MT06 Crusades

2nd Ramla

John of York (Saracen)  6 banners won, 21 blocks lost     
Hank (Crusader) 4 banners won, 18 blocks lost

An early Crusader Isp Leader Mounted Charge hit my left and takes out both AB units, but I am able to eliminate one HKC in my turn. Baldwin escapes a 1d LC and a 3d evade and is able to join a MC and get back into battle. I lose a MC and a MI and trial 1 to 4. I try to cutoff the Burgendy Leader and do so when the 1 block MC with Baldwin is eliminated in spite of a Crusader FIRST STRIKE. But three ineffective attacks on Burgendy's HKC only get 1 hit with 10 dice. The Crusaders can only attack with Burgendy's unit, and my 1 block MC evades away. My LEADERS card sends in both my HC and a MC but only two attacks are needed as Burgendy's HKC is killed, and he falls with them. My other HC takes out the last of the HKC. A total turn around in the dice but at the most important time as I do not know if I would get another turn.    

Division 2 (Euro)
Round 5, 112 Tel Danith
mk20336 (Seljuk Turks)  8 banners won, 38 blocks lost
Viridovilas (Crusader) 4 banners won, 38 blocks lost

A long, exhausting, bloody and exciting battle in which the luck shined to both sides, there were ups and downs, a double helmet killed leader, over two hours of struggle after which, bit by bit, the Seljuk started to gain advantage (in banners, look at blocks - it was even). Interesting scenario, a lot of tactical options. Thanks to Max for flexibility in scheduling it.


 

2nd Ramla
hussar04 (Saracen)  6 banners won, 20 blocks lost
rjvonline (Crusader) 4 banners won, 10 blocks lost

This was a quick one. The Crusaders opened with a mounted charge, the first HKC killed its target but was then ambushed, reduced to 1 block and Stephen of Burgundy was killed (worth two banners in this game). The other two cavalry units killed one of thier targets. The Fatamids responded with a line command, killing the other HKC as well as Baldwin I, while one of the Fatamid leaders also went down. The Crusaders then made a desperate attack against the weakened Fatamid units, killing one more unit. But the Fatamids played a mounted charge to take down the surviving weakened HKC.
With Crusader leaders worth two banners, losing two leaders early put them in a tough spot, and even though the HKCs inflicted twice as much damage as they took, it wasn't enough.

The probability of having 2 leaders killed in a row with 2-die rolls is (1/36^2) = 0.07%. Enough said

Division 2 (Euro)
Round 1, 108 1st Ramla - 7 September 1101

mk20336 (Fatamid)  6 banners won, 28 blocks lost
soul1st (Crusader) 3 banners won, 21 blocks lost

Very bloody battle for the number of Banners played. When Twan started with pounding my line with Cross-bowmen and then added two Mounted Charges, I saw end of my Fatamids close. But then, in an old-fashioned ganging up way, I started to target individual Knights and picking them one by one.And then the breaking moment came, when 1 bloc MI rolled 3 hits on 3 dice, kidded Knight and Leader. Than it was a downward spiral which led to Fatamid victory. Thanks to Twan for great game!

Round 1, 108 1st Ramla - 7 September 1101

Mark McG (Fatamid) 3 banners won, 26 blocks lost
Hank B. (Crusader) 6 banners won, 16 blocks lost

Round 4 Third Ramla

Fatamids:  George, 3 banners won, 33 blocks lost

Crusaders:  JR, 7 banners won, 19 blocks lost

Back in Ramla, for another tussle between Baldwin and the Fatamids!  As the Crusaders, I had a good starting hand, and opened with Leadership Center Section, spending a token to turn it into Foot Onslaught.  My knights didn't get involved but Baldwin was behind the infantry, giving tactical advice such as "Kill that guy" and "Okay, now kill that guy" - helmet hits along with the +1 die for Onslaught combined to kill two Fatimid units on the first card.

  Coming to grips

George responded with Forward, weakening my heavy foot, and I didn't have a good reply.  He followed up with a Leadership play and turned it into a Foot Onslaught of his own.  George finished off both my heavy foot units, but Baldwin greeted Sena al-Mulk and his heavies with Ambush!, annihilating the unit and sending Sena back to join some well-placed foot. 

  The Fatamids strike back

With a 4-2 banner lead I played Order Heavy Troops, though George had dramatically undercut the power of the card by slaughtering my foot men-at-arms.  I still managed to kill another unit and whittled down a couple more.  George replied with Order Light Troops, a great Fatimid card, killing one unit and peppering several others.  However, I had been saving Line Command for this moment.  My knights overran one unit and reduced another to a single step, which a medium crossbow unit dispatched with a sword hit for my final banner.

  Baldwin was waiting 

Yikes, the Crusaders are scary in this one.  In most situations the Crusader player is struggling to engage, but here you start right on top of each other.  Any Inspired Special Action capable card brings the Crusaders into immediate contact with bone-crunching power.  George suggested the Fatimid should fall back and use their ranged combat advantage as long as possible, and I think he makes a good case.  The seductive allure of my exposed heavy foot (hey now) drew George into a toe-to-toe slugfest on his first card, but it mired him in a situation custom-fit to Crusader advantages.  I reckon this one will play a lot differently as we master the nuances of the Crusader expansion and unique faction abilities.  

  Expert marksmanship

Always fun to play George, and another scenario that looks worthy of a replay.

Division 3 (Interglobal)

Round 2
TTC - 6 banners (27 blocks)
scipio1zama - 3 banners (15 blocks)


After the Crusaders cycled through some bad cards and shrugged off some ineffectual bow attacks, the Fatimids surged forward with light cavalry against the Roman left. Then the Crusaders launched an Inspired Mounted Charge at the Fatimid center, resulting in two quick banners. Heavy fighting continued in the center, as the Fatimids threw all of their cavalry into the fray, often inspired as well. After another Mounted Charge, and assisted by two Crusader First Strikes brought the Crusaders close to victory, a Fatimid counterattack brought them back from down 4-1 to 4-3 - with the Crusaders down to just two weakened units, and unhorsed leaders fleeing alone.

One last attack by the remaining two Crusader units was able to pick off two 1-block Crusaders, resulting in a hard-fought 6-3 victory.

Cheers to my gentlemanly opponent Scipio1zama - it was a pleasure!





 

Round 4 3rd Ramla
Player 1 John of York (Fatamid) 2 banners, 32 blocks lost
Player 2 gonzo (Crusader) 7 banners, 21 blocks lost
John foot onslot with his MI first turn attacking the MXB.  Crusaders responded leadership with Mounted Charge.  There were only 2 MI left for the Fatamid Clash of Shields.  The 2 MXB died, but the Crusader HKs ran wild for the win.  Thanks to my buddy John for always a lively game.
 

Round 4 -- 3rd Ramla

EZPickins (Fatimid) - 3 banners won; 33 figures lost
gotigerssc (Crusaders) - 7 banners won; 16 figures lost

On turn one I had the luckiest sequence of rolls anyone could have in a C&C game - two leader checks with two dice each and both leaders fell. We then had a bunch of heavy fighting on my left flank where I lost three cavalry units and did not eliminate any Fatimid units. The rest of my luck came on my right flank where the game ended with combo of a HKC and MC eliminating three Fatimid cavalry units trapped by the baseline. Fun playing against John!