Crown of Aragón information repertory
Hello! As a first time poster in this section that I can remember, I'll open up by saying that I love this mod, and I very much appreciate the impressive amount of work that has gone into making SS more historically accurate. Which is why, seeing how there isn't a post about it in this sub-mod's section, I decided to pitch in with some of the data that I do know as well as some suggestions on how (if it is decided to be taken, of course) to implement it, which I'll try to structure as well as I can. I'll try to note specific years as often as I can, but that is my one weakness. Of course, I also know that much of this won't be easy to implement (or downright impossible), and there is gameplay balance to worry about as well, but we're all history nerds here so at the very least I will (hopefully) give you all a nice read. Spoiler alert: It's gonna be huge.
1. Archers and Iberia:
Thefirst bit of data is about archery and Spain. The truth of the matter is, Spain never did follow the development of sling -> javelin -> bow -> crossbow. Simply put, bows in the Iberian Peninsula weren't a thing until the arabs arrived, and even then, they were only used by the arabs. Now, that's not to say that we didn't know what a bow was, merely that there was no archery tradition whatsoever. What this meant was that, not just the Crown of Aragón, but in general all of the Crowns except that of Navarra employed no bowmen of their own. In fact, archers in Spain were always mercenaries. The Crown of Aragón often hired Toulousan bowmen, and the Crown of Castilla would hire "Moriscos", christianized arabs. Likewise, Navarre produced dependable archers too (as the Navarrese are kind of a particular case on their own, as back in the day their Kingdom extended on both sides of the Pyrenees), and during peace times they would gladly sell their services to their neighbouring Christian kingdoms. This meant that in the iberian armies, archers were an elite unit, but more importantly, they were mercenaries.
In game: I'd make this as removing Peasant Archers alltogether from the troop trees of Castilla, Aragón and Portugal, and either removing the generic Archers, or make them Mercenaries (with the increase in cost that carries). Archers were a rarity in the armies of Christian Iberia, and while it's true that all I need to do is never field them, it's an eyesore for me to see them so cheaply available in every one of my castles
2. The Crown's History and Forces
Here's where my main gripe with Medieval 2 in general comes, since even in Vanilla, Spain has "no early professionals", and that has been kept through Stainless Steel when it added the Crown of Aragón, because the truth of the matter is that the Crown of Aragón (and as far as I am aware, the Crown of Castilla quickly followed suit as well) was the first European Kingdom to develop a professional army, and I am not talking about the Tercios, nor even about the "Coronelías" that "El Gran Capitán" used to butcher the French in Italy. Now, it is true that until Jaume I the Conqueror, the Crown of Aragón was only the Kingdom of Aragón and the Principality of Catalunya, but that union by itself proved to be quite crafty in several regards, and for that I'll have to talk about the politics and the union proper, beginning with the idiosincrasies of each side (to non-spaniards, beware for here begins a potential minefield). On one side, we have the Principality of Catalonia, which by the point where the game begins was very much independant from the Duchy of Aquitaine. The reason why it is called a Principality stems from the fact that it was a union of Counties led by the most powerful Count of them all (the Princeps, which in latin meant "the first amongst equals"). Basically, the Count of Barcelona had ensured the vassalage of every single Catalan Count under his banner while retaining his own independance, and that gave him a nice power base.
Counties and Baronies had been borne out of war, and as such their first and foremost duty was warfare, guarding the border and fighting the Moorish enemy. However, as they had not been sworn to a King after the Count of Barcelona "forgot" to renew his vows to his former liege and his former liege had better things to do than to worry about a bunch of buffer states that were there to ensure they didn't have to beat the Moorish back again, suddenly the Counts realized that they had a lot more freedom than they knew what to do with it, and so they decided to take a thing or two about the Italian Merchant Republics, namely, the importance of the burghers and trained militias. Now, every Count, Baron and Knight had their own household, from which they could draw a small retinue of forces (the soldati), but they lacked a King, and their Duke was so only de facto, not de jure, so they couldn't levy peasants to do war as they didn't have the King's given right to conscript peasant levies, and since the merchants and burghers had the coin to hire their own mercenaries (as back in those times, a mercenary was in fact a soldier, it wasn't until the times of the Condottiere and the Catalan Company that mercs became what we nowadays interpret them as)... The Counts couldn't strong-arm them into fighting for them as they lacked the numbers and the money. At the same time however, the burghers needed the Counts because they were the biggest badasses around and it saved them money they'd have to spend hiring soldiers otherwise. This was specially true in the city of Barcelona. On one hand, the Count needed the troops to fight back the moorish. On the other, levies would cost production, which in turn would make the city fall behind in the trade wars against the italian merchant republics. So a solution was reached. First, you had the household troops. 1 to 3% of the population, those were the Counts, Barons, Knights, as well as their retinues (squires, household guards, and other sworn men). Then you had the almogŕvers, which I will talk about more in point 3. And last, but not least, you had the urban militias.
