The Project Begins

I've been teaching something new this term at work.  Well, to be honest, nothing I teach is ever really new, but as they say, it's new to me.   We've been reading the Gesta Francorum, one of the earliest histories of the First Crusade.  I know that we're supposed to sneer at the Crusades these days, but the First Crusade is really an awesome story filled with interesting dudes and events.


In any case, I've made up my mind to work up a miniatures game re-enacting the Battle of Dorylaeum from 1097,  one of the few major battles of the First Crusade that wasn't a siege.   So, over the last few days, I've sent out orders for a ton of 1/72 scale plastic figures suitable for 11th century knights and Turks, ordered an Osprey book on the campaigns of the First Crusade, ordered a bunch of tents to make the baggage camps, and a special brand of glue that's supposed to work well on soft plastic.


My plan is to start working up the rules now, while the figures slowly start to trickle in.  And then start painting and basing figures from now through New Years.   Hopefully, I can get the project more or less finished by January sometime.   I'd like to run the battle a few times at home for play test purposes, and then finally haul it into school and run it as an afterschool event after mid-term exams are done.   If it goes well, I might even do it twice.


I decided on 1/72 plastic because the figures are reasonably priced (48 foot or 12 horse for $9 to $14 depending on the manufacturer) and both light and non-fragile making it easier to haul the battle into school.    15mm lead figures would have been another possibility, but that's getting super-small for my old eyes and they are slightly more expensive that the plastics and less resistant to jostling.


My plan for the rules is to have each unit of troops to be mounted on a 3x5 base.   The number of men glued to the base is the number of attacks the unit can make.  Each unit will have a "Character Sheet" and a number of hit points, saves, morale and special powers based on historical performance.   Players will have one unit with a historical figure commander (Bohemund, Tancred etc) and 1-2 other units to control.


Right now, I'm thinking that the Turks will have mostly units of Horse Archers with 2 figures per stand, with a few Medium lancer units with 3 figures, maybe with a few stands of infantry to guard the camp.   The crusaders will have several Mounted Knight stands with 3 figures per stand, and various infantry stands with 4-8 figures for each stand.


They key to getting the historical battle right is to make the Knights highly resistant to arrow fire, even more so if they dismount, but the men-at-arms and "pilgrims" to be incredibly vulnerable to the arrow fire.  The Turks on the other hand, have a very easy time of avoiding melee combat, but if they do engaged, the knights should clobber them.


There should be a rough stalemate between the knights and horse archers, the deciding factor comes from the fact that Crusader reinforcements are continuously showing up, and how each side deals with their arrival and maneuver being the key.