Round 3 game result:
Saracen (gdnuke) 6 banners won and 19 blocks lost (Saracen victory)
Crusader (hank) 2 banners won and 27 blocks lost
Tough day for the Crusaders. They have 5 cards vs 6 and a vulnerable initial deployment. Nothing they can't overcome with their 4 HKCs (each with a leader attached) and a couple of those dangerous medium Crossbowmen, but they do need some good cards and some good dice. Hank played a good solid game, but outside of a Foot Onslaught card, a couple Inspired Leaderships, and a couple Counterattacks that let him use some of my good cards, his cards and dice just were not there. The Seljuq cavalry evaded a lot, hit on ranged shots, hit on Parthian shots, and hit hard in close combat when they risked it. I rolled probably the best dice I ever have in a single C&C game of any time period. The Seljuqs also used an inspired special action to rally 5 blocks out of 6 possible (another "that never happens" die roll) to bolster a HBC, MBC, and LBC that had been severely mauled on the Crusader left. The Crusaders killed off 2 Seljuq LBCs on the Crusader right, but the Seljuq numbers, speed, and good initial deployment were too much when they had better cards and far luckier dice as well. Interestingly, there were no leaders killed, no First Strikes, no Cavalry Charges, and no Ambushes for either side.
This was a fun game with a new opponent. The best thing about these tourneys is meeting good guys across the battlefield who you would play again anytime.
