Join us for a saga out of medieval Spain! We present here only lightly edited an internal playtest report from Levy & Campaign Series’ Volume II, Almoravid. Phil Dreher authored the report, playing the Muslims against John Campbell as the Christians.

They ran through the full-length scenario over several days in April 2020, entirely via a playtest Vassal module created by Miguel Ángel Sánchez Galán and Peter Wagner.

While it may be challenging to follow every detail of the action below without full knowledge of the game, the replay gives vivid insight not only into decisions and consequences over the epic course of Almoravid’s two-year scenario but also into testers’ inputs to and impact on the game’s ongoing development. Phil’s thoughts more relevant to playtest rather than to the after-action narrative itself appear in italics. Volko adds explanatory and design-related comments [italicized in brackets]. All art is playtest only and rules provisional not final.

Spring 1085

Our report from the front lines …

Today John and I began Scenario F, the 12-turn behemoth. We are also playing with Advanced Vassal Rules and Fog of War. For operational security reasons, I of course cannot divulge everything that is occurring inside the headquarters of the Taifa Self-Defense Coordinating Committee. Fog of War has an added benefit of speeding up the game, since there’s no point in the Muslim player waiting to see the Christian Muster before acting other than for the Christians to have priority on COUNT OF BARCELONA.

John starts with SISNANDO DAVÍDEZ, a nice Capability to get early since it imposes a half-point decay against Muslims every turn, more or less, and gives Christian a chance to limit Muslim redoubts in the event they establish a Reconquista Taifa. I start with the RIBAT MONKS (we mistake this for a global Capability before realizing that it is a This Lord card—it winds up appended to al-Mustain thereafter) and ANDALUSIANS.

[“Taifas” are the patchwork emirates ruling 11^th-Century Muslim Spain. “Fog of War” refers to a game option to keep forces and assets of a side’s Lords hidden. Effects of Capability cards mentioned here: COUNT OF BARCELONA provides mercenaries to the first side to pay them; SISNANDO DAVÍDEZ removes anti-Christian Jihad markers; RIBAT MONKS protect against Ravage of Muslim land; ANDALUSIANS provide Muslim Light Horse Evade tactics. – Volko]

Spring turn 1 is quiet… too quiet. Al-Mutawakkil is successfully Levied. The Christians dig in around Toledo and try to starve the City out. The Garrison comes close to mutinying, but the Christians with a BATTERING RAM are just one die roll (and reroll) shy of obtaining Surrender. Alfonso runs around like a madman trying to get his Lords in the right order. He winds up leaving Pedro Ansúrez managing the Siege by himself at the end of the turn. Most of the Taifa Lords are content to stay home and extract Taxes.

[Historically, the Christian-Muslim war that would bring the African Almoravids into Iberia began with Leonese King Alfonso besieging and obtaining surrender of the key central Muslim emirate’s capital of Toledo. – Volko]

Battle at top of Spring turn 2. Al-Mutamid with Javelins Forages, descends on unsuspecting Pedro. Pedro decides to stand and fight… long enough to see al-Mutamid’s host descending on him. Pedro takes the opportunity to note al-Mutamid’s force composition. Pedro’s orderly retreat allows him to salvage most of his fighting strength, losing only one Light Horse unit. Al‑Mutamid loses a unit of Men-at-Arms—I thought it more important to preserve the strength of a 4-hit Javelin volley. Nonetheless, Christian plans for an early Reconquista of Toledo are confounded.

Al-Mutamid settles in comfortably in Toledo to head up the garrison there. The Christian forces begin tooling up to harass and Ravage Zaragoza instead. Al-Mutawakkil tries to repeat his old “Paris gun” act [a reference to long-range raids – Volko], but the Christians have their border patrols active, so he’s unsuccessful in Ravaging the Christian Town of Coria.

Summer 1085

We begin Summer turn 3. John draws RUNAWAY SLAVES and FITNA. He blocks al-Mutamid and al-Mustain from Mustering. I draw MASSACRE—conditions unmet—and SWOLLEN RIVER, a Hold card. Certain Lords are getting anxious to return home, so both of us begin handing out bags of gold. I’ve got 9 Coin left in the Taifas box even after Paying 4 Lords to extend another Season. I opt to [redacted] instead of trying to raise my final Taifa Lord with my Muster. John summons Rodrigo to the board, placing his Seat at Gormaz.

