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Syrian (1092AD - 1286AD Richard Bradley The Syrian army list in DBA covers some of the most interesting times in the history of the Middle East: eight Crusades and the rise of Saladin. Like most armies in the Middle East of the time the Syrians had a heavy reliance on the horse in war. Not the Heavy knight as found in Europe but the light cavalryman, the Horse archer was the favored tool of the region. Although having said that, you can’t load up on your Light horse as heavily as you can with the Seljuk Turk army list. Syrian armies were often a mix of the many different peoples who lived in the region. This was not an unusual situation in the Middle East at the time as borders were constantly changing and alliances shifted with sands of the desert (as they say). An example of how mixed the armies of Syria were can be found in the make up of their army at the battle of Harran in 1104 against a combined Crusaders and Armenian force. The Syrian army reported at 10,000 strong consisted of Turcomans, Bedouins, Kurds and Seljuks. |
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Above. Syrian nobles. |
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In DBA a General will find him self with a lot of Cavalry and Light Horse
to harry his opponent. The main challenge with the Syrians is the
mandatory choice of the Horde Element. This element is put in the list
to represent the town’s folk who where pressed into service in time of
need not very reliable fighters and not quick enough to keep up with the
CAV. You will also have some mandatory Warband and if you’re stuck out
on a big open plain there is only so much you can hide in your Camp.
The army shown was made up using Museum figures, a lot of the lances and spears were replaced using the spears that you can buy from Xyston Miniatures and in some cases ordinary sewing pins. Some of the flags were taken from the Warflag site and others were found by simply searching Google, it’s amazing what you can find out there. The white one on the General is the controversial one can you can work out what it is? The green flag on the Warband is the current Saudi flag. A good Read Saladin and the Saracens (Osprey Publishing) God’s Warriors (Osprey Publishing) Armies and Enemies of the Crusades 1096-1291 (Wargames Research Group) The Crusades (Wordsworth Military Library) |
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Above. Turkish light horse. |
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Above. Local auxilia. |
Above. Nice camel. |
Above. Peasant warband. |
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Above. Syrian nobles. |
Above. Syrian nobles with banners streaming in the wind. |
Above. Syrian nobles. |
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Above. Turkish and Arab psiloi. |
Above. The famous light horse. |
Above. Turkish and Bedouin light horse. |
