Kingdom of Heaven - The Fall of the Caliphate

This third scenario was a challenge, or to use Richard's words it "was just weird if you ask me. We
spent most of the game trying to work out what we could do, (usually nothing) and then just passing."  He was the Muslim play while I was the Crusader.

The aim was to get to Egypt to influence the Fatimid civil war.  Very hard for the Muslim player to get there, hard enough for the Christian.  It would take at least three cards to get there which, with only seven cards in total, left precious little to conduct a siege given the forces were roughly equal.

That said we did have two exciting battles and two or three lengthy sieges,

1163 AD 

After receiving Turcopole reinforcements, Amalric I marches to Cairo to support Dirgham's Fatimid faction. 

Shirkuh moves to besiege Tripoli and suffers an epidemic, but it doesn't stop him from constructing a siege tower.

Amalric advances on the Fatimid rebels at Minya, but without Dirgham who has decided to stay in Cairo.  Half of the rebels are routed but the rest take refuge in the castle.  Amalric doesn't have enough strength to conduct a siege and so returns to Cario before going home to Jerusalem.

At Tripoli Shirkuh fills in the moat and conducts two assaults, but Raymond III defeats them both and the siege is broken.

1164 AD

The defences of Tripoli and Kerak are improved.  

Amalric wins a major victory over Shaizar who is attempting to conduct another siege of Tripoli.  His army is obliterated, and he is killed.

After that Amalric goes to Jaffa but nothing else happens.

1165 AD

Amalric decides to go to Egypt again, but the Barons advise against it.

The Muslims try diplomacy with Antioch.  It fails.  They later try with Tripoli and that fails as well.

Ignoring the Barons Amalric goes to Egypt.  It is a long way and he has been delayed so he is not very hopeful.

Nur ad-Din besieges Kerak and an epidemic breaks out in his camp.  With the use of battering rams he conducts an assault, but it fails.

Amalric gets to Minya, but some of his vassals desert on the way. Undaunted he conducts a siege.  He fills in the moat and deploys catapults.  An assault does just enough to get the castle to surrender and the Fatimid civil war is over.  It's not totally clear, but this gives the Christians control of the Fatimids (for the time being - there are events that can change their allegiance).

1166 AD

More Crusaders arrive and the Christians call a truce.

1167 AD

Papal supports increases the forces at Jerusalem.  

Nur ad-Din advances on the holy city and Amalric decides to do battle.  Christian fanatics hold the battle to a 6:4 win in the Muslim's favour, but not Major Victory.  BUT a feigned flight sees the losses shift to 7:3 which gives the Muslims a Major Victory and a devastating pursuit.  Only Amalric escapes to defend Jerusalem.

Card play during the Battle of Jerusalem.

A siege commences, but the besiegers supplies run low.  Nur ad-Din appeals to the fortunes of war and builds siege towers.  He assaults, any result will do, but he rolls a 1.  His supplies continue to run low and then an epidemic breaks out.

1168 AD

After the disappointment of the previous year, the Muslims stay in their camps.

Further commentary by Richard:

This game would have to take the cake in terms of you have absolutely no idea what is going to happen. Today's play was yet another example. I suppose there might have been a lucky die roll to make Antioch neutral and play out for a draw in the last turn if we'd played on. It just doesn't seem to be very satisfying though.

I find the game exasperating. The elements seem well worked out, it is thematically excellent, the siege rules are great, the map, cards and counters are nice ,but somehow it just manages to come down far too much in favour of lucky card draws and/or.... die rolls. Strangely, I don't mind it, just find it very frustrating. At least it's over quickly.

The Battle of Jerusalem

With the accursed Fatimids making treaty with the infidels and handing them control of Cairo and Egypt, only a bold move would alter the outcome of the campaign for the Seljuks.

Sultan Nur Ad Din and his unfortunately named subordinate, Shirkah, sizing up the substantial forces of the Amalric in Jerusalem, hatched a plan to bait the Christians to fight them in a field battle. Guessing
that with a substantial force at Jerusalem and the city available to them as a refuge in the event that things did not go to plan, the Christians would indeed risk coming out to put up a fight. The Sultan's
forces left Damascus and swept across the desert and sure enough, out came the Christians!

...and what a battle it was! Evenly matched, it was all down to the die rolls. Both sides had +2 DRMs thanks to Qadis Motivates Troops in the case of the Muslims and Religious Fanaticism in the case of the
Christians. The Seljuks roll higher and inflicted a serious blow on the Christians with 6 losses to four, not enough for a major victory. The Christians thought they had done enough to stave off the Seljuk horde, but play of Feigned Flight (one less loss to the Muslims and one more loss to the Christians) tipped the battle in favour of  the Sultan Nur Ad Din. The Christians were slaughtered to a man as the Seljuk horsemen pursued the fleeing Christians, cutting them down. Only Amalric managed to escape, in a shameful decampment, leaving his men to their fate. (he is rumoured to have dressed as a slave woman and made his escape on the back of a donkey to Acre).

Without a garrison, it would take but a single hit for Jerusalem to fall to the Seljuks. With cards running low, only a roll of 1 on a D6 would deny the Sultan the crowning glory to this already famous victory. Alas, his men, wearied from severing the heads of the infidels, had lost their heart, stumbling forlornly amongst the parapets of the seemingly doomed city, they failed it inflict a single loss (they couldn't find anyone left to kill, not even the cooks and stable boys were left behind by the Christians). So with that, the campaigning season over the Seljuks melted away into the desert from whence they had come. 

So ended the Battle of Jerusalem - The Seljuks honour as sweet as the cursed name of the fickle Fatimids is bitter.