Just like I did with the base game of Commands & Colors Medieval, I would like to start a series of short, succinct session reports for its great expansion – Crusades. What we shall do is to present in chronological order the scenarios featured in this newest addition to C&C world, presenting historical background, beautiful components, opponents disposition and of course, commenting on the flow of the engagements.

You can count of course on picture-rich session reports, which will allow you to easily follow the events on the board and grasp the key moments of the battles. And honestly – they are simply fun and joy to watch! And btw, if you would like to learn more about this game, check my overview.

So where do we start? Well, the first battle featured by the Crusaders expansion took part not so far away form the Constantinople:

  • 101 Nicaea – 16 May 1097 (Outside the South Gate) – very interesting engagement, where exhausted Crusaders will be attacked while besieging this city. Would the First Crusade finish already in its wake – let us see!

Ok, no time to wait, let us jump to the session reports!

Some of my materials for great Crusaders expansion:

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

Historical background

Nicaea, Kilij Arslan’s capital and home to his treasury, seemed ripe pickings to the massive Frankish horde and on 14 May 1097, Bohemond and the southern Italian Normans made camp before Nicaea’s northern gate, while Godfrey of Bouillon and Robert of Flanders were deployed to the east. The garrison rightly judged that the Turks could not hope to prevail and almost agreed to terms with the emperor’s envoy, but suddenly, changed their minds.

Kilij Arslan had returned from the east! He established contact with the Turks in Nicaea and was camped in the wooded hills to the south of the city. The Crusaders were also made aware of Arslan’s arrival when they captured spies the day before Arslan’s planned attack. On the 16th, Raymond of Toulouse arrived just as Arslan’s forces came pouring out of the hills.

Faced with staunch resistance led by Raymond and Baldwin, and struck in the flank by Robert and Godfrey’s cavalry from the east, the Turkish attack soon faltered. Kilij Arslan fled the field to the south, and the city garrison quickly capitulated.

Session report

To get a good feeling of the expansion, we decided to play this scenario twice, switching the sides. In the end both of us wanted to lead those great knights in shining armor charging on their great horses. Let us see how it went! PS. As always, you can click on each picture to see details.

Game 1

Game set-up of Nicaea scenario. We rolled for sides and I was leading Seljuqs while Lukasz Crusaders. Please note disposition of forces: left-right city of Nicaea with some defenders; bottom-right flanking units of Crusaders. There will be some heavy maneuvering here!
Why not use an opportunity when one arises? After some heavy range fire from my great bowmen, I decided to sally from Nicaea and finish one of the enemies. It paid off!
All the fun though ended when Lukasz managed to gather appropriate set of cards and started to attack my flank. I managed to evade first charge…
But then the knights rode over the hills and charged from them into my flank.
What ensued was a mutual annihilation of cavalry units & leaders; however, that was completely enough for Lukasz – as he was winning on other fronts.
The final situation on the map; as you can see Crusaders not only stormed the Nicaea gate but they wrought complete havoc on my rear, scoring there four points! Congrats to Lukasz!

Game 2

We immediately decided on the re-match. This time it was my turn to lead the knights in shining armor!
Of course we started from some maneuvering, range fire (I had crossbowmen – those are so great!) as well as building proper set of cards. But when all of those initial preparations were done, I decided to act.. Playing “Leaders” card not only allowed me to activate four units, they also benefited from additional dice in combat. The onslaught started!
That was very bloody – I managed to follow-up with several good cards and set my own pace…
…which paid off greatly, as – despite having multiple half-strength units – I pulled of a great results. Unfortunately, Godfrey of Bouillon did not live to see that triumph…

Conclusion

What a dramatic battle! Blood, gruesome affair with leaders falling like flies. When we tallied the the results – looking from various perspectives – these were:

  • Crusaders vs Turks 10:4
  • Michal vs Lukasz 8:6

Just as it finished historically, the Crusaders were decisively victorious; however, it was not without some important losses (like leaders); in case of our (me vs Lukasz) competition, the score was much closer. However, the important fact was that we enjoyed the new expansion greatly, with all new, cool mechanics and units on both sides.

One thing was obvious – we shall continue. More session reports to come!