[RUNAWAY SLAVES restore lost Christian forces; FITNA represents dissention among Muslim Lords that hinders their mobilization. – Volko]

[Historically, Alfonso upon recall of Rodrigo (El Cid) to royal service in the winter of 1086-1087 provided Rodrigo the fortress of Gormaz—the same choice that John has made here, though earlier than historically. By recalling Rodrigo in the game, John has given up 2 Victory Points to Phil (the King of León and Castilla has had to swallow some pride) in order to field an especially hard-hitting Lord. – Volko]

The saga continues …

John and I were able to get back on this morning to continue the scenario, getting through a Campaign and a Levy in about an hour-and-a-half. 

The top of Summer turn 3 saw Zaragoza in the crosshairs of a major Christian offensive. My planning phase heavily involved Abu-Bakr, al-Mustain, al-Mundir. That said, most of my turn was just setting up to be able to survive a Siege. Al-Mustain commandeered the local date and fig trees to keep his larders stocked for what seemed an inevitable Siege of Zaragoza, foraging on his first impulse. Abu Bakr rushed to Zaragoza to join his comrade. Meanwhile, Alfonso and newly Mustered Rodrigo plunged into the western flank of Zaragoza Taifa and began Ravaging. Though the RIBAT MONKS tried to hold them at bay, it was inevitable, and Locale after Locale suffered harrowing at the hands of the Christians.

Al-Mutamid activated just to step up to Madrid from Toledo. His army is of an unfortunate size, just barely requiring two Provender to Feed. My thought is that his mere presence at the border will give John some second thoughts about fully focusing on Zaragoza. It seems to work a little bit, as John expresses concern at some point that he might be caught out by al-Mutamid rushing to catch him at Zaragoza. This was a bluff, though, as I did not have any further al‑Mutamid cards, and has the added downside that Madrid is a Neutral town in a Taifa—al‑Mutamid can’t Muster there.

For his part, John seems to try a similar idea by moving Pedro Ansúrez west. He hovers close to his Seat, tantalizingly suggesting that he might, at any time, come into Coria, Western Toledo, or try to fight al-Mutawakkil in Badajoz.

My turn is largely quiet. Al-Mustain and Abu Bakr sit in Zaragoza, gathering figs as Christian armies burn Zaragoza to the ground—the heroic efforts of the RIBAT MONKS notwithstanding. Al-Mundir activates too late to be able to directly stave off a Ravaging of northern Lérida. He mostly sits at home collecting Taxes for “disaster relief.” His hapless subjects await their $1200 relief checks as Alfonso and Rodrigo Ravage Lérida City itself.

The awaited Siege never occurs. Alfonso and Rodrigo rampage across the countryside before fleeing (like cowards!) to safety in Aragón with King Sancho. Every time they arrive at the major Muslim Seats in Zaragoza and Lérida, the Muslim Lords flee/withdraw (sensibly, tactically, like geniuses!) behind their Walls, while the Christian Lords bypass.

The last act of the turn is for al-Mutawakkil to fire off a long-distance raid at Coria. This turn, he is successful, scoring the only Muslim point of the turn. All told, John is able to put down about six Ravage markers, gaining three VP. This brings him up to 6.5 against my 11.5.

We enter Calendar box 4, the late-Summer Levy. Grim misfortune for John sees me draw LEÓN & CASTILLA. This card always comes up. I imagine that sometimes John must wake up in a jolt, sweat-soaked at 3:00 AM hearing “Hmmm… yes Pedro and Rodrigo… both move one Calendar box left, and neither can Muster.”  I pick Pedro and Rodrigo, which moves Pedro left of the current Calendar box and Rodrigo into the current Calendar box.

My second Event is TAIFA MARRIAGE. Abu Bakr and al-Mustain are already holding court together in Zaragoza, picking dates, boasting about how they’d beat that nasty King Alfonso into a bloody pulp if he ever dared to stop running around Ravaging and give them a fair fight, so they decide to marry off one of their many daughters to one of their many sons. They both get a Calendar boost. [See Early Autumn 1085 below for historical background on TAIFA MARRIAGE. – Volko]

Unfortunately, the late-summer sun is growing hot, and Ravaging has been grueling work. as we enter the Pay phase, this means that the entire Christian army is on the verge of Disbanding. Worse, because of LEÓN & CASTILLA, John is forced to Pay a Coin just to keep Pedro from Disbanding permanently, rather than temporarily. He Pays enough to keep Alfonso and Sancho in the field for another Season. Al-Mutawakkil cashes in his Loot for a little Calendar boost.

