© Alan Perry
JOÃO I OF PORTUGAL VERSUS JUAN I OF SPAIN, 1385
FEATURE
THE BATTLE OF
ALJUBARROTA
After the death of King Ferdinand I of Portugal in 1383, King Juan I
(John) of Castile attempted to assert his control over the Portuguese
throne. He launched an invasion of Portuguese territory in 1384,
which made it as far as the outskirts of Lisbon and besieged the city
before being forced by an outbreak of plague to retire back to Spain.
By Mark Backhouse
M
eanwhile, Portugal crowned
a new king, João I (another
John I!). He immediately set
about preparing his defenc-
es while the Spanish readied
another invasion. Determined to avoid
another siege of Lisbon, he marched to
intercept the Spanish army of 25,000
with an army of only 10,000 men.
Around 100 kilometres north of Lisbon,
the Portuguese army took up a strong
position along a ridge near Leiria. That
position was turned by a Spanish flank-
ing manoeuvre, but João and his army
found another position almost equally
strong. The Portuguese prepared their
troops on a large plateau with gullies
on either side of their position. They
proceeded to construct defences, cre-
30 Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy 108
ating a series of obstacles that the Span-
ish would be forced to cross. A series of
ditches and small pits were also dug.
While not continuous, these helped to
funnel the oncoming Castilian attacks
into pre-prepared killing zones.
contrast to João’s forces. He had 600
The Castilian force arrived by very late
men-at-arms supported with two wings
afternoon and organised itself for bat-
of crossbowmen, strengthened by sev-
tle several hundred metres away from
eral hundred English longbowmen and
the Portuguese position. Although out-
more men-at-arms were in front. A
numbering the Portuguese consider-
couple of hundred metres behind was
ably, much of their force was probably
a rear-guard made up of the king and
still strung out in a marching column.
700 mounted men-at-arms.
The vanguard was largely formed by
about 1,600 mounted French night, fol-
When the French vanguard attacked
lowed by the Royal Battle. They were
the prepared ground broke its impe-
flanked by about 700 men-at-arms on
tus. Funnelled into a mass the now-
each side. King John of Castile had
dismounted knights were halted and
fallen ill and was carried on a litter,
routed. A second, reinforced attack
so the Spanish army went into battle
was even more hampered by the ter-
without hands-on leadership, in direct
rain. Still, their numbers counted, but
a timely counterattack by
João I prevented a break-
through. The Portuguese
flanks wrapped around the
confused Castilians who
broke and were routed.
João was able to halt the
pursuit before the remain-
ing Spanish army could
counterattack. This de-
cisive defeat effectively
signalled an end to Cas-
tilian hopes of conquest.
The Battle of Aljubarrota,
as seen in the 15th-century
Chronique d'Angleterre, by
Jean d'Wavrin.
x
© British Library
 French knights allied with King John of Castile prepare to charge the waiting Portuguese infantry forces.

GAMING ALJUBARROTA SPECIAL RULES Funnelling – The Castilian army was

Any set of rules that works well for
the 100 Years’ War would probably
be eminently suitable to play the bat-
tle, though some modifications may
be needed. A representative re-fight
might be upscaled using Osprey’s
Lion Rampant, although a more satis-
fying game designed for mass battles
As a rather strange pitched battle, you
might find that your rules do not fully
cover every aspect of Aljubarrota. Be-
low are some suggestions for how you
might model them to capture some of
the flavour of the battle, especially the
terrain and command situation.
funnelled into a compact mass by the
archery fire from either flank and the
series of ditches and cut-down trees.
One way to simulate this in rule sets
with removable casualties is by making
sure figures are removed from the clos-
est possible point to the missile fire in

© Rocío Espin
such as Armati, Hail Caesar, Sword
and Spear, Art de la Guerre, To the
Strongest, or Impetus might prove
more suitable.

The terrain
The table should probably be ar-
ranged lengthways to create the
sense of the thin plateau with gullies
placed on either flank. The wooded
low hill that formed the commanding
position for John of Portugal should
be placed about 12" in from the rear
of the table on the Portuguese side.
The Portuguese vanguard should be
placed another 12" in front of that.
The prepared ground is probably
best represented by a few dozen fall-
en tree models, but I would suggest
leaving the ditches hidden from view
at the start of the game.

Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy 108

31

The English and Portuguese await the Spanish attack.
the unit rather than from the rear of the
unit. In element-based rules, e.g. Hail
Caesar or To the Strongest, I’d suggest
some sort of mechanism that forces
units to move slightly away and side-
ways from the direction of the archery
fire towards a big central clump. This
could be done on a simple dice roll of
5+ every time they are hit by missiles.
If any friendly units come into contact
and hit each other due to this, both
could count as disordered.
The ditches and felled trees could be
used in an abstract way by forcing
units to make a similar ‘clumping’ roll
as soon as they get within two move-
ment bounds of the Portuguese line, or
much more literally on the table with
areas of ditches pre-marked by the
THE FORCES
The armies that fought in this battle can probably
be represented by most ranges of early to mid-
100 Years’ War figures. Several good ranges exist
in 28mm, 15mm, 10mm, and 6mm. All scales
have their merits and drawbacks. For the record,
I play-tested out the scenario with To the Strong-
est and big blocks of home-made 2mm figures
and it looked suitably epic on a 4' x 3' table!
PORTUGUESE ARMY –
led by King John of Portugal
Vanguard
• c.1,000 Portuguese dismounted
men-at-arms – 2 units of veteran,
armoured, heavy infantry
• c.3,000 infantry – 4 units of medium
infantry, partially armoured with spears
Royal battle
• c.1,000 men in total – 2 units of
veteran and 1 of experienced men-at-
arms, armoured, heavy cavalry
32 Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy 108
© Alan Perry
Portuguese player covering up
to half the frontage of the
Portuguese front line. They
should count as a defended
obstacle for fighting over and a linear
obstacle for crossing. The Castilian
player should only be able to see these
once a short movement distance away
and should declare where they are
going to move before the Portuguese
player reveals any ditches. Troops at-
tempting to charge over ditches that
were previously unseen should suffer
some sort of losses in cohesion and,
in the case of cavalry, a high chance
of taking serious casualties. Depend-
ing on your rules of choice here you
will need to be creative, but I’d suggest
something roughly equal to being shot
at by a unit of archers in your rules.
Right wing
• c.300 veteran English troops – 1 unit
of dismounted men-at-arms and long-
bowmen in a mixed unit.
• c.500 Portuguese crossbowmen – 1
unit, lightly armoured
Left wing
• c.300 veteran English troops – 1 unit
of dismounted men-at-arms and long-
bowmen in a mixed unit
• c.500 Portuguese crossbowmen – 1
unit, lightly armoured
CASTILIAN ARMY –
LED BY KING JOHN OF CASTILE
(See special rules re: confusion of command)
Vanguard
• c.1,600 French and Castilian Mounted
men-at-arms – 4 units of veteran,
armoured, heavy cavalry
Confusion of command – The Por-
tuguese king had a fairly good view
of the advancing Castilians, and
he should have no modifiers to his
command and control. In contrast,
the Castilian king was ill and un-
able to exert much control once
the battle got going. I’d suggest that
normal command and leadership
bonuses for having a C-in-C are not
applied to the Castilians, represent-
ing both his lack of wider aware-
ness and his sickness.
Inertia of the Castilian cav-
alry wing – Neither of the Castil-
ian cavalry wings seemed to show
much initiative to support the central
battle, even when their arrival might
have swung the battle. I’d sug-
gest that they need to make
a command roll if they want to
try to cross the gullies to support the
centre of their line. Roll 2D6: on a
2–5 they stand still and wait for the
outcome, 6–7 they may keep advanc-
ing forward and may dice again next
turn, 8–9 they can cross but only to
engage the enemy camp and bag-
gage, and only on a 10–12 may they
cross to support the centre. This roll
should only be made once (ideally by
a GM without the player seeing it) un-
less a 6–7 is rolled. WS&S
You can learn more about the Hun-
dred Years War in Spain in Medieval
Warfare issue III.1.
Main battle
• c.10,000 men – 2 units of veteran and
2 units of experienced men-at-arms,
armoured, heavy cavalry
• 4 units of medium infantry, partially
armoured with spears
• 2 units of crossbowmen, lightly armoured
Right wing
• c.700 Castilian mounted men-at
arms and lancers – 1 unit of veteran,
armoured, heavy cavalry; 1 unit of lance-
armed medium cavalry
Left wing
• c.700 Castilian
mounted men-at-arms
and lancers – 1 unit
of veteran, armoured,
heavy cavalry; 1
unit of lance-armed
medium cavalry