Later Crusaders versus Seljuk Turks

After playing Kingdom of Heaven I was interested to see how the armies would fare in Basic Impetus 2.0.  Dave gracefully agreed to participate in the experiment.  He went Seljuk which gave me an advantage as he is not familiar with handling light cavalry armies.

Not surprisingly the Seljuks won the scouting.

The Crusaders deployed with a wood on their right.

The Seljuks have a low hill 

and what became a graveyard on their right.

The Crusaders advance.

The Crusaders keep coming

and the Seljuks start a skirmish on the Crusader's left flank.

while the Dailami sneak through the wood.

The skirmish didn't go to plan and has become a full-on melee.

The graveyard starts to fill.

Battle has been joined all along the line.

More Seljuks deploy to the graveyard,

however the Crusaders are losing units as well.

The Dailami took out a unit of Crusader sergeants in one mighty blow,

uncovering the Crusader's right flank.

The Crusader knights are very exposed,

but otherwise their army has done well.

A count of the Seljuk dead puts them one short of breaking.

The Crusaders lose one unit of knights, but the other unit comes to the rescue.

At this stage the Crusaders were one unit short of breaking,

but a thundering good charge gave them victory.

Relifed French Infantry Unit

They needed some TLC and one figure needed lower legs and feet, but I think they have come up a treat.  Thanks Carlo!  I only wish I knew the provenance and manufacturer.  I have also used a much smaller casualty cube.

The marching guy needed new body parts,

I probably overdid the tufts.

A few random Austrians,

now deployed as casualty bases.

I'm pretty sure these guys are Essex.

Napoleon's Chicken Marengo

Not really a cookery book or a detailed consideration of the campaign and battle, but an insight into myth making, misinformation, maintenance (and destruction) of power as well as the life of Napoleon.

A fine review can be found here:

https://avonnapoleonicfellowship.blogspot.com/2012/03/fine-dish-but-watch-for-bones.html

I found this book particularly interesting given what we now experience as alternative facts, real facts, mis and dis information and the lies of those seeking power (or trying to retrain it).

A passage in the book I thought was an excellent observation started with myths are useful.  "They can assuage the bitterness of a defeat, or deny it altogether, and foster a sense of solidarity. Yet myths tend to outlive their usefulness, and in the long run, through their mindless repetition, they breed complacency, and deaden rather than inspire the mind."  (Page 213)

How apt for our times.

Turning Point Stalingrad

An old but I consider quite innovative game, proving to be a challenge to know what to do, but that is the essence of a good game at times.

The main challenge is that in committing troops, they are then vulnerable for a number of turns, making them ripe for counterattacks.  Add to that area movement and it can be hard to establish front lines.

The end of the first turn.

End of the second turn, daylight.

Counters have been spread out 

as we had to move the game

and needed a record of what was where.

Pyrrhic Campaign - Turn Three Part One

For the previous Turns and background information please see these posts for Turn One and Two:

https://onesidedminiaturewargamingdiscourse.blogspot.com/2024/04/pyrrhic-campaign-turn-one.html

https://onesidedminiaturewargamingdiscourse.blogspot.com/2024/07/pyrrhic-campaign-turn-two.html

Turn Three sees the Romans reach funding parity with Pyrrhus.  This allowed them to field two standard armies using a Basic Impetus 2.0 adaption.  

The Romans moved first and Consol Uno took his army down the cost and struck at the Greeks at Paistos.  They gave battle.

It was a tricky affair.  The Greeks had won the scouting and had a plan.  The Romans just struck for the Greek centre hoping to destroy it before the Greeks could close on their flanks.  It worked.

The Greek army retreated to Heraclea while the Romans attempted some diplomacy with Paistos becoming neutral.

Pyrrhus and the main Greek army started to move, coming down to Heraclea.

The Carthaginian army moved to besiege Syracuse.

Then Pyrrhus struck at the Romans at Paistos.  The confident Romans gave battle.

To some extent it was a repeat of the first battle, but this time the Greek cavalry deployed on their left wing and wiped out the Roman cavalry.  The Romans took out the centre, but their wings collapsed resulting in a Pyrrhic victory for Pyrrhus who has now lost all his Greek pikemen.

That was as much as we had time for in that session.