We decide to pause again before beginning the Campaign for turn 4. After a promising resurgence in the early summer, the situation of Christendom appears dire. The question remains whether the Taifa Lords can get their act together sufficiently to land a killing blow. The next Campaign phase will be crucial.

Al-Mustain and Abu Bakr, now brothers-in-law, join up, with al-Mustain as Lieutenant over Abu Bakr. The Taifa Lords of al-Andalus coordinate a pincer attack against León.

Al-Mutamid and al-Mutawakkil strike into the west, trying to Besiege Pedro Ansúrez’s Seat. Alfonso and El Cid rush to chase them off, and they settle for besieging Zamora, but not before leaving the countryside of Simancas a smoldering wasteland. The pair will also Ravage Zamora before unsuccessfully trying to Storm it—despite the help of a hail of Javelins, al-Mutamid is unable to land a single casualty against the defenders and loses a company of mounted Sergeants for his trouble. Alfonso eventually arrives to relieve the Garrison at Zamora. After a tense moment of contemplation, al-Mutamid and al-Mutawakkil think the better of giving open Battle against the Leonese Marshal, and they flee south towards their own borders.

In the assault it was al-Mutamid vs Castle Garrison (1 Men-at-Arms/1 Militia). Al-Mutamid had 1 set of Vassals Levied (minus a Sergeants killed earlier by Pedro) and Javelins Capability. Walls 1-4. Militia saved two hits on rolls of 1.

[Phil here provides data on al-Mutamid’s Storm of Zamora because one goal at this stage testing is to calibrate the toughness of Strongholds and the rewards for seizing them. In this case, a small Stronghold held out against a hasty assault by a partially equipped Lord, so that’s fine. – Volko] 

In the east, the brothers-in-law decide to vacation in Calahorra. They are unable to accomplish much more than reinforcing the trenches around this Christian border Castle. The Muslims end the turn with a few problems pending: (1) four of their five Mustered Lords are out of position, (2) about half of their Lords are about to Disband, (3) the Taifas box is nearly empty.

[As in Volume I, Nevsky, when the turn advances to the box containing a Lord’s Service marker, the Lord Disbands and is removed to the Calendar, perhaps to re-Muster later. Players can pay Lords Coin or Loot to extend their Service. In Almoravid, a Muslim Taifa Lord who Disbands is agreeing to pay “Parias” tribute to the Christians—resulting in a pile of Coin that the Christian side can then use to reward and extend its own Lords’ Service. The fact that Phil’s Muslims—while ascendant—are feeling the Calendar catch up with them is a good sign from the perspective of testing for play balance. – Volko]

Though I still lead in the score, Christendom is poised for a comeback. I’m likely to have to Disband some Taifa Lords soon, which will see Christendom benefit from Parias payments and give him more opportunities to earn VP on the board. Christendom is not eligible for Curias yet, which is both a blessing and a curse. He could potentially profit greatly from taking advantage of these turns. Then again, both sides might welcome a chance to hasten the approach of Winter, lick their wounds, and remobilize in the spring.

[“Curias” refers to a Christian option in the full-length scenario to end the 1085 campaign season early to go home and see to royal governance, earning up to 2 Christian VP. – Volko]

Early Autumn 1085

The latest update from our Campaign …

The first Autumn Campaign Season sees the Muslim forces stretched thin. Most Lords are anxious to return home, having been away from their fiefs for nearly the whole year. The vast sums of specie required to persuade them to stay in the field “just one Season longer” have drained the Taifas box to a mere five Coin. In the remnants of what was once the Caliphate of Córdoba, the spendthrift war hawks now give way to penny-pinching deficit hawks.

The first concern of the ruling clique of Emirs and Imams is securing guarantees that the Taifa Lords will agree to Muster again at the end of Winter. Without those guarantees, those who do answer the call will have to spend precious Lordship (a dear commodity among the Muslim Lords) convincing their brethren to rejoin the struggle for independence against Alfonso. Autumn thus sees Muslim Lords running back to their Seats, hoping to gather Coin, rather than trying to press for further gains in León.

