2C04 Meander Valley (Late December 1147)
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The Battle of the Meander took place in December 1147, during the Second Crusade. The French crusader army, led by Louis VII of France, successfully fended off an ambush by the Seljuks of Rum at the Meander River.
The Turks launched a particularly heavy ambush as the Crusaders attempted to finally cross the river. They used their usual tactic of attacking and then quickly retreating before the enemy could regroup and counter-attack. On this occasion however, Louis had already placed his strongest knights to the front, side and rear, allowing these tough troops to engage the Turks before they could do much damage. The Turks suffered heavy casualties, although many were able to escape back into the mountains on their swift horses.
War Council
Seljuq Turks Army
• Leader: Mesud I
• 5 Command Cards
• 4 Inspired Actions tokens
• Move First 
Crusaders Army
• Leader: Louis VII of France
• 6 Command Cards
• 4 Inspired Actions tokens
Victory
8 Banners
• Each HKC is worth 2 banners
Special Rules
• The river hexes represent Meander River. The river is impassable except at the fords.
• All Seljuq Turk Medium and Heavy cavalry units are armed with bows. No need to place bow markers. Some Light Cavalry are armed with bows. Use the proper bow and non-bow Light Cavalry blocks for these different units.
• Seljuk Units retreat, feign retreat and evade towards the closest Rally Point. In event of a tie, the Turk player chooses.
The retreat distance is as normal, but the path must always shorten the distance to the Rally Point marker. If the unit cannot so shorten the distance, it loses a block for each retreat hex it cannot fulfill. When a unit can retreat legally, toward its Rally Point, without taking block losses, it must take this retreat path instead of a retreat path where a block loss would occur