By David Kuijt
Note: all images are thumbnails, and are clickable to see the larger original.
Army #155 covers the Emirate of Granada from the first Nasrid Emir during the fall of the Almohads until the final fall of Granada in 1492. During this period it raided (and was raided by) the Christian Kingdoms of Spain. Granada held its own through more than two centuries of strife, until internal succession disputes weakened it just when the two strongest Spanish kingdoms were united by the marriage of Ferdinand of Castile and Isabella of Aragon. When they focussed their intent upon the conquest of the last Moorish kingdom in Spain while it was divided with civil war, the outcome was inevitable. Even then it took more than a decade of fighting before the Spanish could overcome the fierce determination of the Moors, the mountain barriers of the Sierra Nevada, and the many fortifications that protected the fertile vega from constant raiding.
The DBA options:
EnemiesFoes listed for Granada are the Medieval Spanish (#171) and the Feudal Spanish (#104). Granada was entirely encompassed by the Spanish Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon after the fall of Andalusia, and raids and counterraids were constant on the whole border.
Such a small enemies list is a little sad. Without going too far out of what is historically "reasonable", there are a few armies that could be included. Even though Granada did not fight any large pitched battles with these forces historically, it could easily have happened.
Speculative enemies list: Berber (#125), Feudal French (#137), Navarrese (#156), Medieval French (#170), Free Company (#172).
The Berber princes of North Africa were constantly meddling in the politics of Granada, just as they had done in Andalusian Spain before. Berber mercenaries and allies were regarded as a necessary evil to reinforce against Aragonese and Castillian agression, but their fanaticism often put them at odds with the more tolerant and civilized leaders of Granada. Warfare between Granadine forces and Berbers could easily have occurred; Granada had an army in North Africa as late as 1419 as part of an alliance with the Marinid Berber princes to throw the Portuguese off their foothold in North Africa.
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the forces of France were
involved in several crusades; as late as 1396 a large French contingent
was a major part of the forces of the King of Hungary in the battle of
Nicopolis, where the Ottomans under Bayezid crushed the crusaders. If
the French were willing to travel that far to fight the infidel, a
shorter trip to Granada was still possible even for the Medieval French.
French forces had participated in crusades against the Moors before;
St. Louis, while King of France, led a crusade against Egypt in the middle
13th century, and died leading a crusade in Tunisia a decade or two after
that.
Navarre fought small wars against the French and their Spanish neighbors, and was allied with them as often, by treaty or marriage. It doesn't take much of a stretch to imagine a situation where forces of Navarre would participate in a major raid or invasion of Granada, perhaps in concert with Aragon or Castile.
Similarly, the Free Companies rose from out-of-work soldiers during the first major pause in the Hundred-Years War between France and England. Free Companies fought in Spain before moving on to Italy; it would have been entirely reasonable for a monarch of Castile or Aragon to hire such troops for an attack upon Granada, since they were hiring them to attack each other!
Army NotesThe Knight/Cavalry option in the Granada army list reflects the fact that the armour and fighting style of the heaviest Granadine troops evolved from heavily armoured towards lighter. Early armour and tactics show heavy influence of Spanish equipment and style. Granadine cavalrymen before the early 14th century would be equipped much like Spanish knights of the same period. By 1340 they had abandoned shock tactics in favour of lighter armour and more skirmishing, so after 1340 Granadine armies should only use the Cavalry option.
Spear: Spear elements in the army of Granada could represent town militia eqipped with adarga shields or large square pavises, or mercenary foot mostly from North Africa.
Crossbow: nearly every peasant in Granada is said to have owned a crossbow.
Most Granada crossbow units (and their psiloi as well) would have been
unarmoured peasant crossbow. Some few would have been mercenaries from
North Africa.
Granadine Psiloi would have been unarmoured peasant crossbowmen, although
a small contingent of staff-slingers is possible. After 1340 one element
(or one figure of an element, more proportionally) could have been
handgunners. Granada had artillery before the Christian kingdoms, but
appears to have used it only in sieges.
