Game Report: A Hill too Far

West of Tayasir, 8 Dhuʻl-Hijjah 608 AH

Munjid al-Zaher, Lord of Irbid, was tired. He had fought his way to his current position from the most humble, pathetic of beginnings, a fight that had seen friends slain, cost him the use of an arm, seen him far from home for most of his life, and now he was unable to even enjoy the fruits of his labours. Threatened on all sides by jealous enemies within and expansionist enemies without, he now had to march once more to secure his lands, and demonstrate his worthiness. 

Ahead, the sun was cresting over the hills around the village and citadel of Tayasir, the ancient ruins beckoning to him. Whether it was a call to glory or a mirage leading to failure and doom would soon be demonstrated. 

The citadel and village of Tayasir before the armies descend upon it

This game pitched two armies against each other as both attempted to exploit the recent demise of the local warlord ruling over the town of Tayasir, which had fractured the armies he maintained between his sons, who had thrown themselves into a fratricidal conflict with reckless abandon. Both the local Saracen and Frank ruler had decided that the chaos gave them the chance to push the borders of their personal fiefdoms and enhance their positions.

Each commander in their armies had their own set of private objectives above and beyond the official objective of the game, which their allies (and opponents) were unaware of. 

The Saracen Force:

Centre Battle:

Munjid al-Zaher

A peasant who arose to power, Munjid needs to secure his position and demonstrate his leadership. Victory is his path to survival.

Objectives:

Seize the town and citadel 30 Glory

Drive back the enemy 10 Glory

Strike down enemy commanders 10 Glory each

Force:

2 units of 4 stands of Infantry

2 units of 4 stands of Archers

1 unit of 4 stands of Mamelukes

Left Battle:

Bashhar ibn Masruq

Bashhar ibn Masruq has lost everything to the ravages of marauding Franks, and he lives now only to kill as many as possible. 

Objectives:

Shatter an enemy battle 15 Glory

Destroy more enemy units than you lose 10 Glory

Slay enemy commander 10 Glory each

Force:

2 units of 3 stands of Horse Archers

1 unit of 4 stands of Arab Tribal Cavalry

1 unit of 3 stands of Mamelukes

Right Battle:

Diya al-Hawami

Diya al-Hawami is a noble, his family have been nobles for generations. Subordination to a peasant like Munjid is an insult he will not let pass. His goal is to undermine his supposed leader, and demonstrate the superiority of his noble blood. 

Objectives:

Seize the town with his own troops 10 Glory

Seize the citadel with his own troops 10 Glory

Cause more morale damage to the enemy than Munjid's troops 10 Glory

Munjid fails to take Tayasir 10 Glory

Forces:

1 unit of 4 stands of Horse Archers

1 unit of 3 stands of Arab Tribal Cavalry

2 units of 3 stands of Mamelukes

The Frankish Forces

Centre Battle:

Jean Barbet, Baron of Nabulus

Recently ascended to his position, Jean needs to demonstrate his capabilities by achieving a victory, and the seizure of Tayasir would be an unquestionable victory, providing him with glory, income and, by expanding the Kingdom's borders, allies at court. 

Objectives:

Seize the town 20 Glory

Seize the citadel 40 Glory

Destroy the infidel army 20 Glory

Forces:

2 units of 3 stands of Men at Arms

2 units of 3 stands of Archers

1 unit of 3 stands of Arbalasters (crossbowmen)

Left Battle:

Guy de Roye

A disillusioned mercenary, who came to the Holy Land to seek redemption and found none, Guy now lives only to make his limited time on the mortal plane as pleasant as possible and to punish the world for his imminent eternal damnation. 

Objectives:

Loot the town 10 Glory

Loot the citadel 10 Glory

Loot the corpses of defeated cavalry units 5 Glory

Forces:

1 unit of 4 stands of Turcopoles

1 unit of 3 stands of Mounted Men at Arms

1 unit of 2 stands of Knights

Right Battle:

Guillaume Barbet

The quintessential resentful younger sibling, Guillaume's only motive is to better his situation, avoiding the fate of being sent to the Church or a Holy Order. If his brother is to fail or fall, he can take guardianship of his nephew and rule in all but name. Unless of course his nephew came to a tragic end.

Objectives:

If the Saracens do not take Tayasir and Jean dies 50 Glory

If the Saracens do not take Tayasir and Jean flees 10 Glory

The Barbets seize Tayasir 10 Glory

His troops seize the town or citadel 15 Glory for each

Forces:

1 unit of 3 stands of Knights

1 units of 3 stands of Mounted Men at Arms

The game pitted the two forces against each other on a constrained battlefield, with the town and citadel dominating the open space between two ranges of hills. Both sides chose to be conservative with their deployments, risking neither night or dawn marches or sending out harassing forces or leaving their baggage behind. As a consequence, both forces deployed without issue and close to the centre of the field of battle. 

Fighting commenced rapidly with the Frankish left storming forward to engage, smashing into their Saracen opponents, becoming slightly disrupted as they galloped forward.

The first blows are struck, neither side gaining a clear advantage

Fighting on the Frankish right continued, with the Saracen forces bombarding the oncoming mounted men at arms with javelins and bows, inflicting heavy casualties before they managed to charge into the Arab Tribal Cavalry. Again, the fighting was indecisive, both forces suffering, but neither yet at risk of breaking.

