MT06 Crusades

I’d be interested to plough on if eligible.

US Semi-Final JR vs Justin, Sarmada 1119

Game 1
Justin (Artuqid Turks) -   Banners won:  6   Blocks Lost: 26
JR  (Crusaders)           -   Banners won: 7   Blocks Lost:  23

I started off as the Crusaders, and looking at the situation I felt I had to charge headlong into that mass of bowmen before Justin shot me to pieces.  Even so, I was already down two Turcopole units before I drew a sword, thanks to Retreat & Panic (more on that later).  Guy de Frenelle led a Mounted Charge on the center-right that caused some damage, though I took some in return.  Justin replied with Clash of Shields, in which we each lost a unit.  

  Well timed

I followed with *another* Mounted Charge, killing an LBC and an MBC, but rode straight into a Heavy Cavalry Ambush with Guy's weakened knights.  Justin didn't quite kill me, allowing Guy to inflict four hits to wipe out the full-strength ambushers.  My Geoffrey the Monk's  knights killed another full strength Heavy Cav, and then rode down a Turkic leader on the bonus close combat.

I was up 6-3 in banners but I had vulnerabilities across the board. Il-Ghazi led his retinue against one of my HKCs, eliminating it, and then wiped out a weakened Medium Cavalry with the bonus attack.  Geoffrey caught a leader-led LBC against the board edge, unable to evade, but I only reduced it.

  The story of the game

Justin's next turn saw hapless Guy ridden down by light bowmen to make it 6-6, while Il-Ghazi went after Geoffrey.  He inflicted two step losses, but Geoffrey's knights killed one step in return, and Il-Ghazi fell on the leader check.  A very tight, hard-fought game, but destroying two full strength units on single rolls was shocking and clearly the difference.

  Geoffrey delivers the word of God

Game 1
Justin (Crusaders) -   Banners won:  2   Blocks Lost: 30
JR  (Artuqid Turks) -   Banners won: 7   Blocks Lost:  14

On the return game, I opened with a massive Line Command, showering the Crusaders with arrows.  Justin burned an Inspired Action token to save a Turcopole from a fatal retreat, and lost five steps total.  He pulled his weakened units off the line, even risking a Retreat & Panic roll to get Geoffrey's two-step knights out of the kill zone.  

  Now *that's* a Line Command

Justin then came forward with Mounted Charge, and we traded charges as my heavies battled his knights in the center.  Il-Ghazi died again, this time as his unit died and he tried to flee through a Crusader MC unit.  

I played a Leadership card to finish off Roger's HKC and kill Roger himself, and wiped out a weakened medium cav unit with the bonus attack, while my medium bowmen reduced Guy's retinue to a single step, easy pickings for follow-up by Turkish heavies.  I was up 5-2, so Justin really had to make hay and fast.

A lone Turkish heavy cav unit was deep in Crusader territory, so Justin surrounded it with a three-unit order.  He led with fresh heavy infantry coming off the back line.  They inflicted two hits, but were wiped out to a man on my battle-back, the fourth single-roll annihilation of the evening.  Some understandably reluctant Crusader medium cavalry tried their hand and whiffed, and like their comrades, fell on the return roll for a 7-2 Turkish victory.

  It's a trap!

The Field of Blood certainly lived up to its name.  My dice were white hot while Justin struggled to inflict a hit.  In the first game he threw 19 leader-directed dice at Guy over one stretch and only inflicted a single loss.  Meanwhile, he had four fresh units go to the graveyard on single rolls.  Between us we lost five leaders over the two games.  I think it's a very asymmetric situation, an extreme example of Crusader melee strength versus Turkish ranged firepower, but the Turks have some punch of their own with their heavy cav.  I was lucky to win the first game but I the second is more representative of how it should play out IMO.  The Retreat & Panic rule alone puts the Crusaders at risk from the very beginning.

Re Retreat & Panic, we weren't sure if the Crusader could opt to retreat a unit into friendly units instead of to the board edge, accepting the losses for failure to flee the full distance, and risk the Retreat & Panic die roll.  However, Justin found some references in the Ancients forum on BGG, indicating you had to retreat as far as possible.  That seemed to be the spirit of the rule but it's not clearly clear.

