Two Sieges in
Granada: The Fall of Moslem Spain

In Granada: The Fall of Moslem Spain we are given a chance to recreate history as we play the Spaniards in an attempt to drive the Moors from Spain, or to rewrite history as we side with the Moors and secure Granada for the Muslims by defeating the Spanish army at the very walls of Alhambra.

Granada is more than just sieges. Both sides attack and parry, thrust and fall back, while the Spanish inexorably take over more and more Moorish castles, while the Moors valiantly try to slow Ferdinand’s armies.

However, in order for the Spaniard to win, he must eventually meet the Moorish army at the walls of Granada and there annihilate them. Failure means Granada will remain in the hands of the Moors for many centuries afterward.

I will address specifically two sieges in detail: a potential siege in the first year of the game, and a potential siege at the end where the Moors have adopted the strategy of placing all available reinforcements in Granada. A final section deals with possible Moorish cavalry raids against Cordoba.

The Alhambra of Granada.

The Moorish “hole-up” strategy is very attractive to the Moors as Granada is the only castle that gives a +2 bonus to each defender; furthermore, if every possible unit is in Granada, the Moors can deal out a devastating amount of damage on every round of battle.

So why not use this Moorish strategy in every game? Well, one reason is that it makes for a very dull game for both players. But the more important reason is that it is a very “dicey” strategy. However, an optional rule was developed that virtually precludes the “hole up” strategy from ever being successful: “The Moors are not allowed to recruit Jund cavalry in Granada.” Should the Moors now attempt to fall back in Granada and be content to sit on their hands, they will find that once the siege is in effect, the defenders will eventually wither away as the infantry reinforcements will not be enough to replace losses suffered in yearly sieges.

But first I will address a possible opening siege on the first turn of the game, when the Moorish player is at his weakest.

The First-Year Siege

It is highly unlikely that any competent player will leave Granada ungarrisoned in the beginning of the game. It is the only Strength-4 castle on the board, and is the key to victory for both sides. The question for the Moors then becomes “How many units should I place in Granada during my setup turn?” The answer lies in how well the Spanish can do when pitting his entire force against the garrison in Granada.

Let’s first assume that the Moorish player places every starting unit in Granada with the exception of Boabdil, whose Defense Rating is 3 less than the next leader in rank, Al-Zagal. With Boabdil in Granada, the Moors add only 2 points to the defensive units (not to mention the problem of Boabdil’s uprising in the next year), while with Boabdil out of the picture, al-Zagal now steps in, raising the Defense Rating of the top two ranked leaders to 5. Even if the failing health of Amir Ali, the number ranked leader, forces him to meet Allah early, the three other Moorish leaders have equivalent Defense Ratings so his passing has little effect on play (except that the Moors now have one less leader).

Isabella of Castille. Fail her at your own peril.

So what can the Moors now stuff in Granada? Not a lot, but he still receives six cavalry and twelve infantry. Combine this with the +2 strength adjustment to every unit while defending in Granada as well as the +5 points allowed by the leader, we find that that these 18 units will average 11.9 hits per combat round. And if the walls are unbreached and the Moors get a double roll, they will average 23.8 hits before the Spaniards launch their first assault.

An important point is that the Spanish have only one siege engine in 1481, and thus only a 10% chance of breaching the walls. Therefore we will assume that the Granada defenders get double die rolls while defending Granada in the first year.

Since the Spaniards only start with 18 combat units, even if he reduced all 18 units, he would still have to eliminate 6 of them to satisfy 24 hits (6 units eliminated = 12 steps; 12 units reduced = 12 steps, for a total of 24 steps). Were he to continue the battle, he would lose units at a faster rate than the Moors, and eventually self-destruct.

Clearly the Moors do not have to place all their units in Granada just as a deterrent. So let’s pull the cavalry out and give them to Boabdil. At the same time let’s also give the boot to Ali al-Attar, Boabdil’s only “friend.” We could stack this group together but a more interesting move would be to put Boabdil in Almeria with three cavalry, and Ali al-Attar in Malaga with three cavalry. Both castles are Strength 3 (and thus part of the victory conditions), both are ports, both are connected to each other along a main road, and the placement means that the Moors can harass small Spanish forces in both the East and the West.

Ali al-Attar is also important when the Moors want to “ferry” units into Granada as after 1481, he is the only Moorish leader who may stack with Boabdil, and thus facilitate the transfer of any troops.

Boabdil as a child.

Another good tactic for the Moors is that if they have nothing better to do with their activations, they should put one (or more) of their roving leaders into reserve, which basically makes them invulnerable to an attack on the next turn.

