Two successful breakouts for the Crusaders, although Balian was struck down in the second game. Despite Balian's fall in the second game, Joscelin ran to the rescue and commanded the medium infantry in a full retreat, getting all 5 units plus the Turcoupoles off the board. Balian fell leading his knights to victory, smashing unit after unit and the two damaged units of knights sat on the flank blocking off all Ayyubid moves to get through.
Despite the Crusader escapes, one has to assume the rest of the Crusader command left behind gets massacred?
We found it an easy run for the Crusaders as the Ayyubids are so spread across the right and left flanks, they don't have enough cards or tokens to do any real harm. Without the ability to conduct bonus archery effects (Darken the Skies, Hit and Run, etc) or a mass of move "everyone" right or left, most Ayyubid troops fail to conduct any action for the entire game.
We also found the "Panic" rule actually helped the Crusaders as it was worth taking the retreat(s) for a 1-in-6 chance of a hit, because it gets them that much closer to the baseline and, potentially, off the board. The rule is not harsh enough.
