Here from the game’s designer with its researcher is an at-a-glance introduction to the units in the soon upcoming second volume of the Levy & Campaign Series, Almoravid—Reconquista and Riposte in Spain, 1085-1086, with comparison to the forces used in volume one, Nevsky.
Among the aspects of Levy & Campaign Volume I, Almoravid, that will feel quite comfortable to fans of Nevsky is the array of forces that players’ Lords will levy and take to the battlefields and siege sites of 11th-Century Spain. Naturally, as with the terrain, the weather, the politics, and many other considerations, some spices characteristic of the new setting will season the familiar. If you would like to delve into the details, here are the newer and older volumes’ Forces tables presented in comparison.
Heavy cavalry had just made its appearance among the nobility of Christian Spain earlier in the 11th-Century and soon became the main strike force in the armies of the Peninsula’s Christian kingdoms and counties. So, the Knights pieces that spearhead the battles of Nevsky as Teutonic WARRIOR MONKS or Russian DRUZHINA similarly will appear in Almoravid among the Christian Lords’ household and vassal troops and as the French and Burgundian warriors increasingly journeying to Iberia for crusade against Muslim al-Andalus. Meanwhile, the Muslim taifa states can add to its armies (otherwise generally less hard-hitting than those of the Christian Kingdoms) a few of these powerful units, formed by mercenaries (including those of the Cid) or Christian hueste levies (like the ones led by Berenguer Ramon, Count of Barcelona).
Sergeants in Almoravid, meanwhile, represent the bulk of the Christian cavalry formed from the less wealthy nobles or other tiers of a wealthy noble’s mesnada (household troops) or from the caballeria villana (“villein knights”—farmers with enough money for a horse and, in this case, some armor). All were mounted troops with a lighter panoply, accompanying the top-tier noble knights, probably as a second wave of the charge. On the Muslim side, Sergeants units depict the taifas’ less heavy or less skilled armored horsemen. They appear also as the mounted contingent within Almoravid Sultan Yusuf’s elite guard.
Light horsemen until recently had been the dominant component of armies on both sides of the Reconquista (which heavily blended their practice, especially before the concept of crusade induced a more vicious religious rivalry into the fighting). Almoravid deploys Light Horse in just about every Lord’s army, more numerously on the Muslim side. Similarly, Militia Foot units show up as the Spanish levies from that part of the population with enough resources to maintain basic military equipment but not a horse and as the light infantry to made up the bulk of most Andalusian armies of the day.
Serfs pieces in Almoravid fight in the same manner as they do in Nevsky but in fact represent free civilians accompanying the army and pressed into the battlefield line. Just about every man in Christian Spain knew how to handle a spear or bow. So the drovers, teamsters, baggage handlers, smiths, cooks, and the like supplemented the King’s army as low-quality light infantry. (In the game, we retained the unit name “Serfs” from Nevsky for simplicity across the Series.)
We are here touring warfare at the other edge of the medieval world from that of Nevsky, however, so gone is the possibility of STEPPE WARRIOR units of Asiatic Horse. Almoravid instead introduces two new types of troops: African Horse and African Foot. Together, they compose the mainstay of the giant army that the Almoravids (al-Murabitun) were able to draw from their vast African empire and land at Algeciras to intervene against the Christians. These were the warriors who Sultan Yusuf led against Alfonso VI of León and—in a grand battle at Sagrajas (also known as Zalaca) in October 1086—defeated the heavy knights and the rest of the combined host of Christian Spain.
African Horse represent principally the Berber riders of North Africa and the Sahara, characterized in dress by dark blue veil and turban. These Saharan warriors, used to attacking caravans on the desert, were adept at battlefield hit and run: the turnafuye (Arabic karr wa farr) charge and withdrawal tactics, typically with javelins. This may sound familiar from the Evade and Archery abilities of the Asiatic Horse of Nevsky. And indeed, African Horse units in Almoravid inherently possess the Evade ability (if somewhat less perfected than the fearsome Mongols) and Javelin Missiles. With ANDALUSIAN horses and bow or javelin Capability cards, the taifas’ Muslim Light Horse obtain similar abilities.
African Foot represent both Berber North African and sub-Saharan (Ghanaian) infantrymen, if not wearing armor, often equipped with over-sized shields of oryx or hippo hide. These troops fought with spears and bow-and-arrow. The shielded spearmen arrayed into a tight and disciplined front line, behind them the bowmen, to form combined-arms phalanxes that cavalry found hard to defeat. The Muslim Africans’ tactics and discipline at Sagrajas famously broke the second charge of Christian Spanish knights. In Almoravid, African Foot units fight with Armor Protection (though somewhat less effective than the truly armored Men-at-Arms) and inherently manned with Bowmen Missile ability. A SPEAR WALL Event card further emphasizes their stalwart phalanx.
You may have noticed from the Almoravid Forces table above that, alongside the familiar Armor, Evade, Bowmen, and Crossbow characteristics, we add Javelins and Slingers. These types of Missiles remained common in Iberian armies of the 11th-Century on both sides, so both players can obtain them via Capability cards or (for the Muslim player) the inherent African unit abilities just mentioned. Note also from the tables that Crossbows are somewhat less powerful than in Nevsky. This adjustment reflects the earlier weapon models in use on both sides at this stage of the Reconquista as well as still more limited proliferation relative to the forces that the Teutonic crusaders brought to Livonia and that the 13th-Century Russians massed for defense of their fortifications.
Much else remains to explore in the similarities and differences in warfare between the Iberia of the Almoravids and the Baltic frontier of Aleksandr Nevsky. Differences in fortification technology, logistics, the patchwork politics of taifa emirates, the strategic implications of Muslim parias payments to Christian protectors, and much more await your consideration in Volume II of Levy & Campaign—Almoravid!
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