While it wasn't until the Kingdom of Aragón and the Principality of Catalunya joined into the Crown of Aragón (1137) that their wealth became greater (with the consequent increase in gear quality), the truth of marcher life is that you're always under threat of attack. For something that wasn't even a Kingdom until 1137 to not only survive but to even push back the wealthy might of the Moorish Caliphate (which granted, a good chunk of it was the Caliphate being too busy with infighting to bother squashing the remaining Christian Kingdoms), they had to either throw lives at the scary neighbour until it went away, or rely on good training and discipline. As we've established that we're talking about a small area that in the grand scale of things was, at the time, insignificant, I think it's safe to assume that it was the latter option, and so far all the written evidence I've found points out to it. The catalan urban militias were on par with the well trained and disciplined italian militias, if not equipped (at first at least), out of necessity, able to quickly take up arms and repel the muslim invaders at the sound of the bell as they didn't have the amount of knights and lords protecting them that a proper Kingdom would. How that ended up working out was a fairly simple agreement. Along with the almogavers, drawn in by the promise of loot and plunder, the Counts, Barons and Knights took up the offence whereas the burghers and the mayors took up the defence in a rather symbiotic relationship. If the Counts had to fall back, they could rely on the burghers holding the rearguard, and when the Counts made gains, the burghers could advance the militias to take up and hold key spots, freeing up the nobles while colonizing the newly made conquests. This symbiotic relationship was further cemented by the way "levying" worked in the Principality. The long story short of the concept is: The Count of Barcelona summons a campaign. His vassals gather their household troops. Then the vassals speak to the mayors and burghers of the area they watch over, and ask for volunteers amongst the militia, as there was no obligation for them to follow the lords in any battle outside of their demesne (so a citizen from Barcelona was not obligated to go in defence of, say, Tarragona). They get paid in loot, and they have the opportunity to earn a small tract of land in case the conquest is successful. This meant that many peasants from the militia would gladly take up arms and follow their lords. Since most of them would have some degree of combat experience and a good training, this meant that the levies were of good quality, and the voluntary nature of that service meant that morale was higher amidst the troops, as they were made out of willing men instead of peasants conscripted into service. The one issue they had for what I've found is that their equipment was often of bad quality, but willing peasants are better than levied ones.
Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Aragón had its own strength. While they followed the standard feudal model, the Kings of Aragón were known for two distinct traits. Piety and martial skill. Between that and the Crusade mentality that had arrived into Europe, this meant that the Pope loved these guys, and so he was pliable to send them money to fund their fight against the heathens. When the militant orders were established, this meant that Knights from all of the Holy Orders would flock en masse to Aragón, and even the priests and bishophrics provided good troops as every monk had already been expected to wield a sword against the invader anyway. This meant that the Aragonese counted with a strong core of knights, many of them belonging to Holy Orders, which allowed them to bring truly terrifying forces to the battle as every priest and monk would take up arms alongside the noblemen whenever it was time for war to be waged. This came to its climax during the time of Alfonso I the Battler, who managed to take Zaragoza in 1118, and followed with the conquests of Ejea, Tudela, Calatayud, Borja, Tarazona, Daroca, and Monreal del Campo in his 30 years of reign. Furthermore, upon conquering Zaragoza, he made the "Fuero de Infanzones". The "infanzones" were lesser nobles, all of them rich men, barons and counts, who were considered as equals to the King by virtue of being descendants of the first "Reconquistadores" that populated the Mountains of Jaca, which were bound to the King, and to the King alone. Likewise, the city of Zaragoza was given the "privilege of the twenty", allowing it to take judicial action against ANY attack suffered against itself or its citizens with no need for the King to intervene.
