Battle of Morella 1084 ? El Cid and the Reconquista

After the success of our previous reconquista battle and the exploits of El Cid we wanted to further explore more of his battles. The challenge I have found is there is little information on the details on many of his battles. Like much of the history of this period it is fragmentary and mainly written at least a generation if not more later than the actual events. This is bad in some respects as it is nice to have something to go on but on the other hand it gives a pretty free reign to develop balanced scenarios. The Battle of Morella is one of those battles where there appears very little information. What we do know is El Cid probably wasn’t wearing Late Medieval armour as he is shown in this picture.

From Wiki 

“The Battle of Morella southwest of Tortosa, was fought between Sancho Ramírez, King of Aragon and Navarre, and Yusuf al-Mu'tamin, King of Zaragoza, while the former was engaged in a campaign of conquest against the latter. The encounter was a defeat for Sancho and sparked a brief reversal of fortunes in the Navarro-Aragonese Reconquista. Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, El Cid, was a general for al-Mu'tamin at the time.

According to the Historia Roderici, El Cid and the king of Zaragoza, setting out from Monzón, perpetrated a five-day raid on Aragon. Then El Cid targeted the southeast of the Taifa of Tortosa, ravaging the territory around Morella, even re-fortifying the castle at Olocau. Sancho, who had avoided confrontation during the raid on his own kingdom, joined with Mundhir al-Hayib, the ruler of the united realms of Denia, Lleida, and Tortosa, and camped by the Ebro. El Cid reportedly replied to the king's demand that he retire with an uncompromising message, and when the two armies joined in battle the former scored "an overwhelming victory".

This is pretty much all I have found on the battle

The location of Morella

As this was to be a remote game I set up the hex system, having googled the potential battlefield it is clear it probably wasn’t a flat area. On the near side Sancho Ramirez with his Muslim allies to his right. On the far side El Cid leading the Zaragozan army. We would be playing with Jon’s modified Impetus rules, with victory points awarded for either wiping out or forcing back enemy units, with a bonus for capturing the enemy baggage if possible. So onto our battle

Cavalry advancing on the Zaragosan left flank, the hills causing some disruption

Both forces advance, Sancho has more heavy cavalry but less archers

Early on in the battle the Cid and his Mercenary cavalry are charged by Sancho and his guard

Both lines begin to crash into each other and break up

A fierce cavalry battle begins in the broken ground which carries on for much of the battle

Behind them Muslim infantry advance through the trees

The Cid initially wins the combat in the centre and Sancho narrowly escapes with his life. He joins another unit and charges back in

This time forcing the Cid back badly mauled

A tense and chaotic phase in the battle, on the far side Aragonese cavalry breaks through but fierce fighting everywhere else

The Aragonese army initially takes the lead forcing much of the enemy cavalry back, but they hold on a regroup

In the centre the Zaragoza army is forcing the Christian infantry and crossbowmen back, although close to breaking they are stubbornly holding on

And then the battle turns against the Aragonese who are pushed back again in multiple locations and with a surge of victory point El Cid has won a famous victory. Repeating history yet again !

A really fun and engaging battle we are both becoming more familiar with the rules, the scenario was balanced and although not exactly a historical recreation due to the lack of information it gave a great battle which hung in the balance for several turns. We will see some more of these Reconquista battles at some point and if somebody is aware of a better source for details on El CId’s battles let me know. I know hexes are not to everybodys taste but they give a “clean” and enjoyable gaming experience using figures which enjoy getting out on the table.

Not much painting this week as I have been prepping German infantry and we are away this weekend so no game but hopefully some landscapes 😀

Matt