Later Crusader DBA Army

By Tony De Lyall

DBA Army List # IV/17 - Later Crusaders 1128AD - 1303 AD

The army represents the forces of the Crusader states of Syria (the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Principality of Antioch, Counties of Tripoli and Edessa) in the 1128 AD - 1303 AD period. No flexible options at all in the DBA list but a good historical representation.

Tactically Crusaders armies tried to destroy the enemy through a decisive charge by the knights - often a difficult task when fighting armies of horse archers who preferred hit and run skirmish tactics. The infantry component of Crusader armies was there to protect the knights from their more mobile and flightish opponents until the moment of the charge by the knights. The combination of spears and crossbows formed a wall of arms that kept the Saracens from closing and could return their arrow fire. About half the infantry component of a Crusader army would be armed with crossbows or bows.

The military orders - Templars and Hospitallers - provided an important source of troops to the Crusader states and a regular disciplined body in Crusader armies. Unfortunately they tended to be independently minded at times.

Enemies

Enemies are -

Fatimid Egyptian, Seljuq Turkish, Komnenan Byzantine, Cilcian Armenian, Syrian, Ayyubid Egyptian, Khwarizmian, Mamluk Egyptian, Ilkhanid.

Notes on the Figures

The army is made up from the following sets of 1/72 plastic figures -

· Italeri Crusaders.

The box says the figures represent Crusaders from the 11th century but they look more like they come from the later 12th century ie. from the Third Crusade rather than the First. The box has a useful mixture of cavalry and infantry. This set is also produced by Zvezda.

· Revell Anglo-Saxons.

· Zvezda Russian Knights.

· Airfix/Hat Robin Hood.

For a long time these figures were out of production but fortunately they are now produced by HaT. They are, in my opinion, one of the most versatile sets of figures for conversion into all sorts of ancient and medieval types.

· Hat Prussian Dragoons.

Only the horses have been used. I didn't like the Italeri Crusader horses. Most have just have two legs on the base. This makes them too flexible. They may shed paint from the legs if knocked. I used the Hat horses which are made from a harder plastic providing a very stable and paint retaining platform for cavalry figures. Some conversion with a sharp knife is required to remove the Napoleonic look. I cut one set of reins off. I also cut most, but not all, of the rear blanket off leaving the impression of a high back saddle.

Knights

The Knights are Italeri Crusaders painted to represent both "generic" crusading knights and as the knights of the military orders.

On the left are the Templars in white surcoat with white shield with a red crosses on it. On the right are the Hospitaller in black surcoats. (In fact Hospitaller wore hooded gowns called a cappa clausa and it wasn’t until the mid-thirteenth century that a surcoat was adopted. In 1259 Hospitaller surcoats were change to red and around this time the shields became red with a white cross.)

In the centre are knights from the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The shields are based on the royal banner of the Kingdom of Jerusalem which was a gold cross on a white background. I’m not sure of the historical accuracy of depicting this device on a shield.

The knights are mounted on converted Hat Napoleonic Prussian Dragoon horses. Incidentally housing for horses seemed to have appeared in the Outremer towards the end of the 12th century following Moslem practice and later spread to Europe. You can find some horses with housing in the Italeri Crusaders set if you want to so mount your knights.

Alternative sources of knights, perhaps more suitable for the end of the Crusader period, can be found in the Italeri/Zvezda Teutonic Knights and Zvezda Livonian Knights sets.

Cavalry (Turcople)

The cavalry are Turcoples. Turcoples were either Syrians or Crusaders armed and dressed in eastern fashion usually carrying both light lance and bow. According to Ian Heath the battlefield role of Turcoples continues to be disputed by historians. This is reflected I think in various army lists. The DBM army list has them classified as Kn(F) and, post 1150, optionally as Cv(O). Armarti rules classify them as Light Cavalry. DBA have them as Cv.

The figures are a conversion based on the drawing of a Turcople in Ian Heath's Wargamers' Guide to the Crusades. The basic figure and the horse come from the Revell Anglo-Saxons set. To this figure a spear has been added. A shield made from a brass washer with the hole covered with a circle of paper from a hole punch was also added. Both have been glued into place. The bow case, which is partially visible in the image, has been shaped from 5mm length of .100"/2.5mm styrene channel (manufactured by Evergreen, USA). The bow is a small bent section of a pin and the bow string a piece of sewing cotton. The bow, string and case were assembled with glue. A pin was inserted into the left side of the figure and cut off close leaving a small stud. The completed bow case was then glued to the stud.

Crossbow

The crossbowmen come straight from the Italeri Crusaders set.

You only get only two crossbow figures in a box and these are in a kneeling pose that might seem inappropriate for use as massed bow. Instead you may want to make your own crossbow which I have also done. The basic figure comes from the Airfix/Hat Robin Hood set. The crossbow stock is a section of a large metal staple. The bow is a bent pin cut to size. The two pieces were super-glued together to form the crossbow and this then glued to the figure. A small section of 0.8mm brass rod was glued to the other hand as a arrow.

The DBA list requires can have either 3 or 4 crossbow figures per base. I decided to mount 3 figures on a base because of the limited number of crossbow figures available. An alternative source of crossbow figures, again more suitable for the later part of the period, is the and Zvezda Livonian Knights set.

Spear

The Italeri Crusaders set provide several suitable Spear figures. The ones on the left come straight from the box and probably represent dismounted knights. The figures on the right are converted from the Italeri Crusader infantry figure armed with a sword. The conversion involves the boiling water technique. The sword was cut off. The figure was then lowered into boiling water to soften it (CAREFUL!). The arm was then bent forward and the figure immersed into cold water to set it into place. A spear made from a straightened out paper clip was added. The spear is anchored through a hole in the base for stability.

Alternative sources for Spear include Revell Normans, Zvezda Russian Knights and Zvezda Livonian Knights sets.

Bow

These figures com from the Zvezda Russian Knights set and represent Marionite Christians bowmen in Crusader service. Marionite Christian wore dress similar to Moslems. They were armed with a composite bow. The only conversion has been to paint the figure’s fur hat as a loosely wrapped turban and leave off the shield.

Other alternatives for bowmen include the armoured archers in the Revell Norman set; the bowmen from the Italeri/Zvezda Saracen Warriors set. You could represent bow armed pilgrims using Airfix/Hat Robin Hood archers.

Camp Followers

Friar Tuck gets the guernsey as leader of some Airfix/Hat Robin Hood figures. The rather generic camp is constructed from some broken wall pieces that were once part of a 1/72 WWII tank kit diorama.

Another alternative for a camp is a keep which can be made from the Zvezda kit No 8505: Stone Tower with Bridge and Lattice kit.

References

Heath, Ian. "Armies and Enemies of the Crusades 1096 - 1291", WRG, 1978.

Heath, Ian. "A Wargamers' Guide to the Crusades", Patrick Stephens, 1980.

Barker, Phil. and Scott, Richard Bodley. "DBM Army Lists, Book 4" 1994.