From: Pietro Cremona Subject: Croisades (strategic game) To Stig Olsen well, the game CROISADES from EUROGAMES has the biggest rules book of tyhe series, as he uses two sets of rules. (1) - the usual tactical system that I described in my early posts (and this is THE FAMOUS RULES BOOK with the NEW RULES and DYO new system) (2) - but the heaviest part of the rules is on the strategic game and I will try to give you a short previw of it. You have a large map of the middle east coast, from ALEXANDRIA (egipt) to Altalia (Turkey) and the island of Cyprus, but is mostly based on the Palestinian area, were the Croisades were fought (Antiochia, Tripoli, Beyrouth, Acre, Jerusalem, Gaza, etc.). Please note that the CROISADES MAP is tatlly different from the OUTREMER one, as are the rules. You also have 4 ready to use scenarios : - La course au Nil (1164-1168) (Race to the river Nilo) for 4 Great Powers (players) : Byzantine, Jerusalem, Syrie, Egypt. - La 3eme Croisade (1191-1192) with Richard Lionheart against Saladin (2 players) - La 5eme Croisade (1218-1219) for 4 players (Croisades, Egyptians, Armenians and Syrians) - Mongols : la nouvelle donne (4 to 7 players) - here the Mongols arrive (please note that the rules explain how to use the SAMURAI counters as the mongols) and clash against 6 other kingdoms Each strategic turn is as follows . - LOGISTICS (verufy supply lines) - REORGANIZING the armies (each group may be reorganized : a "group" is a certain number of soldiers in one strategic hex) - SEA MOVES (you secretly write your orders for your fleets, then you reveal the orders and move the ships as ordered) - GROUND MOVES (you move your "groups" on the strategic map) - NAVAL BATTLES (if two or more ennemy ships end in the same hex) - GROUND BATTLES (if two or more groups pass on the same hex, and there are no cities or castles for defending, a battle follows) - SIEGES (you go on with your sieges and you keep track of the besieged supply status) Of course you have two sets of counters : the usual personality counters of wich I spoke in previous posts and the strategic counters which include : - generic counters for each kingdom or side (with a different symbol) used to mark your territory - generic counters for the different groups (numbered from 1 to 40) - generic counters for the ships (transports and battle ships) - generic counters for castles (big ones and small "local" ones). The naval battles are quite simple to fight, using a certain number of dice (10 sided or six sided) as per the number of your ships. Usually it will take several runds to have a vinner 8only one side is allowed per hex). The ground moves are used to "conquer" territories (strategic hexes) : this is automatic if an hex is free (put your marker on it and eliminate the eventual opponent one) but it becomes harder if it has an opponent's castle or city (you must decide to siege it or to pass on without conquering it) and you must fight if an enemy group is in place. In the last case the opponent may decide to flee (into a city or castle) or to stand and fight : at this point you have to sort your maps and counters and you play a tactical game (the map will vary depending on the type of strategic hex and the throw odf a die). Sieges are also played as in the usual Cry Havoc standards. I also have to add that the game include supply rules, moral and leaders rules (panic, routs, etc.), diplomacy when more players are in the game, etc. I finally have to add that the game also include a ROLE PLAY section of the rules, where YOU are one of the personalities (with your followers) and you play against 6-8 other players. Honour, Dioplomacy, Leadership, Fame, Battle Experience and Missile Abilities are your arms (and this change during the game, of course, may be with a good marriage, good diplomacy and some nice victories ...). I hope to have been able to give a general picture of the game. Ciao Pietro //// / ^ \ ( o o ) -----oOOO----(..)---OOOo--------------------------------------------------- Pietro Cremona - Old Hand Wargamer Address : CP 136 - 47023 Cesena Centro FORLI' - Italy .oooO E-Mail - asterix@linknet.it (..) Oooo. Phone - ++ 39.547.335121 -------------------------(..)----------------------------------------------