Moors, Franks, Visigoths and the Duchy of Aquitaine

[clivethecelt]

Anyone recommend any "starter" reading material for this period (700-730ish, the Moorish invasion of Visigoth Iberia/Aquitaine, up to Tours/Poitiers), and for the "El Cid" reconquest of Spain? It's a blank as far as I'm concerned, but seems to be one with endless possibilities for gaming and modelling.

[Fury]

Interesting thread. I'm more interested in the Viking Age, but the Battle of Bravellír, a great legendary battle in Sweden, took place during the 8th century. I've been thinking about recreating it in Hail Caesar with early viking minis. According to legend, warriors from many nations fought in the battle, so I'll watch this thread for discussions about period miniatures.

Osprey Campaign 190 - Poitiers AD 732- Charles Martel turns the Islamic tide contains about a dozen pages about the historical background; most of it deals with the commanders and the battle.

[clivethecelt]

Note for Forum Admin: I'm about to list other manufacturers with regard to supplying minis for the above period, and some also have ranges which clash with Warlord's, so I don't know if this will be an allowable post. Here goes:
@ Fury: Warlord have the Gripping Beast Saxons and Conquest's Normans, which might (after modification) double as Franks, and GB's Vikings, which could morph into Visigoths, but I've trawled the 'net, and found the following, which would probably fit these periods much more accurately:
http://www.artizandesigns.com/ The Dark Ages section has Arthurian, Carolingian and Moorish minis, all of which would be ideal. The Vikings could be modified, at a push, into Visigoths.
http://www.crusaderminiatures.com/index.php The Dark Ages section here covers the later period, but the El Cid minis would, I think, with careful selection, fit in well as some Visigoths. The other troops are a bit late for the earlier period I mentioned, but fine for the later one.
http://wargamesfoundry.com/historical_r ... ks_saxons/ Foundry's range of Franks fits right in, but their pricing always baffles me.
http://www.navigatorminiatures.com/prod ... istory=cat Magister Militum do a Dark Ages Crusades/Jihad/Rus range, but, again, would need some modification for my purposes.
http://www.musketeer-miniatures.com/index.php Musketeer do a good range of early Saxons and the Armies of the Caliphates, along with some late Goths.
http://www.northstarfigures.com/list.php?man=82&page=1 Tanatus Miniatures have some good Dark Age minis which look as though they could be modified for use as Visigoths, particularly some of the "Saxon" and "Pictish" warriors and cavalry.
Old Glory do some Dark Ages and Crusades minis, but they're all 25mm.
More when I've done a bit more research on the period.

[carvel2]

Has this anything to do with a recent visit to Spain?

[clivethecelt]

Partially - but someone gave me a book about great battles which changed history (e.g. Tours/Poitiers), with the theory that each of these key battles was a potential tipping point - in this example, without Charles Martel's victory, Western Europe would have become a Moorish Caliphate ... no Carolingian empire ... discuss ...
There were other battles too (e.g. Salamis, Gaugamela), but this one particularly struck me as it's a period I know virtually nothing about, and that's galling. Aside from all the other periods (ECW, TYW, HYW, ACW, AWI ... ) I know nothing about, of course ...

[Fury]

Thanks for the miniature links, Clive. The Carolingians from Artizan Designs should do nicely. I will no doubt order some metal from Gripping Beast now that the SAGA skirmish rules are available for preorder. Painting them is of course another question.

Perhaps the El Cid miniatures from Gripping Beast would be suitable for the later period of your project?