Copyright © 2011-2024, Paul Scrivens-Smith

Copyright © 2011-2024, Paul Scrivens-Smith

All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of the creator.

Monday 15 October 2012

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

3 comments:

  1. Great looking game and figures. Nice to see WAB still being played. Best, Dean

    ReplyDelete
  2. We seem to get some good attendances for our one day campaign events. It seems to be the tournaments that are going by the wayside.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A good time was had by all scrivs, thanks to you and Toms' organisational skills despite some late drop outs. I think you're right about the tornaments mate, in my opinion WAB's best when played for fun not as a competition, but each to his/her own.

    ReplyDelete