When Jim (Hi Jim!) gave me the Hat El-Cid boxes back in August 2014 he expressed the view that there enough for an AMW army or two. At the time I didn't really think about the numbers required, and as regular readers will know what I actually did was paint DBA 3.0 armies as a starting point.
Since then it has become apparent that actually there aren't enough figures, mainly because the Feudal Spanish army should be about half cavalry. Hence my quest last year to track down some more Spanish Heavy Cavalry boxes. I'm short in a number of other areas too, so I've added a box or two elsewhere and relieved a colleague at work of a carrier bag's worth of his throw away spares from the range.
However, although I know I didn't have enough, I have never bothered to work out exactly how many more I need. The reason for this is that AMW doesn't actually have a Feudal Spanish army list in it. What Neil gives us is a "Frankish Armies 700 - 1100" list in the Dark Ages section (it's worse for the Andalusians and Almoravids, - they get "Arab Army 620-970").
The Frankish Army list isn't a bad starting point. It has Noble Heavy Cavalry, Retainer Light Cavalry, Heavy Infantry Spears and Light Infantry bowmen. There are rule modifiers that give Normans a charge bonus, enables crossbows instead of bows and upgrades Retainers to Heavy Cavalry.
So all the elements are there, just not necessarily in the right proportions.
One thing that does concern me a bit is that Neil doesn't seem to differentiate between Dark Ages/Medieval cavalry with horse armour and without. He rates all of them as Heavy Armour. The only "Extra Heavy" cavalry are Cataphracts. This is an issue for the Feudal Spanish as it was noted that their horses were vulnerable compared to their more northerly neighbours. On the other hand if I never fight them against northern European troops it isn't an issue, it's just a matter of getting the relative strengths right.
So, I give you:
Feudal Spanish 1000 - 1200
Caballeros/Military Orders (Heavy Cavalry, Heavy Armour, Elite) 2 - 4
Caballeros villanos (Heavy Cavalry, Heavy Armour, Average 1 - 2
Jinetes (Light Cavalry, (javelin) Light Armour, Average) 0 - 1
Militia Spearmen (Dark Age/Medieval Infantry, Light Armour, Average) 2 - 4
Skirmishers (Light Infantry, (javelins), Light Armour, Levy) 0 - 2
Arqueros (Light Infantry (bows), Light Armour, Levy) 0 - 2
Ballesteros (Light Infantry (crossbows), Light Armour, Average) 0 - 2
Special Rules
1) Mounted Troops: At least half the army must be made up of mounted troops
2) Knights Charging: Caballeros/Military orders roll an extra D6 per base in first round of combat
3) Better quality foot: Half of the Militia Spearmen can be upgraded to either dismounted knights or better equipped town militia. Increase armour to Heavy, but keep morale as Average*
4) Skirmishers can be armed with slings instead of javelins.
5) Massed Archers: If desired the Ballesteros/Arqueros may be replaced by a maximum of 1 unit each of Heavy Archers, Light Armour, Average, instead of the 2 in the list.
I may be being too generous to them, but then it'll depend on how the Moors turn out.
Still, it gives me a painting target.
As ever, thoughts and comments welcome.
*Yes, even for dismounted knights as they really didn't like getting off their horses.
Since then it has become apparent that actually there aren't enough figures, mainly because the Feudal Spanish army should be about half cavalry. Hence my quest last year to track down some more Spanish Heavy Cavalry boxes. I'm short in a number of other areas too, so I've added a box or two elsewhere and relieved a colleague at work of a carrier bag's worth of his throw away spares from the range.
However, although I know I didn't have enough, I have never bothered to work out exactly how many more I need. The reason for this is that AMW doesn't actually have a Feudal Spanish army list in it. What Neil gives us is a "Frankish Armies 700 - 1100" list in the Dark Ages section (it's worse for the Andalusians and Almoravids, - they get "Arab Army 620-970").
The Frankish Army list isn't a bad starting point. It has Noble Heavy Cavalry, Retainer Light Cavalry, Heavy Infantry Spears and Light Infantry bowmen. There are rule modifiers that give Normans a charge bonus, enables crossbows instead of bows and upgrades Retainers to Heavy Cavalry.
So all the elements are there, just not necessarily in the right proportions.
One thing that does concern me a bit is that Neil doesn't seem to differentiate between Dark Ages/Medieval cavalry with horse armour and without. He rates all of them as Heavy Armour. The only "Extra Heavy" cavalry are Cataphracts. This is an issue for the Feudal Spanish as it was noted that their horses were vulnerable compared to their more northerly neighbours. On the other hand if I never fight them against northern European troops it isn't an issue, it's just a matter of getting the relative strengths right.
So, I give you:
Feudal Spanish 1000 - 1200
Caballeros/Military Orders (Heavy Cavalry, Heavy Armour, Elite) 2 - 4
Caballeros villanos (Heavy Cavalry, Heavy Armour, Average 1 - 2
Jinetes (Light Cavalry, (javelin) Light Armour, Average) 0 - 1
Militia Spearmen (Dark Age/Medieval Infantry, Light Armour, Average) 2 - 4
Skirmishers (Light Infantry, (javelins), Light Armour, Levy) 0 - 2
Arqueros (Light Infantry (bows), Light Armour, Levy) 0 - 2
Ballesteros (Light Infantry (crossbows), Light Armour, Average) 0 - 2
Special Rules
1) Mounted Troops: At least half the army must be made up of mounted troops
2) Knights Charging: Caballeros/Military orders roll an extra D6 per base in first round of combat
3) Better quality foot: Half of the Militia Spearmen can be upgraded to either dismounted knights or better equipped town militia. Increase armour to Heavy, but keep morale as Average*
4) Skirmishers can be armed with slings instead of javelins.
5) Massed Archers: If desired the Ballesteros/Arqueros may be replaced by a maximum of 1 unit each of Heavy Archers, Light Armour, Average, instead of the 2 in the list.
I may be being too generous to them, but then it'll depend on how the Moors turn out.
Still, it gives me a painting target.
As ever, thoughts and comments welcome.
*Yes, even for dismounted knights as they really didn't like getting off their horses.
Hi ! Jim here! Glad to see this project coming together so well.
ReplyDeleteJim! great to hear from you. Are you still in the area? We are overdue for a game.
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