Last week we swopped periods and brought out my Al Andalus collection for a Reconquista battle. This time with El Cid in charge of the Christian forces.
From a historical perspective the Almoravids were besieging the city of Valencia. The Christian forces in the city were running out of food and hoping for reinforcements, but when it was clear they were not going to arrive El Cid decided to take things in hand. As the Almoravid force started to filter away he sneaked out of the city by an unguarded gate, then set the rest of the defenders to draw the main enemy army away from their camp. The map above shows the outline of what happened.
I squeezed what I could onto my extended table.a couple of tweeks in our scenario, El cid would arrive randomly from the two blue areas. The Almoravids in camp can’t move until El cid arrives and can’t turn backwards either………and so to the battle
The Almoravid forces dominated by cavalry face off against the defenders of Valencia
The Almoravids have the opportunity to defeat the Christian’s if they can deal with each element separately and before they are caught from behind
So the Almoravids charge in where they can and shoot off their ranged attacks
With the thunder of horses hooves and a cloud of dust the Cid arrives slightly earlier than expected
His force of mounted knights charge forward, this enables the rearguard of the Almoravids to begin deploying
The rear Almoravid troops can turn around to face the charge as the cid makes his way across the river
Outside the walls of Valencia the two forces are now engaged
As the Almoravid cavalry turns back from the initial charge they turn toward the charging knights
The local town militia armed only with pitchforks and sticks prove very effective in combating the Arab light cavalry
The Almoravids are now fighting on both sides but they have the numbers
The Arab rearguard are now advancing across the plain to help defend against the heavy Christian cavalry
The battle now turns into series of isolated combats across the whole battlefield
Although the heavy knights make good their initial charge, they start to get tired and are outnumbered, they start to pick up wounds
The Almoravid rearguard start to drive into the Christians
Both sides are now thinning out and are getting worn down, the Christian knights reform and charge in again
Eventually Muhammad Ibn Tashfin is killed in combat, although the Almoravids have the numbers still they lack enough force to stop the Christians reforming and making their way back to Valencia so both sides chose to withdraw. At this point the battle ended broadly as a draw but with El Cid claiming a minor victory. A fun battle giving both sides some interesting challenges.
As my lack of posting might suggest I have been busy, including a trip down to the Peak District
The weather was good a trip to Pilsbury Castle
Some gravel cycling
I also had a trip down to George’s where we played our first battle in a 1940’s Campaign, George has covered the details, all I need to say is I hope the Germans can do better next time !
I also hosted a friend from New Zealand so we had a couple of beautiful days walking in the lakes.
That’s about it for now, I’m gearing up for my excursion to the continent. I’m sure I’ll have some stuff to share when I return, sadly I’ve been too busy to get any painting done but hopefully soon.
Thanks as always
Matt ❤️
