A couple of years ago I was getting back into wargaming (and DBM) and decided I would begin by taking part in Keith McGlynn’s 25mm competition at Berkeley (as it was relatively close to home). Therefore, I needed a 25mm army.
My ideal option, Aztec, was going to take far too long to paint (indeed it is still only half done now), so I decided I would build an Ancient Spanish army (as it would be easy to paint). So I went to a wargames show with my wife and our young twins (the reason for my sabbatical from ancient wargaming) to look at Ancient Spanish figures. I looked at those on display but none inspired me. However, my wife had spotted the Gripping Beast stand and their superb Feudal Spanish figures. She knew I wanted Spanish figures, so she dragged me over to see them. One thing led to another and I ended up putting together a Feudal Spanish army for the competition.
Gripping Beast provided the knights, light horse, spearmen and archers (from the Norman, Spanish and Crusader ranges). Foundry provided crossbowmen (from the Norman range), slingers, javelinmen and Almughavars (from the Saxon and Frank ranges, without shields and with some additional long spears from Gripping Beast). Baggage was a couple of scratch built tents (white cloth wrapped round a toilet roll former, with cloth cone for a roof), Gripping Beast monks and priest, and spit roast and man being burnt at the stake from Irregular (which my wife finds revolting). Flags and lance pennons came from a sheet of flags from Andy Dumelow. Veni Vidi Vici transfers decorated many shields.
I raised a post 1145 Feudal Spanish army since this would be smaller than the earlier version (so I would have fewer figures to paint) – this was good thing as I only finished basing the army the day before the competition. Therefore, I had no chance to practice, but was able to deploy it once – this was very instructive as I found out it took up a lot more space than I thought.
I decided a simple organisation was required, as I hadn’t been gaming for almost three years. So I had:
Deployment and use are simple. Castile deploys in the centre with the knights in a long line with Aragon and Seville on either flank. Castile then tries to punch its way through the enemy: if Castile succeeds the army wins, if it fails then the army loses.
I’ve now played a total of 12 games with the army (10 in two competitions at Berkeley) and every game has been over quickly and decisively. In DBM terms, every battle has ended 10-0 or 9-1. Luck plays a big part in whether the result is in my favour or not. Thus the first time I took the army to Berkeley, it won 4 out of 5 games whilst the second time it lost 3 out of 5 games.
In my last game I tried a new organisation with three commands of equal size which worked well. The first command has the CinC leading the knights and some javelinmen. The second command is mainly Almughavars plus a few light horse. The third command has light horse, mounted military order spearmen and supporting light archers.
One thing I have had to get used to with this army, in DBM, is that half the battle is controlling my own army, particularly the impetuous subordinate generals. They can very easily suck away 1-2 PiPs each per turn, which are needed to maintain control of the generals and stop them dashing impetuously through the troops they are supposed to be commanding. Similarly the great mass of knights under the CinC can not be relied on to do anything more complex than advance straight forwards. For example, in a memorable game at Berkeley against Keith McGlynn’s Swiss, I had neatly deployed Castile’s knights so they were ideally placed to swing round a small orchard and fall on the Swiss flank. But it was not to be. I threw a series of 1s and 2s, with one 3, for Castile’s PiPs so was unable to complete the manoeuvre before the Swiss had run straight over Seville, Aragon and my baggage. Clearly history would have recorded that my army, like Charles the Bold’s army, was caught unprepared by the speed of the Swiss onslaught.
I plan to transform the army into an earlier Feudal Spanish army, from the time of El Cid, as the figures are more appropriate for this period (but it requires buying and painting more figures). In this case, I think I’ll follow some of Alan Patrick’s advice (see Slingshot 207). The CinC will be on foot with a big command of spearmen and possibly cavalry and/or Almughavars. There will be two commands of knights with some supporting cavalry or light horse, and with javelinmen for morale support. An Andalusian ally would add colour, but is probably more appropriate to 15mm (as the armies and tables tend to be larger).
Pretty figures, decisive games, accessible history (and films) and a mixture of troop types make this an interesting army which is fun to use – but it is not for the faint hearted or control freak.
| Last revised: September 11, 2000. | |
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