It seems hardly credible, but it happened. Nine-Hundred years ago what began as an appeal by the Byzantine Emperor Alexis I for mercenaries from western Europe turned into one of the single greatest expeditions of all time. A varied and incompatible combination of feudal nobles and Latin Christian pilgrims took gathered near Constantinople and set out on a joumey of conquest and liberation that carried them across the length Asia Minor and beyond the Taurus Mountains to the great city of Antioch in Syria. Though these pilgrims suffered insufferable hardships marching through a hostile landscape dominated by an unflagging and determined enemy their expedition met with such resounding success that they inspired the whole of Latin Europe for the next three-hundred years and gave solid form to the ideas and ideals that later came to be called the Crusades.

These Rules for the Expedition to Antioch are based, in a rather loose fashion, on the First Crusade up to the capture of Antioch. Their main purpose is to provide a simple, but well rounded, pseudo-historical context for battles fought using De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) rules. The battles produced by the campaign game pit western European armies against more numerous, but lighter, Near and Middle Eastern armies. The campaign can be fought out by up to four players with each player controlling one of the four pilgrim armies while players take their turns commanding the various Muslim armies fighting against other players' armies. The game is admirably suited for solo play since the Muslim armies simply appear at the roll of a die to attack the pilgrim armies and do not have to be moved about the campaign map.

The Subdivisions of a Campaign Game Turn

I. Movement.
A) All Crusader armies are moved.
B) All tests for friendly fleet arrivals are made.

II. The Enemy.
A) All Crusader armies that are not besieged test for the appearance of enemy field armies.
B) If an enemy field army appears, determine its strength.

III. Besieged Crusaders.
A) Any besieged Crusader armies test for siege results.
IV. Crusaders Conducting a Siege.
A) Crusader armies that are besieging enemy held fortresses test for the results of their sieges.
B) Test for Minor Fortresses.
C) Test for Major Fortresses.

V. Attrition.
A) All Crusader armies subject to attrition test for the effects of attrition.
VI. Battles.
A) Any Crusader armies that have been attacked by enemy field armies fight their battles.
B) Any besieged Crusader armies that must sally against their besiegers fight their battles.
C) The results of all battles are duly noted and loses recorded.

I. Movement.

A) Armies move from point to point along designated routes marked on the campaign map.

B) There are three types of points on the campaign map: Transit Points, Minor Fortresses, and Major Fortresses.

C) Armies are moved individually, one at a time, even if two or more armies occupy the same point.

D) Armies are moved by rolling one six-sided die for each army in succession. On a die roll of six the army may not move and must remain stationary. On a die roll less than six it may move.

E) Armies move one point per turn.

F) When an army moves, its route must be chosen. Assign numbers from one to six to each route leading out from the point that the moving army began the turn on. assign two or more numbers to each route when necessary. Roll one six-sided die. The army is then moved along the route whose assigned number corresponds with the number rolled.

G) When assigning numbers to the routes out of a point, those routes that lead in the general direction of the campaign objective may be favored when extra numbers must be assigned to routes.

H) Minor Fortress Points do not block movement. An army that lands on a Minor Fortress Point may move off that point on the next turn and is not required to stop to besiege the fortress.

I) Major Fortress Point do block movement. An army that lands on an enemy held Major Fortress Point must stop and besiege the fortress and may not move off the Major Fortress Point until the fortress is captured or the army is defeated in battle.

J) Whenever an army lands on a Transit Point and is not attacked by an enemy field army it must make an attrition die roll.

K) Sea Movement.

1) Whenever an army lands on Attalia or Seleucia it must besiege the fortress until the fortress is captured.
2) On the turn after the fortress is captured the army must begin to check for the arrival of a friendly fleet that will transport it to the St. Symeon Minor Fortress Point.
3) To check for the arrival of a friendly fleet roll two six-sided dice. On a roll of twelve (12) a friendly fleet arrives.
4) On the turn after a friendly fleet arrives the army embarks and leaves the port. The army must remain at sea for four turns. At the beginning of the fifth turn it arrives at St. Symeon and rolls for the appearance of an enemy field army.
5) On each turn that an army is at sea it must make an attrition die roll.
6) An army that captures either Attalia or Seleucia must remain at the fortress awaiting the arrival of a friendly fleet for eight (8) turns after the capture. On the ninth turn it may begin to move overland again.
7) An army awaiting a friendly fleet must still check for the appearance of an enemy field army and is subject to attrition for being on the same point for three turns.

