"El Cid Andalusian Heavy Cavalry" Topic

From HaT. Not one of the best sets ever.mainly due to there being only 4 horse and fig poses but they´ll do.

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Cheers
paul

Oh stop complaining. You have some painted miniatures don't you!?

Looking good. 4 may be barely enough. They are 4 different poses. Different paint schemes on each figure and nobody would notice that there are only 4 different types. BTW, when the command figures come out, you can add even more variety.

Paul;

While not "perfect", they really aren't bad. I haven't seen the 1/72 version yet, but I did get test shots of the 28mm hard plastic ones. There are enough similarities between the Andalusians and the Almoravids that they can be mixed pretty freely, and they are all on the same horses.

One trick you can try to add a little more variety is to trim the shields and replace with fancy buttons (the cuff sized ones should work), then simply dry brush the detail. Take a look at the WIP shot of some 54mm Moors done by the Skirmish Wargames Group to see what I mean.

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And there is less selection available in 54mm unless you re-sculpt like Peter and Mike do (I know, I'm doing 54mm Ghaznavids). Some new shields here and there would create a bit more difference between figures. You might also look at some metal spare parts from Irregular. Ian offers adarga shields, round with tassels, bow cases and such. His 25/28's are a bit smaller than most of the figures on the market and I think a few would work on 1/72nd figures, also check Essex for similar parts.

Also, between Zvezda, Italeri and Strelets, there should be a good assortment of Muslim figures that could be mixed in for variety. All of them won't work of course, some are definitely too "Turkish" in appearance. But you could probably use some of the horses to provide a bit more variety.

Actually, by combining all of the above, one could do a very presentable Seljuq or Ghaznavid army, using the HaT figures for the Arab Divsuran, mercenary cavalry, Adhath infantry, etc.; then the other figures for the assortment of Mamluks, Turks, Kwarizmians and such.

At any rate, excellent brush skills as usual. Highly commended!

Bill
Sir William the Aged

There are enough similarities between the Andalusians and the Almoravids that they can be mixed pretty freely,….

Are you sure? Andalusians are Spanish Muslims which look close to their Christian counterparts. Almoravids are North African Berbers who were covered head to toe.

Gripping Beast Almoravids from Pictors Studio:

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Bowman;

The similarities that I referred to are in the sculpts, not necessarily real life. HaT have taken a slightly "generic" attitude towards some of the details. Some of the Almoravids are in typical Berber garb, some are not; some of the Andalusians are in almost Spanish armor, some aren't. For reference:

Andalusian Heavies
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Andalusian Lights
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Almoravid heavies
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Almoravid Lights
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The Almoravid Heavies are pretty close to accurate, but not that much different from the Andalusian sculpts, and use the same horses. If one were doing an Arab Empire, Seljuq or Ghaznavid army, there would be a place for all of them in various units. But, this is my opinion only, YMMV.

BTW – In Pictor's excellent pic's that you referenced, all of the Berber Cavalry and the Berber Infantry are not covered head to toe. There are several figures depicted with faces uncovered, except in the Black Guard. Just sayin…

Bill
Sir William the Aged

Nice brush work as always Paul – they look quite nice figures. I have not made the plunge into El Cid yet but maybe I should.

Thanks :-D
@ burlesonbill…excellent work!!! I particularly like the way you´ve altered the red archer, some nice looking conversions..thanks for the tip :-D
Cheers
paul

Paul;

In the interest of honesty and full disclosure: Not my work. The link I sent was to the work of Mike Blake and Peter Reynolds of the Skirmish Wargames group in the UK. I am attempting to follow in their footsteps, but haven't gotten there yet.

BTW – Here's a link to shots of the actual game played with the figures using the "Hail Caesar" rules.

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Bill
Sir William the Aged

Thanks Bill. That´s one great looking table and some lovely looking figs.. Do you know where they got the Moorish flags from?
Cheers
paul

Paul,

Somewhere in the text, or maybe in another e-mail from Mike, he mentioned that the flags were produced by Too Fat Lardy's for 28mm and that he and Peter scaled them up. I assume either scanned and printed or simply color copied scaled up.

You may already be familiar with the following, but I found them useful:

Several types of Islamic flags and banners, including Andalusian on Fanaticus:

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And some Islamic flags from Tom's Toy Soldiers and Grimsby Wargames Society:

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Bill
Sir William the Aged

Again thanks Bill •
The fanaticus flags I haven´t seen before,,very usefull especially the Persian Andalusian ones. I´ve just used the ones from the grimsby Wargames society for my Andalusian cavalry.
Cheers
paul

Please note that the grimsbywargamessociety.com address has changed

Take care

Andy