Historical Overview Section
The Ummayad Arabs landed at Gibraltar on April 30, 711 and after a decisive victory at the Battle of Guadalete on July 19, 711, brought most of the Iberian Peninsula under Muslim occupation in a seven-year campaign, and then continued over the Pyrenees into France until they were defeated in southern France by the Merovingian Frankish Charles Martel at the Battle of Poitiers in 732. The retrenched region of Arab Spain, known as al-Andalus, was initially ruled by governors appointed by the (Ummayad Arab)) Caliph but from 740 a series of civil wars resulted in the breakdown of Caliphal control, and al Andalus effectively became an independent kingdom.
In 750, the Abbasid Arabs overthrew the Umayyads for control of the great Arab empire, allowing exiled Umayyad prince Abd-ar-Rahman I to establish himself as the Emir of Córdoba. The new Emirate exercised only loose control over much of Spain until the reign of Abd-al-Rahman III starting in 912. He consolidated power across all of al-Andalus and extended it into western North Africa as well, and in 929 he proclaimed himself Caliph, elevating the emirate to a position competing in prestige not only with the Abbasid Arab caliph in Baghdad but also the Shi'ite Early North African Dynasties caliph in Tunis—with whom he was competing for control of North Africa.
This was a Golden Age for the caliphate, and Córdoba under the Caliphate, with a population of perhaps 500,000 eventually overtook Constantinople as the largest and most prosperous city in Europe.
The Córdoba Caliphate effectively collapsed during a ruinous civil war between 1009 and 1013, although it was not finally abolished until 1031. Al-Andalus then broke up into a number of mostly independent Taifa Andalusian states. These were generally too weak to defend themselves against repeated raids and demands for tribute from the Christian states to the north and west such as the Feudal Navarrese and Aragonese or Feudal Castillian Leonese or Portuguese. Eventually these raids would turn into conquests, and in response the Taifa Andalusian kings were forced to request help from the Almoravids, Islamic rulers of the Maghreb. Their desperate maneuver would eventually fall to their disadvantage, however, as the Moravid Fanatic Berbers they had summoned from the south went on to conquer many of the taifa kingdoms.
Using the army in FoG
- include your tactical tips or advice in here
- It looks neater if you do it with bullet points. Just put each new suggestion on a new line, starting with an "*"
UK Tournament Results with this army
Useful Links
User-contributed links about this army:
- Andalusians DBA Figure Gallery for this army - from Fanaticus
- Andalusians DBA Figure Gallery for this army - from Fanaticus
- put the link text readers will see in here write some more detail about the link here
Allies
- Castilians - Astur Leonese From 1010 Wolves from the Sea 26 Lancers post 900, javelin cav before, and 2 or 3 blobs of foot (with supports)
- Catalan - From 1010, Feudal Catalan and Early Crown of Aragon - Oath of Fealty. Some lancer cavalry, the usual defensive spearmen, the Almughavars and Knights are out of period unfortunately.
Painting and Collecting the Army
- Paint schemes, insignia, shield designs? Put it here.
15mm Manufacturers supplying figures for this army
You can see some of the figures in the Ancients Photo Gallery also on this site. This listing only covers "arabic" figures - Turk/Hunninc/Mongol figures are omitted as nearly everyone does some of them.
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- Essex Miniatures - many generic Arabs, possibly too generic for todays tastes in their Ancients selection, plus a newer 50-strong Arab range of more tailored figures in their Crusades ranges that may be more suitable
- Donnington - 35+ arabs
- Museum Miniatures - several nice Arab/Persian/Turkish ranges, often using the same figures in each!
- Gladiator Miniatures by Fighting 15's (Previously Black Hat) 33-strong Crusades Moslems Range
- Old Glory 15's, several Arab Ranges
- Minifigs Venerable Crusader range with Arabs
- Irregular Miniatures 39 Arab & Turk figures from a generic range
- Lancashire Games - Several large "value" packs of Arab troops
- LKM Direct - Freikorps ranges have Medieval Turks
- Tin Soldier 16 Arabs in one range
- Outpost Wargame Services A specialist in this period/region, 30+ Crusade-period Islamics
- East Riding Miniatures Some berbers in a small El Cid Range may be suitable
- Khurasan Miniatures again a specialist period for Khurasan, with several Persian/eastern ranges
- Viking Forge several Arab & Turkish ranges
- Falcon Figures Ottoman range
- Battle Line Miniatures 27 Generic Arabs
- Eureka - Australian Site Grumpys Miniatures Perian & Afghan Ranges are quite fun
- 50 Paces.com their website shows an "Arab" range, but no figure codes listed. The range is sold in Europe (with pictures and figure codes) by Strategia e Tattica
- Camelot Games Italian-based supplier
- Legio Heroica 22 Crusades-era Arabs
Army Lists
Sample army lists for this army
Name of Army / Date
- Using asterisks inthe edit mode creates a bulleted list in the actual site
- This is a lot easier to do than easier than setting up tables
- For FoG I suggest listing your army in order or march
- with troop desctiptions on each line, for example
- 4 HF Armoured Average Drilled Impact Foot Swordsmen
- 8 LG Undrilled Unarmoured Poor Bowen
- Dont forget to include your Generals !!!
Include any notes you want here, including comments on how to use - or play against - the army.
Remember to leave a line before you copy the above section as a template for your own list
eBay Listings
UK Bookstore
