This army started off as a morph; I was going to paint up some crossbow and a couple of extra light horse elements and then use the rest of the figures from my Andalusian army to round out the army. Granada is after all the last Andalusian realm in Spain, so it would have worked out. Of course, peer pressure, along with that drive that drives every historical miniature gamer to have accurate figs and to buy lead eventually saw me do the entire army. It's a nice medieval army to have as well; it's colourful, it has a lot of light horse and crossbowmen, and I can use it with my Andalusian army for big battle action!
This army doesn't contain all of the options for IV/38. Instead of the crossbow elements with three figures one could use psiloi element with two figures. I decided not to bother painting them, as I would likely never play with them... And if I decided I wanted to, it would be easy enough to steal some of the psiloi elements from the Andalusian army, as that army has no less than eight of them!
Posted: April 7, 2009 - Manufacturer: Essex Miniatures
The entire army formed up and ready for battle! All of my 15mm Granada force for
DBA. The knight general, the spearmen, the light horse elements and all the crossbow!
Posted: May 4, 2009 - Manufacturer: Essex Miniatures
The figures on this element were closely based on images from the Osprey 'The Moors' book.
The bead wrap on the one knight was added (on the right). That figure also had his tunic extended further
down his body as well. It was a difficult. Basically, the Granadine knights looked a lot like the
European knights of the period, but with more style :) So, I tried to translate that. The Prince there in the
middle rides wide a relaxed confidence,and is modestly dressed in relatively plain (but very fine)
clothing. It was tough getting interesting shield designs that fit the shape of the shields, but I think it
worked out pretty well in the end! Finally,that flag there is from a tapestry from the preiod. I decided
to stick with historically accurate stuff as opposed to doing something highly detailed... This element
can also play the 3Cv (cavarly) role as well to cover the other general option.
Posted: May 4, 2009 - Manufacturer: Essex Miniatures
The last light horse element for this army. Originally the black striped outfit there was
going to be plain black stripes against the off-white background. But it looked too much
like a early 20th century prison uniform, so I added the dots. It worked out pretty well I think.
Again, I went with a more detailed shield design, which turned out fairly well. The other shield
had tassles added as well.
Posted: May 4, 2009 - Manufacturer: Essex Miniatures
Some more light horse elements for the army, based on Middle-eastern light horse from the
period. I added the tassles here. I went for a new shield design as well, going after the heart
shape of the shield itself.
Posted: May 4, 2009 - Manufacturer: Essex Miniatures
The second element of spears for this army. These ones are Granadine spearmen, unlike
the North African spearmen that I did for the first element. As you can see, they are
much more like their European counterparts than the North Africans; they have large
pavise shields, long spears, and heavier armour. They were converted of course. Some had their
skirts extended, and all had head wraps added with sculpting putty.
Posted: April 16, 2009 - Manufacturer: Essex Miniatures
These spearmen are meant to represent North African allies or mercenaries. They looks a lot
like earlier Andalusian spearmen, however by the time Granada was standing alone, spearmen in
Muslim Spain resembled their Christian Spanish enemies a lot more; they wore heavy armour and
sported broad shields. I wanted to do less complex patterns on these figs. The black dots on
off-white tunic didn't work all that well... I won't do it again I don't think.
Posted: April 7, 2009 - Manufacturer: Essex Miniatures
Light skirmishing horsemen with spears and javelin were a main stay on the battlefields of Granada. They
were also perpetrators of raiding that took place back and force between Castille and Granada. I am very pleased
with the way these figs turned out, especially the horses. The careful blending paid off. These light horsemen
were a common sight not only in Granada and Andalusia, but also in North Africa and the Middle-east during this
period (and long before this period), and so they could easily represent both local Granadines or North Africans
who have come to aid their brethren in Granada. The figures are from Essex's Crusader Light Horse (CRU18) packs. Tassles were
added to the one shield, but otherwise they are as is!
Posted: April 7, 2009 - Manufacturer: Essex Miniatures
Again, I'm happy with the way these turned out. I went with the same shield designs in different colours from
the first element (previous picture). I tried to do something interesting with the tunic pattern on the red
tunic, and it worked out not too badly.
Posted: April 7, 2009 - Manufacturer: Essex Miniatures
In Granada and greater Andalusia by the 12th century, it is said that every citizen had a crossbow.
As such, the Granadine battlefield should be filled with them! These figs are from the Essex Crusader line of
Arab Crossbow (CRU9) along with a single fig with armour from the Frankish Crossbow (CRU42) pack. Since Granada
was the trade link between Western Europe and the Arab empires, it was relatively wealthy, and so I painted
the figs up in fine fabrics! The crescent pattern didn't work out as well as I have hoped, but fairly well!
Posted: April 7, 2009 - Manufacturer: Essex Miniatures
Another element of three crossbowmen representing the city-dwelling levies. The mix of armoured and
unarmoured is realistic, as people would buy what they could afford and salvage what they could get
their hands on. Some would also prefer not to be armoured and so be able to move with agility! More stripes
and dots, this time though, diagonal stripes!
Posted: April 7, 2009 - Manufacturer: Essex Miniatures
Same composition as the previous two elements. More dot patterns, but I wanted to do something that
I hadn't done before with the Andalusians,
so I tried the fleur-de-lis design on one of the tunics. It worked out very well I think.
Posted: April 7, 2009 - Manufacturer: Essex Miniatures
As I said before, the Granadine battle field would be filled with crossbowmen! This last stand of 3Cb
is one of my favourites I think. The black and off-white striped tunic guy is my favourite of the
bunch I think. The stripes turned out well.
Posted: April 7, 2009 - Manufacturer: Essex Miniatures
The unit of 4 crossbowmen represents the hard core mercenary crossbow troops with heavy armour.
By this time, there were roving bands of these all over Europe, with many in Spain and France.
I painted them in bright, wealthy colours, but not as Granadines themselves. They are from the
Essex Crusader line of Frankish Crossbow (CRU42) with the one head wrap sculpted on using graystuff.
Posted: May 4, 2009 - Manufacturer: Essex Miniatures
Here is a collection of images of all the shields that I painted for this army. More or less a
continuation on a theme from my Andalusian army
with some extra space thanks to the pavise shields and the snazzy shields on the Light Horse and
medieval knights. It was a fun army, and even though I have painted more than a few islamic
style shields, coming up with shield designs was one of the hardest aspects of this army!