El Cid
The year is 1094 in front of the great City of Valencia recently taken by the Spanish Christian Hero, EL CID.
This diorama game features the Walls of the City and behind them a portion of that great city. The Walls were treated with several applications to obtain the unusual color of fortifications built in that area of Spain. The city structures were fabricated (excepting the Christian Church) of “Gator Foam”, plastic, cardboard, wood, plaster and metal; then painted with acrylic colors. The City is peopled with over four hundred appropriate types of merchants and their potential customers as well as domestic animals like donkeys, cattle, sheep and pigs brought from rural areas. Note that there are featured “entertainers” scattered throughout the plaza, Bazaar and mercantile center beguiling the passers-by with their “magiks” and skills - likely including the relief of a purse here and there.
Identifying the structures (from left to right): Judicial Court (ochre), palatial residence of an Amir (aqua/purple)
with his harem in view, the Grand Mosque (green) with prone worshipers in front of the Mosque, Commercial center with many buildings as town square, Bazaar with many rickety stands selling everything under the sun, Barracks for the garrison and their parade ground, Christian Mercantile strip mall and finally the Christian Church with its grounds and small cemetery. Stone pavements underlie the majority of the city with specific walkways between major areas. Some sections have been planted and there are trees adjacent to the gardened spots. On the extreme left of the urban development there remain a few plots of land given over to crops served by some peons.
In front of the Walls are the three protagonists of this era numbering a thousand figurines: A primarily mounted Spanish Christian army (on each flank) led by El Cid (Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar) commanding the left wing with his Armiger, Pedro Bermudez (Banner Man) plus some further aid from King Alphonso “The Battler” brought backward in time to assist in this scenario. If you look carefully you may find yours truly acting as a “Cantador” in his right wing force. The center is made up of their rather weak infantry led by a Friar: Brother DeSilva and Tyrone Power drawn from the Captain from Castile movie (Pedro De Vargas). The Bishop of Valencia has some additional units under his auspices defending the Walls of the City.
The Almoravid Berber Host is led by none other than the much feared, charismatic Emir Ben Yusef (dressed all in black) with his notorious “Black Guard” of excellent, very well-trained Berber spearmen supported by the equally evil Hashan Black Heavy (for them) Cavalry and some high quality Sudanese mercenary spearmen. His wings are commanded by Naqib Abu Bakr with a fundamentalist Imam preaching hate aided and abetted by a bitter Christian Knight (who has fallen twice to the Cid) with the name of Berenguer Berbers initiated the use of Jinete Light Cavalry and all of these belligerents use them in quantity; as well as a lift from ancient Assyrians and Persians – the use of archers and spearmen in a combined unit. Sayyid Mohrmann leads the other Berber wing. The Almoravid Berbers are the Al-Quaida of that day and are fundamentalist fanatics.
The best dressed, most intelligent, most civilized entity in this mix are the Andalusian Moors referred to as: Al-Andalus. Unfortunately they are crunched between the Christian Spanish in the north and the Almoravid Berbers coming up from the south. They are (also unfortunately) the poorest soldiers! At this time they were the repository of most ancient wisdom and philosophy in an otherwise bleak world. Their primary leader in this encounter would be the Caliph Abd Al-Rahman with a lot of pretty but low quality infantry aided by a Qadi (Islamic Judge) and his Alferez (Banner Man) and even a token Sudanese spearmen mercenary force (probably one of his better units). His wings are commanded by Amirs Al-Mutamid and El Codorba with large numbers of Andalusian Light Cavalry Jinetes and some Nobles armored Cavalry also functioning in the traditional light cavalty discipline. Mutamid even introduces some mounted crossbowmen!
This three-way array allows pitting Spanish against either Almarovid Berbers or Andalusians; likewise it permits Berbers to take on either Spanish or Andalusians. To complete the triad, Andalusians may combat either Spanish or Berbers OR be divided equally between Spanish and Berbers as mercenaries for either and provide a real mélange of Spanish with Andalusian mercenaries to battle Almoravid Berbers with Andalusian mercenaries. If this isn’t enough for you then it occasionally found a Spanish unit or Christian Captain to serve the Andalusians or the Berbers. What a mess!
Rules for this game were extracted from Warhammer Historical Rules and considerable use was made of the booklet: EL CID from the same source.
The EL CID Extravaganza was built for and sold to one of my major Patrons in Europe. The armies of soldiers in front of the walls are for him and his son to engage in kriegspiels while the City behind the walls is for his wife and daughter to enjoy much as an elaborate doll house. This is surely a way of making everyone enjoy Uncle Duke’s elaborate and picturesque EL CID Extravaganza!
