After a busier than usual week at work, I was very happy to receive an invitation to a game at Julian's place on Friday evening. Several players were invited along but in the end, only three plus our host were able to attend - Chris, John and I.
Julian had set up a 15mm game on his smaller (about 5 foot by 3 foot) table and had his brand new, just arrived today Kallistra medieval fortification running along one short edge of the table.
The scratch scenario was that the Franks have been besieging a Muslim city (probably Acre we decided) when a relief force has hove into view across the shimmering sea of sand. The Crusaders have deployed for battle as the the siege is lifted. The Muslim forces have the possibility of being supplemented by the garrison from within the walls of the city. Being the well bred gentleman he is, Julian then allowed his guests to pick which force they wished to command - John being first as he had turned up first at Julian's house.
John chose one of the Crusader forces, and I took the Muslim force opposite him. Chris then selected the second Muslim force, including the garrison of Acre, leaving the Crusader force opposite Chris for our host.
John started very aggressively with his three units of mounted knights cantering forwards towards my command. I threw forward some light horse archers (the entire Muslim force was mounted and the majority was light cavalry) but they were swept aside, and the knights smashed into my force, as the lighter Arab cavalry scattered to avoid them.
On the other flank, Chris advanced against Julian, whilst mobilising the garrison troops in support. He was able to create a safe corridor for his advance on Julian's right flank, covered by the archers on the city walls, and within a couple of moves, had got into a position where he could turn the flank.
On our side of the table, John continued to smash through my lighter cavalry, and a couple of units were forced to flee off table (in TtS, they can return later - a real bonus compared with many rule sets!) All three of his mounted commands plunged deep into my lines, and were in danger of being surrounded on all sides - but even though I did get into positions to charge him in either flank or rear, atrocious card turning meant these attacks had little or no impact.
John, on the other hand, now had my force in a position where the archer units he charged had nowhere to flee to - and being light troops who must evade under these rules, but with nowhere they could evade to, they were destroyed and removed from play. I lost three or four units like this in quick succession, dropping our army morale coin pile by 2 per unit, and things were looking decidedly dicey on my side of the table for the cause of Allah.
Chris, as is his wont, was making a much better job of things on his flank, and had overwhelmed several of Julian's units, quickly dispatching the arch enemies of Saladdin, the Knights Hospitaler and the Knights Templar! Julian did recover and pressed forward again, taking out some of Chris's command, but then the garrison emerged in numbers from the gates of Acre and things swung back in the Muslims favour.
I was down to about six units, but three were the heavy cavalry accompanying my commanders, and were the equivalent of Johns knights. As John brought up his foot contingents to secure the high ground that had formerly been my front line, his knights wheeled in towards the centre of our positions. Chris had to turn his right hand units to refuse his flank, with some of my retiring light cavalry joining him to form a solid line. In a protracted action, Richard the Lion Heart battled against some Saracen heavy cavalry over several turns of the game.
Meanwhile, I finally had some success against Johns knights, catching two units in the flank/rear and destroying them, whilst several light units who had previously evaded off table, now returned to bolster my force.
By this stage, we were down to about three or four morale coins each and with some good fortune, it was Chris who was able to overcome another unit of Julian's and remove the final Crusader coins for the narrowest of Saracen victories.
Despite being on the losing side, man of the match went to John - his immediate aggressive assault from the first turn of a card meant I never had a chance to deploy my superior numbers of light horse archers and he bottled my force up in one corner of the table for the entire game, where the congestion caused the loss of several units who had no escape route when charged by his mounted knights.
This was about the best angle I could get of the initial layout
I started with a couple of close up shots of my commanders - the combination of 15mm scale and the dodgy lighting means there is no point in pictures of half the table - the images come out badly!
Above and below - Johns retinues of mounted knights steam roller forwards from the first turn of the game
Richard the Lion Heart gains the high ground in the centre of my position - to the right, a second unit of knights are about to chase off another of my light cavalry units....
Close up of another of Johns units in headlong advance
Meanwhile, Chris advanced along the walls of Acre, whilst simultaneously mustering the garrison to sally forth and assist in our attack.
The impulsive Crusaders, surrounded on three sides by my masses of light cavalry archers
Johns third unit had advanced through the oasis and were now also facing Arab horsemen to their front and flank
Close up of some of the few heavy Saracen cavalry
The Crusader knights shrugged off the flank attacks and plunged forwards, scattering horse archers left and right as they went
The B'strd Couer de Lion again!
Its all looking a bit dicey for the Saracen right wing at this point, with three bands of undefeated knights milling around in their rear
Meanwhile, on the other end of the table, Chris has flanked Julian and inflicted a couple of defeats on the Crusader forces
Rather poor quality image of Julian's knights facing off against Saracen heavy cavalry
Its yet another flank attack - that achieved nothing - maybe the Christian God really is more powerful than Allah....?
Johns men at arms plod forwards in the rear of the marauding knights
Its all a bit of a mess on my side of the table - light cav face off against the knights on the hill, another of Johns units is approaching from the flank, but they are flanked by one of my mounted archer units...who in turn have a THIRD unit of knights on their flank!
The start of the epic struggle between the English B'Strd and Chris's heavies
Close up of Richard, just before he lost his command
If you look closely, you can just see my Muslim cavalry charging the rear of Johns knights - they were soon gone from the field!
Oh look....NO Crusaders!
My final action of the game - I finally got in some flank and rear attacks and turned some decent cards.
Well, that was a hard night at the office for me - Chris did a lot better against Julian, which saved us from defeat. John did lose a couple of units late in the game but his tactic of getting straight into combat from the first turn was very successful and could easily have carried the day. A game that was a lot more fun by the end than I had thought it was going to be earlier on!
