No scenario for the intervening Sixth Crusade so straight onto the Seventh. I was the Crusader and had a miserable time, or as I took to calling it, A Real Richard of a Game!
End of 1249 and King Louis IX and his Crusaders are still in Cyprus.
His first attempt to sail to the Holy Land was thwarted by commercial rivalries.
He missed the boat on his second attempt.
Two thirds of the garrison of Acre got in a huff and decided to sit things out.
Burgundy and a replacement garrison attempted to sail to the city but were stopped by bad weather.
An-Nasa Yusuf and the Ayyubids marched to Acre and besieged it (Resistance Factor = 6).
They construct siege towers dropping the RF to 4.
The Hospitallers sally which inflict a casualty on the besiegers.
Undeterred they deploy ladders and mantlets, RF=3.
The defenders sortie raising the RF back to 4.
Yusuf builds a fortified camp and maintains the siege over winter (a 1 or 2 needed).
Naval Movement: can be performed by an event card "xxx fleet lends aid" or by using a 3 card (cards have values between 1 and 3). If a 3 card is used a die roll of 1-4 is required. A naval move can be aborted by the play of an event card by the opposing player. There are only 7 cards per year (turn).
End of 1250.
Louis IX and a few Crusaders were able to get into Acre with the help of some Corsairs.
Yusuf deploys battering rams RF=2
Yusuf fills in the moat RF=1.
The Crusaders strengthen the defences of Jaffa and Beirut.
Yusuf deploys yet more ladders and mantlets RF=0.
He calls on the Fortunes of War only to see the RF rise to 1.
Again, Yusuf is able to maintain the siege.
Siege Events: each turn has seven event cards. These can be used to progress a siege depending on whether they have an A or D siege event. A for attacker, D for defender. In Turn 2 (1250) I only had A cards which were useless in the siege of Acre. As for maintaining siege over winter, the Muslim commander has to roll their Battle Rating or less. For Yusuf this is a 2. If he failed to maintain the siege the RF would be recalculated (i.e. back to around six and NOT one)
End of 1251
James and additional Crusaders arrive in Acre (a reinforcement event).
Its RF may be low, but it is full of defenders!
Yusuf gets some Corsairs to blockade Acre
(the single event that permits Muslims to blockade a port).
RF=0
In sieges cards can be played to create starvation rolls.
Acre is full of hungry mouths...
The Muslim player has six cards left:
Starving 2 steps lost
Starving 1 step lost
Starving 2 steps lost
Starving 2 steps lost
Starving 1 step lost
Starving 0 step lost
Yusuf assaults
15 Muslim factors versus 16 Christian.
The Christian have a plus 3 as defenders and better leader.
The Muslims with a roll of 6 inflict 4 casualties, the Christians roll a 1 and inflict 3.
There is one step of defenders left.
Yusuf again rolls a 2 or less and maintains the siege!
Note: another turn where the Crusader had no D event cards or 3 strength or fleet aid cards which meant their armies sat out in Cyprus for another turn. All they had been able to do was try some diplomacy on Armenia (failed) and strengthen some castles.
The end of 1252.
The Byzantine fleet offered to help the Crusaders, but it was stopped by the Egyptian fleet.
The siege of Acre continues with ladders being deployed bringing the RF to 0.
But their supplies are running low and RF rises to 1.
But more ladders and mantlets appear, RF=0.
The Venetian fleet attempts to sail Burgundy and some Crusaders to Tyre,
but is stopped by bad weather.
Some Crusader reinforcements arrive in Jaffa and Tyre.
Yusuf assaults Acre.
16 vs 8
With a +3 to the dice,
the defenders inflict 3 steps of casualties.
However,
the attackers inflict 2 steps.
That was the total of the defence.
The city falls. James and Henry die, and Louis is taken prisoner.
Finally Burgundy arrives in the Holy Land, settling in Beirut.
The end of 1253.
The event "Crusaders Go Home" occurs - what a surprise!
Some of them had never left home.
There are still some in Cyprus and they think they should go to the Holy Land.
They forget to buy a ticket (my explanation for failing die roll)
The Muslims woo Armenia which declares for them.
The Crusaders try to sail again,
but fail to get out of bed in time (another failed roll).
But third time lucky and they land in Beirut.
Hospitallers regain some followers
and last of all some castles are strengthened in Cyprus.
Muslim VP = 23
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