears, two right arms with bows, two quivers, three round shields, two teardrop shields, one right arm with a sword, one right arm with a horn and four attachable left arms in several positions.  Also included, is a green Renedra sprue with assorted base sizes for individually mounting a few figures and group basing the rest.

The quality of the figures is up to the standard set by previous Gripping Beast plastic releases.  Mold lines are minimal and the parts detach cleanly from the sprues.  The poses and stances are very natural; excellent for ranking up into large units.

I know some hobbyists do not like the preset left arm and prefer the adaptability of being able to attach more parts separately. For me, that's one less unnecessary gap to fill. Speaking of, all of the arms on my first batch attached very well. The gap line was so minimal that a little extra paint was sufficient to fill it in.

With any plastic release, a common complaint centers on the offerings - what's included and what's not.  I expect the lack of a command sprue with an armored officer and retinue will bother some as it has been a feature of previous previous plastic releases from this manufacturer and others.  In all honesty, I already have plenty of those figures in metal.  I appreciate forty low level troops for a reasonable price, saving the show pieces for metals.  And while the package and sprue size is very efficient, it means fewer add ons. For me, a few extra bits would have been a nice inclusion: small pennant banners, swords in scabbards and another shield variation.  

The five figures from a single sprue

As for uses, Gripping Beast obviously brought this set out in time for the SAGA Crescent and Cross release. Even without that tie-in, affordable Arab/Saracen troops is something the market has been demanding for some time.  The box touts the fact that the figures can be used from pre-Islamic conquest up to the Renaissance Ottoman battles.  I suspect with a little bit of conversion, some Colonial gamers could put these into a Mahdist uprising battle. But if a gamer wants to be most accurate, these are centered on the Crusade era.  The fully veiled heads will make good Berbers from the Almoravid invasion of Spain, while the beardless turbaned heads could be good for Ghazi era Persia - enemies of Seljuks. Speaking of Seljuks, I don't think these would fit Seljuk infantry for the Crusade period.  Eleventh century Seljuks might have been more likely to be bare headed or helmeted, and most would favor trousers over robes.

Outside of historical armies, lots of eastern themed fantasy options exist.  A Middle Earth gamer could use these for Easterlings. I have been itching to return to my Dark Sun AD&D game, and with some appropriate weapon changes, a few of these might do as NPCs.

The two archers.  The fully veiled figure will represent a Berber in Spain. 

For a size comparison with metals, the two on the left are Gripping Beast, on the right is an Artizan Moor and a Black Tree Design Arab.  The plastic figures are of the same size and proportion as my metals. 

For the archers: The Gripping Beast in the center is a bit a less bulky than the Artizan Moor on the left, but they should mix in well together.   The Essex Arab archer on the right is noticeably diminutive beside them.  It is an older figure, and obviously a victim of the "scale creep" in 25/28mm.

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.