HISTORICAL NOTES One of the most complicated periods of medieval history was the "clash of cultures" in the Middle East commonly referred to as the Crusades. The Crusades in turn gave birth to Outremer -- Frankish Christian desmaines known as the Kingdoms of Jerusalem and Cyprus, the Principalities of Tripoli and Antioch, and the Country of Edessa. The mainland holdings (except Cyprus, which lasted until 1489) managed to hold out for almost two hundred years against the Moslems. They were ultimately lost due to stupidity, greed, and the strategic incompetence of their leaders, despite the fact that its armies were individually superior to anything else in that region. The Church Militant Orders -- The Templars, the Hospitallars, and the Teutonics were behind most of Outremer's Orders. As the Orders garnered a plurality of Outremer's military potential while remaining independent of the Kingdoms, they exerted an undue influence upon any royal armies in which they served. Their unspoken dictum was that either they had their own way or returned home with a sizable portion of the army. History has shown, however, that Outremer managed to produce some competent commanders. Count Raymond of Tripoli (his advice superceded by the Grand Master of the Templars, could have avoided the disaster at Hattin and saved the Kingdom of Jerusalem), King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, Bohemed of Taranto and, of course, Richard of England symbolized the quality of military leadership available. Despite a shortage of men and arms, the armies of Outremer were probably superior to their counterparts in contemporary Feudal Europe. Two advantages that Outremer's armies had in organization were the integration of large numbers of professional horse archers and a very high percentage of crossbowmen among the infantry (almost 50% of the foot troops). These troops gave them both skirmish and secure missile capabilities not available in Europe. Saracens Just as all Christians in the Holy Lands are lumped under the heading of 'Crusaders,' all Moslems are called Saracens. There were actually a number of separate armies notably the Seljuk Turks, the Syrians, the Ayyubids, the Fatamids, and the Mamluks. As the term 'Saracen' (a slurred form of S'arcee'in, meaning "Easterner") could only be applied to the Egyptian Ayyubids and their precursors, the Fatimids, the independent Seljuks and the Syrians would probably have resented being labeled by this misnomer. While the Seljuks usually fielded armies that were predominantly horse archers, the Fatimids, Ayyubids, and Mamluks used both large numbers of heavy lan cers and sizeable contingents of light and medium infantry as well. In the Egyptian armies, the regular forces were professionally trained slaves, or 'ghulams.' Black slaves were called qaraghulams, and white slaves were called Mamluks. Non-slave cavalry were called Toassim and were elite mailed cavalry. Infantry was predominantly Sudanese though with some non-black auxiliaries. 'Saracen' armies, as such, were composed of Syrian horse archers, Egyptian heavy cavalry, and Sudanese infantry. They were formidable and quite professional. Additional military forces in the area included the Bedouins who actively aided the Franks in Outremer while fighting them in eastern Europe, and the Byzantines. WARGAMER'S NOTES This section illustrates the organizations for Seljuk, Ayyubid, Outremer, and Crusader armies, based on WRG Ancients Rules, 6th Edition. While there is some allowance made for types used and percentages available within each army, the following lists are suggestions based upon averaging known compositions of historical forces actually employed. Following each army's organization will be a short section recommending 25mm figures that can be used, and a quick painting guide. Note that each army is designed as a 1500 point competition force. OUTREMER Units Figures per unit Description Type Weapons Class - 1 General EHK L, sh - 2 12 Hospitallars, Templars EHK L, sh IR/A 1 12 Feudal Knights EHK L, sh lR/B 1 12 Turkopoles MC L, sh, bow lR/C 3 24 Men-at-Arms HI LTS, sh IR/C 2 18 Crossbowmen LHI XB IR/C - 1 Army Standard - - - - 1 General's Standard - - - Crusaders by Hinchcliffe and Minifigs, and French and English knights by Ral Partha make very acceptable mounted cavalry; there are no Turkopoles available per se, but they can be easily converted from Saracen horse archers by adding spears and shields. Foot figures from Ral Partha's "1200 A.D." line, Crusader infantry by Hinchcliffe, and Normans from both Minifigs and Garrison are quite acceptable. Templars were usually clothed in white with red crosses (surcoat, caparison, and shields, except for black/white bauceant variation to shields). Hospitallars would have surcoats and caparisons in black with white crosses; shields were white with red cross or (later) red with white cross. Teutonics were always in white with black crosses. Feudal knights and infantry generally wore heraldic colors and devices: red, green, yellow predominated, while blue, white, and black also were used. Turkopoles generally wore striped Syrian coats (blue and white, brown and white, etc.), and their shields bore the arms of whoever employed them (crosses, either white