But back to Granada: We now have 12 Strength-4 infantry, and five leader points to assign. Even this reduced force can expect to hit 7.7 times per round, and thus 15.4 hits if the walls are unbreached.

To satisfy the 15 hits, the Spanish would have to eliminate all their 3-strength infantry (12 steps) and reduce three of the cavalry (3 more steps for a total of 15).

Let’s carry out this attack, assuming “expected” losses, and see what we have left over for the second round.

After the Moors attack, the Spanish can expect to hit about 7.1 units, resulting in the reduction of 7 Moorish infantry. Now the combat becomes simultaneous but it is too late for the Spaniards. They now get the same expectation for the next turn (7.1), but even after their losses, the Moors can expect to hit 13.4 units (using a double die roll). The advantage is clearly for the Moors in this case.

The Moor could probably even reduce his Granada garrison by another couple of units and still retain his dominance, but where would you put those units? If you stack them with your rovers, they only slow them down. And if you put them in isolated castles, they just become targets for the elite Spanish cavalry. But perhaps you would like to place two infantry each in Malaga and Almeria in order to make those key castles somewhat more difficult to take. Is the remaining eight infantry enough to hold off a Spanish siege?

Well, back to the math tables. . . . These eight units can expect to hit about 10.6 units in a double roll, leaving the Spanish with their own expectation of 10.5 hits. At this point, it becomes dangerously even, and I cannot recommend less than the full contingent of twelve infantry units at the start in Granada.

Thus, any attack in the first year by the Spanish against a well-garrisoned Granada can only result in misery for Ferdinand’s troops.

The Moorish ‘Big Garrison’ Strategy

Having established that the Spaniards cannot easily defeat a well-garrisoned force in Granada in the first year, one might than rationally ask: “Why not place all my forces in Granada, and let the Spanish come to me? I’ll have the first round attack advantage as well as undoubtedly double-die. What Spanish force can withstand that?”

Good question. And the answer is, none! What, you say? Then why not implement this strategy? And the answer lies in three important facts:

1) After the first round, the Spanish can break off the attack to minimize losses.

2) After a few years of conquest, the Spanish reinforcements become quite large while the Moorish reinforcements dwindle down to a trickle, particularly in a besieged castle.

3) Given enough time, the walls will eventually be breached, and the Moorish dreams of a Muslim Spain will be written on the wind.

After the Spanish player has begun his siege of Granada, he must take care to NOT roll on the Command Table for activations in the first season during the Winter Lull. You do not want to give the Moors any chance to reinforce the defenders by grabbing the first activations of the year. Instead, the Spaniards must insure this cannot happen by either blocking the routes, or by initiating another siege immediately.

Thus the rather facetious “none” answer to the above question is only valid if the Spanish player decides to continue on with suicidal attacks if he fails to breach the walls. Since he can break it off and replenish his army, he need only bide his time until he can attack again.

But just to make sure, let’s do the math. We’ll fast forward to about 1487, when the Spaniards have conquered the entirety of Granada, due to an apathetic Moorish commander who insisted on putting all units in Granada. With no opposition (and barring ungodly horrible Activation Rolls), the conquest of all castles other than Grenada by 1487 is more than reasonable.

A Failed Breach

So where does this leave us? Well, the entire Moorish force consists of 36 combat units and 4 leaders (we’ll assume Boabdil has met Allah several years prior). While defending in Granada, this force can expect to hit a whopping 46 units, assuming unbreached walls in the first defensive attack.

The Spanish have only 44 units, so on average he will have to eliminate 2 units and reduce the rest. This still gives him an expectation of hitting the Moors 14.5 times, which will far exceed their replacement capacity of 2 infantry units.

So even one assault against an unbreached Granada will severely hurt the Moors.

If you are able to start your Granada siege in 1487, you have six years, and therefore six attempts, to breach the walls. Each attempt (assuming 3 siege engines) gives you a 40% chance of success. The chance of not having a successful breach in six attempts is less than 5%. And even if you are part of the unlucky 5%, you may still have worn him down enough over six years that you could still win against double die rolls if your surviving (and reinforced) army is large enough.

But consider what happens if you get a successful breach early. . . .

The Moor’s Last Sigh. Boabdil leaves Granada to the Spanish.

