FACTION: The Abbasid Caliphate

[The Mongol]

I am definately playing the Abbasids

Amazing work Alpha, I'm guessing this faction is almost done now?

[AlphaDelta]

Just the naffatuns and caliphs guards need to be finished.

Cheers

[The Mongol]

Oh man, totally forgot about those.

I can't wait to see what you can whip up.

[Miraj]

Cheers

What more can I say, really..

One point, are the bows correct? I'm not 100% if any foot archers, especially african ones used a composite bow like that? I could be wrong.

Other wise, its really amazing to see the Abbasid roster is pretty much done.

The ephitet is now official: "AlphaDelta the Skinning Machine".

Make friends with AlphaDelta people, give him due rep - he's on his way to modding stardom.

[AlphaDelta]

I think I might add face mail to more of the faces to make them look a bit heavier.

Caliphs guards





Dismounted caliphs guards



Cheers

[Ahiga]

The bow many not be accurate for what Sudanese levies would use, but I imagine since these Zanjii archers are as far as I know suppose to be rather high class, they would probably get armed in some better composite bows.

If the Ayyubid's receive those archers, then they can have traditional and weaker African bows.

I really enjoy the Caliph's guard. It was good to dismount them too - although the info is of the older period, it seems like Arabs (Although the caliph's guard might contain ghulams) were more ready to dismount and fight on foot than Turks or Iranians. Perhaps that can be an advantage the Abbasids have over the Transoxanians - Abbasids have stronger infantry since their cavalry elite can fight dismounted, while Transoxanian Horsemen would refuse to fight on foot. They can't get dismounted (Whatever the heck their cavalry will be), and have to rely on less armored or elite troops to fight on foot.

You've definitely given the Abbasid's utter greatness, and it'll be interesting to play them, given the abundance of rich infantry when they are going to face some pretty frightening cavalry.


Oh, and for the flags on the lances. That's a great idea, but can it be on the side so that when it's being lowered to charge, it's lowered to the ground?

[AlphaDelta]

Oh, and for the flags on the lances. That's a great idea, but can it be on the side so that when it's being lowered to charge, it's lowered to the ground?

Yes but then it points in the wrong direction and looks rediculous when the horse is moving at speed (but not charging).

[PartyElite]

i suggest u do go ahead and add more face mail. if "Caliph guards" are the Khalifa's bodyguards.... then i suppose they'd have more protection?

and, just wondering:
isn't "caliph" more western? for the sake of the mod, maybe we could refer to caliph as "Khalif" and caliphate as "Khilafa" or wat have u. (this is what we call them in india at least... not sure about the "muslim-majority" parts of the world and what have u.....)
hope u don't mind the suggestion of renaming a few troops?

cheers
-indian_boy

[Miraj]

They look awsome. The helmets must be new, right?

Some quick points:

- I suggest the dimounted version be scrapped, the Abbasid heavy swordsmen serve that purpose. The Abbasids can't be too good in any area, and besides, I want to reserved mace armed fighters for the Ghaznavids and Ghorids.

- I aim to keep this mod as mainstream as possible. Anglicized names are preferable (assuming their not too inaccurate). Besides "Caliph" is not that different from "Khalifa".

- I'd prefer the Zanj/Nubian archers to use a traditional longbow. It doesn't make much sense for them to use a turkish bow, especially when their main purpose will be a powerful stationary missile attack.


And congratulations for finishing the Abbasids!
The first entirely new Muslim faction has been completed - not just for Broken Crescent - but for M2TW in general. AlphaDelta has just made gaming history!

[PartyElite]

rep rep!!!!!!

Abbasids represent! (i didn't realise they were done!!)

RELEASE THE MOD! release the mod!
(lol im joking.... or am it.... lol no i am...... release 1 custom battle.... make ppl droooool!... )

cheers
-indian_boy

[The Mongol]

Those Caliph's Guards look like they are going to haul some ass.

Bravo on the Abbasids.

@mirage: aww, the dismounted ones look awesome. I do agree they have an already strong roster but those look so good.

EDIT - I just noticed, why are the flags are pointing upwards when the Lance is down? Is it fixable or is it the engine?

[Miraj]

@mirage: aww, the dismounted ones look awesome. I do agree they have an already strong roster but those look so good.

I was just making a suggestion. Its up to AD really. I just feel that in order to keep things fresh we need to give each 'region' a certain focus. Over in afghanistan the focus will be maces and axes.

[Ahiga]

Well, something that seems to have been developing with the Abbs is that they are an infantry Kingdom. While they get such a wide swathe of heavy infantry, perhaps the Seljuks will get a wide variety of light cavalry (Volley Fire, Turkish Fire, armor-piercing arrows, javelins), perhaps the Transoxanians will get a variety of heavy cavalry (With bow, with lance, with sword only, ones with high charge vs high melee, ect.), and the Ghaznavid's a wide variety of light infantry.

That being said, it's up to you and Alpha. You could remove the Abbasid Heavy swordsmen, give it to the Ottomans/Egyptians/maybe-Sejuls, and replace their role with these guys (armed with swords?).

I wish there was a historical presence of two handed weapons in the muslim world [Since we already see macemen with the Abna]. There seems to possibly have been with waraxes and such, but it's vague. The ones I do recall being represented tend to be city militias (Chivalry had the egyptians get these pole-arm wielding poor militia men). However, I'll give it a look. Might be cool to have two handed war-axe wielding Elites.

It's hard to make this out because of the poorness of the scan, but it seems to read in a discussion about spear types:

The Sabarbahah was two-and-a-half meters long, with a blade approximately 17 cms wide and 50 cms long, and was [Something] a form of infantry polearm.

[Yoda Twin]

Sweet skins Alpha, i love the armour looks so real.

[AlphaDelta]

The reason I added a dismounted version is that I hate the fact you cant dismount heavy units before battles. This is especially annoying in siege battles where I often find I have 4 or 5 mounted units that become vunerable to light spear armed units. This model is very similar to the Arab swordsmen, but I like variety.

I'll leave it in for now, some time in the future we can decide whether to cut it out or now.

Cheers

[Miraj]

Thats fine by me, it your decision. We can discuss that stuff later for sure.

[k_161]

Wow excellent job AlphaDelta .But do think the Flags on the Caliphs guards are a good idea ?.they look kinda "Stiff".I never understood why CA didn't give flags their own physics :p.Anyway keep up the great work.

[Strelac]

Must say I agree. As much as I was tempted to implemented it on my models to; it just doesn’t look right.
May I suggest maybe to reduce the size of the flag and reduce the occurrence of the banner lance in the formation…maybe 20% at most.
Other then that they look great. Alpha, you are the machine!!! So many skins released in such of short time and great looking too! I don’t know how you are doing it…but it works.
I am still trying to catch up on my work.

Strelac
>>---->

[Miraj]

Must say I agree. As much as I was tempted to implemented it on my models to; it just doesn’t look right.
May I suggest maybe to reduce the size of the flag and reduce the occurrence of the banner lance in the formation…maybe 20% at most.
Other then that they look great. Alpha, you are the machine!!! So many skins released in such of short time and great looking too! I don’t know how you are doing it…but it works.
I am still trying to catch up on my work.

Strelac
>>---->

Don't worry, AlphaDelta is probably a superhuman from the future anyways. We're looking forward to your work too!

[Matthæus]

im impressed