The most common and effective Granadine troop was their jinete light
cavalry. They were armed with a long spear for throwing or stabbing
and the distinctive adarga shield; most of them would have had little
or no armour. These troops were tremendously effective in the raiding
warfare between Granada and Christian Spain.
Some of the light cavalry in a Granadine army would be mounted
peasant crossbowmen.
Although historically not as well trained or effective as the jinetes,
they function identically in DBA. If you choose to portray these troops
you should limit it to a single element of the four light horse in the
Granadine army, as the bulk of their light horse were jinetes.
Notes on TacticsThe army of Granada is very well-suited to fighting its historical enemies, the Feudal and Medieval Spanish. Their infantry are quite formidable to mounted opponents in the open. I suggest putting the spear single-ranked with psiloi support, all in line with the two crossbow. That gives a very hard nut for enemy mounted to crack, and the additional flexibility of sending the psiloi through the friendly line to skirmish against enemy heavy foot, or to occupy rough terrain.
Granadine mounted forces need to be careful against the heavier mounted knights of their usual opponents. If possible they should try to fight a battle of maneuver against the enemy mounted, using their faster movement to get a local superiority or flank that will counteract the better combat factors of the knights. If this fails, or until this situation can be created, they should probably operate near the support of their infantry.
The best situation is if they can get their infantry up against the enemy mounted, and their mounted forces against enemy infantry. A Granadine commander would be well-advised to keep his infantry together and well-ordered, and use his cavalry with fluidity and flexibility.
Here are some articles on tactics in DBA that might be helpful to a Granadine Emir:
Notes about Figures and PicturesI haven't found any manufacturers who make specifically Granadine figures, so most of the figures are conversions or modifications. The major technique in this conversion was the addition of appropriate turbans or head-and-neck cloths. Dental floss turns out to work excellently for this purpose, and 70% of the turbans for my Granada army are made of dental floss.
The spear are made up of some Essex MID 96 guys, some MID 36, and some MID 85, with a few Grumpy PAM spearmen thrown in. All the Essex have had a headcloth or turban added with dental floss. All the Spear were given scratch-built pavises appropriate for the city militia of the time.
The crossbow and crossbow-armed psiloi are mostly Essex CRU 9 (Arab Crossbow) and CRU 27 (Seljuq Crossbow). Some Grumpy PAM 9 figures (with Essex crossbows added to replace their pikes) were added for variety, both for different clothing and because they hold their pike/crossbow at 45 degrees, where all the Essex figures are firing.
The jinetes light horse are a mix of Essex MID 84 (with turbans added and their short javelins replaced with longer spears), Irregular HR38 Genitor light cavalry (unmodified), and two RNO 22 Ottoman light horse with bow and lance; the bow cut off, sleeves modified, and an appropriate adarga-style shield added. The sole element of mounted crossbow is Irregular AB 30 arabic mounted crossbow. Although carved a little crudely, I was happy to have a single element that didn't require any major modification at all!
The cavalry are likewise a mix. Four of the figures are Essex MER 23
"Assorted Mtd Lesser Man-at-arms". There are four variants in that pack,
in two different postures. Their lances were changed into spears by
judicious trimming or substitution with wire, they were given cloth
headbands where appropriate, and adarga-style shields.
The last figure is CRU 45 Mameluke heavy cavalry, modified by trimming his
kite shield into an adarga shape, cutting the nasal off his helmet and filing
it into the shape of a bascinet, and adding a white headcloth.
Many of the cavalry shields I added were Essex Spanish shields, which are the right shape for an adarga shield. Adarga shields usually had two or four rope tassels hanging from their front, which the Essex shields didn't have, so in most cases I added them by gluing down black thread. Some of the shields were transplanted from Essex MID 85 shields used for the footmen, which have the four tassels on them. The MID 85 shields were round, though, so had to be filed down to the right shape first.
Page created: March 31, 1999.
The author may be contacted at kuijt@umiacs.umd.edu Please do not use any pictures or text from this page without permission.