II. The Appearance of Enemy Field Armies.

A) After all armies that can move have been moved then all armics must determine whether they are attacked by enemy field armies. All armies? whether they moved or not! must test for the appearance of enemy field armies.

B) Armies that are besieged do not test for the appearance of an enemy field army.

C) To test for the appearance of an enemy field army roll one six-sided die and modify the rcsult according to the following table:

D) When an enemy field army appears to attack an army the strength of the enemy army is determined by rolling one six-sided die and checking the following table:

E) When two or more armies occupy the same point a separate die roll must be made for each army, but only one enemy strength die roll is made for both armies. Only those armies that were attacked may set up at the start of the miniatures battle, any other armies may then appear as reinforcements during the battle.

F) Enemy field armies always appear at full strength.

G) Enemy field armies that appear on or west of a line running from Alexandretta to Marash and Sebasteia should be predominantly Seljuk Turk (DBA army #124). Those that appear east of that line should be predominantly Syrian (DBA army #139).

III Besieged Armies

A) Armies that retreat into fortresses as a result of a lost battle are considered to be under siege.

B) The besieging enemy field army has the same strength as the field army that defeated the army in battle and forced it to withdraw into a fortress.

C) When an army is being besieged it does not roll for the appearance of an enemy field army since an enemy field army is already present.

D) Besieged armies may not move.

E) Besieged armies are subject to attrition.

F) On each turn that an army is besieged it must roll one six-sided die and check the following table to determine the results of the siege:

G) If two or more armies are besieged in the same fortress only one die roll is made and the results are applied to all armies in the fortress.

H) An army that sallies out of a fortress to attack the enemy does not necessarily have to return to the fortress if it is defeated, but may move to another point in accordance with the rules governing the aftermath of battles. <>I) If an army that sallies out of a fortress to attack the enemy defeats the enemy then the siege is ended and the army is no longer besieged.

IV. Conducting A Siege.

A) Whenever an army lands on an enemy held Major or Minor Fortress Point and remains on that point at the beginning of the next turn it may lay siege to the fortress.

B) On each turn that an army is besieging a Minor Fortress roll one six-sided die and check the following table to determine the results of the siege:

C) On each turn that an army is besieging a Major Fortress roll one six-sided die and check the following table for the siege results:

D) Whenever a fortress is captured it is occupied by the besieging army and is then considered to be a friendly held fortress.

E) Armies that are besieging a fortress are subject to attrition.

F) When more than one army is besieging the same fortress each army makes its own die roll to resolve the siege. <>G) The players may choose to assault a fortress at any time during the course of a siege. If this option is chosen the assault must be played out as a miniatures game during the Siege Result subdivision of the campaign game turn. If the besieging army fails to capture the fortress by assault the siege continues, the defeat is not treated as a battlefield defeat. H) Speed Option. The game may be hurried along by rolling for the results of sieges of Minor Fortress Points on the turn that armies land on the point rather than waiting a turn to test for siege results. If this option is used roll for the siege result at the end of the turn after all battles have been fought. This would not apply to sieges of Major Fortresses.

I) At the start of the campaign, Nicaea and Nicomedia are considered friendly held fortresses. All other Minor and Major Fortress Points are considered enemy held.

V. Attrition.

A) Armies become subject to attrition whenever any of the following conditions exit:

1. An army occupies a Transit Point at the end of the movement subdivision of a campaign game turn and has not been attacked by an enemy field army.
2. An army has maintained the siege of a fortress for the previous three turns.
3. On each turn that an army is at sea.
4. Whenever a defeated army retreats onto an enemy held fortress point.
5. Any time an army does not meet any of the above conditions and has remained on the same point for three consecutive campaign game turns.

B) The effects of attrition are determined by rolling one six-sided die and consulting the following table:

Roll	Result
1 - 2	No effect.
3 - 4	Convert one element to Camp Followers.
5	Dismount one mounted element, and Convert one element to Camp Followers.
6	One element is killed. Dismount one element and convert one element to Camp Followers.

C) Mounted elements that must be dismounted may be chosen by the players. The following conversion table should be used when convening mounted to dismounted elements:

D) Losses to attrition are noted and adjustments are made to the army's strength as soon as they occur.

VI Battles.

A) Battles occur whenever an enemy field army appears or whenever an army moves onto a fortress point at which another friendly army is under siege by an enemy field army.

B) These rules assume that miniatures battles will be fought using DBA rules. Other rules can be used, but due allowance must be made that accord with the tenor of the alterations that have necessarily been made to the set up and battle area rules in the DBA rules. The following rules govern the alterations that should be made to the regular DBA rules.

