[S] 1578: The Battle of Alcácer Quibir

[Sayd Ûthman]

Some History

The Battle of Ksar El Kebir, also known as Battle of Three Kings, or "Battle of Oued El Makhazeen" in Morocco, and Battle of Alcácer Quibir in Portugal (variant spellings are legion: Alcácer-Quivir, Alcazarquivir, Alcassar, meaning grand castle in Arabic), was fought in northern Morocco, near the town of Ksar-el-Kebir between Tangier and Fez, on 4 August 1578. The combatants were the army of Abu Abdallah Mohammed II Saadi, of the Saadi dynasty, with his ally the King Sebastian of Portugal, and a large Moroccan army nominally under the new Sultan of Morocco (and uncle of Abu Abdallah Mohammed II Saadi) Abd Al-Malik of the Saadi dynasty.

I guess you have a blurry overview of what will this mod be about, it focuses about the Expansion of the Saadi Dynasty, and it wars against the Portuguese Empire and the Songhai Empire.
So the factions that have to be found in that mod are :

• The Saadi Dynasty
• The Portuguese Empire*
• The Songhai Empire
• The Ottoman Empire**

*: The kingdom of portugal won't see all his lands included, but only the fort and towns they built at morocco, there are a lot of them, so it shouldn't be too empty
**: Same goes for the Ottoman empire, only algeria and maybe tunisia is included, plus the fact that the ottomans will play a very minor role in that mod, and i do apologize to all the turks of that forum (i know there are plenty)

I don't want to have more factions since it will be a great challenge to complete the ones i actually have.

What is planned

Like any other mod, this mod will have some news weapons, armors, cloths, buildings, flora, but also accurate scenes, and historical lords, rulers and locations. Also i don't want to give all the features i have in my mind right here right now, because it's better when you discover them while playing
All i can say is that this mod will add immersion and i plan to enhance the combat gameplay and mechanics too. also i didn't forgot religion that plays a great role here.

What is needed

To make a good mod, we do need capable guys, i can model, texture and code and do most of the modding, but there are a lot of more talented people around here that could help and one person's modules do take forever to come out, so if you feel the envy to contribute in that mod, you are more than welcome here on the team(that consists of me actually)


Also i made a little Faq to save you some trouble

FAQ :

When will this mod get released ?
When it's completely done.

Are you going to include spain ?
No.

Are you going to add firearms ?
Yes, Arquebuses will be in, cannons too maybe.

Screenshots and Renders

This is the screenshots part, obviously

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeSfT1Ikyz4&feature=youtu.be

Credits

Al_mansur
b@rtu$
Bayard-x
Dejawolf
kuauik
Llew
matmohair1
Narf
Ritter Dummbatz
Sahran
Slawomir of Aaarrghh
Waldzios
wei.xiadi
Zimke Zlovoljni

[xXBerethorXx]

Your organization is fantastic, I will definately play this when it comes out 

[Sayd Ûthman]

Thank's and to continue with buildings, the minaret of a saadi fashioned mosque,i think that one will be for villages and poor places :

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[Oxtocoatl]

Well this sounds interesting! there are way too few mods about Africa... Wish you luck on this one!

[Sayd Ûthman]

A little bump to show that this is not dead, i just lack time and i will hopefully get back to this in a few days.

[Sahran]

To speak bluntly, but you know Sayd that I mean well - I would be a bit worried you might be biting off a lot by trying to do this mod and your earlier one at the same time but you do have the advantage of the common area and common architecture (in before Al Mansur corrects me with his wizardry wisdom). But I don't mean to nag, this does sound like a neat mod given from what I read this was part of a gunpowder revolution for the Moroccans - they weren't a bunch of primitive crossbow and bow 'savages' but rather increasingly dominated by firearm armed troops. If you're confident then go right ahead and I hope this info can help.

There is a book you really must find. It will be invaluable for you. I can't stress it enough. The hundred years war for Morocco: gunpowder and the military revolution in the early modern Muslim world - Weston F. Cook. You need to find this book. It gives you a thorough and highly detailed impression of what I assume are the Saadis. I forget since I read it in 2008-2009, but google books says it covers 1465-1580 and I know it was in that period before the Ismailites.

