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Crusades: Book I
Sword & Siege Series
by
Wargame Design Studio
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The words Deus vult! erupt across Christendom in the Year of Our Lord 1095. Pope Urban II has sent his best preachers all throughout Europe to drum up Lords and soldiers to retake Jerusalem from the Moslems. Never mind that the city has been under Moslem rule since 637 or 638 A.D. So, this call to the masses to rescue the city is almost 500 years too late. I guess the Pope felt that it was better late than never. The Byzantine Emperor, Alexios I Komnenos, was looking for some mercenary help from his Catholic brethren. Instead, he started an avalanche of the faithful coming straight at Constantinople. The date for the start of the 1st Crusade is generally given as 1095. However, it was not the actual first crusade to the Holy Land. The People's Crusade left for Asia Minor earlier than the Lords and martial crusaders. The People's Crusade was crushed at the Battle of Civetot in Anatolia. One of the leaders of this crusade was Peter the Hermit, who will become a big part of the history of the 1st Crusade. Wargame Design Studio has given us a new series of games in which this game is the flagship offering. So, let us see what the digital wizards of WDS have cooked up for us this time.
This is what they have to say about it:
"Crusades: Book I includes 65 Scenarios – covering a variety of sizes and situations, including a solo tutorial scenario, five Training scenarios, Historical, Variant and What If versions for both head to head play and vs. the computer AI.
A range of maps are included covering all the significant locations fought over during the 1st & 2nd Crusades and some of lesser known locations.
The order of battle files cover the various forces that participated in the campaigns with other formations added in for hypothetical situations.
There are extensive 3d unit graphics covering all of the major armies involved.
Campaign and Scenario Editors which allow players to customize the game.
Sub-map feature allows the main maps to be subdivided into smaller segments for custom scenario creation.
Design notes which cover the production of the game, campaign notes and a bibliography that includes the sources used by the design team to produce this historical simulation game.
Crusades: Book I provides multiple play options including play against the computer AI, Play by E-mail (PBEM), LAN & Internet "live" play as well as two player hot seat."
These are some of the battles that come with the game:
"Includes battles from all aspects of the 1st & 2nd Crusades - major encounters to small skirmishes. 65 stand alone scenarios and 2 campaigns. A sampling would be:
Nicaea
Dorylaeum
Antioch
Ma'arat al-Numan
Jerusalem
Ascalon
Heraclea
Ramla
Acre
Harran
Tripoli
Tyre
Aleppo
Edessa
Ephesus
Damascus"
As is usual for a WDS release, they have taken a wonderful game and attempted to drive us mad with it. Instead of five or even ten scenarios for us to get lost in, we have the standard myriads of them to get mired in. And if that was not enough, there are also two campaigns that you can try to play. The reason I say 'try to play' is because there is only so much time that we are allotted on this Earth. Every game, some even more than others, released by WDS comes with a cornucopia of scenarios to be played from either side and with numerous differences to each scenario. Upon opening up one of WDS games, one feels a bit like Rip Van Winkle and wonders exactly when you will get your life back. Then when you have finally marched through the entire game you can then use the Campaign and Scenario Editors to further dig your hole into the time span of your life. Of course I jest, but only slightly. To click on any exe of a WDS game is not for the faint hearted.
The most amazing feature of this game is that we now can actually play out sieges. WDS has certainly given us battles and campaigns to play, as have other gaming companies, but none that I can recall has ever given us the ability to besiege cities, towns, and castles, at least in the ages before gunpowder. For someone who believes the boardgame 'The Art of Siege' by SPI is the crowning glory of their boardgame collection, this is really an epiphany. This not only opens up the ability, at some time, to play out the siege of Acre in the 3rd Crusade but so many others from these and other centuries. This is made even more amazing by the inclusion of both 40 meter, normal, and 100 meter per hex sizes. This will also help with counter density on the larger scenarios. Some of these are only available once you add the free expansion available for download. Please see below for more information on this.
