Steven’s “El Cid” Feudal Spanish Army for Big Base DBA

I’ve finally got a proper “El Cid” army. This is DBA army list – III/35b Feudal Spanish 951-1200AD. Of course my army is based for Big Base DBA


DBA 3.0 Army

The official DBA 3.0 army list is:

DBA 3.0 Army List III/35 Feudal Spanish

Arable. Ag: 2

  • 1 x general (3Kn or 4Bd)
  • 3 x hidalgos (3Kn)
  • 1 x caballeros villanos (Cv)
  • 1 x javelin light horse (LH)
    • Or foreign crusaders (3Kn)
  • 3 x spearmen (Sp)
  • 2 x javelinmen (Ps)
  • 1 x crossbowmen (3CB)
    • Or archers or slingers (Ps)

Here is the full DBA 3.0 army:

El Cid 930 DBA 3.0 Army
El Cid 930 DBA 3.0 Army
El Cid 931 DBA 3.0 Army
El Cid 931 DBA 3.0 Army

It has a couple of choices. The first is Foreign Crusaders (Knights) or Light Horse.

El Cid 932 Foreign Crusaders or Light Horse
El Cid 932 Foreign Crusaders or Light Horse

The second is a choice between more skirmishers (Ps) or Crossbowmen (Cb).

El Cid 938 Crossbowmen or Skirmishers
El Cid 938 Crossbowmen or Skirmishers

DBA 2.2 Army

The official DBA 2.2 army list has no options:

DBA 2.2 Army List III/35 Feudal Spanish

Arable. Ag: 2

  • 1 x general (3Kn or 4Bd)
  • 3 x hidalgos (3Kn)
  • 1 x caballeros villanos (Cv)
  • 1 x javelin light horse (LH)
  • 2 x spearmen (Sp)
  • 4 x archers, javelinmen, slingers or crossbowmen (Ps)

So you get 12 elements and the same 12 elements every time.

El Cid 825 DBA 2.2 Army
El Cid 825 DBA 2.2 Army

Revised Feudal Spanish Army

I have a Revised El Cid DBA Army List – III/35b Feudal Spanish 951-1200AD as well:

Revised DBA III/35 Feudal Spanish

Arable. Ag: 2

  • 1 x general (3Kn or 4Bd)
  • 3 x hidalgos (3Kn)
  • 1 x caballeros villanos (Cv or 3Kn)
  • 1 x javelin light horse (LH)
    • Or foreign crusaders (3Kn)
  • 1 x spearmen (Sp)
  • 2 x spearmen (Sp)
    • Or javelinmen (3Ax)
  • 2 x archers, javelinmen, or slingers (Ps)
  • 1 x archers, javelinmen, slingers, or crossbowmen (Ps)
    • Or crossbowmen (3CB)
    • Or bowmen (3Bw)

I did the army list after I took the photos – so no photos of the revised Feudal Spanish.


Feudal Spanish in a Box

The army fits into an A4 Really Useful Box. I use magnetic sheet in the box and steel paper on the bases.

El Cid 939 Army in Box
El Cid 939 Army in Box
El Cid 940 Army in Box
El Cid 940 Army in Box

General

The general is, of course, “El Cid”. The El Cid figure, and his guards, are from Museum Miniatures.

I have El Cid on a circular base. This isn’t very DBA but is an increasing pattern for modern games … having the general separate.

El Cid 830 General
El Cid 830 General
El Cid 831 General
El Cid 831 General
El Cid 842 General with Hidalgos
El Cid 842 General with Hidalgos
El Cid 843 General with Hidalgos
El Cid 843 General with Hidalgos
El Cid 935 General with Hidalgos
El Cid 935 General with Hidalgos

Hidalgos

The Hidalgos, knights in name and in DBA troop type, are the core of the Feudal Spanish army.