  Retreat & Panic conundrum

A fun evening, much more so for me than for Justin, but I'm sure he'll get his chance for revenge down the road.





 



 

jrtracy wrote:

Re Retreat & Panic, we weren't sure if the Crusader could opt to retreat a unit into friendly units instead of to the board edge, accepting the losses for failure to flee the full distance, and risk the Retreat & Panic die roll.  However, Justin found some references in the Ancients forum on BGG, indicating you had to retreat as far as possible.  That seemed to be the spirit of the rule but it's not clearly clear.

 

Retreat & Panic conundrum

 

boardgamegeek.com/thread/3565764/article/46530963#46530963

(RB) Perhaps the best answer on how to resolve this issue can be found in the Commands & Colors Medieval rule booklet on page 14.

"When a unit can retreat legally, toward its controlling player’s baseline, without taking block losses, it must take this retreat path instead of a retreat path where a block loss would occur."
(RB) The retreat path in the above example to the left is the correct retreat path that must be taken... resulting in eliminating the unit.

"When a unit cannot retreat because its retreat path is occupied by units (regardless if friend or foe), an enemy Leader that is alone in a hex, or it is forced to retreat off the battlefield or onto a hex that has impassable terrain, one block must be removed from the unit for each hex of the mandated retreat movement that the unit cannot fulfill."
(RB) Because the Turcopole Light Cavalry unit must retreat 4 hexes, even if the unit had no other retreat path possible and only the retreat path to take was the example to the right, the unit would still be eliminated having to complete a 4 hex retreat so there would be no Panic roll...
 

Euro/Others SF Sarmada G1
Turks. SteveT. 9 banners taken, 17 blocks lost
Crusaders. Togan. 2 banners taken, 34 blocks lost
I had great cards and good dice, opening with two line commands peppering Togan’s crusaders – the Turkopoles fled the field, and the knights, preferring not to be turned further into pin cushions, charged forward to be engulfed by my hordes. The battle ended with the Turks mopping up some medium infantry and riding down Geoffrey the monk before he could reach his lines. 
Euro/Others SF Sarmada G2
Turks. Togan. 4 banners taken, 14 blocks lost
Crusaders. Steve T. 3 banners taken, 18 blocks lost
I used one of my Inspired Tokens to prevent a Turcopole from fleeing the field before the initial Turkish arrowfire, and then, hoping to get to three banners quickly, foolishly used the other on a mounted charge at the Turkish right centre – leaving me with no tokens and the mounted charge repulsed with damage. Togan’s Turks attacked my weakened right flank, taking two banners and killing poor Geoffrey again. I replied with Command Right, surrounding a Turkish MBC with ldr – but the massed infantry and MC attacks were beaten off with the loss of one Crusader infantry unit. Guy’s knights were more successful, destroying a trapped and weakened LBC and then a weakened HC, with ldr. The score was thus 4-3 and Togan conceded the match.

Thanks to Togan for a great match. He was heading to an easy win in the second game.
One question that came up - ldr escape through enemy units: are the dice rolled adjusted for bonuses (in this case a mounted charge - ie should it have been 2 or 3 dice from the LBC)? It wouldn't have changed the match result but would be good to know.

EURO Semi-Final (Saracens)

Game 1
Michal (Turks) 7 banners
Javelinthrower (Crusaders) 3 banners

Fast game; after initial range attack by Turks, Crusaders immediately attacked only to be repelled by another mounted charge. Super difficult for Crusaders with the hand I had.

Game 2Michal (Crusaders) 4 banners, 27 blocks lost
Javelinthrower (Turks) 7 banners, 19 blocks lost

Crazy game; if you look at dice rolls you will see. Initially everything seemed like a total victory for Turks but slowly and steadily my Crusaders caught up. In the end minimal victory in banners, but enough to move to next round.

Thanks to Ivan for two great games and flexibility in scheduling them!

