Battle of "El Campo" 1098 AD Spain

After a couple of weeks not playing,due to sickness of myself,Paul and Brian,we decided to put on a fairly big "El Cid" game last night-however Brian is still not too well(get well soon matey!) so it fell to Paul,Dave and I to have ,what turned out to be, a "Corker" of a game.

This is the scenario,Dave was in charge of the Normans and baggage,Paul was the Spanish commander and I took charge of the Moors and Andalusians(ambush troops)

This shows the Normans about to be ambushed from both flanks-this was quite devastating for Dave in the first move,and a lesser man would have dropped his head and cried "woe is me!" but he stuck to his task,and fought back magnificently(the swine!!)

Paul's relief force emerges from the camp-cavalry and infantry-he left a sizeable infantry force in the camp too.

The well guarded camp,which was duly attacked,captured then re-taken again-thrilling stuff,but now the scene is set.............

I charged down the hill with my Andalusian cavalry and "smote" the Normans causing great damage-would the game be over in the first couple of moves for the Normans??

Paul was next to feel the wrath of the Moors-my Berber cavalry and Infantry have broken cover,and charged the right flank of the Spanish-hurrah!!

I was determined not to let the Spanish have any respite,and attacked the camp as well,however Paul used his archers well and inflicted just enough casualties on my attacking troops,to put them in a "dodgey" situation when they got into melee!!

Back at the ambush-and I'm doing quite well,and pushing the Normans back,however Dave has managed to drive my archers away,and occupy the far hill,with a couple of units of infantry-these would be a "telling" factor later on-my "Black Guard" cavalry have sortied down the hill and are doing great slaughter against the "infidels"-this was my trump card and I had great faith in them to win the game-hurrah!!(or not,as it turned out!!)

This shows a general view of the battle between the Moorish cavalry and the attack on the camp-and it looks as though my initial attack on the camp has failed(but a second line is about to advance!)-my cavalry is getting beaten up-it will all depend on the "Black Guard" now.

The Normans are under all kinds of pressure,but Dave is fighting back,and is about to charge my disordered cavalry with a couple of infantry units that he had managed to get onto the far hill,previously-oh dear!!

Hurrah,my Moorish infantry are in the camp-is the game won?-NO!!,Paul put his reserve infantry into the fray-we counted up the points-I had 24,Paul had 25-this was going to be tight!!

We threw the dice-and we each scored a 3-double woe is me!!-I was ejaculated(but not too dejected!) How are the rest of my troops doing??

Not too good!!-In the background you can see the baggage is almost at the camp,my Moorish cavalry is being pushed back,and the Normans are still fighting on !! So it was a win for the Allies-but what a great game,full of excitement,colourand most of all fun!!-well done lads.

Hopefully Brian will be ok for Thursday.