The Hashashin

[Wilgut Spleens]

Here is a little blog I wrote about the Assassins https://wilgut.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-hashashin-medieval-special-forces.html

[traveller]

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!

[BeneathALeadMountain]

Interesting stuff! Not only do they live on in our computer games, one lives in my house!  No, I’m wrong it’s her house and I live in it  . Apart from being told I was very white and too skinny at my wedding by a line of my new Middle Eastern in-laws I was also told this story - but with more family references 

Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain

[sir_shvantselot]

Interesting stuff! Not only do they live on in our computer games, one lives in my house!  No, I’m wrong it’s her house and I live in it  . Apart from being told I was very white and too skinny at my wedding by a line of my new Middle Eastern in-laws I was also told this story - but with more family references 

Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain

As long as nobody is smoking any hash all sounds good. Thanks to the poster for sharing!

[vtsaogames]

Very nice, and much that I didn't know. However, I'd heard that the final downfall of the Assassins was at the hands of the Mongols.

[Rick]

Very nice, and much that I didn't know. However, I'd heard that the final downfall of the Assassins was at the hands of the Mongols.

It was. The last of the Hashsharin leaders were captured, then killed by the Mongols of Mongke Khan, their fortresses captured and the few survivors fled to other regions.
Like the Ninja, though, the legend has grown and grown out of all proportion.

[BillK]

Thanks for the history. Wonderfully painted figures.

[FierceKitty]

As long as nobody is smoking any hash all sounds good. Thanks to the poster for sharing!

The nickname was a sneer at their extremist religious views, not a comment on their chemical habits.

[Wilgut Spleens]

Well , sort of, Al-Hashishiyya means those who take hashish to a point where they are out of control although stories surrounding this are all apocryphal and all emanate from the Nizari’s enemies. They were referred to as the Al-Hashishiyya or the Batiniyya,  those seeking a deeper meaning in the Quran (a strange insult!)  or the Ta’limiyya, those who are of sound instruction or as Malahida. those who deviate from the true path 
I can heartily recommend Professor Steve Tibbles latest book, Assassins and Templars, which will be published on 15th September. The Prof is very readable, it’s like reading a novel. He is a keen wargamer and this informs his writing and makes it particularly pertinent to those of us who hobby. As a historian, he is a breath of fresh air, and he’s not afraid to reference Monty Python, he is becoming recognised as a foremost expert on the Crusades and particularly the Templars and their sworn opponents the Assassins

[RedRowan]

That new book sounds interesting. I bought a copy of his The Crusader Armies last week and hope to start reading it this weekend.

Steve

[Wilgut Spleens]

I would say that Crusader Armies is a must have for anyone with an interest in these conflicts. Steve is clearly an expert and he writes in a very readable style, almost like a novel in places, with graphic descriptions of battles and a clear understanding of the various aspects of warfare. He is also a wargamer and this informs his writing and the very pertinent maps... he is definitely a gamers historian, there is even the occasional Monty Python reference

[RedRowan]

I've read some of the articles he did for Wargames Illustrated that they collected together in the Crusades supplement and they were quite interesting. I think that's where I first learned of that book too and I've had it on my wishlist for a while.

Steve

[Wilgut Spleens]

Yes, they are a good series of articles. I have been working with Steve to create a new Assassin and Templar Ruckus game which will be published in November

[RedRowan]

Yes, I read about the new supplement on the Facebook group, very much looking forward to that. Very cool to hear that Steve is involved too.

Steve