Battle of Cuarte : 21st October 1094

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 ❤️

Battle of Cabra 1079 and Smolensk Campaign

Two battles this week to report on. First up a remote ‘hex’ game returning to the Reconquista. The battle took place in 1079 between the Islamic states of Granada and Seville with each side supported by Castillian mercenaries. On the side of Seville El Cid lead in his Christian knights with the Granadian force led by Count Garcia Ordonez. Having searched quite hard I was unable to find anything other than the very thinest of details about the battle. This means I have pretty much made up the forces to create a balanced battle !

The two forces arrayed against each other

Both sides are predominantly Arabs light troops with a small number of Christian mercenary knights.

The Granadian force has slightly more light cavalry on both wings

The Cid impetuous is at the frown on his battle line but will he charge into the fray ?

I didn’t take too many photos of the battle but I did need to capture this one, having chosen to charge in El Cid is thrown back and he retreats back through his own lines !

After several turns of long range shooting the armies are balanced both sides looking for a weakness

Count Garcia also takes the battle to the enemy, eventually breaking through the Sevillian lines and winning an advantage on their right.

But then……..from nowhere the Granadian force falls apart, the enemy knights break through regroup and cause chaos

And in the centre eventually the enemy ‘black guard’ break through butchering the enemy as they go. Literally within two turns the battle went from being close to a massacre ! Such is the way of things, a very enjoyable battle despite the demise of my force !

Next up delayed from last week I went done to George’s to play the next battle in our Smolensk Campaign.

Here is the lovely table setup, the Germans are attacking from the far side against my Russians. The Russians have managed to setup in cover and await the expected German onslaught. Luckily and perhaps mirroring history the Russians surprise the Germans by deploying a single KV.

The Russian infantry cower in the woods whilst the KV rumbles out into the open

The Germans deploying in cover and organising their troops before kicking off the attack. Now at this stage those that have played Chain of Command will know that just occasionally battles don’t go as you expect !

The shock and power of the KV seems to throw the Germans into confusion, having taken a number of casualties amongst their infantry and then having their only armour blown to pieces the Germans decide to pull back. A famous if slightly unexpected victory for the Russians. A fun battle although possible not one the Germans will want to remember. As the campaign approaches its end the Russians now have a chance to put the campaign beyond the Germans but that will require some more luck ?

More gaming planned in for the weekend with another run out of the Peninsular collection.

Matt

Battle of Graus 1063 ?

After a series of WW2 battles I thought we would change things up a bit this week with a Reconquista battle. The battle of Graus took place between the states of Aragon and Zaragoza/Castile around 1063 apparently some source place the battle around 1069. Very little (almost nothing) seems to be known about the battle which means you can make it up.

What is known is the King of Aragon Ramiro I had invaded Zaragoza and was facing a force under the command of the Emir Al-Muktadir with supporting troops from Castile under Prince Sancho ‘the strong’. Given the very limited historical information perhaps the only reason the battle is known is because it is thought the Emir had employed the mercenary El Cid.

In our version of the battle which takes place outside the town of Graus itself, Al-Muktadir and his Castilian supporters have drawn up whilst the Aragon forces under the King are on the attack. The king has employed some Muslim mercenaries who have the potential to swop sides. The townsfolk of Graus have come out to defend their fields. El Cid with a small contingent of cavalry reinforcements has a randomised arrival time and location. Will he arrive in time to save the day ?

The Zaragozian forces mainly lighter spearmen and archers in two ranks

The Christian Knights on their right wing

The King in the centre with the bulk of his heavy infantry

A shot from the town, the levy townsfolk can be seen in their field protecting their goats

Mercenary Muslim forces on the Aragon left, if they waiver they run the risk of deserting to the other side  !

The bulk of the Aragonese force

Would you believe it, in almost the first action of the game the mercenary mounted crossbowmen move forward, fail their morale check when they take a single wound and desert to the enemy 😂😂😂 we laughed a lot here the only disappointing thing was the rest of the mercenaries then charged the deserting scum in the rear and wiped them out !

A general advance by the heavy Christian cavalry

Al-Muktadir sends in his heavy camel troops to block the Christian cavalry 

The Castilians face off the mercenaries

A swirling melee in the centre begins

Zaragosan Jinetes against heavy Christian knights 🙁

Sancho the strong is keeping the mercenaries at bay

A lucky roll on the reinforcements arrival and the Cid arrives, but a poor roll on the location brings him on close to Graus itself when he is needed on the left 

Advancing Castilians feeling more confident now that they know they have El Cid at their rear

The centre is now a mass of spear troops in melee 

The archers are having a limited effect

….and then the Christian cavalry breaks through !

Some fighting breaks out amongst the rocks

The locals determined to protect their goats throw stone, sticks and poo at the mercenaries keeping them away !

The Zaragosan left flank is turned as well

The centre is strongly contested by both sides

Christian cavalry break through in the centre….

It is touch and go, in the distance El Cid can be seen galloping between the rocky outcrops 

The king charges in to try and slay Al-Muktadir in single combat

Sancho the strong is driving the mercenaries back but his assault is faltering

…….and just as the battle is lost the Cid arrives to save the day.

At this point we finished the battle, on the Zaragosan left flank the spearmen had held the flank and sent the Christian heavy cavalry fleeing. On the right flank things were fairly equal and although the mercenaries have been pushed right back they have more reserves so we called it at best a draw. In the centre is was really too close to call so we had to play one more deciding combat round here. The various commanders failed to kill each other, the key combat was between the spearmen, the Aragonese failed to break the Muslims and with the Muslims getting the next turn El Cid would be charging into their rear. This would have left a single Aragonese spearmen unit in the centre but this was already heavily wounded so we called the battle for the Emir Al-Muktadir, Zaragoza and Castile taking the day. Hoorah !

As you can tell a close battle which nicely broke up into three quite distinct battles, very entertaining. By surprise we had produced a historical outcome, and that single wound on the King would be costly as historically he died a few months later potentially from a wound at the battle.

These Dark age/Al Andalus battles are so colourful and fun to play. It has of course got me thinking about what troops I have in the lead pile. I’m feeling I need more cavalry, Heavy knights and some more Jinetes types so we might see those getting into the queue amongst the current Napoleonics.

Thanks as always for checking in, no outdoor photos I have been out cycling but it always seems to be raining at the moment 

Matt