These were Moroccans of the Alaouites that I gave concepts to the great Sir Digby Chicken Caesar, who did these units. TO be honest given the lack of information for this period we were referring to a broad scope of Moroccan dress.

http://imgur.com/a/iqpIn#0
(The vested guys aren't Maghrebi but rather if memory serves mercenaries from the balkans...I think. I forget the term or if that's right but I am fairly sure it is).
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=298836

I am not sure you can really refer to the research I did there because as far as I know the black guard was a distinct feature of Moulay Ismail though he may have inherited some ideas of it from the Saadis it wasn't as expansive as for Ismail I think.

These were the old concepts I wrote up for Sir Caesar, not sure how helpful it is for you. Most of the links don't work because of how old this was:

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I haven't tried I yet as I use DM atm.  But I'm hoping that I'll be able to recruit these guys in my ottoman campaign with DM.  Though I was tempted to use IS as you guys do have an expanded eastern roster I believe no?

Yes we do, Morocco at the moment is based off of my research on the Barbary States. Once Sir Caesar is done with his work on Morocco I'll be changing our Moroccans to be more authentic.

I'll figure out if one can play a campaign without editing the startpos to make morocco playable but i have a sneaking feeling you won't be able to. So for the Independent mini mod people can use for any mods they'll probably just be made recruitable by the Ottomans.

Nouaib: Volunteers or Yeomanry Cavalry, furnished by all manner of tribes (both the tax paying Naiba and the military conscript Makhzani).

Naiba: Levies from the tribes who are not part of the Makhzani, as a form of taxation.

Both quality wise will be the Militia/provincial horse.



Also good news, Knight Errant fixed the problem with model converting, which means we can access a lot more models for turbans. You can see that I've fixed the Bashi Bazouks (IS's Sekbans): http://i29.tinypic.com/9fpudx.jpg



Wadaya: Striped Beige

Rayat: Dark dusty brown

Naiba: striped black/grey/white

Rayat Militia: [ARAB] non-tribal sedentaries and tribal peoples who pay taxes. – Great_East

[Siba] Berber Tribesmen: [BERBER] Tribesmen who refuse to pay taxes or serve the Government. – North_Africa or Great_east

Bouakhar / Bawakhir Infantry: Slave-Militia. – Great_east or North_africa or Mediterranean

Wadaya Tribesmen: [ARAB] Were with the Abid the key regulars of the Moroccan Sultans. Great_east
 
Abid al-Bukhari: Black Guard great_east


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[Siba] Berber Horsemen: [BERBER] Poorly armed but high quality light cavalry. North_africa or great_east

Naiba Horsemen: [ARAB] great_east

Makhzani Cavalry: [ARAB/BERBER] Feudal cavalry. Great_east

Udaya / Oudaïa / Oudaya / Wadaya Cavalry: [ARAB/BLACK] great_east

MODELS:

Depending on how much you are interested in doing you could either do a single texture for a ‘unit set’ or a base texture with a small variation for the two (like how Black guard have red turban/green cap and the Udaya cavalry will use the green turban/red cap).


Berber Cavalry: Blue
Berber Infantry:

Makhzan: White
Wadaya: White

Rayat: Brown/Beige
Naiba: Brown/Beige


Makhzani/Wadaya: “Moroccan Arabs”

Model: Eastern Officer2.
   Baggy trousers (called a Chalwar)

Odds are they would have dressed in the robes like the Black Guard and Siba Berbers, but for sake of variety I would go ahead with using the Eastern_officer2.

Footwear needs to be added for the Makhzani and Berber texture, which is currently shoeless. The same sort of slippers you gave the Black guard would be perfect.

http://image51.webshots.com/151/0/95/82/2580095820078558026mRTXiz_fs.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Berber_warriors.JPG

   


Siba Berbers: Native Berber Tribesmen
Model: Eastern_musician2

I think I would recommend removing the beard from these guys, and adding stubble instead. It’d contrast them with the bearded more Arabic Makhzani and Naiba.

They would be wearing a Gandoura or Djellaba, the same sort of robe the Black Guard have on.


