The following rules are added for The First Crusade Supplement.

2-1.1 HORSE ARCHERS

Horse archer is the term Day Of Battle uses to describe a mounted skirmisher armed with a horse bow. In the Eastern armies the horse archer seems to be most prevalent troop type. These swiftly mounted soldiers would dart in and attack a target with a hail of hastily fired arrows. They then had the mobility of mount and flexibility of tactics to beat a rapid retreat out of harms way. Horse archers are considered skirmishers and unless noted otherwise in the rules listed here use all skirmisher rules in Day Of Battle. The main difference between skirmishers and horse archers is the reach of the weapon and the formation and tactics used.

SPECIAL RULES

1. Horse archers fire all of their Cos. a full 360 degrees.
2. Range is measured from the closest part of the horse archer unit to the target.
3. Horse archers use all skirmish rules.
4. Horse archers melee with half dice, rounding down.
5. Horse archers are never a massed target but may be threatened.

2-1.2 HORSE ARCHER FORMATION AND MOVEMENT

Horse archers have a maximum unit size of 5Cos. To represent their fluid formation they form an "H" formation. Unit's 5Cos. strong deploy 2Cos. wide in the first rank, 1Cos. in the second and 2Cos. wide in the third rank. Units of less then 5Cos. strength form a similar looking block formation. Units of 2Cos. deploy 1Cos. Wide, 2Cos deep. Single Cos. units form as they are.

Horse archers have a 360' forward movement zone. Unlike foot Skirmishers who have a 180' forward movement zone. Therefore they can move in any direction, twisting and turning as they like, paying only for the actual distance moved. Like any other unit they may never come within their maneuver factor of 3" of an enemy unit unless they are charging that unit.

2-1.3 HORSE ARCHER FLIGHT MOVEMENT

Horse archers that perform no action during their move may perform a flight move. A flight move allows the horse archer unit to voluntarily leave the battlefield. It must exit off the closest table edge available to it. Their exit path may not come within 3" of any enemy unit. Flight movement is itself unlimited. A flight move does not cost the leader or hero who commands the horse archer unit any command points. Attached leaders & heroes exit with the horse archer unit, counting as temporarily being swept away.

2-1.4 HORSE ARCHER REGROUP

The unique feature of the horse archer was their ability to form, disperse and reform time and time again. The following rule attempts to recreate this special ability. Horse archer Cos. that have left the battle (for any reason) with no figure casualties upon them may be brought back to the table and regrouped by any leader that is currently on the table or by any leader or hero that may have exited the table attached to horse archers. This is called Regrouping and is done simply by cashing in cards during the leader or heroes game turn.

2-1.6 CASHING IN RATES

1. A Numbered card is worth 1Cos..
2. A Face card is worth 2Cos..
3. An Ace is worth 3Cos..
4. A Joker is worth 5Cos..

Regrouped horse archers start their first turn either adjacent to their camp or in one of their sides original table corners. On their first turn back they may not perform any other action except reaction. A leader or hero that for any reason left the field with a horse archer unit will return with the first Cos. that is regrouped. As a leader or hero off the field he is counted as "Swept Away" in Day Of Battle. This still allows him an Initiative roll each turn for cards but with a +5 modifier to his die roll. Such a leader or hero may himself be the regrouping leader by using his own cards.

Once the first move is over regrouped horse archers may move per the rules mentioned above or stay where they are and await additional Cos. to bring them up to fuller strength. Regrouped horse archers may never be more than 5Cos. strong.

REGROUP

1. Regrouped horse archers may only come from the dispersed pool of horse archer Cos..
2. Dispersed horse archers are any Cos. that voluntarily or involuntarily left the battlefield regardless of the point of exit.
3. Cos. that left with a or as figure casualties are lost for good.
4. A leader or hero that left the field attached to a horse archer unit must return with the first Cos. of horse archers to regroup.
5. Regrouped horse archers may start next to their camp or in an original table edge corner. They may not start within 3" of an enemy unit.

2-2.1 NEW TERRAIN TYPES

2-2.2 OASIS

A place of calm, shade and water. An oasis is 6" x 6". Any unit within an oasis and over 15" away from all enemy units and in good order may replenish itself. Replenishment comes by regaining figure casualty strength as returning stragglers.

