Almoravid (Spanish)

Almoravid (Spanish Edition)

How can we live in the same basket as the snake? - Andalus poet Ibn al-Gassal, after the fall of Toledo

Al-Andalus, year 1085. The jewel of Islam had broken into pieces. The emirates of the Taifas who inherited the once powerful Caliphate quarreled and fought among themselves, and then paid off the Christians to avoid an all-out confrontation. Alfonso VI, leader of the unified kingdom of Castile and León, was then able to make use of the extorted money. He assembled a powerful feudal army—not only to plunder but also to attack the heart of Muslim Spain. He took over the ancient Visigoth capital of Toledo and, with it, the immense central plain to be able to declare himself ruler of all of Iberia.

But Alfonso did not count on the fact that the Andalusians were still willing to fight, since even the emirs in their luxurious palaces were not going to allow more attacks from Toledo. Al-Mutamid of Seville, the strongest among them, risked the independence of the taifas by gathering a Muslim force that Christians had never faced. Granada and Badajoz joined together and invited the fundamentalists of the Almoravid empire to come and save the faithful. Yusuf, Sultan al-Murabitun, had secured his Berber empire in Africa and gained a port and fleet just in front of Algeciras, on the other side of the Mediterranean Strait.

A titanic campaign through Spain was about to unfold.

Recruit and equip your armies. Send them to plunder or conquer disputed territory and defeat enemy forces. Servant Obligations and Alliances will ensure that there is an interesting mix of lords and vassals for the campaign, but only for a limited time. Pay attention to the calendar and reward the gentlemen to stay in the field.

Every 40 days, both sides will recruit lords and vassals and their corresponding forces, transportation elements, and skills with the support of political authorities. Each lord has a factor of loyalty, command, logistics, and service. Each lord has a sheet that is used to organize his possessions. There are wooden pieces that represent units of knights, cavalry, infantry, militia, African troops, and serfs. There are also tokens to represent carts and mules, forage, and coins.

Players then plan and carry out a 40-day campaign with the lords they have recruited. To represent the communication limitations of medieval operations, decks of command cards force players to activate their lords in an order that may or may not meet the needs of an ever-changing situation. Cylindrical pieces on the map represent the maneuvers of the lords, while markers on the feudal calendar demonstrate when they will withdraw from the field. Service limits are influenced by the success or failure of campaigns. When lords engage in battle or attack castles, players deploy their lords in the center, left, right, or reserve and attempt to defeat the enemy. Various event and skill cards show us the cultural and technological differences that then affect enlistment, campaigning, and combat.

Almoravid can be played alone and has screens to hide what the players have in terms of strength, transportation, skills, etc.

COMPONENTS:

• 1 game board

• 177 pieces of wood

• 108 cards

• 3 sheets of index cards

• 17 lord and battle sheets

• 1 sheet of gentlemen stickers

• 4 help sheets

• 2 screens

• 1 regulation

• 1 historical book

• 1 six-sided die