For the Cavalry version, either a white turban and blue (dark or sky blue) Djellaba/Gandoura, dark blue turban and light blue Djellaba, black turban and blue djellaba or blue turban and some other color djellaba.
http://global-lab.org/mt/NCS07/Amelia%20and%20Berber%20Friend.jpg (Guy on left)
http://www.accessible-imagesjohnbracegirdle.com/lightbox/gallery/MOROCCO/BERBER%20MAN%20TWO-%20DRAA%20VALLEY-MOROCCO%20%20014%20copy.jpg
http://image18.webshots.com/18/7/74/52/222377452cWtfSe_ph.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/6za8vo.jpg
http://img1.photographersdirect.com/img/13786/wm/pd1532158.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3303/3555283032_b2cca77cde.jpg?v=1243422986



For the Infantry, a white or black turban would work.
Examples:
http://www.allempires.net/uploads/temp/20071209_231512_Tuareg_men.jpg
http://www.allempires.net/uploads/20071209_230812_Berber_man.jpg
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_tDKkb7EceOE/RhgImarQuMI/AAAAAAAAAxE/4GnI2HavKB4/Cigarette+Man.jpg
http://cache2.asset-cache.net/xc/200536623-001.jpg?v=1&c=NewsMaker&k=2&d=F60B352208887077F0BA07457933DA53D4B40B3E875A785D


Rayat/Naib: non tribal sedentary people/tax-paying tribes.



http://image22.webshots.com/22/9/78/81/198597881BrunfP_fs.jpg - Crazy headdress! :surprise: but the color of his Djellaba could be an idea for the foot Berbers.

[Ritter Dummbatz]

Created on October 15, 2011, 10:02:59 PM

I guess I am blind but didn't notice this one until now.

Good luck on this one, too! Not that you didn't know this already but now it's official.

[Derraa]

I am astounished someone would care about this battle besides the Portuguese ( like me). Therefore I am afraid you won't get many modders to aid you in this specific and unknown theme project.

Anyway, making the Portuguese troops is rather easy: 10.000 troops total; 98% were poor militia dragged from the farms and armed with whatever they grabbed.


Edit: the number of troops varies according to the sources. But the proportion is 1 christian to 10 muslims.

[Belendor]

Good luck, Uthman.

[matmohair1]

   how about this signature

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[Sayd Ûthman]

Sahran, I think i can make it, otherwise i wouldn't have started the informations you provided here are very useful, since there is a little lack of sources i planned to make it from actual modern clothing, that's not too different, and there are also some good paintings and portraits.
about the black guards, i'm pretty sure they are an invention of Yussuf, so 11th century.

Derraa, thank you for those informations, but could you give me some sources about that 1 christian for 10 muslims i'm very interested at that too since i can't find anything about portuguese armies of that time.


Belendor thank you

Matmohair i don't know what to said, i like it but that pointy shield and that scimitar are disturbing me hehe

[HUtH]

wow, this mod is something different... interesting

[matmohair1]

Matmohair i don't know what to said, i like it but that pointy shield and that scimitar are disturbing me hehe

  its the 16th century bro - this is the time when curved sabers became more common as well as metal pointy shields

   hope this helps

Spanish Arms and Armor - http://www.archive.org/details/spanisharmsarmou00calvuoft

[Derraa]

In the book "Pequena História das Grandes Nações: História de Portugal" there is a picture of the only draw of that epoch of the battle in the page 78.

Which is the one that is on wikipedia:



But in this book, the picture has more quality and you can see the details much better. According to this picture there are arquebusiers on both sides, cannons on both sides, Portuguese Noble Cavalry, and obviosly an incredible ammount of pikemen/spearmen on both sides.
In this book the number of Portuguese troops is estimated in 17.000men - as I said previously, the numbers are different from source to source. According to this
source the muslims had 40.000 cavalry troops. The Portuguese troops were surrounded and anihilated ( the king died also) and the few survivors were made prisoners.


There are good Portuguese authors like José Hermano Saraiva or José Mattoso who made huge and extensive works about the History of Portugal. If you check them it would help you alot.


Unless you are going to make Spanish faction ( which is innacurate), you should only base the armors/ weapons on Portuguese Militaria.

Here is some:

Helm, armor, musket, sword.

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Alabarda ( Halberd), shield

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Portuguese Man at Arms

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Portuguese "Musketman" ( Espingardeiro) of Goa's army ( Portuguese colony in India.) - although this soldier is from Goa you should keep in mind that Portuguese Army wasn't very different from colony to colony. Basicly the same troops in Brasil would wear the same gear as European or India troops [ this needs sources but ofc you are free to research this].

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Portuguese Lancer

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Portuguese Halberdman ( Alabardeiro)

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P.S: Keep in mind that the majority of Portuguese troops in Alcácer Quibir was composed by peasants and militia.

[matmohair1]

15th century Grenada - similar items would be available in north Africa as well,
probably even during the 16th century

plates by osprey

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more items

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plates by Almena

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Conquistadors

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swords & daggers

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weapon collections from the royal armory of Madrid

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more museum items - http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections?ft=*&where=Algeria