Crusades Game 1

A few finished bases

I've decided that the best way to make some progress on the 15mm Crusades re-basing effort is to set a manageable and meaningful short term goal. There is no better goal in miniatures than to be getting ready to put on a game, so that's what I am going to do. I will do a small solo campaign using Day of Battle. Whatever figures I need as the games progress is what I will need to make sure I have done before I can continue. I won't play a game until everything for that game is 100% complete. That includes figures as well as terrain.

With that in mind, I will start with a Crusader faction using the Crusader States list ("K1" in the Crusades supplement), and a Saracen faction using the Ayyubid Egyptian list ("K5"). Since the army generation rules provide good variability in what troop types respond to a warlord's summons, this should be a perfect way to be forced to base up different types of troops from game to game.

Each side will start with a Social Rank 3 warlord, Esteem 2 (and therefore Household value of 5).

The Crusaders:
Card draws (face, face, joker) result in 21 Army Points (5 + 5 + [3x2] + 5). This is 7 units (21/3). This comes to 2 mounted, 1 missile, 3 foot, and 1 "random" unit (which turns out to be a mounted unit), plus the free retinue unit choice. Die rolls on the muster chart result in:

• 1 Holy order knights (the free retinue choice), 2 mounted knights, 1 mounted sergeants
• 1 crossbow unit
• 1 Holy order spear unit, 2 regular spear units

The Egyptians:
The card draws (face, 9, 2) result in 17 Army Points (5+5+2+5 - number cards are worth their value, but to a maximum of the warlord's household value). This is 6 units (17/3 = 5.67). This comes to 3 mounted, 2 missile and 1 foot, plus one free retinue unit choice. Die rolls on the muster chart result in:

• 1 Royal Mameluke cavalry (the free retinue choice), 2 Mameluke cavalry, 1 light cavalry with bows
• 1 skirmisher with javelins, 1 skirmisher with bows
• 1 spear unit with javelins

Each army will also need a few command bases. Details on exact upgrades for the units prior to the actual game will be dealt with later, but none of that happens until the units above are complete. I have some units completed, but not all of the above. What remains to be done should be a very manageable bit of work.

Update - A quick review of my figures shows that only 1 Crusader spear unit and the 2 Saracen skirmish units still need to have the figs glued to the bases (along with the sand). The remainder are close to completion, needing only for the bases to be painted and flocked. So this is primarily an exercise in cosmetic base finishing. However, since I do need to do some gluing, I will probably do a dozen or so other various foot units at the same time for future games. I am doing pretty well on cavalry; much less so on infantry.