 

Division 3 Semi-Finals

Game 1

• Kandras78 (Saracen)  4 banners won, 28 blocks lost
• lunacab (Crusader)      7 banners won, 26 blocks lost

The Saracens opened the battle with ranged attacks, but their efforts proved largely ineffective. Surrounded, the Crusaders launched a bold frontal cavalry charge. The gamble paid off: despite the Saracens’ attempts to counter, the charge broke through and could hardly be contained. In two turns, the Crusaders reinforced their momentum by bringing infantry from the right flank to support the cavalry. Step by step, they inflicted mounting damage, eventually collapsing that side of the Saracen line.
In the end, the result was unexpected. Extreme luck favored the Crusaders, both in card draws and dice rolls, while the Saracens suffered from poor fortune. What unfolded was a one-sided contest.

 
 


Game 2

• lunacab (Saracen)        7 banners won, 24 blocks lost
• Kandras78 (Crusader)  4 banners won, 31 blocks lost

The Saracens opened the battle with ranged attacks, which initially stalled the Crusaders’ advance on their right flank. Although the Crusaders managed to recover and push forward, their attempts to crush the Turkish forces on that side met only partial success, leaving the contest evenly matched. Meanwhile, the Turks advanced steadily on the opposite flank. They cycled their damaged units to the rear, regrouped effectively, and wore down the Crusader army step by step. The Crusaders’ repeated offensives on their right flank were checked by ambushes and counterattacks, preventing any breakthrough. At the same time, the Turks pressed relentlessly against the already weakened Crusader left flank, gradually overwhelming it with direct assaults.Ultimately, the outcome felt consistent with the historical balance of the battle. The Turks benefited from stronger cards and dice rolls—though not as spectacularly decisive as in the previous match—giving them an additional upper hand.
 
Huge thanks to Kandras. Despite being on the truly unlucky side of the games, he kept his spirits high throughout. An absolute pleasure to play with.

Sarmada SF Interglobal

Game 1:
TTC      (Turks)       7
David I (Crusaders) 5

Game 2:
David I  (Turks)        4 (7 conceded)
TTC.    (Crusaders)  0 

As in some others’ matches we were unfamiliar with the panic rules & this led to a Turcopole unit erroneously surviving an arrow storm early on. The same unit did not survive in the second encounter. This may have been the difference because although, having played 3 two hour sessions, TTC conceded in a difficult spot as the crusaders, when I played it out they finished up with 4 banners.

Crusaders formed a solid line in game 1 with an early Command Center & crossbowmen were able to do a lot of solid work. A charge in the centre by the Turks, provoked another against some temptingly confined LBC on the Turkish left. Contact was made between the armies and Clash of Shields appeared and saw off the Franks. 

Accurate archery made life very difficult for the crusaders in game 2 and crossbows didn’t feature. No less than three Cry Havocs for Treb resulted in only 5 units being orderable to attack. 

I look forward to our next meeting. 

 

I’d say no for Mounted Charge (+1 in initiall CC) but maybe for Leaders (battle with 1 additional die). Is hunting a leader battle? On reflection, I don’t think so. One couldn’t use a BFA Battle Bonus during a leader evasion.

David,

I assume this is a reply to the question at the end of Post 1175.

From the rules on Leader Escape: 

"Move the Leader onto one of the enemy occupied hexes. Allow the enemy unit in the hex to battle the Leader. The attacking unit uses its normal number of Close Combat dice. The Leader does not benefit from terrain if any in the hex."

I think the 3rd sentence ties into the last and does not preclude any battle bonus via card or battle bonus benefits.

From the rules on when a Lone Leader is targeted:

"When an unattached Leader is alone in a hex and is attacked by Ranged or Close Combat, the attacking unit rolls its normal number of battle dice."

For Leader Escape, the leader does not benefit from terrain, but for Ranged or Close combat a Leader does - I guess.

As a Leader can be attacked, I would think any die roll bonuses would apply including a Battle Bonus from an Inspired Action Token. I would think a Leader block is not only represents the Leader but also a small bodyguard detachment which is caught would put up a small fight / battle.