CRUSADER REX Session Report (still editing)

[ChineezPnoy]

TIME: 1187 AD, King Richard leads the 3rd Crusade to recapture the Holy Land from the saracens.
LOCATION: An outside cafe in Tripoli, within view of the Mediterranean Sea.
The local cafe owner dressed in Syrian-Arab clothing approaches...

"Salam malekum stranger.
I am an Arab & my name is Hattan.  I serve as a guide for a traveler from your lands.  I was told that a person such as yourself would wander into our great city looking for him.  The person u seek strikes me as a person of great stature, so it is my pleasure to entertain u for a while untill he returns from our local harem.  Ah yes, here is the great one now..."

FAST FORWARD

Ok, so much for my time travels.
Vlad was able to find time from his busy schedule & gf commitments to drop by my place & face-off w/ me in a game of CRUSADER REX back in early December (this report is late, I know).
I'll try to be thorough & concise so bear w/ me.


or http://boardgamegeek.com/image/87625?size=original
This is d complete stat sheet for d saracen & crusader units.  I'm gonna skip explaining what all d stats signifies but generally, d saracen units are mostly weak but have higher movement rating compared to d dominantly less mobile but hard-hitting crusader knights.  I'm playing Saladin's army while Vlad will b controlling King Richard's knights.


Please keep a magnified window of this map available to make my report easier to understand.
Basically d game spans 6 years (1187-1192 AD).  Each year takes 6 turns to complete.  To win d game u need to not only capture but also hold-on to d 7 key cities by d end of 1192 (or depending on d victory conditions set earlier).
These are Egypt, Jerusalem, Acre,  Damascus, Tripoli, Antioch & Aleppo.  Each cities are colored to represent which side occupies it during d set-up phase.  As mentioned, green represent d saracens & orange d crusaders.


This was d starting deployment of our units.  Note that I got 4 block units isolated @ Egypt (upper far left of d map).  I could've stationed more there but I figured to focus my theater of operations where my units were more semi-clumped @.  Anyway, as long as my Egypt units do not leave d protective safety of d castle then they can hold out easy untill I decide to send my relief units should Vlad decide to lay a siege on that victory-conditioned city.  It is a gamble, yes.

Its worth mentioning that most of my units are already on the board compared to Vlad's knights.  He has to muster the English, French, German on d board as soon as he can to compensate.  I didn't have much  reinforcements comparatively & they only trickle-in onto d map.

In spite of d dominantly not-so-strong attributes of d saracen units they do have a special ability that knight units do not.  Its d "harry" tactic.  Basically its a retreating hit & run strategy.
I hoped to use this tactic to full effect & wear his units down before his reinforcements arrives on d board.  Dat was a plausible strategy coz later on I found out that his King Richard unit has d highest "to-hit" % of all the units in d game (67%!) 

Knights, on d other hand, has d "charge" option.  It just doubles the chance (more dice) to inflict damage on my units.  However that ability adds-on d drawback of a 17% chance (per dice) of d knight unit suffering damage also.  Probably from d wreckless charge d horses trip & crashes its rider?   

1187:
I started my offensive by moving my 3 Egypt units to attack his lone Templar unit @Ascalon.  Some strategists will disagree w/ me for doing this but I needed to somehow lure his units away from the area where I can do the most damage (center & right territories).  That was my 1st move & Vlad encounters AP already 
He finally decided to retreat to the Ascalon castle & hope that he's able to send relief forces before my units starve-out his lone Templar unit.

On Vlad's turn he sends 3 forces to relieve d siege.  I used d harry tactic & that caused significant damage to him b4 retreating my units to Gaza.

Vlad used d crusader special ability "muster" w/c allows him to move unlimited # of knights to 1 point on d map.  He moved 3 knights to Jaffa.  My guess was to prepare a possible chase/ assault on my Egypt units.
After that I figured it was d perfect time to mobilize my clumped units @Damascus to start creating havoc @ d center/ right map area.

I belive it was here were I killed his 1st block unit.  In this game u want to preserve ur weak units since they can heal-up @ friendly forts during winter.

1188
By this time I was able to take Tripoli & successfully split his total map forces.   Using the Egypt units as a catalytic bait worked.  Most of the crusaders wer @ d area near Acre, so I strategized to pound his isolated knights @ d Antioch area b4 Vlad is able to adjust.
Vlad played an assassin attempt card on

I made progress wearing down his units.

[Rolf]

Dude, finish your session report already so I can give you your Kredz

[maskmanjoe]

I kinda wondered why the last sentence trailed off, di pa pala tapos XD

[vladsee]

I have to say that I suffered a humiliating defeat in this game  (I conceded by mid game) but I feel though that the Saracens are a bit stronger over the Franks.  

Saracens start out with more troops, with better movement ratings, attack initiative and has the "harry" attack option, which allows them to get in and out of combat easily. Reinforcements also come quickly for the Saracens.  

The Franks on the other hand have slower movement ratings, usually slower in initiative and start out fewer and spread out in the map. It does have the knight's charge attack option which is actually a devastating attack but has a downside of a step loss when a 6 is rolled on the d6.  Reinforcements are slow in coming as you have to wait for the either the English, French or German contingents to arrive or get the slow moving pilgrims.  

Playing the Franks that night, I was plagued by bad luck on the knight's charge rolls many times (scoring few hits while suffering the step loss) as well as making some stupid mistakes of leaving key cities and locations open to the mobile Saracens.  I couldn't pin them down during set battles due to their harry attack option too.  I didn't have enough reinforcements for defense as its was slow in coming.          

The rules were updated several times to lessen the advantages of the Saracens but the Frank player will still have a tough time and will have to play a very careful and defensive early to mid-game.  Historically, the third crusade and the other later crusades for that matter weren't particularly good campaigns for the Christians too.

The game does let you make many strategic decisions in moving and/or positioning your troops in certain cities or locations.  The fact that you aren't sure of what's behind the other side of the block adds some fun tension too as you decide to attack or not.  It also adds some "chrome" in battles like allowing for siege, sallying, relief, etc. I'm willing to give it another shot and avenge my defeat!