GIFs constructed using https://imgflip.com/

A wargamers' guide to the Crusades

This was a book I purchased in April 1984 for $7.95 from Mary Martins in Adelaide.  I have now finished reading it.  I hasten to add I really only started to read it when Richard and I started playing Kingdom of Heaven.

I also have the WRG book Armies and Enemies of the Crusades 1096-1291 which is also by Ian Heath.  Both are more reference books than narratives, although both do a good job of covering the events and conditions of the Crusades.  They certainly hit the wargaming mark and my next job is the have a game of Basic Impetus 2.0 using my figures.  It will be Later Crusaders versus Seljuk Turks.

A future project maybe to do something using the Pyrrhic Campaign mechanics.  Hopefully sooner than in 40 years time!

Only other observation is I wish I still had the SPI Strategy and Tactics magazine game on the Crusades.

Kingdom of Heaven - The Promise of St Louis - The Seventh Crusade - A New Deal

After last week's shocker we bravely tried again.  This time we had a completely different game, a real new deal, but it also brought home how this otherwise excellent game is just too random in its play to be truly a good game in terms of play.

1249

This time the Byzantine fleet lends aid and Louis IX and five units of Crusaders (10 steps) land in Acre.

The Muslims try some diplomacy on Armenia, but fail.

Louis marches on Damascus and calls for it to surrender, which it promptly does!  (At this stage, with just three cards played, the Crusaders are looking at a win).

Two further units of Crusaders arrive in Acre, but the ones in Cyprus who try to sail fail to make it.

Louis moves back to Acre.  The Pope sends support further building the Christian force in the Holy Land.

1250

The Muslim lands are affected by a poor harvest (the effect of which is the player loses one card - they only have 7 per turn/year).

Louis goes to Jerusalem and calls for it to surrender.  It doesn't.  Its Resistance Factor is 4, but traitors in the Christian ranks see this rise to 6.  But sappers and miners quickly reduce the RF to 3.  Then an epidemic breaks out, the Crusaders lose 3 steps and the defenders lose 1.  Battering rams bring the RF down to 1.

An-Nasr Yusuf starts a siege of Damascus (RF=5).

At Jerusalem Louis deploys catapults and the RF falls to zero, but a subsequent assault fails to take it and the RF creeps back up to 1.

At Damascus traitors in the Christian defenders see the RF fall to 2.  Yusuf assaults but it goes badly, and the RF increases to 3.

Back at Jerusalem Louis deploys a siege tower and the RF slips to 0 and the subsequent assault, though bloody, takes the city.

Yusuf calls on the Fortunes of War but is cruelly rewarded by a sortie from the defenders that raises the RF to 4.  The siege is not maintained come winter.

Burgundy and 2 more units of Crusaders land in Acre.

1251

Louis goes to Acre to pick up reinforcements before returning to Jerusalem.

Bad weather delays Muslims and then further delays occur due to aggrieved subordinates before even more heavy rains delays their movement.  They try some diplomacy on Armenia and that fails (gifts presumably got soggy).

Louis moves to Kerak which promptly surrenders.

Yusuf moves to Banyas.

Louis moves back to Acre.

1252

The situation at the start of 1252

Louis moves to Banyas and demands its surrender.  It says no.  RF=3, but it immediately raises to 5 given that there are traitors in the Crusaders ranks (an endless supply it seems).  Sappers and miners are deployed but fail to make a dint in the castle's defences.  A siege tower is constructed (RF=3), but the besiegers supplies are running low (RF=4) and they lose 1 step.  The Crusaders fill in Banyas' moat (RF=3).  A defender's foraging party is ambushed (RF=2).  An assault is launched and Banyas falls.

Meanwhile Armenia is subject to intense diplomacy.  First the Muslims try and fail.  Then the Christians try and also fail.  The Muslims try again, third time lucky, and momentarily succeed until the Christians demonstrate that their gift was really an insult and Armenia stays neutral.

1253

The situation at the start of 1253.

Again, the Muslims suffer from a poor harvest.  They still gather their forces in Aleppo.

Louis goes to Damascus.

More Crusaders arrive in Acre, joining Henry who gathers them up and joins Louis in Damascus.

Christian diplomacy on Armenia fails.

Game ends.

Christian VP 13, Muslim VP 12 which gives the win to the Christians.