Crusader Rules Refreshed!

Well after last weeks taster, a re-introduction to the Crusader Rule set, myself and Dave K set up for another game this time to see if we could get a whole game done in a night and put to good use the bits and bobs learnt from last week (while still fresh in the mind).

The army list were the same as last week with my Berbers vs Daves' Andalucians in a 3000pt match. With the initiative going to me, I decided to let Dave go first.

Dave had changed his deployment a bit from last time having learnt a few lessons and his first line was made up of most of his cavalry with his infantry following, and so his cavalry advanced but this time he had his general firmly holding his impetuous types in check until it was time to go. I also had a general advance, most units advancing as quickly as they could to minimize the time my exposed infantry would be exposed to Daves shooting.

The Cabelleros charge the Black Guard

The second round was one of the expected advance/shoot/run away from the Andalucian Jinetes both of which did rather well in the casualty causing front on my Berber and mercenary spear. And then at the end of his move (cause if you lose a combat you lose the initiative and your turn ends) Dave launched his knightly types (sans general) at my Black Guard. The Black Guard, with the aid of a pretty nifty general attached, made short work of the knights who promptly broke and galloped away from the fray but had managed to make a significant dent in the Guard before legging it.

The Andalucians pour in the fire on the advancing Berbers

I promptly followed up this small siccess and in my turn once again had a general advance, with the Guard charging at the retreating knights (no chance to catch them but it pushed them further to the rear and if they failed to rally the following turn may have legged it off the table). My return fire from two units of detached archers, two units of Berber Cavalry and a unit of skirmishers failed to make any headway however, only managing to cause a solitary casulaty on Daves skirmishing light infantry on his flank.

The next couple of turns proved to be much as the second turn with Dave cutting down the numbers of my infantry with his untouchable (but very accurate Jinetes) and his archers took a few more casualties off my guard as they re-formed to face the new threat. His knights did rally behind the woods but they had been taken out the fight for all intents and purposes (but their services proved to not be required in any event). My Berber Cavalry seemed to be unable to harm his Andalucian Nobles who, after a quick exchange of missile fire charged my cavalry and easily broke the first unit and then the following turn broke the second unit. His untouched infantry then charged home my depleted infantry units both of which broke.

My Guard Infantry at last charged his annoying archer unit and though at half strength easily broke them sending them running, the archers managed to take a casualty in return which was enough to drop the Guards to one stand which meant automatic dispersal. My Guard cavalry acting in reserve chased off one of his Jinete units and put a noticeable dent in one of his infantry units while my archer units continued un-inspiring nibbling at anything they could see. The Tribal Skirmishers and Daves Light Infantry continued to skirmish with each other over the wood to little affect though both units by the end had last a stand, with the Tribal types beginning to get the upper hand due to higher starting numbers.

The End Game - Still fight in the Berbers but it
doesn't look good for them.

By turn 5 or 6, (I lost count), all the routing Berbers units had rallied (bar the Mercenaries) but they were still on the table. My Berber cavalry units both rallied and promptly managed a couple of casualties forcing the Nobles to retreat. Both of Daves Infantry Units were at half strength or so (He hadn't taken off the stands as the bases were a bit large so the above picture looks slightly more busy than it should) but his cavalry force was still largely intact (if a couple of dents beginning to appear) but pretty scattered and the skirmishing in the woods very much a side show in regards the main event.

My forces were however pretty much out of luck, with all the units (bar the skirmishers and Guard Cavalry) at about half strength but in much dsarray, so even though most of my units were technically not destroyed or routed off the table it was an obvious victory to Dave.

So all in all an interesting game and one which certainly achieved it's aim in getting to refresh the rules in our minds and got a game to a conclusion (or very nearly anyway).

Daves' extraodinary luck with his dice (even he thought so) made a big difference to the eventual outcome, but also his tactics were pretty good with every unit getting into the action and the tactics he used I thought were very in keeping historically with the jintes screening his infantry until the right moment for his infantry to charge.

The game proved to be pretty quickly done too with a later start and a couple of welcome interruptions (in the form of the local press interviewing Dave and taking a couple of pictures as they were doing a feature on the club following the FDWC involvement at the NMS Viking exhibition at the weekend (Do you want to know more; Check out the Falkirk Herald soon for full story and pics) meaning a bit of a delay to the game but we still managed to get the game played out so proving it's 'quick play' tag and that we had picked up the rules sufficiently to get through a game with minimal rules checking or clarification.

The game though slightly one sided (due to Daves' un-characteristic good dice rolling) proved to be an enjoyable one and had lots of to-ing and fro-ing which gave the feel of the period nicely and though quick play produced a reasonably good 'feel'. Certainly lots of movement and change which I like.

Our next game, while the rules are still fresh in our minds' will be next month some time but with Dave playing the Aragonese, to see how they fare in a mini-preparation for the Majorca campaign thing.