Crusader Project First Game Playtest

Play Test Battle Report 1: November 22, 2014

A few notes to clarify the report: each stand/unit on the board can take 12 casualties before it is destroyed. “Ghulum” were the elite Turkish lancer/horse archers who were recruited from the slave-class of the Turkish realms, and who served as the bodyguards for Sultans and other nobles. In a melee, if one side inflicts 2 more casualties than its opponent does in a single round it “wins” the melee and can drive back or destroy the enemy as a result if no one wins, the melee continues.

Order of Battle:

Crusaders: 1 unit of Mounted Knights (commander Tancred, Command test 4+)

1 unit of dismounted knights, 1 unit of crossbow men, 1 unit of pilgrims.

Turks: 1 unit of Ghulum (commander Amir Habib, Command test 4+), 2 units of Horse Archer, 1 unit of Arrow Supply.

Set-Up: Approximated 38” apart

“North” To “South”

Crusaders Dismounted Knights, Crossbow, Pilgrim, Mounted Knights

Turks: Arrow Supply, Horse Archer, Horse Archer, Ghulum

Turn 1 (Crusaders win initiative)

Crusaders: all 4 units move forward 8”, remain out of range.

Turks: Both Horse Archer units move forward 12”, Ghulum sweeps south at an angle

Ghulum take a long range arrow shot at the mounted knights, but miss.

Both Horse Archers shoot at Crossbowmen, inflict 1 casualty. Horse Archer unit 1 is depleted of arrows.

Turn 2 (Crusaders win initiative)

Crusaders: Dismounted Knights, Crossbow, Pilgrims move forward together. The crossbows are at 6”, short range, shoot make 5 hits and 5 casualties on Horse Archers 1, who pass morale test and stand. Mounted Knights declare charge against Horse Archers 2, who respond with a withdraw action. Knights fall short of charge, but pass Maneuver Test and aren’t disordered.

Turks: Horse Archer 1 declares charge on Crossbowmen, who respond with point-blank volley, inflicting 6 casualties, causing the Horse Archers to become disordered and fail in their charge. Horse Archer 2 turns around, shoots at mounted knights, inflicting one casualty. Ghulum declare charge on Mounted Knights, who respond by Turning to Receive the Charge, avoiding a flank attack. The charge hits home, both the Knights and the Ghulum take 1 casualty in the fighting and remain locked in melee. The melee continues in the melee phase, in which both the knights and ghulum receive 1 more casualty.

Panic Morale Phase: Horse Archer 1 unit fails morale test because of disorder and turns to flee.

Turn 3 (Crusaders win initiative)

Crusaders: Crossbowmen stand and shoot double volley inflicting 6 casualties on the Arrow Supply Unit, causing disorder. Pilgrims charge Horse Archer 2 who use Point Blank Shot to inflict 3 casualties, causing the charge to fail when the Pilgrims fall into disorder. The Dismounted Knights declare a charge against the Arrow Supply, but fall woefully short and fall into disorder. The Mounted Knights and Ghulum continue melee, each receiving 1 casualty.

Turks: Arrow Supply can’t clear disorder because Commander stand is too far away. Horse Archer 1 likewise can’t rally and flees in Panic. Horse Archer 2 double shoots Pilgrims, inflicting 1 more casualty. The melee continues: Knights inflict 3 casualties, Ghulum inflict 2 casualties.

Turn 4 (Crusaders win initiative)

Crusaders: Pilgrims and Dismounted Knights remain disordered. Crossbowmen shoot at Horse Archer 2, but inflict no damage, and arrows become depleted. Melee continues but neither Knights nor Ghulum inflict damage.

Turks: Horse Archers 2 charge Pilgrims, each of whom inflict 1 casualty. Another Knight vs. Ghulum melee round: Ghulum inflict 1 casualty, Knights inflict 2 casualties.

Panic Morale: Arrow Supply and Pilgrims fail morale checks and begin to flee.

Turn 5: (Crusaders win initiative)

Crusaders: the crossbowmen declare charge on Horse Archer 2, who respond with point blank shot which inflicts 3 casualties and disorders the crossbowmen and stops the charge, but which depletes the arrows of the Horse Archers. The Knights/Ghulum melee finally ends when the Knights inflict 4 casualties, destroying the Ghulum.

Turks: the Horse Archers 2 decide to take the prudent course and move away. Battle is over.

What I learned from the Play-test:

• I do need to increase the Horse Archers from 2 to 3 figures per stand. They needed a little bit more punch.
• I need to decrease the number of crossbows from 6 to 5 per stand, they were a little more dangerous than I wanted them to be.
• Ghulum and Knights were perfect, their extended melee is just what I wanted to see.
• I made a dozen or so clarifications and modifications to the rules set when questions came up in the course of the battle.
• I decreased Pilgrims from 8 per stand to 7, since they were a bit more threatening (although they did not actual harm) than I had wanted them to be.
• I really did enjoy the system of Charge/Response.
• Man, you have to keep your troops near their commander stand, if you don’t, if they get disordered, they're done. The scheme is to have 1 commander stand out of every 4 stands on the board.
• In the actual game, I’ll be drawing cards for each commander to go as an initiative system. But since there were only 2 commanders in this game, I just rolled dice, and in 5 rounds the Crusader commander rolled higher every single time. GOD WILLS IT!