I have been wanting to put a game like this on the table for a over two decades, admittedly the scale has increased than I originally planned when I backed the Footsore kickstarter a few years ago.
When I was a kid Standard Games Cry Havoc was all the rage, I always fancied turning it to miniatures. The board game had a bit of a renaissance in covid where two of us played over zoom with a game each moving the pieces on both maps.
Now it's time to finally get the toys on the table.
After three days on the road with very little water, the Christian horse is in desperate need of water. The Muslims are lying in wait for them at the watering hole.
I turned the forces from the scenario into a similar scale of forces from the Outremer book. The Victory conditions were simple the Arabs needed to kill more than they lose and not be forced off the table.
Coming on from the bottom left the Franks did not fancy getting anywhere near the large dune. if I was going to hide cavalry anywhere it would behind there.
Advancing on a broad front the Turcopoles flushed out the first Arab spear unit.
The Franks advanced forward, with the Knights allowing the spear, bow and crossbows taking the front.
Things were progressing well the Christians were turning the flank, which forced the Arabs to break cover and move to the centre of the table.
More Arabs popped up, heavy Infantry defending the stone wall. The Christian Warriors Foot and Spearmen moved to across the lines of vines.
With the Franks advancing, low and behold the Arabs appeared from behind the dune, cavalry, loads of the them. Under pressure the Crusaders fell back.
Meanwhile the Christians had turned the flank of the Black Guard and the opportunity to push up the right hand side of the board.
A brutal exchange and both sides regrouped from a battering, the Arabs threw a light cavalry unit forwards. The Crusaders could not resist and spurred their heavy horse onwards.
The sneaky Arab cavalry evaded the charge and peppered the armoured knights with some well aimed archery and javelin fire. The Knights morale failed and they were sent packing, terrible dice when you needed a decent roll.
The Christians would be going thirsty today....
Cracking game and nice to be able to turn the hex game to miniatures.... now to read up on the campaign rules.
Great looking game Stu and nice to see the Muslim forces get a win - it doesn't seem to happen too often - the final nail in the Crusaders coffin sounded exactly like the tactics Saladin would have employed!
ReplyDeleteLove the Cry Havoc system...great idea to use miniatures!
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