C) Battle Area. Add half the standard battle area as given in the DBA rules to the length of the battle area for each additional enemy field army panicipating in a battle. A battle area that is two feet by two feet according to the standard rules would. with two enemy field armies in a game, be increased in length by one foot to produce a battle area three feet by two feet.

D) Choosing Edges. The base edges for each side are chosen by assigning odd and even numbers to the two long edges. The high scorer on the deployment die roll (as per regular DBA deployment rules) calls odd or even and the low scorer throws the die. The higher scorer gets the edge he called.

E) Additional Armies.

1. Additional armies panicipating in a game are trealed as separate and distinct armies and each is subject to the rules governing the defeat of armies according to the DBA rules. Each army must be defeated individually.
2. In multi-army battles each army on both sides is deployed individually as a unit. Armies may not be combined and the general of one army may not be used to control the movement of elements of another army.
3. A space of at least two inches must be left between the elements of different armies on the same side. Armies on the same side may not be deployed in such away that they cover each others' fronts, they must be deployed abreast of each other.

F) Each side in a battle is allowed one tactical movement die roll with no additions for extra armies.

G) When two or more armies are fighting on the same side each army has its own camp.

H) Defeated Armies in Multi-Armies Games. Whenever there are two or more armies fighting on the same side and one army is defeated, the defeated army flees the battle at the moment conditions for its defeat are met. To flee, all the elements of the defeated army turn their backs to their enemy and move their full movement distance toward their base edge. They continue to move in this way until they exit the battle area and do not require any tactical movement points to flee.

I) Armies that begin a battle with a reduced number of elements are defeated when they lose one-third of the elements with which they started the battle.

J) Battles fought by armies that sally out of a fortress are lreated as any other battles. In the event that an army sallies out of a fortress at the same time that the besieging enemy field army is attacked by another army that has moved onto the fortress point, both battles are fought at the same time. The sallying garrison is set up after both the other friendly army and the enemy field army have been set up. It must be set up on either short edge of the battle area. All friendly armies are still only allowed one tactical movement die roll.

VII The Aftermath of Battle.

A) An army that wins a battle must remain stationary and is not allowed to move during the next campaign turn.

B) An army that has been defeated must do one of the following:

1. If it is on a friendly held fortress point it may retreat into the fortress and is then considered to be besieged by the enemy army.
2. It may retreat an adjacent friendly held fortress point and enter the fortress. It is then considered to be besieged by the enemy army.
3. It may retreat to any adjacent point. If it retreats onto an enemy held fortress point it must immediately make an attrition die roll.

VIII Crusader Armies in the Expedition to Antioch Campaign Game.

A) There are four Crusader armies at the beginning of the Campaign Game. All four start on the Nicaea Major Fortress Point.

B) The four Crusader armies and their composition is as follows:

1. Bohemond of Taranto, Norman army (DBA army #102c).
2. Godfrey of Bouillon, Feudal French (DBA army #137).
3. Raymond of Toulouse, Feudal French (DBA army #137).
4. Robert of Normandy, Norman army (DBA army #102c).

C) The Crusader armies do not receive any reinforcements during the campaign game and do not maintain a reserve of destroyed elements as provided in the regular DBA campaign rules.

D) Two or more Crusader armies may be combined to form one army whenever:

1. All Crusader armies to be combined are on the same point and
2. All Crusader armies to be combined are at less than 50 % of their original strength or
3. At least one Crusader army forming the combined army has lost its general.

E) Byzantine Option.

1. At the players' option a separate Byzantine force may be included in the game.
2. This Byzantine force is attached to and moves as part of Bohemond of Taranto's army.
3. The Byzantine force consists of 2 2LH (Pecheneg) and 2 3CV elements.
4. The Byzantine force is treated as a separate army. As soon as it loses one element it is removed from the game.
5. The Byzantine force is not subject to attrition. Byzantine elements can be used for attrition loses that Bohemond of Taranto's army suffers.

IX Victory and the End of the Expedition.

A) The game ends when either Antioch is captured or all four Crusader armies have been reduced to less than one-third of their original strength.

B) In multi-player games the player whose army captures Antioch wins the game.

C) When one Crusader army captures Antioch, the other three armies are ranked according to the number of elements that they have remaining added to the number of fortresses they captured during the campaign.

D) If all four Crusader armies are reduced to less than one-third of their original strength, then the game ends and the players are ranked according to the number of elements each has remaining added to the number of fortresses each has captured.

Crusades Campaign Map

DBA Crusades Campaign Battle Report

Back to MWAN #81 Table of Contents
© Copyright 1996 Hal Thinglum

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