Events start with an early DROUGHT card from the Christians. This forces a tough decision on me. Al-Mutawakkil is now on the verge of immediately Disbanding. Al-Mutamid loses a Calendar box as well, putting his one Mustered Vassal, Ibn Rashiq, at risk not only of Disbanding, but doing so permanently. Al-Mustain also is eyeing a return home to Zaragoza, and al‑Mundir is seriously contemplating making Parias payments to the Christians. Despite the warnings of the deficit hawks, the collective leaders of the factions still Pay three Coin to keep al-Mustain and al-Mundir in the field, as well as to move al-Mutamid right one (and keep his Vassal from Disbanding permanently).

Alfonso chases al-Mutamid back to the border. He grumbles that he’s doing all the work for the Umma these days, but the deficit hawks are firmly in control now, and the Taifas box stays firmly shut.

Al-Mustain has again been named Lieutenant over his brother-in-law, Abu Bakr. The bromance between these two is easily my favorite plot thread from this game. They Ravage the countryside around Calahorra. The SEVERED HEADS of the infidels are sent back to al-Mutamid to remind him why he fights (Calendar shift two boxes right). Fortune (or perhaps, God) continues to smile upon Muslim forces, as the Christian CABALLEROS VILLANOS are still powerless to prevent the Muslim Ravage of the countryside.

[Historically, al-Mustain’s father al-Mutamin of Zaragoza and Abu Bakr of Valencia arranged a marriage of their children in early 1085 to seal an anti-Leonese alliance (TAIFA MARRIAGE Event). But both emirs died within a few months (ILLNESS OF THE EMIR Event). Al‑Mustain succeeded to the throne of Zaragoza, but Abu Bakr’s dynasty collapsed, enabling Álvar Fáñez to install a puppet of León at Valencia (AL-QADIR Event). – Volko]

With the benefit of enough food to last the turn, the Muslim forces Storm Calahorra Castle. Whatever our theological debates about whether a unitary God is superior to a triune God or vice versa—I give thanks to the six-sided God that the brothers-in-law Storm the Castle in a single round without any combat losses.

García activates a turn too late to intervene. Comments from John suggest that García has Mustered a vast war host, but that he still fears my Missile troops. It is worth noting that, since seeing the power of Yusuf’s Javelin-wielding African troops when we played Scenario C, I’ve made a conscious effort to Muster Missile abilities for my armies. The fog of war conceals from me whether John has done the same, but it sounds as though he has not. García thus thwarted, he simply builds up his reserves of Provender.

Al-Mutamid begins his long trek home for the turn. He makes his way to Toledo in time for dinner (i.e., with an action to spare for Forage), before making his way south back to his Seat at Córdoba. He resumes his enjoyment of the comforts of home. He will spend his remaining Command card collecting Taxes. The border of Zaragoza and León settles into a stalemate. García sits in his Seat collecting more Taxes. The brothers-in-law ship in food from Zaragoza City. Both sides are too comfortable to risk their necks sallying forth into some suicidal Battle.

Sancho leaves his Seat at Jaca and lays Siege to Barbastro in northern Lérida. Al-Mundir, who maintains only a small retinue, has no interest in trying his chances. After two Command cards worth of Siege and Ravage, Barbastro surrenders to Sancho.

After this, though, the turn ends not with a bang, but with a whimper, as Lords on both sides settle into their Seats to Tax. Both sides are eyeing the approaching Winter, thinking in terms of getting their Lords remobilized with fresh troops and resources for another year’s Campaign.

At the end of the turn the score stands at 13 VP for the Muslims to 8.5 for the Christians. The Christians also have enough markers on the board to now be eligible to invoke the Curia. John is left to a long night of the soul to decide whether the certain benefits of the Curia outweigh the risks of another Campaign Season before Winter.

A few final thoughts. As we’ve gotten more comfortable with the rules, things move along more fluidly. This turn took about fifty minutes.

I think I’m sold on the fog of war variant [a hidden Lord mats optional rule – Volko] as superior. It gives a little more tactical interest to the decision of whether to engage the enemy that you don’t have with perfect information.