Upon his death, he had made a rather polemical decision, although considering that he was married to Queen Regnant Urraca of Castilla, it might be what kept the Kingdom of Aragón and Navarre from being integrated into Castilla as it gave the nobles an excuse. The long story short is, upon his death, to the horror of the nobles, his last will had been to give the rulership of Aragón and Navarra to the Militant Orders (Templars, Hospitallers and Saint Sepulchre). Needless to say, they maneouvered to ensure that did not happen, and while Navarra elected García the Restorer as their King, the Aragonese elected Ramiro the Monk, Alfonso's brother, who reluctantly agreed to take the throne and married Ines de Poitou (and he did A LOT of spring cleaning too, but that's a story I shall tell another day). Once she bore him a child, Petronila of Aragón, he ended up betrothing her when she was 1 to Ramón Berenguer IV of Barcelona in a matrilineal marriage, after which he named Ramón de facto ruler, and proceeded to return to the monastery where he had served as a monk before the nobles of Aragón took him out of it, probably getting the last laugh as the nobles of Aragón first thought that Ramiro would be a weak ruler, and then they realized that he had put in power the only man that was as ruthless as him while being a lot more experienced in matters of state.
At this point, we have the Crown of Aragón proper. The House of Barcelona is integrated into the House of Aragón, in the end the Hospitallers settle for being allowed to build bishophrics and barracks and should the Prince die the Hospitallers would take over, as per Alfonso's will, and last but not least, we have a unique case in the history of Europe, where the high nobility and the lesser nobility aren't far apart in terms of power, where the burghers actually have a say on things, and where the peasantry can expect to have a series of rights that will be respected, as the lesser nobles need to be on good terms with the lowborn and the higher nobles only have the power the King grants them. Of course it's not ideal yet, if we consider that while commoners were not required. So now let's dwell into the army compositions, as well as I can detail them from this document here (then there's also a book called "Organització i defensa d'un territori fronterer; la governació d'Oriola" Organization and defence of a border territory; the governation of Oriola from Maria Teresa Ferrer i Mallol, in case anyone wants to see if there's a translated version of it):
http://www.academia.edu/27721962/EL_...C3%8DA_DE_1309
First we have each summoned noble, and here's where some names will start popping up. Counts, Barons, Knights... From the expedition against Almería, the first bit of data we have is that every noble is expected to provide one "caballo armado", which might bring memories from the Armats that were in SS before they were taken out in favour of regular knights. In this regard, the terms "armat" and "alforrat" make reference to the armour of the horse, which allows us to understand what the meaning of it was. "Cavall armat/Caballo armado" would pretty much mean "armored horse", and as such it made reference to the heavy cavalry. Meanwhile, a "cavall alforrat" would be a "covered horse", that would wear padded or leather armour as opposed to the heavier barding that an "armat" would wear. This establishes that any difference between armats and alforrats comes from personal wealth, rather than social class. A knight could ride "cavall alforrat" because he's too poor to afford anything else, whereas a rich burgher like a mayor or the like participating on a campaign could have a "cavall armat" because he had the money to afford it (whether they bothered or not, that I don't know, but most evidence points to Aragonese and Catalan urban militias being almost always footmen). Then every participant in that specific campaign was required to provide, from his own household, two men with shields and two crossbowmen, which is where we start seeing more data about what the Aragonese prefered fighting with. In the case that every noble that participated in that conflict brought those exact numbers, we can dissect the noble retinues into fifths. 1/5 of heavy horse, 2/5ths of crossbowmen, and 2/5ths of heavy infantry. Sadly, we don't have that many details about the peasantry, as commoners still can't gain honour and as such they don't count in the recountingsBut knowing that archery was never a thing in all of the peninsula except for the Moorish and the Navarrese, we can quickly assume that many of these commoners were trained as crossbowmen or pikemen, with the wealthier ones being able to afford shields, at which point they'd likely use spears to keep the enemy at bay.