or red, were very common). CRUSADER ARMY Units Figs. per unit Description Type Weapons Class - 1 General EHK L, sh - 2 12 Feudal Knights EHK L, sh IR/B 1 12 Sergeantry HC L, sh IR/C 1 18 Dismounted Knights EHI LTS, sh, THW TR/B 2 24 Men-at-Arms HI LTS, sh IR/C 1 30 Men-at-Arms MI LTS, sh IR/C 2 18 Crossbowmen LHI XB IR/C Generally, everyone wore crosses on shield, surcoat, caparison, and banner. They could be any color on any color, although eventually each nationality began to use specific colors for their crosses. These combinations consisted of white crosses for the English, red crosses for the French, green crosses for the Flemings, and black crosses for the Germans and Austrians. Crosses were worn over any contrasting color. On several crusades a contingent of Church Militant was present. In such cases, substitute them for one of the mounted feudal knight units. It should also be mentioned that units of dismounted knights were quite common in crusading armies. This status was not pre ferred but it was due to the loss of the crusaders' horses. Unlike Outremer's horses who thrived on the climate, European horses were not used to the heat and lack of water and died in droves. A final note on figure recommendations for the Franks: English and French types predominate with a scattering of Germans here and there. The Teutonic Knights in Minifigs' "Alexander Nevskey" line are useable once the ornate crests and/or horns are removed from the helmets. The men-at-arms in that line are useable as is, and the Bishop and Priest with religious standard add a nice touch. Hinchcliffe has 'Saracen' cavalry figures available as part of their Crusader Line; Citadel Miniatures does a complete line of Arab Saracens, both foot and horse, as does Minifigs. Ral Partha and Minifigs both have a line of Moors, some of which are useable here. RAFM and Garrison, both of whom produce fantasy figures for use with Conan's 'Hyboran Age' have lines of Turanians, some of which make fine Saracens. AYYUBID ARMY Units Figs. per unit Description Type Weapon Class - 1 General HG L,sh - 3 12 Toassin HG L, sh IR/B 1 12 Royal Mamluk HG L, sh R/B 2 12 Qaraghulam MC L, sh R/C 3 12 Syrians & Kurds MC bow IR/C 2 30 Sudanese Ml sp, sh IR/D 2 30 Auxiliary Archers LI bow IR/D 1 18 Bedouins LC L, sh IR/D - 1 Army Standard - - - - 1 General's Standard - - - The Royal Mamluks all wore red or yellow (depending on the unit and/or period). The Bedouins wore striped robes with red and blue predominating; the Toassin, Syrians, Kurds, Qaraghulam, and many Sudanese wore bright colors, such as red, yellow, jasmine, violet, and green. Brocades and embroidery in contrasting colors were very common. Auxiliary foot generally wore white, blue, or brown. As an alternative in organization, a unit of Sudanese spearmen can be replaced by a like number of Sudanese bowmen. A unit of spearmen can also be replaced with a unit of 18-24 Ghazi infantry, classes as IR/A. These were religious fanatics who had just as much trouble following orders as the Frankish Church Militant! Citadel Miniatures produces a fine Turkish cavalry figure in their 'Dark Ages' line, and many of the lighter types described under the Ayyubids are also useable. Both Hinchcliffe and Ral Partha make a line of Renaissance - period Turks, some of which fit in here quite well. SELJUK ARMY Units Fig. per unit Description Type Weapons Class - 1 General HC L, bow, sh - 2 12 Seljuk HC L, bow, sh IR/B 6 12 Seljuk MC bow, sh IR/C 2 24 Turkoman LI sp, sh IR/D 2 24 Turkoman LI jav, sh IR/D 2 24 Turkoman LI bow, sh IR/C - 1 Army Standard - - - - 1 General's Standard - - - As with the Ayyubids, almost any color or combination of colors can be used; greens were somewhat more common, however, Brocades and floral patterns were also very common. FINAL NOTES For those wishing to build an army based on the First and Second Crusades, all the cavalry and infantry would appear to be Normans with crosses on their shields and banners. There would also be small crosses on the sides of their spangenhelms. Fatamids appeared similar to the Ayyubids -- the changeover was political, not military. The later Mamluk (post-1250 AD) army also resembled the Ayyubid army except that there was a higher per centage of Mamluks present, and many of the heavy cavalry units would also have bows. For those interested, there is a collection of arms and armor from this period on display at the Higgines Armory Museum in Worchester, Massachusetts. This collection includes a fully armed crusader on horse-back with full equipment, as well as several Saracen mail shirts and helmets. BIBLIOGRAPHY Armies and Enemies of the Crusades, by Jan Heath Crusading Warfare 1097-1193, by R.C. Smail The Crusaders in Syria and the Holy Land, by R.C. Smail The Crusades, by Regine Pernoud Hammond Atlas of World History The Illustrations to the 'World History' of Rashid al-Din, by D. T. Rice & B. Gray The Armies of Saladin, by H.A.R. Gibb The Cambridge Medieval History (8 vol.) "National Geographic Magazine" (various issues) Response: Letter to Editor (vVn4) Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. IV No. 5 Back to Courier List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1983 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com