Later Crusader Army DBA IV/17

You can download a PDF of the banners used in this army from Google Docs here:

Crusader Banner Download

I thought I’d create a combination Later Crusader/Lusignan Cypriot army and since I like the painting side of things, I opted for the colourful splendour of the cloth horse caparisons of the mid 13th century period. 

I used the Alternative Army knight models which depict knights transitioning from the old Norman / First Crusade style knights to ones with horse caparisons and early style enclosed helms.

Why do both armies? Firstly, once you have built one of these armies you’re only a few elements from the other. Then there’s history. The labyrinthine interactions among the Crusader states, Cyprus and the kings and emperors of Western Europe, not to mention the Islamic States provide plenty of wargaming interest. 

The Crusader States of the mid 13th century were in decline, however Cyprus under Lusignan rule provided a bright light for Christendom, surviving well beyond the fall of the last mainland Crusader State. 

The powerful d’Ibelin family provide the link between Cyprus and the Crusader mainland. The d’Ibelins had large landholdings on the mainland, centred around Beirut, were stalwart supporters of the legal process in the Crusader States, creating much tension with Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor and were the power behind the Lusignan throne in Cyprus. Did I mention they were related by marriage to the Komnenan Emperors of Constantinople. Phew! What’s not to like here?

The Forces

My Crusader army represents the Cypriot and other forces at Louis IX France’s 7th Crusade (1248-54). These are led by Henri I Lusignan:

Click here for a good overview of Henri I Lusignan 

Guy d’Ibelin, Constable of Cyprus Commander of the Cypriot troops and youngest son of John d’Ibelin, the Old Lord of Beirut:

Philip I de Montfort, Lord of Tyre

John I de Dreux

Templars - Guillaume de Sonnac

In DBA terms the Crusaders have Knights and spear men at their core while the Lusignans slightly downplay these aspects and emphasise firepower through crossbows and archers. The d’Ibelins provide a large component of both my armies, but don’t provide the CinC element for either. It seems that they operate best in the background.

Lusignan foot sergeants

d'Ibelan foot sergeants

Caesarean foot sergeants

City of Acre foot sergeants

Kingdom of Cyprus foot sergeants

Crossbowmen:

Syrian Archers:

Turkopole Light Horse:

Baggage Camp:

Lists (Book II/65 abc) 

Featherstone Fighting Factor: 30 - The Crusaders? 30 - Outstandingly mediocre. 

Donald says that the Crusaders were hard charging, courageous, impetuous and ill-disciplined. The Military Orders lurched alarmingly between providing steadfast standing armies to being suicidally jealous of other Orders. The number of rivalrous kings, lords and wanna-be players provided just the right number of cooks to spoil their own broth.

What’s this Featherstone Factor all about?

Find out here.

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DBA Crusades Era Camps

I enjoy putting together what I hope are interesting scenes for my DBA baggage camps. So I thought I'd collect them into a series of themed posts, starting with my Crusades era camps.

(Click on a picture to enlarge it.)

First we have the Muslim style camp for my Ayyubid army and its various morphs. It features a Beduin style tent 

A cut out version of which may be downloaded by clicking here:

 Bedouin Tent 

The guardsmen are from Alternative Armies.

Then we have the Komnenan Byzantines. 

This first camp is a simple marching camp. The donkeys' loads have been modelled on with some beads.

The second camp represents part of the walls of Constantinople - as seen in this picture:

I'm particularly happy with the trompe l'oeil effect of the road going into the archway.

These two permanent guardsmen are Minifigs miniatures.

The men on this mobile element are Tin Soldier figures flanking an Essex Miniatures cavalryman. The banner is home made.

The Crusaders

This vignette represents a market scene

The priest urging on his attentive flock with a well crafted sermon from the back of a cart.

Most of the figures are from Irregular Miniatures

The cart is scratch built with wheel from an old Airfix Ancient British Panzer er... chariot

I'm very happy with how this scene came together. 

It's for my Lusignan Cypriot army. 

These guys were a highly successful Crusader state.

They're listed as a littoral army, so I figured a naval scene would be appropriate.

This is a pretty generic Medieval camp. 

The banner atop the tent is Lusignan.

Here's a Pecheneg wagon laager style camp.

The Pechenegs fought both for and against the Komnenan Byzantines.

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