In game: Sorry for the brick, but I believe it is merited on the basis of providing context for the changes I'm about to suggest. The first bit I'd say is, much like the italian factions, give the Crown of Aragón urban militias from the get go, crossbow, pike (makes no sense that Aragón doesn't get pikemen until year 1350 yet the Moorish get it from the start of the game with their ludicrously good Berber Pikemen) and spear, to represent the fact that urban militias were well trained and more voluntary in nature than the mediocre spear militias they get and how they get no urban crossbows later down the line, as well as giving Barcelona a merchant's guild from the get go. Likewise, turn Zaragoza into a fortress to represent the more "traditionally" feudal rulership of Aragón and make it easier in some way to acquire Hospitallers there. Likewise, get rid of the Alforrats altogether and replace them with Mounted Sergeants, they are redundant and besides that's one unit slot open to make something else. Due to the presence of bishops in battle, warrior clerics should be available to the iberian factions too, it doesn't make sense that only Norway and Denmark get those when the church would provide fighters quite often (now that I think of it, maybe all Catholic factions should). To represent those men with shields, maybe make available for the Aragonese to recruit Swordsmen Serjeants (it's makes no sense they can only be recruited in Sardinia one at a time and as mercenaries), or at least give them Armoured Serjeants in addition to the Light Men at Arms, to represent the heavy infantry that nobles could bring to the battlefield, because it makes 0 sense that facing an enemy as good with cavalry as the Moorish, the Aragonese (or the rest of iberian factions for that matter) wouldn't try to counter that, and in terms of gameplay it means that we can actually face the massive Moorish stacks of heavy and light cavalry without having to bait them into a siege battle. Cavalry is already broken as it is and the Moorish cavalry spam doesn't make things any easier, having to face them with either spear militia and hope for the best or hoping you've got the finances to buy mercenary spears means that every time you'll just end up training spies, shipping stacks of troops and conquering backline Moorish territories while their cavalry forces harass you because why bother with field battles? Lastly, I'd say make Pamplona an Independent, well guarded fortress to represent the Kingdom of Navarra. Maybe give it two full stacks, one inside, one outside, as well as a King of Navarra family member so that any faction that wants the place has to fight for it. This should keep things balanced, and it'd also give some challenge to the Aragonese campaign, as they'd have better troops, but they'd have two territories with only one being a city, forcing them to either expand quickly or put a stop to their bleeding finances.
3. The Crown's Jewel: DESPERTA FERRO!
And now we come to the biggest badasses of the Crown of Aragón. Conquerors of Sicily and the Duchies of Athens and Neopatria, terrorizers of the Adriatic (seriously, catalan means "ogre" in Albanian iirc, and up until not so long ago they'd still tell to the kid that didn't want to sleep that the catalans would take them if they didn't behave), and the closest thing to a medieval SpecOps unit, the Almogŕvers (arab: al-mugāwir or al-mujābir) left quite the impression across the Mediterranean, and for good reason. The first mention of almogavers in history was by a muslim chronicler, Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Razi, who used that term to speak of small units of armed men the Saracens would use as raiders and surprise attacks. The aragonese were the first to adopt them, and the first mention of the Almogŕvers as being used by the Crown of Aragón was around 1105-1110, as Alfonso the Battler was mustering troops to conquer Zaragoza. The origin of these men as a people of their own so to speak was a simple one. Between the muslim invasion of Iberia, the wars of the Reconquista and the military campaigns of Al-Andalus, the christian shepherds of the Pyrenees valleys were unable to use during the winter the occupied valleys, which meant that they had to resort to brigandry and pillage in order to subsist and provide for their own. Since they were christians, these men usually raided Muslim territories before falling back to Christian territories in order to avoid any sort of retribution, and their life as shepherds in the mountains meant that they were expert survivalists, able to live on little food and with no comfort. In the end, as war had pushed them to such things, after a few generations they developed a warrior spirit, helped by the fact that they lived better raiding every few days than working hard through the whole year, so as the borders started moving, so did they, without caring whether their new members were Christian or Muslim so long as they pulled their weight (the proportions aren't clear, but the consensus is that most of them were Christians).
