Battle of Antioch AAR

 

So for the next crusades game I decided to do the battle of Antioch. 

Antioch is a really interesting game due to the disparity in numbers and the discovery of the Holy Lance which is a key feature of the battle.

In 1098 The Crusaders had captured the city of Antioch, they then found themselves besieged by a much superior enemy force. The crusader army fell into despair.

However a certain Peter Bartholomew had a vision of a holy relic buried in the floor of a church in the city. Following two days of excavations an ancient spearhead was found. This was identified as the spear with which the centurion Longinus pierced the body of Christ on the cross and therefore a holy relic of immense power and significance.

The discovery was made amidst huge rejoicing and morale in the Christian camp soared to fanatical levels. The Crusaders made a further attempt to negotiate with their Saracen besiegers, and when these negotiations failed the Christian forces sallied out of the city to give battle.

Knights, peasants, noble ladies, camp followers picked up whatever weapons they could find and followed the Holy Lance into battle. With the Holy Lance at their head The Crusaders were filled with fanatical zeal and the Saracen army despite being a much larger force was routed.

So for this game we obviously needed for some special rules. I decided that all of the crusader force would benefit from the morale classification of fanatic. They would have only one unit of cavalry of which the Crusaders were very short in this engagement.

Victory conditions as usual would be that the side which lost over 50% of its bases first would be the loser. In addition if The Crusaders succeeded in killing the Saracen commander they would automatically win the game. If the Saracens captured the Holy Lance, then a dice roll would determine whether the Christians were demoralised or became immune to any moral test whatsoever.

In terms of forces the Christians had 10 units totalling 40 bases, the Saracens had 15 units totalling 60 bases. I also gave the Christians 2 catapults located in the city itself to provide off table artillery support. This was not historical but intended to ensure that the Saracens did not just hang back and shoot.

The Christians formed up in a compact block whereas the Saracens were in a long line which looked very formidable compared with the small number of westerners opposed to them. The Crusaders move forward as quickly as they could as the Saracens predictably peppered them with arrows and began to threaten the flanks of their formation.

In response the Christians opened out their formation to form a kind of crescent to guard their flanks as the Saracens moved in to threaten with their cavalry.

Stung by the Saracen archery fire the Christian flanks were first to engage charging the Saracen cavalry. In the centre the Saracens hung back for a couple of terms loosing arrows before throwing caution to the winds and charging the holy order Knights.

The whole battle had deteriorated into a huge melee and ford the first couple of turns the Christians were very much having the best of it knocking over Saracen units left right and centre. Cross versus Crescent, broadsword versus scimitar, east versus West, sound of the eternal struggle between cultures could be heard as far away as Baghdad.

However as in previous battles it was the crusader light troops which proved to be their weakness. In order to try to prevent the Saracens surrounding them they were forced to put crossbowmen and peasants on the flanks, and despite the fanatic morale light armour of these troops made them very vulnerable. The Saracens seems knocked over the peasants like nine pins and broke through the right flank of the crusader army

By this stage in the game The Crusaders were winning on the left flank where their cavalry had driven everything before them, the Knights in the centre had taken significant casualties but were nevertheless victorious, it was only on the right flank that the crusader army was in danger of collapse.

 At this point we carry out a count of bases, finding that the crusaders had lost 20 bases out of 40, the Saracen had lost 32 out of 60. The Crusaders had won! Hurrah! Deus Vult! Tired and bloodied crusaders raised their weapons to the skies in exaltation!

History had been repeated and inspired by the Holy Lance the Crusaders had defeated a numerically superior force.

Round 2

The Neil Thomas rules produced a quick game and we had only been playing for a couple of hours. 

We had both enjoyed the game so much that we agreed to play on for another hour and see what happened. 

As the crusader general I was feeling pretty confident at this point, but as is often the case my confidence exceeded my ability!

I was not surprised to see the right flank of the crusader army now collapse under attacks of Saracen cavalry and infantry, the crossbowmen faltered and the last unit of knights went down gloriously.

On the left flank the single crusader cavalry unit, which definitely won the title of man of the match, on this occasion continued to carry everything before it.

However in the centre, disaster!

A series of unlucky dice rolls led to the crusader centre collapsing and the Holy Lance fell into the hands of the Saracens! Oh the shame of it! 

We duly rolled the dice to see how this would affect the morale of the crusader army and found that they were dispirited and reverted to their normal morale status.

