Game Report: Hunting Brothers

It wasn't far now to the camp of his brother Qasim, Ibrahim idn Hasan realised, and wouldn't be long before he could not back out of his plan. He could still ride into the camp to join the hunt in celebration of his nephew's upcoming third birthday, compete with his older brother in gathering the best meat and pelts.

But he would not turn back now. The lands he had inherited when their father passed away were the poorer and smaller holdings, short of water and subject to frequent bandit raids. The only thing it turned out in any real quantity was soldiers, and today he would use those to his benefit. 

He crested a rise and saw three men some distance ahead, sentries of his brother's, waiting to announce his arrival. Something he would not allow today...


This game pitted my newly completed Saracen miniatures (from Gripping Beast's plastic range) in a good old fashioned family dispute, given the Frankish forces are still mostly unassembled on the painting table. 

Using the Outremer: Faith and Blood rules, we pitted the forces of Qasim ibn Hasan, with 10 figures (one heavy cavalryman, two horse archers, three foot archers and four infantrymen, variously armed with swords and spears), against Ibrahim ibn Hasan, with 8 figures (three heavy cavalrymen, two horse archers, one foot archer and two infantrymen), in the area around Qasim's camp. 

The area of Qasim's camp before the storm breaks

Ibrahim's forces deployed around the house, with Ibrahim himself leading the cavalry forward, and their foot archer Hasan ibn Nasir deployed on the roof of the building with his compound bow to cover the advance. Qasim's forces were mostly arrayed around the tent in a loose skirmish line, with two of their number, Hasan and Mansour ibn Ibrahim, both with the Sneaky trait, deployed out of sight behind the enemy.

While the attacker's position is strong, they failed to notice two of their foe arriving to their rear.

The opening moves saw the outflanking men advance on the attackers, Hasan moving to a position with line of sight on Hasan ibn Nasir, loosing an arrow at him, but missing, while Mansour moved up to the building, reaching the rear corner. 

Clearly unperturbed, or perhaps unaware, of the threat to the rear, Ibrahim ibn Hasan rode forward to face the enemy, finding himself facing down Malik of Thebes over the open ground, the foot soldier wielding a mighty two-handed sword in one hand, apparently effortlessly. To further unsettle Ibrahim, arrows began to fall around him from the skirmish line, to no lasting effect. 

Not phased by the mounted warrior coming his way, Malik of Thebes raises his sword and bellows a challenge.

To counter the flanking threat, Muhammad ibn Ishmail, a horse archer, swung around the building, loosing a single arrow at Mansour ibn Ibrahim, which slammed into the man, putting him out the fight, giving first blood to the attackers.

Blood stains the sand as the first warrior falls

Moments later, Khalil of Cairo, having moved forward to take a shot at Ibrahim ibn Hasan, lost his mount to an arrow loosed by Hasan ibn Nasir from the rooftop, leaving him to continue the fight on foot. The attacking forces continued to press forward, with the foot warriors moving up to support Ibrahim, while a heavy cavalryman and a horse archer moved to outflank the defenders, the final cavalryman riding his mount down into the wadi, which let out right next to Qasim ibn Hasan.

The defenders concentrate on loosing arrows at Ibrahim, while the attackers surge around and forward

The defenders continued to concentrate all their shooting on Ibrahim ibn Hasan, and finally their persistence was rewarded as, after shrugging off seven hits, an eighth arrow brought down his mount.

Ibrahim scrabbles to his feet after his horse succumbs to repeated arrow strikes.

Behind the developing main fight, Muhammad ibn Ishmail took aim at the remaining sneaky outflanker, Hasan, and taking out a second opponent, ending the flanking threat.

The second outflanker falls, ending the threat to the attackers.

The tide continued to flow against the defenders, with Malik of Thebes drawing particular attention, mostly in the form of arrows, which soon led to his demise.

Another defender falls

Eager to capitalise on their advantage, the attacker's cavalry swept in, Husayn of Damascus riding down the wadi towards Qasim ibn Hasan, ignoring the arrows loosed in his direction, while Mansur al Nadhil closed in upon the defending infantry and the horse archer Khalid al Muharib swept around the enemy line and into their camp.

The thunder of hooves echos across the field as the attackers close in on their foes

To counter the incoming horsemen, Ali of Al-Qasr, wielding a sword and dagger, charged down Mansur al Nadhil, surviving the a first round of combat. 