El Cid 840 Hidalgos inc General
El Cid 840 Hidalgos inc General
El Cid 841 Hidalgos inc General
El Cid 841 Hidalgos inc General
El Cid 844 Hidalgos
El Cid 844 Hidalgos
El Cid 845 Hidalgos
El Cid 845 Hidalgos
El Cid 934 Hidalgos
El Cid 934 Hidalgos

Caballeros Villanos

DBA brands Caballeros Villanos as “cavalry” (Cv) i.e. a lower class of cavalry than the knights (Kn). So all the army lists have the Caballeros Villanos as cavalry. So I have chosen a mix of figures where the poses suggests more skirmishing than charging with lance.

Personally I disagree with this classification. I think Spanish heavy cavalry were more or less identical. So in my revised army list I give an option for Caballeros Villanos to be knights. I don’t care that the poses have spears held over arm, as this was common for Knights in Spain and, in fact, throughout Europe. Even the Bayeaux Tapestry has Norman knights fighting with spear held over arm.

El Cid 846 Caballeros Villanos
El Cid 846 Caballeros Villanos
El Cid 847 Caballeros Villanos
El Cid 847 Caballeros Villanos
El Cid 933 Caballeros Villanos
El Cid 933 Caballeros Villanos

Javelin Light Horse

All the army lists have an option for light horse. These guys are Basques or mercenary Berber light horse. I just used generic light horse from Essex Miniatures.

El Cid 837 Light Horse
El Cid 837 Light Horse
El Cid 838 Light Horse
El Cid 838 Light Horse
El Cid 839 Light Horse
El Cid 839 Light Horse

Foreign Crusaders

Foreign Crusaders are an option in both the DBA 3.0 Army List and my revised army list. Although functionally identical to hidalgos I made the figures slightly different with guys bit big kite shields. All the figures are Essex Miniatures. Even the figures with rounds shields are not Spanish; they are figures from the Essex Crusaders range.

El Cid 850 Foreign Crusaders
El Cid 850 Foreign Crusaders
El Cid 851 Foreign Crusaders
El Cid 851 Foreign Crusaders

Spearmen

The core of the Feudal Spanish infantry are solid spearmen.

El Cid 827 Spearmen
El Cid 827 Spearmen
El Cid 828 Spearmen
El Cid 828 Spearmen
El Cid 829 Spearmen
El Cid 829 Spearmen
El Cid 937 Spearmen
El Cid 937 Spearmen

Skirmishers

Feudal Spanish have foot skirmishers (Ps) aplenty. Javelinmen, archers, slingers and crossbowmen are all historically appropriate.

El Cid 826 Skirmishers
El Cid 826 Skirmishers
El Cid 832 Skirmishers
El Cid 832 Skirmishers
El Cid 833 Slinger Skirmishers
El Cid 833 Slinger Skirmishers
El Cid 834 Javelinmen Skirmishers
El Cid 834 Javelinmen Skirmishers
El Cid 936 Javelinmen Skirmishers
El Cid 936 Javelinmen Skirmishers
El Cid 835 Archer Skirmishers
El Cid 835 Archer Skirmishers
El Cid 836 Crossbowmen Skirmishers
El Cid 836 Crossbowmen Skirmishers

Crossbowmen

A single element of Crossbowmen is an option in the DBA 3.0 army list. I kept that option in my revised army list.

El Cid 848 Crossbowmen
El Cid 848 Crossbowmen
El Cid 849 Crossbowmen
El Cid 849 Crossbowmen

Credits

Martin Boulter from Silurian Wargames Limited painted the “El Cid” Feudal Spanish. He uses a style that is similar to the Black Undercoat Method of painting but uses more shades. For example on the flesh he uses a mid brown base layer then does highlights in flesh tones.

The majority of figures are from the specialist “El Cid” range of Museum Miniatures. I added variety from Essex Miniatures.

I based and flocked them. Each infantry base is 80mm wide and 40mm deep; 12 figures for heavy infantry and four figures for light infantry. Cavalry are either six (heavy) or four figures (light) on a 80mm wide by 60mm deep base.

1 thought on “Steven’s “El Cid” Feudal Spanish Army for Big Base DBA”

  1. Always good to see figure, painting and basing details. It is of interest and so many blogs leave you guessing. Some blogs even have AARs without saying what rules are being used!

    Reply

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