He sent forth a herald
to Aragon and Navarre,
He sent his messages
to the lands of Castile:
Whoever would leave
his toil and grow rich,
let him come to my Cid
whose taste is for fighting…
The Poem of the Cid
And so starts the rules and background pack sent out to the potential gamers whose taste was also for fighting, albeit with miniature warriors! The Morris and Jones Productions tag is fast becoming a wargaming brand in its own right, especially after their highly enjoyable 'Age of Tyrants' one day Arthurian WAB event and award at Salute 2002 for their AWI game. The rules pack is worth the small entry fee itself, professionally produced, well researched and containing some entertaining Warhammer Ancient Battles army lists. As before, the format was a team approach with four separate factions based on the El Cid legend. This time, instead of two small scenarios and a big battle, there were to be three scenarios. One, 'Pitched Battle' is a tourney favourite and an excellent warm up, the others were to be new ones.
Choosing a faction is the starting point, deciding to enter in the first place takes no effort at all! In my case I look around to see what I've already got and that usually decides what to plump for. As I had started to build a small nondescript Arab army it was to be a force of Al-Andalus. Others could opt for Leon & Castile, Aragon & Catalonia or even the fanatic horde of the Almoravids. The rules pack gives a generalised army list with various options available to each faction. I like the army list design as the players are constrained to make choices; a key decision is whether to take a Warrior General who is good at getting stuck in, or a Venerable General who, with an older, wiser head, leads more than fights – he is a bit cheaper as well! As the army size is fairly modest (1,600 points or about 100 figures), there usually is enough time to build an army from scratch. For the rest of us it's a case of frantically filling in the gaps with purchases at Salute and getting them painted to a reasonable standard in time!
All too soon the day of the tourney approached – 23rd June 2002. As a happy omen the traffic on the way up from London was very light in the hazy summer's morn. Arriving at the Newark Irregulars' hall there was a mixture of newcomers and some familiar faces. After the sorting out of tables, armies and the domestic arrangements, we were into our first game, 'Pitched Battle', where I was matched against a worthy opponent – a fellow Venerable General who we shall call 'Duncan'*. An interesting fight and the high cavalry content lead to a battle on each flank.
Despite some dreadful opening die rolls, an enemy unit charged into range and finally the missiles began to tell. In Warhammer Ancient Battles a battle can revolve around the breaking of a significant unit which can lead to several units breaking or even panicking - so it proved here and my unfortunate opponent saw this happen and gifted me a tidy win. Part of the fun of these tournaments is that, at the break, the winners of the round get first choice of various extras – these can be mercenary units or tactical advantages. You could also have the opportunity of fielding El Cid himself as a choice if you rolled a 5 or a 6! This is a neat way of either patching up a weakness in your army choice or putting in a specific unit that might help out in the next scenario - I opted for a unit of mercenary spearmen.
And so on to the next round.
This was to be a novel scenario – 'Raiders'. One player takes the part of the Raiders and gets three Booty counters, his opponent becomes the counter-raiders known as the 'Apellido' and basically tries to steal them back! I must confess at this point to having a practice game of this scenario at the London Gamers' den where, as the Raiders, I had got roundly beaten by Soapy! My opponent here was Luke Foden, a youngster who produced quite a hard fought game. Interestingly, he had opted for foot rather than mounted knights in the main, and these formed a solid wall between my Apellido and the Booty.
A unit of cavalry kept close by but these were teased out to the right flank as the forces approached. The great thing about the tourney was that, with the smaller forces on a standard board, there was ample opportunity to indulge in swirling cavalry actions in the Spanish manner.
Tantalisingly, in this game there was a gap in the enemy forces where I could thread my horse archers through on the left flank, behind the wall of knights, and they poached the Booty. However, an ill judged charge allowed Luke to hammer my Army General and his nobles and we ended with a bloody draw. Still, there was consolation in the slightly bizarre sound in the background of Rob Broom offering praise to Allah on a regular basis!
Prior to lunch there was enough time to arrange and display your army (to which I cheekily added the Booty counters being led away) and then the army lists and painting were judged by the players. A choice had to be made between the first, second and third placings, and it was a very hard choice given the high standard of many of the armies on display. Many at shows would have admired figures like Gripping Beast's displayed in a showcase, but to see a whole themed army of them is truly a treat to experience. After a break, (packed lunch and biccies) it was onto the final game of the day. So far our faction Al-Andalus was retaining its lead.
After choosing a unit of crossbowmen I set up to face the Almoravid hordes of Darren Harding of Gripping Beast fame. I had admired the strong chequerboard black and white theme of this army and had given the painting standards top marks. This would prove to be a London derby, with Tanelorn (my club) taking on London Gamers (Darren's). The scenario was 'Ransom', where there were extra points to play for by capturing Characters. Darren was fielding some very solid spear units supported by small groups of skirmishers. My plan was to weaken one flank, buttressed by some guard spearmen where he had deployed his camels and light horse, and try to get my cavalry behind his units on the other flank. To make all this happen I needed to clear away his skirmishers and, despite taking fearsome missile losses, they just hung on!
One depleted unit even trounced my horse archers and the plan began to unravel. Darren then captured my Army General after a charge and he was led off into captivity and doubtless subjected to unspeakable acts! Soon I was left fighting at the end with only a large unit of light horse – all the rest having either fled the field or broken in combat. At the final turn and with a hint of a wry smile Darren said: 'Do we need to count up the points?'. A friendly game, but one where no quarter was given nor expected! A victory for the Almoravids, but Al-Andalus were still in the lead due to the unbroken run of victories by Neil Bosher.
Besides the professional approach and friendly help of James and Steve, another feature of their events are the generous gifts donated by the sponsors. This ensures there are lots of prizes for all aspects of the hobby rather than just generalship. The prizes included some very nice framed prints of the illustrations from the forthcoming 'Shieldwall' WAB Dark Ages supplement signed by the artist, Jon Hodgson, and also a couple of Spanish-themed prints commissioned by Warhammer Historical Wargames.
THE PRIZE WINNERS
Most Successful Faction: Al-Andalus with Neil Bosher, Colin Brewer and John Kersey.
Best Painted Army: Darren Harding (Almoravids).
Runner-Up: Duncan Patten (Spanish).
Best Army List: Graham Wilson.
Sportsmanship Award: jointly won by Rob Broom and John Kersey.
French World Cup Squad Award for Underachievement: 'Duncan'.
(It's worth noting this was the same level of prize as for Sportsmanship!)
A very friendly themed event and one enjoyed by all. Thanks must go to Morris and Jones and those who sponsored and supported the event, Warhammer Historical Wargames, Gripping Beast, Trevor Holland, Shaun McLaughlin, Jon Hodgson Art and, of course, Wargames Illustrated!
Morris & Jones 'Age of El Cid' army list can be seen on Steve Jones' website.
See more photos of the El Cid Tournament!
A version of this review has already appeared in Wargames Illustrated.Games Workshop, the Games Workshop logo, Warhammer, Warhammer Historical, the Warhammer Historical Device, BL Publishing, the BL Publishing logo and all associated marks, illustrations and images are either ®, TM and/or © Games Workshop Ltd 2000-2008, registered in the UK and other countries around the world . All Rights Reserved.
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