My historical interest recently started to gravitate heavily towards the Medieval Era – something which I (probably unintentionally) neglected to large extent in the past. This increased focus definitely steamed from the boardgames I am playing intensively lately, which focuses on Crusades (1096-1291)!

As you are probably aware, the Crusades, spanning from 1096 to 1291, were a series of religious wars initiated by the Latin Church to reclaim the Holy Land, primarily Jerusalem, from Muslim rule. The period between 1099 and 1251 specifically covers the early crusades, including the First Crusade, which resulted in the capture of Jerusalem in 1099, and the subsequent establishment of crusader states.

I am always playing the historical games not only for pure fun and enjoyment, but to learn something more. I am digging various sources and media to get more knowledge. In this type of articles (My Passion for History) – rather than goin very deeply into historical events – I am sharing various sources from the popular culture where you can learn much more about Knights in Shining armors fighting for the Holy Land and Cross.

Hopefully you will not only find interesting materials here, but will get inspired to reach for the boardgames connected to the period. Enjoy!

Other articles in the series:
My Passion for History - World War I
My Passion for History – World War II (Operation Overlord & D-Day)
My Passion for History – Ancient Greece (Peloponesian Wars)
My passion for History – together through epochs – Europa Universalis IV
My passion for History – together through epochs – Hearts of Iron IV

The Book

As usually I will start with most classic medium – the books. I find them an indispensable source of knowledge, providing you with insights no digital medium can convey. My two choices are:

Both The Epic of the Crusades by René Grousset and Croisades et Orient Latin (Crusades and the Latin East) by Michel Balard are recognized classics, providing vast amounts of information, details and insights about the Crusades conflicts. They explain the reasons why they started, the progress – with each and every Crusade nicely described – up to the lasting impact they had on the Europe and Middle East. They are definitely worth spending time on!

The Boardgame

As this is a boardgames blog, it is obvious that I will also recommend some titles in that area. Today I would like to present two – although I am aware that there are tons of others. Those two simply have a great appeal to me. One will be on strategic level and the other will touch the tactical aspects.

Kingdom of Heaven from Multi-Man Publishing

This is my biggest boardgame discovery of 2025 – and that many years after its publication! In Kingdom of Heaven – The Crusader States 1097-1291 two players use cards to activate forces, trigger random events, conduct diplomacy or prosecute siege warfare on a vast arena stretching from Antioch to Cairo and from Cyprus to Mosul.

Nine scenarios cover all the major campaigns of the era, from the First, Second and Third Crusades to the Mongol invasion and the rise of the Mamluk Empire. In addition to the ‘basic deck,’ each scenario adds different cards representing historical events unique to that campaign. Turns are yearly, and most scenarios can be finished in 3-4 hours.

I had already chance to play this game and it was a true blast. This is probably best strategic-level game on Crusades ever created. Highly recommended!

Commands & Colors Medieval – Crusades from GMT Games

If you read my blog regularly, you know my love and appreciation for the Commands & Colors system. Thus this is not surprising that for a tactical-level wargame depicting the Crusades period I choose one of those – namely the first Expansion to Commands Colors Medieval.

The base game of Medieval itself was bringing a lot of interesting mechanics and solutions to the system; however the Crusades Expansions lifts this to completely new level – twenty battles focusing on the First and Second Crusade; Knights in shingling armors, Crossbowmen, multiple Turk and Arab factions as opponents to Crusaders and many, many more novelties. If you are looking for a low-level tactical game about this period – go for Commands Colors Medieval Expansion 1: Crusades.

The Digital Game

Recently, I learned about a very interesting digital game on the topic of Crusades – namely Sword & Siege. This is rather old-school hex & counter digital game. By this I mean that the focus is not on some beautiful graphics and animations, but on the real gameplay, units characteristics and behaviors and as much as possible – simulation of the medieval battles.

The game does it splendidly – however, as every good, detailed and engrossing product has a learning curve. In order to present this title to broader public I created a short Example of Play material (see above) based on the free demo version of the game. I am sure you will like it!

The Podcast

History of the Crusades by Sharyn Eastaugh

Good podcast is something I really appreciate – you can listen to this while commuting to work, during travels or other, suitable occasions. History of the Crusades by Sharyn Eastaugh is exactly such set of materials – very interesting and engrossing, with tons of extra content and in digestible chunks.

The series went so successful, that after covering the Middle-East part (1096-1291), Sharyn continued with other Crusades (like against Cathars or in Eastern Europe). That speaks tons about quality of her content! Definitely check this out!

The Movie

Of course, the still most popular medium – movies – has great and extensive library of productions regarding The Crusades. I would like to recommend one here – Kingdom of Heaven. It is almost a blockbuster movie, with great cast (Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Liam Neeson) and directed by Ridley Scott.

It uses astonishingly beautiful scenography (usually accurate 🙂 ) and in nice way tells the story of one of the most known monarchs of the Crusaders States – Baldwin the 4th, the Leper King. Of course, all the historical references is only a background for the interesting, fictional story. You will definitely enjoy this!

PS. Make sure to watch the Director’s cut!

The TV Series

Crusades (TV Mini Series) by Terry Jones

A good, documentary TV Series about Crusades from Terry Jones, who is probably much more known from his comedian (Monty Python) career? Indeed! This four-episodes, 30 years-old TV Mini Series is still a great material to enhance your knowledge about this period. You will be surprised how great historian Terry Jones was. And how interestingly he was explaining the historical facts. Make sure to check!

The Music

To end the article well, some great music from my favorite history-themed band – Sabaton. They recently released several new singles for new album and one of them definitely fits the theme – Templars!

Summary

The Crusades in the Middle East lasted about two centuries and left a huge impact on the Medieval Europe – which lasts to this day. While some of them were motivated by religious fervor, others were driven by wealth, adventure, or political ambition. To this day the stories of Mounted Knights in Shining Armors charging the enemy lines ignite the imagination of many. This was definitely a very interesting period of history which above set of materials hopefully will help Dear Readers to familiarize with!