I was feeling quite dispirited as well and turned the left flank of the crusader army to try to recover the Holy Lance. The Saracen commander led his last cavalry reserve to prevent this move and the cavalry of both sides clashed in melee. The crusader commander-in-chief joined in this struggle to try to strike down the Saracen leader.

Very chivalrously the Saracen leader, who could have withdrawn from the melee, refused to do so, and on the second turn of combat he and his bodyguard were defeated and killed by the mounted holy order Knights under the crusader commander-in-chief.

This meant that the Saracens automatically lost the battle, but they had captured the Holy Lance. 

What happened to the holy relic, did the fleeing Saracens carry it off, or in a panic did they cast it down to be recovered by the Christians? None could say.

It had been a tremendously exciting battle.

The mark of a good game to me is when the outcome is unpredictable throughout the game and this was certainly the case on this occasion as the advantage see sawed from one side to the other.  

Having a smaller army with fanatical morale facing a much larger army was a really interesting challenge, and the presence of the Holy Lance which is a holy relic of legendary status added extra flavour to the game.

Finally, you might notice that the Saracen army includes some British naval brigade mounted on camels. This is because I only had 6 figures in each of my Supreme camelry units and could not source any more to make the units up to 8 figures each. So the idea was to buy 4 AIP British camelry and convert or replace the riders. However the figures only arrived an hour before the battle so I pressed them into service as they were.

This led to many wry comments from other members of the club as to how having British naval brigade with Martini Henrys would give the Saracens an unfair advantage!

Pics below, not all have captions

Initial set up, the table is 5 by 8

the might of Christendom

Supreme camelry - and naval brigade

The Holy Lance with image of St Longinus

Crusaders fan out

First contact

Melee in the centre

Crusader right flank

Want my flag? Come and get it!

Peasants briefly fill the gap

Irresistible Crusader knights

Weak Crusader right flank

Crusader left flank at the end of Round 1

Round 2, the Crusader right flank collapses

The centre holds on

Rival commanders clash

The Holy Lance about to be captured

The Saracen commander falls in battle

54mm Battle of Dorylaeum refight

 

For the next crusades game I decided that we would re-enact the battle of Dorylaeum from the first crusade in 1097 AD.

This is very interesting scenario, which presents tactical problems to both sides. The Crusaders were marching in three contingents, the first of which was attacked by overwhelming numbers of Saracens, the second two contingents came up in support and the Saracens were eventually defeated.

As before we used the Neil Thomas rules but I have tweaked the army lists from the last game.

The lead contingent of crusaders under Bohemond consisted of four units, two of men at arms and two of Knights. These were surrounded by overwhelming numbers of Saracens both horse and foot. The relief force started at the far end of the table, the cavalry in front and the foot behind.

The game started with the Saracens trying to whittle down the surrounded crusaders by missile fire, however when this had little impact they charged in and the Crusaders were soon surrounded by an absolute sea of Saracens.

The cavalry contingent of the relief force charged off ahead of the infantry, desperate to come to sword strokes and relieve their beleaguered brethren. The Saracen general detailed his cavalry to intercept.

A mighty struggle between the two cavalry contingents now ensued, with The Crusaders having the upper hand but not able to break through. In fact the swirling cavalry melee blocked most of the relieving crusader infantry from coming forward. The exception was some light troops on either flank who made their way past the cavalry melee to try to relieve Bohemond’s troops.

This turned out to be a really bad idea, as the light troops were promptly blocked and wiped out by Saracen infantry.

The unit of peasants was annihilated without inflicting a single casualty!

Meanwhile Bohemond’s contingent were on a very sticky wicket as we say in England. The men at arms had all fallen, and only knights were left standing. However the Templar Knights revelled in the face of overwhelming odds and with loud cries of “Deus Vult” cut down any Saracen unwise enough to come too close.

By now the cavalry of the relief force had defeated their opponents and the way was clear for them to sweep through with knight Templar infantry support to relieve the first contingent which from a starting strength of 16 bases had now been reduced to three.

However this came too late. A count of bases last showed that both sides had now lost over 50% of their bases and were technically broken. The Crusaders had had exceeded the 50% margin by more than the Saracens and therefore the game was judged to be a draw with the advantage to the Saracens.

It had been a tremendously exciting game and right up to the end it wasn't clear which side was going to win.