Ali defies the odds and attacks

Meanwhile Aybak took an arrow from the defenders, failing his faith check and fleeing back. Khalid al Muharib saw an opening and charged into the archers at the rear of the defenders formation, cutting down his first victim, Ishmael Mahzuz.

With a sudden clatter of hooves, death strikes Ishmael Mahzuz

Undaunted by his mounted opponent, Ali of Al-Qasr managed to inflict a crippling strike on Mansur's mount, bringing the warrior down to his own level, before dispatching him with a wicked knife thrust, giving the defenders a glimmer of hope.

Ali brings down the mount shortly before slaying the man, getting the first non-equine kill for the defenders.

While flurries of arrows arced towards Ibrahim from the now desperate defenders, Khalid cut down a second archer.

The lightly armed and unarmoured archers are easy prey for Khalid

One of the last defenders, a spearman named Khalid, attempted to rush towards Ibrahim, but was intercepted by Salah al Khalid, who inflicted a wound upon the steadfast defender. With the last bodyguard now engaged, Qasim lined himself up for a charge towards his dismounted brother, bravely ignoring the fact Husayn of Damascus had extracted himself from the wadi and was lining up to his rear. Fortunately for the proud father, Husayn failed to summon up the necessary courage to charge. 

Brother faces brother as their men slaughter each other around them

Before Qasim could charge, Ibrahim and Muhammad ibn Ishmail loosed arrows at him, striking down his mount.

Qasim scrambled to his feet, extracting himself from the thrashing form of his dying horse

Salah al Khalid managed to dispatch Khalid as Ali Al-Qasr charged towards Ibrahim in an attempt to snatch victory from the rapidly closing jaws of defeat, but Salah closed him down, effortlessly driving his spear through the hapless warrior. 

Salah takes down his first opponent

And then fells his second

Khalid attempted to continue his rampage through the defender's archery line, charging into Khalil of Cairo, the dismounted horse archer, who astonished all by not only surviving, but also cutting down Khalid's mount.

Khalid's mount is taken down in a savage struggle with Khalil

In the final moments of the game, Qasim ibn Hasan stared down his brother and his men, before succumbing to a hail of arrows, falling on the field surrounded by his slain soldiers. Only two defending models remained standing, Khalil of Cairo, unhorsed and trapped in combat would doubtless be overwhelmed and dealt with, while Ishma'il ibn Ishma'il was still mounted and might be able to escape into the desert. 


All around the field men lay, wounded, dying, some moaning or crying, others silent. His soldiers were already moving around to dispatch the wounded foes, looting anything of value, leaving only one of the bodies unmolested. 

Qasim was staring up at the sky, a broken arrow jutting out from his right thigh, a second arrow lodged near his collar bone, blood soaking into the fine fabrics of his outfit. As the shadow of his brother fell over him, his eyes ceased searching the sky, locking onto Ibrahim's eyes. For a moment, it looked like he might speak, but instead he merely sneered as Ibrahim drew his sabre. 

Ibrahim rested the blade at his brother's throat, memories of their childhood briefly dashing through his mind, not, as it usually was, memories of the taunts and rivalry, but instead of moments of compassion and happiness. For just a moment, he considered relenting, of letting his brother disappear into the wilderness to make whatever life he could for himself. But he knew he could not, Qasim would never allow his son to be taken away from him, and would know that the boy's life would never be safe while Ibrahim was his guardian. 

There was the briefest resistance to the blade as he increased the pressure before the skin parted and the finely honed blade sliced through blood vessels and flesh. There was a momentary spray of red mist, which subsided to a steady flow from the gash as Qasim's eyes rolled back into his head, the sand sticky and dark around him. 

Ibrahim couldn't tell how long it took for the blood flow to cease, nor was he aware how long he remained standing over his brother's corpse, the red blade held loosely, staring at the face of the man he had come to hate. 

Eventually he managed to tear his gaze away from the dreadful sight. His work was not done, his brother's retainers would need to be brought in line. His nephew would be useful there, he would claim to be caretaking the lands while he was guardian for the boy. Until Ibrahim could have his own son, the boy would be a better heir than none too. Once his usefulness was done, the boy would have to be disposed of, but that was some time off.

He turned to his men, now assembled after completing their task. "Let us leave this place." he said gruffly, before striding away from the bloodied ground. He looked once more at the sabre, the blood still dripping slowly from the blade, before tossing it away.