101 Nicaea - 16 May 1097 (Outside the South Gate)

Historical Background
Nicaea, Kilij Arslan’s capital and home to...

101 Nicaea - 16 May 1097 (Outside the South Gate)

Historically an easy Crusader win.
Looks the same for this scenario.
The Turks should get crushed from 2 sides by those all those HKC.

We played that game twice, and we recorded two crusaders wins - although he first one was not so easy!

Report here:  LINK: First Crusade via C&C Medieval – Part 1 – Nicaea (1097 AD)

 

We played this for the first time without knowing all the rules well.  A really grinding game, but the crusaders eventually won 5-3; but it was closer than it might seem.  I have a question though.  What is the purpose of the gate compound in the corner.  Do the Crusaders attack it to get VPs for the men inside?  Is it just to set the mood.  Most scenarios with a wall, camp, fort, have VPs attached.  But there are none stated in this scenario.  Any thoughts?

the difficulty of having an enemy in your rear.
As Crusader I tended to leave them alone, and if they venture outside to attack them, but other wise move away from the impassable city walls.

ok, thanks. In our game my Crusader opponent attacked the gate and force it open. But in the end, he lost a unit doing so. I just was not sure the purpose.

Time to find out how this expansion works and play the first scenario. I used the CDG Solo Pack #2 to provide some ‘fog of war’ for my solitaire game.

The first move of any consequence was for the Turks to play a “Cry Havoc” card and pepper the Crusaders with arrows. An ‘Inspired Battlefield Action’, “Shower Shooting”, gave extra dice to the Medium cavalry on the Turkish right flank. They missed, though the Lights in the centre did some damage among the Crusader ranks.

After some more shooting, the cavalry on the Crusader right flank attacked. However, their Light opponents were able to Evade with minimal damage – a standard rule in Ancients and Medieval is that lighter units can run away from heavier ones (and cavalry from infantry). The Turks persevered with their archery, finally getting a hit on the Knights on the Crusaders’ left.

A “Leaders” card got all the Crusader Knights moving, but they did little damage. The Turks continued to chip away at the Crusaders with their bows before a “Forward” card let the Crusaders continue to attack with the Knights. On the left, the Knights trapped a Turkish Light and eliminated them. And then took out a Medium unit on their right, their Leader falling with them. Suddenly the score is 3:0 to the Crusaders.

The Fate die gave the Crusaders few options for a couple of turns, allowing the Turks to get back in the fight. Archers on their left flank finished off some Knights and then a Medium unit in the centre eliminated a Crusader Medium. That’s 3:2.

The Crusaders finally had the opportunity to use their “Leadership” card and two Knights removed the Turks’ sole Heavy cavalry: 4:2. “Leadership” is a prime opportunity to use ‘Inspired Leadership’ tokens, but I’d used up both sides’ supply in earlier turns.

The Turks had their own “Leadership” card and used it to rally a Medium unit and finish off another bunch of Knights for 4:3. However, the Crusaders then administered the coup de grâce as Knights chased down and eliminated a Medium unit for the fifth banner.

It took me nearly three hours to play the 16 or so turns of this game. I blame my need to keep consulting the reference sheets and look up rules. And I realised early on that the game does not, like other C&C games, provide reference sheets for the effects of terrain. That’s one of the things I had to keep looking up in the rules.

I’ve also posted this on my BGG blog (with pictures!): boardgamegeek.com /blogpost/191878