Al Andalus : Encounter battle at the border

For what is likely to be my last game for a while George came up to the dungeon. He had suggested something medieval so I dug out my Al Andalus Arabs. As the table was still covered in the Sicily cloths I was a bit lazy and left them in place having simply reduced the hills to something manageable. So perhaps the battle was being fought in a particularly dry part of Southern Spain between two minor Taifas fighting it out for control of their border district.

The two forces were broadly similar but with suitable variations to give more interest. A dry river bed crosses the battlefield at one end, but the most prominent feature is the high ground which angles across the plain.

Having formed up in front of each other both armies advance fairly quickly looking for a quick and decisive win, my force to the right rushes to try and gain the advantage of the high ground with light cavalry protecting the flank

The enemy have hired some mercenary heavy cavalry and crossbow men to support them !

Well objective achieved we have the high ground but can we hold it. Both sides spend some time exchanging missile fire

Under fire from the crossbows two small troops of warriors run down the hill to sort them out !, my camel riders sweep across the high ground hoping to quickly break the enemy centre ?

Despite the difficultly of charging up the hill the mercenaries charge in against my light cavalry, along the rest of the high ground infantry clash spears.

At the far end of the battlefield and beyond the dry river light cavalry has been skirmishing for much of the battle

Things are not going well ! The mercenary heavy cavalry have driven off my left flank, infantry is still fighting in the centre but the camels have been held and are being whittled down each turn

After a couple more turns it is clear the battle is up as the death toll on my side is rising quickly, and many of the troops on my side are wavering (in KoW this means you miss a turn of combat and is critical at this late stage of a battle) the enemy commander is packing up his dice happy with the land grab !

My camel troops surrounded on the high ground nothing left but to flee for their lives ! Where did it all go wrong ?

A fun battle, for a while it was going quite well, had the camels broken through it might have been a different story. Always nice to get this colourful collection on the table, there are more in the ‘lead pile’ both Arabs and Norman/spanish this battle might just encourage me to prep up a unit to paint ?

Thanks for popping by, this is likely to be my last post for a while as i start my trip on Monday.

Matt ❤️