Third Crusade - Battle Of Arsuf, 7th September, 1191.

Crusader cavalry try to repel Saladin's attacks

The Crusaders are approaching Arsuf down the coast road. They have to pass a large wooded area close to the coast road and Saladin has decided to use this wood to launch a major attack on the Crusaders.

This battle represents the early stages of the battle just after Saladin launched his attacks from the wood on the rear of the column. Historically the cavalry on both sides was deployed behind the infantry and when the attacks were launched there was some confusion as the cavalry pushed through the infantry. Rather than trying to resolve this on table I've assumed that stage is over and each side can deploy within their deployment zones as chosen.

I used Sword & Spear rules.

Rather than have one large army on each side, I tried representing the two rear columns of Crusaders as two separate armies, and similarly for the Ayyubid Egyptians. This gave two armies on each side of about 290 points and 8 units each.

LAYOUT AND DEPLOYMENT

North is at the top of this layout.
Crusaders on the left defending against Saladin's attacks from the woods on the right.
Saladin chose this place for a major attack because the woods gave a covered overnight camp and approach, while the battleground was relatively open and suited to cavalry attacks.

ORDER OF BATTLES
Crusaders - Army 1
General, 2 x Knights, 1 Miltary Order Knights, 1 x Spearmen, 1 x Crossbowmen, 1 x Miltary Order Searmen, 1 x Archers, 1 x Turcopole Cavalry

Crusaders - Army 2
General, 1 x Knights, 1 Miltary Order Knights, 2 x Spearmen, 1 x Crossbowmen, 1 x Miltary Order Searmen, 1 x Archers, 1 x Turcopole Cavalry

2 Ayyubid Egyptian Armies - both have the same forces
General, Captain, 1 x Cavalry, 2 x Ghilmen, 1 x Turcoman Light Horse, 1 x Turcoman Cavalry, 1 x Ahdath Militia Spearmen, 1 x Archers Light Foot, 1 x Javelinmen

THE BATTLE

Initially the cavalry on both sides closed the gap.
The Crusader Knights have the Impact ability which gives them an advantage if they actitvate and charge in first in the next turn. If the Egyptian Ghilmen get to activate first they can either loose arrows or charge first and negate the Impact ability of the Crusader Knights.

Third Crusade - abandoned scenarios 3 and 4

I did plan to report on a couple more scenarios based on the Crusaders moving south down the coast and being harassed by the Egyptians. These were to be:

Scenario 3 - Skirmish Attacks on the Column
30th August, 1191
Saladin intended this to be a major assault, but it didn't develop that way.

Scenario 4 - Determined Attacks on the Column
2nd September, 1191
Another attempt to break the deadlock resulting in fierce fighting.

After a couple of attempts to make these battles different to Scenario 2 - Break Up The Column, using different set ups and rules, I decided it wasn't worth pursuing. One attempt, using Soldiers Of God rules was a complete failure mainly because of the difficulty in manoeuvring. I even added in the 4 blank cards to the deck as extra Manoeuvre cards but even so the Crusaders were not able to change direction to react to the Egyptian attacks.

I've made the mistake before of posting non-event battles and I don't want to repeat it in a hurry.

So it's straight on to Scenario 5 - The Battle of Arsuf.

Third Crusade - Break Up The Column, 25th-26th August, 1191

The Crusader army is advancing south down the coast in three separate divisions. Saladin's son, al-Afdal, attempts to slow the Crusader's rearguard to separate them from the rest. If successful, Saladin's main force could exploit the gap between the Crusader rearguard and the rest of the army.

I used Lion Rampant rules by Daniel Mersey for this game.
It was based on the Scenario D: A Gentle Stroll.

The Crusaders are marching down the coast and only being attacked from one side so I adjusted the initial deployment to suit.
The Crusader Retinue must make it's way down from the North West (top left) of the table and move off in the South West (bottom left) corner. The deployment of the Egyptian Retinue had to be adjusted to suit so that some units came on in the South East corner as the original scenario, but the rest came on along the East side, with 24" of the North East corner.