Read MoreThis diorama game features the Walls of the City and behind them a portion of that great city. The Walls were treated with several applications to obtain the unusual color of fortifications built in that area of Spain. The city structures were fabricated (excepting the Christian Church) of “Gator Foam”, plastic, cardboard, wood, plaster and metal; then painted with acrylic colors. The City is peopled with over four hundred appropriate types of merchants and their potential customers as well as domestic animals like donkeys, cattle, sheep and pigs brought from rural areas. Note that there are featured “entertainers” scattered throughout the plaza, Bazaar and mercantile center beguiling the passers-by with their “magiks” and skills - likely including the relief of a purse here and there.
Identifying the structures (from left to right): Judicial Court (ochre), palatial residence of an Amir (aqua/purple)
with his harem in view, the Grand Mosque (green) with prone worshipers in front of the Mosque, Commercial center with many buildings as town square, Bazaar with many rickety stands selling everything under the sun, Barracks for the garrison and their parade ground, Christian Mercantile strip mall and finally the Christian Church with its grounds and small cemetery. Stone pavements underlie the majority of the city with specific walkways between major areas. Some sections have been planted and there are trees adjacent to the gardened spots. On the extreme left of the urban development there remain a few plots of land given over to crops served by some peons.
In front of the Walls are the three protagonists of this era numbering a thousand figurines: A primarily mounted Spanish Christian army (on each flank) led by El Cid (Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar) commanding the left wing with his Armiger, Pedro Bermudez (Banner Man) plus some further aid from King Alphonso “The Battler” brought backward in time to assist in this scenario. If you look carefully you may find yours truly acting as a “Cantador” in his right wing force. The center is made up of their rather weak infantry led by a Friar: Brother DeSilva and Tyrone Power drawn from the Captain from Castile movie (Pedro De Vargas). The Bishop of Valencia has some additional units under his auspices defending the Walls of the City.
The Almoravid Berber Host is led by none other than the much feared, charismatic Emir Ben Yusef (dressed all in black) with his notorious “Black Guard” of excellent, very well-trained Berber spearmen supported by the equally evil Hashan Black Heavy (for them) Cavalry and some high quality Sudanese mercenary spearmen. His wings are commanded by Naqib Abu Bakr with a fundamentalist Imam preaching hate aided and abetted by a bitter Christian Knight (who has fallen twice to the Cid) with the name of Berenguer Berbers initiated the use of Jinete Light Cavalry and all of these belligerents use them in quantity; as well as a lift from ancient Assyrians and Persians – the use of archers and spearmen in a combined unit. Sayyid Mohrmann leads the other Berber wing. The Almoravid Berbers are the Al-Quaida of that day and are fundamentalist fanatics.
The best dressed, most intelligent, most civilized entity in this mix are the Andalusian Moors referred to as: Al-Andalus. Unfortunately they are crunched between the Christian Spanish in the north and the Almoravid Berbers coming up from the south. They are (also unfortunately) the poorest soldiers! At this time they were the repository of most ancient wisdom and philosophy in an otherwise bleak world. Their primary leader in this encounter would be the Caliph Abd Al-Rahman with a lot of pretty but low quality infantry aided by a Qadi (Islamic Judge) and his Alferez (Banner Man) and even a token Sudanese spearmen mercenary force (probably one of his better units). His wings are commanded by Amirs Al-Mutamid and El Codorba with large numbers of Andalusian Light Cavalry Jinetes and some Nobles armored Cavalry also functioning in the traditional light cavalty discipline. Mutamid even introduces some mounted crossbowmen!
This three-way array allows pitting Spanish against either Almarovid Berbers or Andalusians; likewise it permits Berbers to take on either Spanish or Andalusians. To complete the triad, Andalusians may combat either Spanish or Berbers OR be divided equally between Spanish and Berbers as mercenaries for either and provide a real mélange of Spanish with Andalusian mercenaries to battle Almoravid Berbers with Andalusian mercenaries. If this isn’t enough for you then it occasionally found a Spanish unit or Christian Captain to serve the Andalusians or the Berbers. What a mess!
Rules for this game were extracted from Warhammer Historical Rules and considerable use was made of the booklet: EL CID from the same source.
The EL CID Extravaganza was built for and sold to one of my major Patrons in Europe. The armies of soldiers in front of the walls are for him and his son to engage in kriegspiels while the City behind the walls is for his wife and daughter to enjoy much as an elaborate doll house. This is surely a way of making everyone enjoy Uncle Duke’s elaborate and picturesque EL CID Extravaganza!