The ebb and flow of the battles in Outremer is shown in the game's design. The charges of small amounts of well armored knights do make a difference just as they did in real life. The masses of lightly armed Moslem horse archers swarming around the crusaders is shown just as well. These are the earlier years of the crusades. While you will not see any Mamelukes, you will see the different Christian Orders of Knights, as in the Templars and Hospitallers. The battles have been well chosen to give both sides chances to command infantry and knights and light cavalry, sometimes all in the same scenario. WDS has continued to work on the game engine. They have recently had almost weekly updates on many of their series of games. They also have kept tweaking the AI and picking scenarios that are especially made for the AI of both sides. In this day and age, all wargames, whether they be board or digital, should have the option to play a well-designed solitaire version of whatever game it is. Yes, if you play the game constantly and only a few, or one, scenario repeatedly each day for x amount of time you will learn how to 'cheat' or beat the AI. If, however, you play like most of us and can only get in a certain number of hours a week and choose different scenarios to play, the AI will do just fine. I believe that WDS is only getting better with each passing week and release or update.
So, what is the verdict? It was never really in any doubt. This is another stellar release from WDS that will keep you playing for as long as you want to. The release of Age of Longbow Volume I has only meant that they are fully behind the Sword & Siege Series and have many more planned after the battles of the Hundred years War. I am drooling over the prospect of a game that has the battles of the Wars of the Roses! I know that I cannot wait for a further release on the crusader battles and the chance to besiege Acre in the Third Crusade. Of course, we would also get all of the battles of Melek-Ric and Saladin.
Long time readers will know that I base my wargaming taste of the moment depending upon what book I am reading or have read. In this case there has been a lot of ink spilled about the First Crusade and the taking of Jerusalem in 1099. So, it is only natural that my favorite scenarios in this game deal with the crusaders besieging Jerusalem. The battles for Antioch come in as a close second. Both have some of the most desperate times for the crusaders, with the crusade itself hanging in the balance. At both Antioch and Jerusalem, the crusaders are, no pun intended, able to pull off miracles to not only keep the crusade going but outright win battles that they absolutely have to.
Kudos, as usual, go out to WDS for this new game and series. We as wargamers have been truly gifted by not only their game releases but their constant upgrading and even at times throwing us freebie expansions.
Since the arrival of Crusades: Book I into our hot little hands WDS has not been idle. They have released a freebie par excellence for us. This is what they have written about it:
"With the exceptional reception Crusades: Book I has got since release—just shy of 90 days ago—we wanted to bring you a further boost to this already great game package.
Today's expansion package will give you 9 new scenarios to play. The twist is, most of these are at the 100-meter scale. So, while they recreate familiar battles from the initial release, now those large encounters can be played with a lower counter density and larger individual units. When you extract the package to your main game directory, it will add these 9 new scenarios to the bottom of the list in the selection screen.
Oh, and did I mention this is a completely free addition to the game for existing owners? It certainly is. And when the next update for the game is released, it will be incorporated into that package.
Outside of counter density and smaller maps, some other differences relate to Siege Towers and Fortress Walls. The capacity for both has been increased from 75 to 150 men for the 100-meter variants. In the case of the walls, this is to account for the larger length of wall represented in each hex; for Siege Towers, it represents the increased amount of time available in a turn, which enables more men to traverse up a tower.
The following two images compare the 40-meter version to the 100-meter version.
The final two scenarios in this package are designed to be played from the Muslim side against the AI. One of them is a siege scenario and the other is an open field battle. Both of these scenarios are at the traditional 40-meter hex scale.
Additionally, today we are releasing another video focusing on this game, to add to the existing four videos in the Crusades Playlist. You can check that out below - Siege Playthrough, Part 1."
Here is the link to the free expansion:
https://wargameds.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/CrusadesI_Expan_Pack.exe
This is the link to the video described above:
Robert
Wargame Design Studio:
Crusades: Book I:
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