They fought as light, shock infantry, generally armed with a short spear (azcona), described to be similar to the dutch Goedendag but longer (so two handed), two heavy javelins that could perforate enemy shields (their main use was to either soften up enemy infantry formations or to stop a cavalry charge dead in its tracks), a long knife/falchion (coltell) and occasionally bucklers. As time went on and the Almogŕvers got more established and wealthy, many of them ended up acquiring skullcaps and maille. One of their curious traditions was carrying around big flintstones, with which they'd strike their weapons before a battle in sight of the enemy as they started screaming "DESPERTA FERRO! MATEM! MATEM!" (trans: "Awaken iron! Kill! Kill!"), "ˇSan Jorge!" and "ˇAragón! ˇAragón!". The following is an excerpt attributed to Bernat Desclot, a french historian of the XIII century: "These people called Almogŕvers live for nothing more than the office of arms. They live not in cities nor towns, but in the mountains and forests, and war every day against the Saracens: and they thrust into Saracen land for a journey or two, plundering and taking Saracens captive; and of that they live. And they bear harsh living conditions, that others would not bear. If they are to pass two days without eating, they shall eat weeds from the fields with no problem. And the "adalides" that guide them know well the land and the roads. And they wear nothing more than a shirt, be it summer or winter, and in their legs wear leather pants and in their feet leather shoes. And they bring good knife and good belt and a buckle in their waists. And every one of them brings good spear and two darts, as well as a leather bag in their backs, where they have their food. And they are very strong and very fast, to flee and pursue; and they are catalans and aragonese and highlanders." Alfonso X the Wise gathers in the "Siete Partidas" (a legislative book), that Almogŕvers needed to be strong, endurant and agile, which heavily hints towards the Almogŕvers establishing themselves as a primitive professional "army" for the Crown of Aragón.
Their ranks are as follows. As their ultimate leader were the "Adalides" (sing: Adalid, from the arab al-dalla). He was required to be wise, diligent, clever and loyal, to guide the hosts through dangerous terrains and avoid danger, to be good trackers and expert survivalists, well acquainted with the terrain. The Adalid was the man in charge of preparing the expeditions and he had the exclusive privilege to judge everything relative to the troops. Such was the importance of an Adalid, his social status was akin to that of a knight, and such was the importance given to them that in order to elect an Adalid, twelve Adalides (or Almocadenes, in case there weren't enough Adalides) had to deem a candidate as appropriate, and swear to the King or a representative of his that the man was ready to become an Adalid. Once they had sworn such, the King gifted the Adalid with a sword, who would bear it on the side. Then the Adalid would stand up on a shield, the King or the representative would unsheathe the Adalid's sword and place it on the man's hands, and his twelve electing Adalides would lift the shield with the man in it. So raised, and facing towards Orient, and the chosen cut twice the air doing the sign of the Holy Cross as he swore "I, [Name], defy in God's name all enemies of the Faith, and of my Liege and King and of his land". He then did the same thing towards the other three cardinal points, and after doing so, he'd sheathe his sword as the King replied "I grant thee the rank of Adalid". They'd always appear named as "Adalides del Rei", indicating being bound to the King, often merely in an honorary way, but other times in an effective one, as even in peace times we find many examples of Adalides serving the King as bodyguards and members of his retinue. The title was for life and granted rights similar to those of the lesser nobility, and at the later stages of the XIV century the rank became hereditary, which made the Adalides even more akin to the nobility. They'd usually mount on horseback, and in case the Adalid commanding a troop disappeared, while the man that hired them commanded them (ONLY if the Adalid died or was captured), the Almogŕvers still retained their autonomy, which meant that even then those that hired them could only say "what" and the Almogŕvers themselves would decide the "how". If this man too died, then the Almocatens would form a military assembly to command the host that was equal in authority to one Adalid.
The next rank was, at least in Castilla, the Mounted Almogŕver, and while there is not much reference about them, the Almocatén's description by Alfonso X the Wise seems to hint that a Mounted Almogŕver was an Almocatén that had proven himself in battle and leadership and was granted a horse. As written by the King: "Almocadenes they call now to those that they used to call chieftains of the pawns, and they are very profitable in wars; and in place can the pawns and do things that horsemen would not be able to. Thus, if there were a pawn that wanted to be Almocatén, he must do so: Firstly come to the Adalides and show them why does he deserve so; they then must call twelve Almocadenes and make them swear if it is true if that man that wishes to be Almocatén has these four traits: firstly he must know of war and to guide those that would follow him; secondly, that he is diligent to carry out the deeds and motivate his men; thirdly, he must be light, for this is greatly convenient to the pawn to achieve that which must be taken, and likewise to be able to keep himself safe if need be; fourthly he must be loyal to be friend of his lord and of the campaigns he will carry out in his name. These traits, an Almocatén must have." By these descriptions, I believe it is easy to start painting just who these men were and why they were such a big part of the Crown of Aragón, and why they had such an impact in the Reconquista and the Western Mediterranean wars. Defined as one of the best infantries of their time, to thrive in a time where cavalry was the main weapon of armies and people mysticized the chivalric ideal, these men used the terrain in their advantage, fought at night, and they were highly mobile. Such was their importance that Ramón Llull expresses in his texts that they were every bit as important as crossbowmen and heavy cavalry, considering them a chief piece if Christendom was to fight Islam and recover the Holy Land, beginning by casting out the Muslims out of Spain, and then follow through the north of Africa and progressively advance until reaching the Levant (which incidentally also means that for once Constantinople wouldn't get plundered and also happens to be a very valid expansion plan for an Iberian/Italian player in the game...)