Late Autumn 1085

Here is the Campaign up thru Winter …

1085 comes to an exciting conclusion—if you are Christian anyway. It’s a much more sensible, conservative conclusion for the Muslim forces. John’s decision regarding Curia is not terribly surprising. He opts against it, figuring he can potentially earn more points through aggression than prayer. I don’t disagree.

I had a few thoughts on Curia from where I sat.

First, the reward to Curia seems a bit small. The Christian player hopes to gain 1 or 2 points in score differential. It’s the only way to knock Muslim VP out of the Taifa box. Seven cards worth of Marching Christian Lords can accomplish a lot of Ravaging and Conquering. The tradeoff generally seems to favor the Christians opting to prosecute a normal turn in lieu of invoking this special rule.

I question whether Curias acts as a kind of “win-more” ability that allows for the Christian player to extend a lead and hasten the end of the game. Or maybe it’s meant to encourage the Christian player to take big risks in the first four turns, knowing that they can invoke Curia and coast to the end of the year, knowing that Winter will generally reset the board. I’m curious for John’s thoughts on the matter.

[Phil’s questions here about the incentives of Curias on Christian play led to a larger discussion within the test and development team that forced me to think through the variety of considerations that might play into Christians opting for Curias and whether to adjust the rule or the VP reward. – Volko]  

On to the last Autumn phase of 1085. John plays the DROUGHT Event, knocking the Brothers-in-Law back a box. I’m forced to disgorge a bit of Loot and Taifa Coin to keep them up through Winter. My turn, it must be said, is very conservative. I Muster Abd Allah, allowing me to refill the Taifas box somewhat, steal a VP from the Christians, and guarantee myself another Lord at the beginning of the next year. Fearing Winter Sieges, I have al-Mustain and Abu Bakr retreat to Zaragoza while al-Mundir hides out in Lérida. Generally, my Lords sit tight and Forage or Supply, just in case.

John’s turn is far more dynamic and offensive. Alfonso joins up with El Cid to March on Medinaceli. They lay Siege to the Fortress there, and it falls fortuitously the next card. Alfonso leaves Medinaceli for Calatayud, leaving El Cid behind him. He Storms on the next card. The small Garrison’s paltry Missile volley does nothing to dissuade the crusader onslaught. Alfonso unveils a secret weapon, as the haunting melody of his CANTADOR floats over the Castle Walls (“sí, sabes que ya llevo un rato mirandote/tengo que bailar contigo hoy…”). Suddenly his army’s Melee strength doubles. Six of twelve hits avoid my Walls’ Protection, annihilating the feeble Garrison.

[The rate of the fall of Strongholds, especially major complexes like Muslim Fortresses, to rapid Storm by pairs or even single Lords in this playthrough proved too fast and easy. The calibration here is critical and delicate: too easy to extend Service to seizing Strongholds and Lords will always steamroll across the countryside; too hard and the options for offensive action narrow or even dry up. With a lot of discussion among us and a dialing of Garrisons, Walls, and Spoils rewards one way and then the other, we ended up with tougher Strongholds that disgorge slightly less ample Spoils to Conquerors. – Volko]

Rodrigo Marches south and Besieges Guadalajara, setting up to launch a SURPRISE attack. The Garrison is more successful here, Routing two of his units and almost outlasting the assault, but the Cid just barely manages to score the last needed hit. Rodrigo loses a company of Men-at-Arms but is able to reform a battered unit of Sergeants who threatened to desert.

On the last card of the turn, al-Mundir does a last-minute rush to Jaca to Bypass it and Ravage. He is successful. This is only possible because I was able to transfer a bit more Coin to the Taifas Box at the beginning of Campaign (my Taxes from early Autumn)—I figure he’ll either eat Provender or I’ll lose some Coin. Either way, the prospect of a Winter allows for this final stretch. The Ravage is successful.

That brings us to Winter. There are a few subtleties that I had missed, like the fact that you actually need to get your markers past the first Winter box to take advantage of Winter Disband and re-Muster. Again, though not exactly preparing for this, I had enough Coin among the mats and Taifa box to keep everyone committed to the fight.

The 1086 reset sees most of the Taifa Lords start Mustered for Spring, other than al-Mutawakkil. Additionally, their re-Muster spawns 11 Taifa Coin in the Taifa box and another 11 on their mats. The score stands at 14.5 Muslim to 10 Christian.

