El Cid day - 10th November 2013

In Sunday I held an El Cid campaign day at the Polly Bowls club in Sutton in Ashfield.

I originally planned for 16 players, but the event was very popular and I eventually ended up with twenty players, but, had a couple drop out on the run up to the event.

My eighteen players were split into five factions as follows:

Andalusian

• Jim Sweeny - Taifa Kingdoms
• Craig Green - Age of El Cid
• Tom Greenwood - Almoravid
• Pete Johnson - Taifa Kingdoms
• Tom Webster-Deakin - Almoravid
• John Carter - Taifa Kingdoms

African Invaders

• Alex Barnes - Almoravid
• Peter Howarth - Almoravid
• Bryan Bowdell - Almoravid
• Martin Gibbins - Almoravid
• Simon Pope - Almoravid
• Keith Tait - Almoravid

Christian Spain

• Carl Fisher - Age of El Cid
• Steve Marshall - Age of El Cid
• Neil Dee - Age of El Cid
• Geraint Osborn - Age of El Cid
• Peter Plinston - Age of El Cid
• Philip Morgan - Age of El Cid

As can be seen the usual reluctance to play with the Andalusians was manifest.

The starting map

Unfortunately, on the day, John Carter had to drop out so I fielded an Andalusian army as part of the Andalusian command, and three of my Almoravid players were held up in traffic so the start was about an hour delayed. Fortunately I had laid on lashings of Danish pastries, croissants, tea and coffee to pass the time.

Next on to the setup. Each faction was allocated 35 territories on the map of the Iberian Penninsular as shown in the image to the right. Each faction was also allocated a treasury of about 70 gold coins - ok they were chocolate and it was quite a test to prevent them from being eaten.

The treasury

At the start of each round, each faction was allowed to spend a random number of gold coins on mercenaries laid out in a smorgasbord  of various abilities, from units of weak skirmishers through mercenary characters to Caballeros, spear and bow units and elite spearmen. These were all made up of my units, minus those I had to take out to make up an Andalusian force so that I could play.

I also laid out six gaming tables, three doubles games and three singles games each one had a certain mission or scenario, based upon the result of the game players would gain or lose territories from their map. The scenarios were also changed around so that players could play again on the same table. At the start of each game each player was given a bonus card to use during the game, well I say bonus, there were quite a few of them inferring that their general preferred farm animals to his wife and adversely affected his leadership.

Also, after each battle, if any characters were lost then they had to be ransomed back with gold changing hands at 2 pieces for a general and 1 for any other character.

We then set down to playing. At the start of the first round the mercenaries were allocated, the Andalusians were allowed no gold to spend on mercenaries, the Christians five gold and the Moors six gold. After the first round it was pretty much stalemate, with territories being won and lost on all sides, but nothing much changing.

We then had a buffet lunch that seemed to defeat the players, in fact we were still eating left-overs in the office today.

After the first turn

In round two the Andalusians poor form in attracting mercenaries continued, a paltry two gold could be spent on mercenaries, while the Christians and Moors attracted eight or nine gold each. The ensuing games did not go so well for the Andalusians either they were soon conceding territories and ransoming back characters at an alarming rate. The Christians had a clear upper hand by this time.

After round 2

In the third round I upped the Andalusians chances a little, each of the six players could draw a mercenaries card, even with six cards (ranging from 0 to 4 gold on each) they only managed eight gold while the Christians and Moors with four cards each still beat them!

The Moors fared a little better in this round and even won a couple of games, however the Christian landslide was complete, not only did they hod the most territories, but their coffers were also bulging with all the ransomed Andalusian characters

I'm pretty sure that all the players had a great time and we also raised £50.00 for the British Legion Poppy Appeal by holding a raffle.

Here are some more photos from the event.