The Walls of Granada Breached

Ah, the joys of a successful breach! The Moors now only hit 23.5 units on their first turn defensive attack; in return, the Spaniards can now expect to hit about 19 units. Except for very unlucky rolls, a continuing Spanish attack can now wear the Moors down to almost nothing. Care should be taken so that a desperate counterattack by the Moors has little chance for success. After the Spanish finally break off their attack, then can now spend a year or two building up their armies while the Moors must anguish over the pitiful number of units coming to their aid.

Eventually . . . inevitably . . . Granada will fall to Ferdinand and his grand caballerias.

Spanish Minimum Defensive Garrisons

I once played a game where I unwisely garrisoned Cordoba with a very small force and didn’t garrison Lorca at all, thinking it was safely screened. Very foolish, you might say. And indeed, it was very foolish. When I rolled the inevitable “8” on the Command Table, the Moorish commander snuck around my illusory screen and took Lorca with barely a fight. He then gathered Amir-Ali, al-Zagal, and all the cavalry he could muster and pounced on Cordoba where the feeble garrison surrendered after a brief fight.

The mistakes were obvious: little or no garrisons in the Spanish main Castles, poorly planned screens, and failure to allow for the “reverse activation” die roll.

Well, what to do for future games, then? In the first year, a major force should attempt to secure Pino Puenta, the castle immediately to the north of Granada. If taken, this prevents any quick excursion from Granada to Cordoba as it cuts the primary road. At the very least, besiege Pinos Puenta and then take it later at your leisure. The important point is to cut off the road to Cordoba.

Screening units is a rather trivial affair; you only need look more closely at the map to determine the various major and minor roads. Just be aware of the “overrun” rule; two units in an area (outside of a castle) will prevent an overrun, and thus block a route.

But then we come to the big question: What size force is required to deter the Moorish player from “going for broke”? Well, back to the analytical tables.

In the first season, the Moors receive only six cavalry, so realistically the largest mobile force he could field for such a raid is those six cavalry led by two leaders in order to get the +4 leader points. So what kind of garrison force would we need in Cordoba to insure that it could not easily be taken?

Assume the Moors attack with +4 Leader points and six cavalry, while the Spanish defend only with only six 3-Strength infantry. Surprisingly, this is just enough to give the Spanish a small edge. The Cordoba castle bonus of +1 and the double defensive roll give the Spanish an expectation of 4.8 hits in the first round. This reduces the original Spanish expectation of 4.0 hits down to just barely over 3.0. The Spanish now roll their first round attack, reducing the Moors expectation down to about 3.6 in the next round.

Note a couple of interesting points: When the Moors hit a defending Spanish unit, the Spanish lose “more” than when the Spanish hit a Moorish unit. This is because every Spanish unit is getting a double-die roll. The loss of one step “costs” these attack points twice. Offsetting that, however, is that once a Moorish cavalry unit is eliminated (rather than reduced), that is effectively a double loss. A Moorish cavalry unit that is reduced falls from 0.6 to 0.4 effectiveness (a -.2 loss) while a reduced unit falls from 0.4 to 0.0 (a -.4 loss). The first round in such a battle is critical. Once all units are reduced, the battle effectiveness of the attack falls off rapidly when taking losses.

After some extensive analysis, I found that to defend against a Moorish cavalry raid, the Spanish need a number of units equal to the number of attacking units in order to have a small edge in combat. In order to increase your odds beyond just a small edge, I would add at least one more unit to make such an attack unfeasible.

So, to defend against the six-cavalry attack (with two leaders), you should have seven units defending. These units can be those wimpy 3-strength infantry units; you don’t need your elite cavalry back defending the homeland.

Similarly, if the Moors manage in later years to scrape together a massive cavalry force of 13 units, you would need 14 units to defend Cordoba. This is not as difficult as it may sound as you have the option of bringing all your infantry, regular Cavalry, siege guns, and Alcantara reinforcements into Cordoba. Also note that if you do use Cordoba as a main garrison and reinforcement center, there is no need to garrison Lorca quite as strongly. I recommend a few units in Lorca to deter cavalry raids. If he does manage to take Lorca, then you want enough defenders there to inflict enough losses such that retaking Lorca will not be overly difficult. However, not losing Lorca at all would be the wiser choice. It is one of the victory point castles, and can also be a conduit for Spanish reinforcements.

Summary

The Spanish need to keep the following points in mind:

• Cordoba needs to be garrisoned with at least as many units as the Moors could field for an attack.
• Pinos Puenta should be an early target in the Spanish strategy.
• Major roads need to be screened; a critical junction should have two units to prevent an overrun.
• Insure that you can always deal with a “reverse activation” die roll.

J.R. Jarvinen
October 2005