"Moorish Army 6th Century?" Topic

What would a Moorish Army for the early 6th Century look like and what troop composition? I have a good sized Byzantine force already and some of the N. African campaigns look interesting.

6th century Moors, according to Isidore of Seville they would most certainly be black.

In Armies and Enemies of the Dark Ages by Ian Heath, the Moors have not changed much from earlier Numidian types; nearly naked, wearing a loin-cloth and armed with javelin, bow or sling. Some may also wear a turban.

Lurkio Miniatures make a series of Later Moors.
link
I have these and they are fine models which paint up well.

Lightly equipped, wearing a simple tunic and cloak with no armour, armed mostly with javelins. Infantry and light cavalry armed more or less the same. They fought from a circle of tethered camels against Vandal cavalry with success, but were beaten trying the same tactic against the Byzantines. All the following from Procopius, Wars, Book II:

It is not customary among them to change their clothing with the seasons, but they wear a thick cloak and a rough shirt at all times.

And Cabaon, upon learning this, arranged for the encounter as follows. He marked off a circle in the plain where he was about to make his palisade, and placed his camels turned sideways in a circle as a protection for the camp, making his line fronting the enemy about twelve camels deep. Then he placed the children and the women and all those who were unfit for fighting together with their possessions in the middle, while he commanded the host of fighting men to stand between the feet of those animals, covering themselves with their shields. 1 And since the phalanx of the Moors was of such a sort, the Vandals were at a loss how to handle the situation ; for they were neither good with the javelin nor with the bow, nor did they know how to go into battle on foot, but they were all horsemen, and used spears and swords for the most part, so that they were unable to do the enemy any harm at a distance; and their horses, annoyed at the sight of the camels, refused absolutely to be driven against the enemy. And since the Moors, by hurling javelins in great numbers among them from their safe position, kept killing both their horses and men without difficulty, because they were a vast throng, they began to flee, and, when the Moors came out against them, the most of them were destroyed, while some fell into the hands of the enemy j and an exceedingly small number from this army returned home.

Now there are lofty mountains there, and a level space near the foothills of the mountains, where the barbarians had made preparations for the battle and arranged their fighting order as follows. They formed a circle of their camels, just as, in the previous narrative, I have said Cabaon did, making the front about twelve deep. And they placed the women with the children within the circle ; (for among the Moors it is customary to take also a few women, with their children, to battle, and these make the stockades and huts for them and tend the horses skilfully, and have charge of the camels and the food; they also sharpen the iron weapons and take upon themselves many of the tasks in connection with the preparation for battle); and the men themselves took their stand on foot in between the legs of the camels, having shields and swords and small spears which they are accustomed to hurl like javelins. And some of them with their horses remained quietly among the mountains. But Solomon disregarded one half of the circle of the Moors, which was towards the mountain, placing no one there. For he feared lest the enemy on the mountain should come down and those in the circle should turn about and thus make the men drawn up there exposed to attack on both sides in the battle. But against the remainder of the circle he drew up his whole army, and since he saw the most of them frightened and without courage, on account of what had befallen Aigan and Rufinus, and wishing to admonish them to be of good cheer, he spoke as follows: "… And indeed of all men the Moorish nation seems to the most poorly equipped for war's struggle, for the most of them have no armour at all, and those who have shields to hold before themselves have only small ones which are not well made and are not able to turn aside what strikes against them. And after they have thrown those two small spears, if they do uot accomplish anything, they turn of their own accord to flight. So that it is possible for you, after guarding against the first attack of the barbarians, to win the victory with no trouble at all …"

After the officers of the Moors had delivered this exhortation, they began the engagement. And at first there arose great disorder in the Roman army. For their horses were offended by the noise made by the camels and by the sight of them, and reared up and threw off their riders and the most of them fled in complete disorder. And in the meantime the Moors were making sallies and hurling all the small spears which they had in their hands, thus causing the Roman army to be filled with tumult, and they were hitting them with their missiles while they were unable either to defend themselves or to remain in position. But after this, Solomon, observing what was happening, leaped down from his horse himself first and caused all the others to do the same. And when they had dismounted, he commanded the others to stand still, and, holding their shields before them and receiving the missiles sent by the enemy, to remain in their position ; but he himself, leading forward not less than five hundred men, made an attack upon the other portion of the circle. These men he commanded to draw their swords and kill the camels which stood at that point. Then the Moors who were stationed there beat a hasty retreat, and the men under Solomon killed about two hundred camels, and straightway, when the camels fell, the circle became accessible to the Romans. And they advanced m the run into the middle of the circle where the women of the Moors were sitting; meanwhile the barbarians in consternation withdrew to the mountain which was close by, and as they fled in complete disorder the Romans followed behind and killed them. And it is said that ten thousand of the Moors perished in this encounter, while all the women together with the children were made slaves. And ;he soldiers secured as booty all the camels which they had not killed. Thus the Romans with all their plunder went to Carthage to celebrate the festival of triumph.

One other source, Corippus' epic "Ioannis", lists various "Moorish" tribes with a wider range of weapons – one tribe swordsmen, another lancers. I haven't studied this, but provisionally I have my doubts about whether it's reliable or whether it's more a literary catalogue of exotica.

Well neither of those descriptions sound like much of a game. Thanks for the information. I guess I will have to research a bit more or perhaps think in terms of skirmishes and raids.

I always think skirmishes and raids are more fun than big battles anyways :)

CH,
Yep. SAGA already has a Moor faction.

Joe