After a year long detour into the ancient world, I’m back working on my Arab army for Warhammer Ancient Battles. Now armed with a copy of Beyond the Golden Gate, the army will be created using the Early Caliphates list. After far too much work (who knew understanding an army list would take two weeks) I’ve settled on the Hamdadids sub-list. The list allows for all types of Ghulams, backed by upgraded Hamdanid heavy cavalry, with infantry support.
Given the cavalry emphasis of the list, a shopping trip was required to fill out my available models. I was glad to find that The War Store had reduced their prices on the Perry Brothers models, and proceeded to order a wide selection of figures from the Muslim Armies/Crusaders product line. The sculpting on the Perry Bros models is splendid – very fine and very detailed. But this level of quality does come with a cost – the figures require a lot of clean up with casting vents dotting the figures, the rather slight weapons all required straightening, and some of the horse legs are twisted and/or broken from the figure mount. The figures fit well with my Gripping Beast/Magister Millitum models, with the Perry Bros being thinner and noticeably more detailed. Despite these negatives, I would enthusiastically recommend the line to anyone looking for Crusader era figures.
Army List: 1000 points
| Unit | Number | Points | Equipment and notes |
| Amir | 1 | 164 | General, Horse, heavy armour, shield, bow, thrusting spear, superior cav |
| Turkish Senior Ghulam | 8 | 239 | CMS, heavy armor, Shield, Bow,Kontarion, Superior Turkish Cav |
| Hamdanids Heavy cav | 6 | 165 | Heavy armour, shield, Kontarion, Superior Arab Cav |
| Mutatawwi’a | 21 | 162 | Shield, throwing spear, Warband 1&2 |
| City Militia- skirmishers | 10 | 60 | Buckler, bow |
| City Militia- skirmishers | 12 | 56 | Buckler, hand weapon, javelins, Naffatun |
| Turcoman Cav | 7 | 154 | Skirmishers, Nomad Cavalry |
In the army’s first outing the list did well against a force of Normand invaders. The Turcoman literally ran circles around the opposing cavalry and the skirmishers drove off a large block of spearmen with the Naffatun. With the game well in hand by the 3rd turn, my opponent wanted to see what would happen if my Ghulam unit and his Norman knights unit were to tangle. Always one to make a game more interesting, I accepted the challenge. All I can say is lances are bad news…. and that Ghulams come with bows and BS4 for a reason.
