Asedio a Al-Ándalus

“Time is like a sword; if you don't cut it, it cuts you"
(Arabic proverb)

Asedio a Al-Andalus: the Legend of the Wolf & the Serpent (1150-1213) is a medieval strategy, geopolitics and diplomacy boardgame for 3 players that tries to represent the political, ideological and military conflicts that took place in the Iberian Peninsula and its areas of influence between the second half of the 12th century and the early 13th century, in an exciting time of crusades, epic battles and court intrigues.

This is a crucial 63-year interval in the history of Spain, Portugal and the Mediterranean Sea, characterized by a balance of power between the Christian world of the north and the Muslim world of the south: the first, fragmented into five different kingdoms (Portugal, Navarre, Aragon-Barcelona, Leon and Castile) but with a clear expansive and conquering vocation since the turn of the millennium, and the second, reinforced after the rise to power of an austere and powerful North African dynasty with a rigorous vision of Islam (the Almohad Caliphate). However, there was also a third peninsular power, autochthonous Hispanic Islam, heir to the cultural splendor of the extinct Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba and now, doubly threatened by the Christian crusade and the Almohad jihad, desperately trying to fight for its own independence (the Sharq Al-Andalus, represented by the Levantine emirate of Murcia-Valencia, under the Banu Mardánish dynasty, and by the Pirate emirate of Mallorca, under the Banu Ganiyya dynasty).

In the game, each player will take the role of one of the three main powers (Christian Kingdoms, Sharq Al-Andalus and Almohad Caliphate) that vied for power, hegemony and survival in the Iberian Peninsula during those troubled years. Whether through military force, political cunning, seductive diplomacy, commercial wealth or cultural splendor, the player's objective will be to accumulate the greatest number of victory points to become the peninsular power with more fame and glory.

Mechanically, the game uses a card-driven system, consists of 7 turns and each of them represents a period of 9 years, beginning in the year 1150 and ending in the year 1213. At the same time, each turn is divided into 5 different phases. The game is completely asymmetrical, as each power has its own geographic position, resources, rulers, courtiers, military leaders, allied factions, and totally unique and specific thematic minigames. The game ends if one of the following conditions is met: that a player reaches 50 victory points, that the end of turn 7 is reached (the player with the most victory points wins) or that the Sharq Al-Andalus is annexed (in which case the Christian player or the Almohad player will win, depending on their victory points).

The conquests of Alfonso VII of Leon "The Emperor", the Almohad invasion, the Mediterranean takeoff of Catalonia, the resurgence of an independent Al-Andalus in the peculiar figure of the libertine emir "The Wolf", the Castilian civil war between the feuding families Lara and Castro, the appearance in Navarre of Richard "The Lionheart", the French influence in Occitania-Provence, the commercial relations with the maritime republics of Genoa and Pisa, the last blows of the Byzantine Empire, the offensives in the Maghreb of the ancient Vikings from the Kingdom of Sicily and the Ayyubid Egyptians of Sultan Saladin, Majorcan piracy led by his corsair emir “The Serpent”, the Arab and Berber revolts in Ifriquiyya, the construction of the Seville mosque, the recovery of Aristotelian philosophy by Ibn Rush, the political intrigues of Queen Eleanor Plantagenet, the II, III and IV Crusades in the Holy Land, Simon de Montfort's crusade against the Cathars, the consolidation of the Camino de Santiago, the publication of the Song of the Cid or the epic battles of Alarcos and Navas de Tolosa, are just some of the many national and international historical events that the player will be able to relive in first person throughout the game.

Welcome to a world of swords and shields, castles and sieges, knights and pirates, kings and courtiers, emirs and caliphs, bishops and imams, ambassadors and pilgrims, merchants and philosophers, cathedrals and mosques, holy wars, palace conspiracies, and even, maritime expeditions to the exotic Orient. Will you be able to survive the Siege of Al-Andalus?