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

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DBA 3.0 Army

The official DBA 3.0 army list is:

Here is the full DBA 3.0 army:

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

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

DBA 2.2 Army

The official DBA 2.2 army list has no options:

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

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Revised Feudal Spanish Army

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

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

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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.

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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.

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Hidalgos

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Spearmen

The core of the Feudal Spanish infantry are solid spearmen.

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Skirmishers

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

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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.

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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.