As for their usage, the Almogŕvers sure were a useful bunch. Their job was to do reconaissance, and as such they'd usually be at the front and flanks of any army, to harass the enemy, to launch surprise attacks against enemy garrisons, and to intercept convoys. They'd usually fight in loose formation, but should they see themselves in a pickle they'd form tight ranks to repel enemy cavalry, as they did in the battle of Alcoi. While they'd act as pawns and as such would often fight alongside cavalry, they didn't require cavalry support, always maintained their autonomy, and they were considered a permanent militia. When fighting in mercenary companies, Almogŕver companies would count with units of heavy horse, infantry, crossbowmen, scutiferi, horsemen "a la jineta" (in short, light cavalry), and even men that'd take care of the armaments of the galleys, which indicates that Almogŕver companies eventually became both mercenary units and professional armies on their own right, with the Iberian King they were sworn to as their only outside authority (as the Crowns of Castilla and Portugal made use of Almogŕvers too, even if the Aragonese gained the most renown).
Lastly there's the Almogŕver tactics, and this is where they prove how, in a time where shock cavalry was the prefered force for most, these guys disliked being on horseback for the most part, so they devised their own devious plans to face enemy cavalry. The first thing they'd do would be to throw their azconas and javelins against the charging cavalry, and while they could pierce a mail or a shield, they usually aimed for the horses, trying to dismount the enemy cavalry. Sometimes, if they had the numbers or they were that brave, they'd countercharge en masse against the enemy cavalry, either using their falchions or their coltells to cut the hocks of the horses, or stabbing at them with their azconas, and when engaged in melee with cavalry, they wouldn't hesitate to use falchions or even maces (which yet again hints at a progression of the Almogŕvers as a fighting force in tactics and armaments) to, yet again, kill the horses first. At that point, as the knights were trapped underneath their dying horses, the short falchions, the coltells, and maces that the Almogŕvers wouldn't hesitate to use were excellent choices to brutalize the unhorsed enemy. Here's some pictures depicting the Almogŕvers, as painted from the Conquest of Mallorca.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
In game: Now this can be a tricky part, specially if there is a maximum amount of unit slots. The upside is, however, with this info dump I made, there are some units that could be removed from the game to make space for the Almogŕvers, beginning with Javelinmen and Lusitanian Javelinmen. Since there is evidence that Almogŕvers (or Almogávares, or Almughavars, at this point it's personal choice) were used not only by Aragón, but also by Castilla and Portugal, removing Javelinmen and Lusitanian Javelinmen and instead give all three factions access to Almogŕvers from the get go would solve a lot of trouble while leaving some extra space in case new units have to be added. The same goes with the Alforrats, which should in essence just be Mounted Sergeants, as "Alforrat" refered to the armour of the horse, and not to a specific type of cavalry unique to the Crown of Aragón. Likewise, remove the "Catalans" mercenary unit, as while the Catalan Company was a thing, it were still Almogŕvers.