1. The unit may not perform any action that turn and must be in good order and morale.
2. The unit may not be fired upon.
3. The unit may not be passed through except by skirmishers.
4. The unit must have a card played to refresh itself. As with horse archer regroup any number of cards may be played on the unit by any leader or its attached hero.

2-2.3 REPLENISH RATES FROM AN OASIS

1. A Numbered card replenishes 1 figure casualty.
2. A Face card replenishes 2 figure casualty.
3. An Ace replenishes 1Cos.
4. A Joker replenishes 1Cos. or allows a leader or hero that was swept from the field to rejoin this unit.

2-2.4 SAND HILLS

A sand hill is 12" x 6". These have all of the qualities of a gentle slope, however they have a tendency to slow and disorder heavier units down while they are moving.

1. A unit may move up to 1 normal move and not be effected.

2. Units charging, counter-charging or moving over 1 normal move must make a terrain check per the rules in Day Of Battle. Failure disorders the unit and halves its total movement for the turn. A Terrain Check requires that the unit make a successful die roll greater than their armor class.

For example, a unit of knights are moving across a sand hill. Their normal move is 10" and their armor class is 16. If they move no more than 10" the sand hill does not slow them down. If they were to charge, regardless of the distance or move more than 10' they would have to make a terrain check. Their armor class is 16 so in this case they would have to roll a 17+ on a D20 to maintain their order.

2-3 CRUSADER HONOR POINTS

Given the time and place of The First Crusade it seems only right to have a new honor point table for all that fought here. This new chart is used by an army only if it is listed in the First Crusade Supplement. You will find that more honor points are gained now for commanding the army, raiding a camp, and for defeating knights and light troops in combat. (Chart is in the printed version only)

2-4 ARTILLERY

We include in this supplement the first look at what is called artillery. This term is used to define any sort of weapon used on the battle field that can fire. Such a weapon is crew served and pretty much fixed in place. Only armies with artillery listed on their army profiles may have artillery.

The Piece: An artillery piece could be a catapult, ballista or some other throwing weapon. It is based singly on as small a stand as possible. Often times it can be left as is and not mounted to a rigid base. The crew consists of two figures either mounted to the base or individually on a 20mm square base. Artillery represents four such weapons and crew. These are be fielded as a single Cos. unit with a two figure crew.

2-4.1 FIRING ARTILLERY

1. Artillery is a single Cos. Unit and rolls one dice when it fires. Unlike other missile units it is allowed to score double hits. This means that if the number rolled is equal to or less than the final Target Number (TN) it has scored two strikes on it's target rather than one.

2. Artillery uses the same arc of fire as other missile weapons.

3. Artillery is always a skirmish target but does not fire as a skirmisher.

4. Any but Trained units under artillery fire regardless of the damage done to it suffers a -5 modifier to its morale for "being under artillery fire".

2-4.2 MELEE

1. Artillery units contacted may perform any defensive fire that is allowed under the rules. If the attack succeeds in contacting the artillery piece it is removed as lost.

2. Artillery get no other reaction to a charge other than to fire.

3. Artillery may only fire in defense of itself during a charge.

2-4.3 SUGGESTED TACTICS

The best use for artillery is the fear it causes during a morale check. They can easily reach most targets on the board and in so doing force morale checks or weak or shaky units.

2-5 FINIS

That's it for the rules for The First Crusade. They are few in number and fairly simple to understand with very few changes to the core rules of Day Of Battle. A word of advice to frequent players. It has been determined that the best tactic for the Franks to use is to build themselves a castle out of the terrain and camps and try to hold out until fatigue wears their opponent down. This can however make for a very boring game.

A number of artificial rules have been tried. One required the Franks to beat their opponent within a certain number of turns or lose. The rational here was to replicate the limited time and supplies that had. In our play tests it was decided that a ten turn game was reasonable and if the Franks hadn't won by then it was over as a draw. This works but it does favor the opponent, particularly the Syrians to hole up and wait it out. Another idea tried was to only allow skirmish units to be hidden on the table. In the end we decided to leave well enough alone and let the players decide how to balance out their scenarios.

Sections

1st Crusade Introduction
1st Crusade Section 1
1st Crusade Section 2
1st Crusade Section 3
1st Crusade Unit Charts
Crusade Terrain Chart