Crusader Retinue
2 Mounted Men-at-Arms (a "Commanding" Leader included)
1 Mounted Sergeants
1 Foot Sergeants
1 Crossbowmen

Egyptian Retinue
2 Mounted Sergeants + bows (a "Strong" Leader included)
2 Mounted Yeomen
2 Foot Yeomen


The first moves.
While most of the Crusaders sped south down the coast, the Crusader Mounted Sergeants to moved east to counter the Egyptian mounted Yeomen. However the Yeomen left them behind and rode off to engage the Foot Sergeants making their way through some rough ground.

Third Crusade - Break the Siege of Acre, 11th July 1191

The city of Acre on the east coast of the Mediterranean had been under siege by the Crusaders since August 1189. The Crusaders had blockaded the city by sea and encircled it on land. In turn they were encircled inland by Egyptians who were trying to relieve the Siege of Acre. The situation came to a head with the arrival of King Richard in June 1191, whose plan was to take Acre and then secure the coast as they moved south towards Jerusalem. In the city, the garrison were on the verge of surrender and Saladin's encircling army made a last attempt too break the Siege of Acre.

An excuse for a big bash to start things off in this series of games.
I used Sword & Spear (2nd Edition) rules by Mark Lewis, published by Great Escape Games.

I have used one unit is represented by 2 square bases, so 4 cavalry figs or 8 infantry figs to a unit.
The red and black dice indicate activations, The numbered discs represent hits. The yellow and blue dice (where shown) represent combat results.

The initial layout,
Crusaders on the left. The City of Acre lies off-table behind the Crusaders.
The deployment was done using the Attack on a Prepared Position scenario but I varied the allowed Stratagems to better suit the situation.
Both sides are heavy on cavalry.
I made the assumption that the Saracens preceded their attack with harassing arrow fire and that the Crusader cavalry had already moved through the infantry to try to push away the attackers leaving the infantry as a back stop.

Third Crusade Linked Scenarios

The action will take place from Saladin's last attempt to break of the Siege Of Acre, to the Battle Of Arsuf.

Games will be played using various rules depending on the scenario and, perhaps, what I fancy:

• Sword & Spear (2nd Edition) by Mark Lewis, published by Great Escape Games
• Soldiers Of God by Warwick Kinrade, produced by Artorus Games Ltd
• Lion Rampant by Daniel Mersey, published by Osprey

In some cases the result of battles fought will influence what happens next, especially if the outcome is not historical. In these cases it may result in another battle being fought where one side takes advantage of an opportunity.

Scenarios

Break The Siege Of Acre
11th July, 1191
Saladin's last attempt to break the Siege Of Acre.
An excuse for a big bash to start things off.

Break Up The Column
25th-26th August, 1191
The Crusader army is advancing down the coast in three separate divisions. Saladin's son, al-Afdal, attempts to slow the Crusader's rearguard to separate them from the rest. If successful, Saladin's main force could exploit the gap between the Crusader rearguard and the rest of the army.

Skirmish Attacks on the Column
30th August, 1191
Saladin intended this to be a major assault, but it didn't develop that way.

Determined Attacks on the Column
2nd September, 1191
Another attempt to break the deadlock resulting in fierce fighting.

Battle Of Arsuf
7th September, 1191.
The climax of this set of scenarios with Saladin launching a major attack as the Crusaders approach Arsuf.

Rather than create a complete campaign I have decided to run this as a series of linked scenarios based on historical encounters. This is partly because the historical movements, of the Crusaders at least, were fairly linear along the coast. This means there is much scope for variation except timing and position of encampments and encounters. Also, as it is a solo effort, I would be making decisions for both sides while knowing the intention of the enemy.

Reference used: The Third Crusade 1191 by Osprey.