Fighting on the Frankish right expands to encompass more troops

In the centre of the field, the advance unit of Frankish men at arms took a beating from missile fire, being left with as much disorder as they had bases. The first loss of army morale looked imminent.

An enthusiastic advance leaves the men at arms exposed, and they are punished by missile fire.

Their pain was further enhanced when the remnants of the garrison of Tayasir started lobbing crossbow quarrels into their midst. While this achieved little, the announcement of the garrison's presence was an unpleasant surprise for the commanders. 

All across the field many units pushed towards the town, while archers scrambled for positions high on the hills to gain good lines of fire. 

The northern end of the battle

The southern end of the battle. Frankish forces sweep around the citadel, concentrating on their foe rather than the ancient ruin

Fighting around the town grew in intensity, with both sides throwing forces into the fray, with the Frankish men at arms taking a beating and being left on the point of routing. 

Exposed to fire from multiple directions, the men at arms begin to waver

On the Saracen right, the tempting target of the leading unit of Knights took a hail of arrow fire, disrupting their ranks and leaving them vulnerable.

Guy de Roy's knights are left in a perilous state.

On the Saracen left, battered by the Frank knights and men at arms, the Arab tribal cavalry collapsed, breaking and running.

The devastating blow of the knights' charge shatters the first Saracen unit

In the centre, the exposed men at arms took a further fire from the defenders of the town, and broke in a gory massacre, taking a fair chunk of the Frank's army morale with them.

Bombarded from all sides, the men at arms break leaving their dead and wounded behind.

The next turn saw something of a stalemate, with both sides concentrating on bring back units from the brink, with limited maneuvering around the town as the Saracens sought to exploit gaps where they could.

Mamelukes wrap around the Frankish centre's flank. 

The momentary pause in the battle passed suddenly, with melees breaking out across the field. The Mamelukes on the Saracen right charged down the Turcoples. gaining a slight edge in the fight despite being out numbered. The Frankish knights in turn stormed into the Arab Tribal Cavalry, not having a decisive impact but gaining the upper hand.

Melees tie up the southern edge of the battle

To the north, the Frankish men at arms broke and ran, leaving Guilliaume up to his neck in Saracens, and soon appealing for his brother's aid in knocking off the disorder of and keeping him in the fight. Repeated attempts by Frankish champions to save the situation by challenging the enemy to single combat merely resulted in several brave knights being dismembered by their opponents. 

Guilliaume prepares to make his final stand against overwhelming odds.

The other unit of men at arms and the knights swept into the unit of Mamelukes, the fighting being something of a stalemate, neither side scoring a decisive blow, although the men at arms were left in a dangerous state after the beating they had taken in earlier actions.

The Mamelukes hold their own against a concerted Frankish assault

In the centre, flurries of arrows swept across the ground between the two sides, inflicting loss, but no decisive blows were struck. The local garrison continued to remind their enemies of their presence, shooting at Frank and Saracen alike. 

In response, Saracen archers pushed into the town, eventually running into a brutal hail of quarrels, which broke them and sent them fleeing. 

 Further challengers from Guilliaume's command group met their end at the hands of their Saracen opponents, and once again he had to beg for his brother's aid in dealing with his mounting disorder.

Guilliaume Barbet's position becomes close to untenable, the desertion of enemy forces notwithstanding.

Throughout the battle, both sides had been bleeding morale points with units on the point of breaking. Entering the final turn, both sides had been reduced to single digits of morale. Everyone knew it was now or never to perform great deeds. 

The turn saw a Frankish archer unit utterly destroyed, fleeing in a gory massacre, and Guilliaume Barbet falling in battle, defiant to the last. With these losses, the Frankish force was broken and fled. The Saracens were barely in a better position, with only 4 army morale remaining they would lack the resolve to besiege or storm the citadel, leaving them in control of the field, but the warlord's surviving son in charge of the town and citadel. 

The models used were from Baccus's crusades range, and the rules used were the Soldiers of God wargames rules, as ever they were a pleasure to play with, their eternal conundrums making for an excellent game.

Munjid al-Zaher sat astride his horse, watching his army morosely pick their way across the battlefield, bringing comfort to their wounded brothers in arms, rounding up prisoners and dispatching the enemy who were too far gone to be of use. All were avoiding the area around the town of Tayasir, anyone foolish enough to stray close ending up perforated with crossbow bolts. 

While he had triumphed on the field, the town would remain beyond his grasp, a task to return to another time.

At the end of the game, two commanders Bashhar ibn Masruq and Diya al-Hawami, were both on 20 Glory points, leaving them as the victors of the game, with points earned for destroying more enemy units than they lost and slaying an enemy commander and having Munjid fail to seize the town and from inflicting more morale damage than Munjid's forces respectively.

Hasan ibn Karajuk looked down upon the plains and the retreating army heading east back into Damascene territory. His elite guard in the citadel hadn't even had to draw their weapons as the two enemy forces had battered themselves apart on the plains. Now his independence was ensured, at least for a while, he could turn his mind to rebuilding his armies to ensure the next assault would fail too. 

Father had been called the terror of the valleys. Now he, Hasan, would teach anyone who opposed him would soon learn that they had never experienced terror. The prisoners his men had rounded up, Franks and Damascenes alike, were herded together in the citadel courtyard. A message would need to be sent.

The next few minutes were filled with screaming and pitiful begging.