El Cid Campaign Day

Yesterday I took part in the El Cid campaign day at Maelstrom Games organised by Tom with a modicum of help from myself.

I would be using the recently painted Christian Spanish, you were allowed a 1600pt list with a 250pt reinforcement to take it up to 1850pts, the list I used was:

		M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
1	Rey	4	6	5	4	4	3	6	3	9	170	191
	Warhorse	8	3	0	3	-	-	3	1	-	16
	Sword, Javelins, Throwing Spear										4
	Heavy Armour, Shield										1
	General
		M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
1	Infante	8	5	4	4	4	2	5	2	8	75	96
	Warhorse	8	3	0	3	-	-	3	1	-	16
	Sword, Javelins, Throwing Spear										4
	Heavy Armour, Shield, Horse										1
		M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
1	Arminger	4	5	4	4	4	2	5	2	8	90	107
	Warhorse	8	3	0	3	-	-	3	1	-	16
	Sword
	Heavy Armour, Shield										1
	Army Standard Bearer
		M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
10	Caballeros Hildagos	8	4	4	3	3	1	4	1	8	26	325
	Warhorse	8	3	0	3	-	-	3	1	-	4
	Sword, Throwing Spear
	Heavy Armour, Shield										1
	Leader, Musician, Standard.										15
		M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
11	Caballeros Hildagos	8	4	4	3	3	1	4	1	8	26	356
	Warhorse	8	3	0	3	-	-	3	1	-	4
	Sword, Throwing Spear
	Heavy Armour, Shield										1
	Leader, Musician, Standard.										15
		M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
12	Caballeros	8	4	4	3	3	1	4	1	8	24	339
	Sword, Throwing Spear										2
	Light Armour, Shield										1
	Leader, Musician, Standard. Light Cavalry, Feigned Flight										15
		M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
9	Jinettes	8	3	3	3	3	1	3	1	7	18	180
	Sword, Throwing Spear, Javelins										2
	Shield
	Light Cavalry, Feigned Flight
										Characters	394	25%
										Common Troops	1200	75%
										Uncommon Troops	0	0%
										Total	1594
		M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
18	Peones	4	3	3	3	3	1	3	1	7	8	172
	Throwing Spear, Javelins										1
	Shield
	Light Infantry. Leader, Musician										10
		M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
9	Peones	4	3	3	3	3	1	3	1	7	8	81
	Throwing Spear, Javelins										1
	Shield
	Light Infantry
										Characters	394	25%
										Common Troops	1200	75%
										Uncommon Troops	253	16%
										Total	1847

There were eighteen of us in all, sixteen of the players were divided into factions representing the Almohavids, the Andalucians, the Castilians and the Aragonese each having four players with myself and Tom being freelance mercenaries.

Each faction decided upon a player to be king based upon a combat between the generals. Tom and I would be allocated to a random faction. It was up to the king of each faction to allocate players to each of the battles.

Each player was allocated a treasury of gold, which was added to if you won battles or were able to ransom an enemy character. The treasury was depleted if you lost battles or if you had to pay a ransom to release one of your characters. You could also spend gold to be allocated a random unit of mercenaries.

In the first round I was working for the Castillians and would be paired with Bob Stradling - also using Christian Spanish to play Tom and Pete Howarth who both had Almohavids. The game would be a standard pitched battle with the basic 1600pt force each. Bobs army was more set up for skirmishing with his Caballeros whereas my army was a lot more 'hitty'. We struggled with the large blocks of Berber foot but eventually managed to squeak a minor victory despite heavy losses on our side. As we had won I earned another portion of gold for the treasury.

It was now time to eat and we next had a slap-up lunch at the Eye of the Storm.

Next round I was still apportioned to the Castillian factiom and was allocated a table. I would be Attacking in the Dawn Attack scenario against Steve who also was using Almohavids we were both using our 1850pt lists this time. I had the luck of the deployment phase. The Caballeros Hildagos were soon into combat with mixed results. My Rey and his unit cut through a unit of mercenary knights but my Infante and his unit bounced off a unit of Berber spear-men and fled off of table. My small unit of Peons seeing this also fled off the table. We now both manoeuvred to gain an advantage, my large unit of Peons managed to cause a panic test on a unit of Berber spearmen who fled in the last turn. Adding up the points only 34pts separated us, it would be a draw, nothing was added to my treasury, but nothing was lost.

The final game would be a rematch against Peter Howarts Almohavids, this time I was playing for the Aragonese. We would be playing the Appleido scenario and I would be trying to recapture the treasure. We were both using our 1600pt force. I decided that the best way to grab the treasure would be with my Jinetes. I launched these into Petes skirmishers and managed to break through on the flank and move around behind his army to capture the baggage. In the centre I screened with the Caballeros while the Hildagos moved to the right and broke through two units of Berber spears. Pete charged his Andalusian Nobles into the flank of one of my Hildagos, although I held and then won the combat in the subsequent round and ran them down. My Hildagos were then charged in the flank by a unit of Berber spears but held. At the end of the game I had scored a major victory and added another two gold to my treasury.

The final results were:

1. Neil Dee 24 gold
2. Myself 18 gold
3. Carl Fisher 17 gold
4. Steve 16 gold
5. James Morris 16 gold
6. Andy Hawes 15 gold
7. Bob Stradling 15 gold
8. Alex Barnes 14 gold
9. Jim 14 gold
10. Tom WD 14 gold
11. Keith Tate 13 gold
12. Grahame 13 gold
13. Mike 13 gold
14. Tom 11 gold
15. Pete Howarth 11 gold
16. John Carter 10 gold
17. Simon Pope 9 gold
18. Bryan 8 gold

A great time was had and the Aragonese were the eventual victors, it looks like I jumped on the right horse at the end. 

Here are some images from the weekend. I did not get chance to take any until the final round.

Pete and his Almohavids

Andalusians face off against Andalusians

Neils Andalsians

Andalusian foot

Jim with his Andalusians

Jims lovely Andalusian army

Pete manoeuvres against my Christian Knights

Ales's and Steve's Almohavids contest the ford

Another shot of Alex's Almohavid spearmen

Keith's Almohavid spearmen

Another unit of Keith's Berber spearmen

Neil and Johns Andalusians

James Andalusian horse archers

More of Jims Andalusians horse

Andys Spanish and James Andalusians

James Andalusians defend the ruined towers

Andys Caballeros Hildagos