As well as their involvement in Britain and France, the Normans were active in Italy for much of the 11th century. They managed to have themselves appointed as the Pope’s main military ally by the simple expedient of routing his former allies at the Battle of Civitate and then begging his forgiveness. In return for this display of remorse the Pope ‘gifted’ the Normans with southern Italy and Sicily, neither of which were his to give. The Normans took this into their stride though, and after conquering the Lombard and Byzantine principalities in Southern Italy they moved on to conquering Sicily. Much as they did in Britain the Normans simply installed themselves as the top layer of society, so this army list is basically an Aghlabid or Zirid list (III/33) with added Norman knights.
The Sicilian army arrayed
The main stiking force of this army is 4 elements of 3Kn. These are borrowed from my Communal Italian and Papal Italian armies but I hope to paint some Khurasan Normans for this army this year.
Norman knights
The Norman knights are supported by no less than 6 elements of 2Ps, representing the local Muslim population. These are all Feudal Castings figures.
Skirmishing Saracens
As what passes for heavy foot there is either a 3Ax, the local Greek population known as “Griffons”, or a 4Sp, Italian Mercenaries. The Griffons are Museum Miniatures figures while the Italians are borrowed from my Communal Italian army.
Greek Sicilians or Italian mercenaries?
And finally there is a choice between a 4Cb, Italian mercenary crossbowmen (again from my Communal Italian army), or a 2LH, Berber mercenaries by Museum Miniatures. That’s a choice between two very different troop types so it will be interesting to experiment with this.
Light horse or crossbowmen?
I think this army is going to be a lot of fun. It’s colourful in its combination of troop types and its interesting history. Although it may die horribly fairly often, it has the potential to score ‘upset’ wins. Much depends on this army’s PIP rolls!
Small Sagas 