With three unit slots freed, to properly add Almogŕvers into the game it could be done the following way: The Mounted Almogŕvers could be just grabbing the "Caballeros Villanos" and replacing their name, as well as making them available for all three Iberian Factions (that said, for what I've read it seems it was mostly the Castillians, which does make sense considering that they specialized in cavalry whereas the Crown of Aragón had less horses in comparison to bring to the field). To represent the spears, which seemed to be used two handed, and to circumvent engine limitations, maybe Almogŕver Pikemen could be done, working in a similar way to the Berber Pikemen. Since they formed in closed ranks when facing cavalry they could be given the wall of pikes ability to represent how they'd band together to fight the enemy off, and since their armour is light anyway, much like with the Berber Pikemen, they remain woefully weak against arrows (and sadly, knowing the engine, giving them a ranged attack would make them useless as they'd get charged before they can reform into tight formation with their spears out, so that's another balancing act). As for the Almogŕvers proper, maybe it could be done like the Armenian Aspet Infantry. A very powerful, armour piercing, anti-cavalry ranged attack, but give the unit only three volleys of it before running out of ammo to represent the azcona and the two javelins (and of course, to make it so that they don't start spamming truckloads of really powerful and accurate fire into an enemy blob, as much as I like Almogŕvers killing 400+ enemies in a single choke point defence before they even engage into melee), and if possible speed up the throwing animation, because right now it's ludicrous to see javelin units taking as much time to fire as crossbowmen. To represent their effectiveness against cavalry, maybe they could be given the same mass as heavy infantry instead of skirmishers while keeping their speed, and give their melee weapons the Anti-cavalry trait (because while their defence is only excellent in terms of Defensive Ability, which makes them fairly squishy outside of melee or against heavy infantry, I don't know if Armour Piercing would make them broken as at that point the only thing able to take them on without suffering heavy casualties or getting routed would be archers at a range and make sieges against the Iberian Factions a nightmare). Maybe give them the "Frightens Nearby Enemies" rule too, as they were described as being very intimidating with their taunts and their... Charming war cry.
As to represent Almocaténs and Adalides, that could be done through traits and ancillaries to generals. Maybe give Family Members the chance to acquire an Adalid Bodyguard if they hire Almogŕvers or distinguish themselves in battle, boosting their Hit Points and their Command. Likewise, give Generals, whether they are adopted, recruited from a Tourney Field, or promoted Captains a chance to be Adalides or Almocatenes (or maybe do a two-tier trait in which they often begin as Almocatén and through battle can become Adalides), giving them boosts to Command, Loyalty, Movement Points, Bonus Loot and Dread, maybe the Night Fighter ability too (idk how it works but something along the lines of "if Almocatén = true, then Night Fighter"), but give them a -5 to Law and -5 to Happiness and the inability to hold titles (again, idk how it works but I assume it could go along the lines of "if Almocatén = true, X City Title = false". As they were warlike and could easily cause trouble if left alone without an enemy to kill, an Adalid/Almocatén General would be perfect to send out to fight against the enemy and lead armies, but would be useless to hold cities by himself, forcing you to keep such generals out of cities and constantly on the move, giving the Iberian Factions a very agressive and active playstyle (which they need if they don't want to be crushed by the Moorish or the French or the HRE, depending on what side of the border we decide to piss on). And hey, by removing Alforrats, Lusitanian Javelinmen, Javelinmen and Catalans, and adding instead Almogŕver Pikemen, swapping the name of Caballeros Villanos to Mounted Almogŕvers, and making those three units available from the early game (as well as mercenaries on European, mediterranean territories until the 1300, where new mercs crop up and is close enough to the time where Catalan Company disbanding), that's three new unit slots that other factions could surely use! Plus it'd also give us a reason to actually face the Moorish in the open field, rather than baiting the AI into bridges or forcing them into siege warfare because god damn it seeing spearmen and feudal knights get trampled as easily as archers by the Moorish cavalry is already infuriating and seeing how even the Tawashi Light Cav and the Arab Cav units completely destroy any cavalry the Spaniards might have doesn't make it any better.
And... That's about all I can think of at the time, outside of making a quick mention to gunpowder. It's quite strange to see that the Andalusi and Iberian factions take so long to get cannons when there is evidence of them being used as early as the XIIIth century by the Muslims, which was quickly adapted by the Iberian factions as they were historically the only Catholic factions that managed to survive and win against them instead of having our asses handed to us long before Poland tried Deus Vult under SobieskiAnd that goes too to trebuchets and mangonels. Much as we're most fond of taking a castle the good old way, sword in hand and feeling the blood of friend and foe alike in our faces, I'd like to think that in a place as full of castles as Spain we were smart enough to knock down walls if we needed to take a fortified place!
Originally Posted by Jurand of Cracow
Re: Crown of Aragón information repertory