In summary the Saracen general did everything right and the crusader general – me - did everything wrong.

The Saracen general used his cavalry to block the relieving crusader forces which meant that much of the crusader army never even made it into contact, and as he was able to take advantage of his numbers to overwhelm crusader units.

The crusader general however played the game very historically.

The headlong charge of the crusader cavalry without waiting for the infantry is typical of many battles of the period. Often this tactic worked, just as often it fell disastrously.

Overall it was an excellent game and we are looking forward to the next game which is likely to be the battle of Antioch.

54mm crusades wargame

 This game was played using the following figures. saracen infantry are all Britains made in England or in Hong Kong. the ones made in Hong Kong are cheaper to buy on eBay because they are of less interest to collectors but they're actually better painted. saracen cavalry again are Britains with the exception of the camelry which are Supreme and word purchased from Hobby Bunker in the USA.

the crusader cavalry is all Timpo foot knights Timpo and other infantry is either airfix or an anonymous modern Chinese manufacturer.

I bought most of these figures in quite large lots on eBay UK they actually work out cheaper than buying 28 millimetre metal figures and they come ready painted and can just go on the table.

for this game I used the Neil Thomas ancient and medieval wargaming rules but I did make a number of amendments to these.

The Crusaders had 13 units and the Saracens had 15 units, it was a straight up battle.

Saracens took the first turn and were inclined to see what the Crusaders would do however when the crusader crossbowmen open fire and caused some casualties this stung with the Saracens into advancing as quickly as they could. as soon as they came into range they opened up with a volley of arrows along the line which inflicted a sprinkling of casualties on the Crusaders.

The Crusaders retaliated by attacking the saracen cavalry on both wings.

the infantry lines now advanced towards each other continuing to trade arrows and crossbow bolts. one of the crusader crossbow units was quickly illuminated by missile fire.

the lines clashed, the better armour and morale of the crusader Knights started to tell, however the saracen made use of gaps in the crusader line to carry out of flank charges wherever they could. These flank charges did not seem to bother the Templar Knights in slightest.

after a couple of rounds of melee it became clear that the Crusaders were prevailing. on the crusader left flank they had been unable to break through the saracen cavalry, however on the right flank they had broken through and were ready to sweep around and take the saracen army in the rear. at this point we did a count of bases lost and found that the Saracens had lost over 50% of their bases and therefore the Crusaders had won. also they had lost all three of their army commanders in combat.

it was a really good game and using the Neil Thomas rules was played out in only a couple hours.

in retrospect the Saracens probably needed a couple more units to even up the odds and would have benefited from a larger table where they could have used the superior whenever mobility of their cavalry.

The two armies face each other

Supreme camelry

Britains Saracens

Saracen left flank

Crusader right flank

Templars and crossbows

Crusaders sweep forward

Saracen countercharge

Anonymous chinese made crossbowmen

General view of the Crusaders

Clash of cavalry

The opposing generals face each other

The peasants are converted chinese figures

Crusader general gets stuck in

Templars are flanked - they don't care

Looking sticky for the Saracens

Crusader cavalry break through on the right flank

AWM rules and lists for Crusades

Crusaders

Holy order mounted knights – armour 4+, morale elite

Holy order foot knights – armour 4+, morale elite

Crusading mounted knights – armour 4+, morale average

Crusading foot knights – armour 4+, morale average

Men at arms – armour 5+, average morale, medieval infantry

Crossbowmen – armour 6, average morale, heavy archers

Crusading peasants – armour 6+, morale levy.

Artillery – as the rules, fires in alternate turns.

Saracens

Guard cavalry on camels – armour 4+, morale elite, heavy cavalry

Standard Saracen cavalry – armour 5+, morale average, heavy cavalry

Saracen infantry – armour 5+, morale average, medieval infantry. Move as warband.

Greek fire throwers – D3 automatic hits no save in the first round of combat.

Changes to the standard rules

Crossbowmen – may move ½ and fire;

Saracen infantry and cavalry – may move and fire bows; 1 bow shot per 2 bases in a unit rounding down.

Saracen cavalry may move and turn without penalty. They may fire after moving. They may withdraw from combat with crusader cavalry in the second and subsequent rounds. Standard Saracen cavalry move as light cavalry.

Commanders – Saracen units with a commander count as one morale level higher. Crusader units gain an extra dice in combat.