[Through some incorrect vestigial text in the playtest rules, the Muslims here received twice the Coin that they were supposed to (it should have 11 on their mats and none in the box)—an irregularity that we then had to keep in consideration as we evaluated the course and outcomes of subsequent play. – Volko] 

Tomorrow we will be observing a Winter truce as well, though I may post some more reflections as I think about what to do for the next half of the Campaign.

Winter 1085-1086

The Winter truce is an opportunity for pause and some reflection. I will be coming into Spring with a decent lead, despite the razing of Zaragoza. There are a few things to point to as the cause of my current points lead. John’s failure to take control of Toledo is worth a deficit of five points right now—2 more points for switching Toledo to Reconquista from Parias, and 3 points for Conquering the citadel of Toledo itself.

John also made the decision to Muster El Cid right away, from the very first turn, contributing another two VP toward my lead. In this long scenario, the value of taking El Cid away from the Muslim side as soon as possible seems to well outweigh the VP cost though.

[I am considering but have not yet pulled the trigger on raising the costs for Alfonso to reconcile with Rodrigo from 2 VP to 3 VP. I hesitate because of the Christian option to deny the 2 VP until the Muslims expend the Coin to hire him, then pull Rodrigo out from under them. If the Muslims never pay the Coin, then the Christians remain up the 2 VP. – Volko]

We have misplayed Taifa Coin to this point to my advantage, effectively doubling the benefits of Mustering any given Taifa Lord. To be clear, in the present iteration of the rules, Taifa Coin only ever appears when Lords are Mustered and appears only on their mats. There were some “vestigial” references to Taifa Coin appearing directly in the Taifas box. It would be hard to untangle all the effects of that now, so we won’t. But it’s worth noting that without the extra Coin, I would have been forced to either (1) Tax more, (2) Ravage more, or (3) Disband more. All of those have knock-on effects. A Lord who is Taxing is not out earning points. A Lord who is Ravaging needs multiple activations to inflict the Ravage and get to Friendly Territory to take advantage of any Loot taken. A demobilized Lord means not only fewer pieces on the board but forking over more Coins and VP directly to the enemy. This rules error is probably worth a substantial amount of our current point differential.

Our Winter pause also allows for Volko to weigh in with some additional changes and clarifications. A number of Capabilities are being tweaked, rules being revised, et cetera. A bit of good news for me, the Christian ADALIDES Capability is being nerfed. John has been using and abusing this card in combination with Alfonso—the old version gave a zero-Command first March. In other words, Alfonso got a free, Unladen move, regardless of whether he had Loot or massive amounts of Provender. Ya no más. ADALIDES will still immunize Lords from certain interfering cards from me and allow him to Bypass without stopping, but the free move is gone.

Also notable is Volko’s tweak that Ravage is always the opposite alignment of a Locale’s controlling faction. That of course was clearly the case when a Taifa went Reconquista or Independent. John and I played this way as we traded Conquer markers around Zaragoza (which always remained Independent) though as well, since it seemed thematically consistent that the locals should blame whoever was in charge for the burned fields. The effects of it that I noticed is that it makes it a bit harder for him to catch up to my lead by Conquering. He either Ravages first, in which case the subsequent Conquer only gains a half-point on the differential, or he has to try to Conquer a place without Ravaging first. That means Ravaging as a prelude to Conquest is a tactical decision to be weighed.

[This was a case of playtest leading us to a more realistic and intuitive rule—flipping VP for Ravaged land when you take it over not only for regional political changes but also for individual military conquests. The rule that I had not written but that the testers assumed turned out to be an improvement. – Volko]

The effects of this are also that both sides simultaneously gain points during a Conquer. As things stand, I am fairly close to going over the 17-point mark that the Calendar is able to track. Maybe it will make sense to go back to tracking VP as a tug-of-war between the two sides? [An earlier rule used Victory markers to show net points rather than each side’s total. I need to watch the “17-point” issue to see if the added arithmetic is needed or not. – Volko]

[I hope that you have enjoyed this first peek into the test and development of Almoravid and the action that play of the game provides. In Part II, Phil will take us into and through the momentous year of 1086, as the Christian war machine revs up and a Muslim African intervention looms! – Volko]

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