To The Strongest!.....Christians v Moslems, c 12th century

Near all the guys at the club turned up for a ‘big bash’ to put To The Strongest! under a stress test! For those unfamiliar with To The Strongest! it is an ancient/medieval game system designed for BIG games though it can handle modest 1 v 1 clashes as well. 

To that end, the forces of Christendom decided to invade north Africa as a pre-preemptive move to stop the Murabit expansion, circa 12th century…every figure was required to be on deck!

The Christian king assembled his motley band and attacked.... his faithful Norman ally on his right with a stalwart companion to his left and the remaining cavalry contingent on his extreme left protecting his flank..

On the Moslem side Christian knight was opposed by a cavalry horde led by two Emirs that opened the engagement a burst of activity, while the Caliph and his offsider held the centre with the cream of the Murabit foot. Further along were dependable Emirs to hold the right flank (refused) and let the left and centre smash the Christian forces.

Initial glory went to the Moslem left with the left flank Emirs making good headway... the centre was hampered as the Caliph and son were late from prayers... while the moslem right cleverly remained dormant (as planned) awaiting the Christian onslaught. 

Alas the surge of arab horse from the left ran out of steam...with both looking to make the essential breakthrough but to no avail ...while the Christian centre skillfully or fortuitously held of the Murabit foot...

On the extreme Christian left a slow start was made by the soldiers of God with the opposing moslem emir noting the imbalance of forces he opposed.

Despite urging from Allah the Caliph and his loyal lieutenant couldn’t exploit their superior numbers against the Christian centre despite routing a unit of Christian knights and taking some foot in flank... while on the Christian right the tables turned against the moslem left!..exposing the centre left of the Moslem battleline.

On the extreme Christian left the Christian commander had to leave and was replace by another who lacked energy and was bluffed by the ‘ confidence  of the moslem right wing emir who ably held on despite the odds! Meanwhile the left of the moslem line was a spent force and its attacks petered out.

One last push tried to break the centre of the Christian line but the moslems faltered, lost several units and with that the game was called in the Christian's favour with a weakened moslem centre and left showing signed of crumbling...Deus Vult!

Almoravid Army

Gents,

It's been a good little while since the last update, but a lot has been happening... 

...much has hit the painting table since December and no doubt in the future more to be added. For now I have completed an Almoravid Army that can be used for games such as Lion Rampant but have done enough forces to play actions as large as games using Hail Caesar...an ultimate goal in the future.

So below are a number of shots showing the evolution of the army and a few in-game shots for you to view and hopefully gain some ideas or inspiration from. I've added a few notes along the way where appropriate to highlight anything particular to the photo.



This first group of photos shows my Perry miniatures Mahdist infantry to use for generic North African skirmisher infantry. I did a few conversion on the last photo shown below.

I've combined some left over Gripping Beast Arab foot heads and Wargames Factory Ancient Numidian heads and arms with a metal bamboo spear to make a unit of heavier North African Berber Foot. On the spear is some Green stuffed tufts.

Now for some cavalry. I'd decided the Perry Horse from their Crusader and Sudan range were the best available. These also gave me the most variety and flexibility to use for the El Cid period or indeed for many years up the 20th century.  

Hasham Guard Cavalry - Perry Horse with shields from Eureka miniatures.

Moving along to a completed force here are some shots of a finished Lion Rampant Army. A relatively small force these don't have the on-table presence of a larger host which is ultimately the look I'm after for the Almoravids. Nevertheless as a raiding force they do just nicely and look the part with light troops, some cavalry and mostly Berber foot to take it to the Christians in the many forays into Northern Andalus. 

In the bottom photo are my Andalusian troops that can substitute in and be both an ally and enemy of the Almoravids....there is a lot of interchangeability in these armies.

From there we can see some in action shots of a full Lion Rampant force on table showing both Almoravid and Andalusian forces engaged. These El Cid era force do have a very eye pleasing combination of colors and troop types that offer up some really nice combinations for players to game with.

Berbers in Blue....

The previous post outlined the colours and methods for fast tracking the painting of the dark clothed berbers that form the basis of my Almoravid army around the time of El Cid (c. 1090s).

In this post some snaps showcase finished figures, formed into their units. The basic building block I've been using is 12 figures for infantry and 6 for cavalry. Added to the Infantry I've included a couple of extra command figures per unit so that I can use my sabot base system to create 'units' for a game such as Hail Caesar and drop these figures to make skirmish units of 12 soldiers i.e. six spearmen and six archers. Nothing hard and fast in this off course, but that's how I'm putting my force together.

The army is not yet complete as other infantry types need to be added such as Black Berber foot and white clad Arab-esque infantry that can double up for all manner of Arab type infantry. Then there is cavalry to add as well. I've finished up a few character figures which need to be added to the force for 'skirmish' games or can be used as dressing in larger scale actions.

Overall I'm pretty pleased with the results given the speed of painting of these minis. I'd say out of a Gripping Beast box of 40 figures there is about 1.5 to 2hrs of putting the figures together and about 6 hours of painting and basing...not a bad return for your time I think.

For now however, here are some shots of the Berbers in blue.....

...a small unit of skirmishers...round shields are GB plastics, Adarga shields from Eureka Miniatures...

....a standard sized unit for Lion Rampant...or in El Cid's Spain...Leóne Rampante!

...three units of combined Spear and Bow for use in Leóne Rampante plus a skirmisher element...

...Cattle are Empress miniatures and buildings from Touching History...(unfortunately no longer available)...

...death to the infidel!...

...Ben Yusuf surveys the field before him...
...Yusuf by Gripping Beast (also yellow shield guard). Prophet by Artizan and Drummer from Eureka Miniatures on a converted Colonial donkey!...

...tent by Baeuda...very nice!

"Then fight in the cause of Allah, and know that Allah Heareth and knoweth all things."