My wife asked me, "If the Andalusians are such poor fighters, why did you choose them?"  And that's a decent question.

When I pick an army to model, it's usually not because I think I'll "win" with them, but rather because something about the army catches my imagination.  I'm a relatively fickle person when it comes to many things, and I can't keep myself interested in painting a huge army of figure unless I get an emotional attachment to them.  I'd go insane trying to paint an army I didn't like just because it's a "killer army".  Heck, I can barely get the ones I *do* like painted.

But why Andalusians?  You can get a nice history less on at the wikipedia entry for Al-Andalus, but the short version is that Al Andalus was the last stronghold of higher culture and science in the west, and was constantly assaulted by barbarian Christians from the north (The remnants of the Visigothic empire, the Franks, etc.).  They controlled most of the Spanish peninsula, and naturally had strong cultural and trade ties with North Africa and the Middle East.

During the Dark Ages (Between the Fall of Western Rome and The Crusades), The Andalusians maintained a relatively open society that loved mathematics, philosophy, science and art, and their cultural legacy is still felt today throughout Spain.  (That's part of why they were such pitiful warriors - they'd "gone soft".  Fortunately, there were plenty of Berbers willing to fight for coin.)

I'm know that I'm guilty of over romanticizing their society (can you actually say "romanticize" about an Islamic nation?), but I'm a sucker for "civilized man in an uncivilized world" stories, and my interest in the Near and Middle East ties in nicely with the Arabic culture of Al Andalus.

So there you have it.  Not the most powerful army of the day by any stretch, but that will make my victories that much more glorious!