The Crusades and the Kingdom of Jerusalem
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Onward Christian Soldiers 1 Onward Christian Soldiers The Crusades and The Kingdom of Jerusalem Rules for The Second Crusade; 1148 & The Third Crusade; 1191-1192 a Richard H. Berg Game Design Table of Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................ 2 9. Naval Rules ................................................................ 20 2. Components ............................................................... 2 10. Resources and Communication ................................. 22 3. General Course of Play .............................................. 4 11. Neutrals and Assassins ............................................... 22 4. The Activation Markers (2C/3C only) ....................... 5 12. Events ......................................................................... 23 5. Leaders and Manpower .............................................. 5 Scenario 1: The Second Crusade ....................................... 24 6. Land Movement, Continuation, and Attrition ............ 7 Scenario 2: The Third Crusade (Historical) ...................... 26 7. Land Combat.............................................................. 10 The Third Crusade: Barbarossa (What if?) ....................... 29 8. Towns, Cities, and Castles ......................................... 15 Counterscan (sheet 3) ........................................................ 31 GMT Games, LLC P.O. Box 1308, Hanford, CA 93232-1308 www.GMTGames.com © 2006 GMT Games, LLC 2 Onward Christian Soldiers The Towns and Cities are all named, as are the locations for the place- (1.0) INTRODUCTION ment of Castles; the Points are numbered for easy identification. Onward Christian Soldiers is a game covering the first three Cru- sades to “The Holy Land”. These rules cover the Second and Third The coastal areas of the Eastern Mediterranean are divided into Sea Crusades, campaigns to aid The Kingdom of Jerusalem in main- Zones, to delineate movement of galley fleets. Sea Zones are taining Frankish control over the Latin East (more or less). “named” by reference to a Port in that area; e.g., Acre Sea Zone, or Cyprus Sea Zone. (1.1) The Two Versions of Onward There are also several edge-of-the-map holding areas for soon-to- Rules that apply specifically to a given scenario are either noted in arrive units from such as the Fatimids, the Turks, etc. the main body, or given in that scenario. While the map shows much of the actual terrain in the region, such There are two “versions” of Onward: The First Crusade and the Sec- terrain has no effect on play. It is there solely to provide a geo- ond/Third Crusades. Several rules in the First Crusade version are graphical context for players as they work their way from place to essentially identical with those in the Second/Third Crusade version, place. with only small differences, but for the sake of player convenience, we have decided to present the game in two completely separate (2.2) THE CARDS rulebooks. Even so, in some cases the rules show either [1C] or [2C/ None of the cards are used for the Second or Third Crusades. 3C]. The former refers to a rule that applies only to the First Crusade version, the latter to the Second/Third Crusade version. These notifi- (2.3) THE PLAYING PIECES cations help players quickly grasp the differences between the two The playing pieces—cardboard markers—are used to locate where versions. each of that type of unit is at any given time, or keep track of certain That said, there really aren’t that many differences between the two, statuses. For example, Army Strength Point markers are provided and players will be able to move from one version to the other to show how many troops a given Leader has in his Army. There are smoothly and easily. The major differences are as follows: also Control Markers to keep track of who controls a specific City, and Resource Point markers to show how much a City’s Resources • The First Crusade uses the Event Cards; the Second/Third Cru- have been reduced. sade does not, using an Events Table instead • The First Crusade uses the Activation Cards; the Second/Third Leaders Crusade uses a simpler Activation Markers system Rank Name • The First Crusade can be played by anywhere from two through Scenario Faction seven players, and includes specific multi-player rules through- Activation Rating Command Rating out, as well as a Diplomacy section; the Second/Third Cru- sades are two-player games only. (But both can easily be played Fleets solitaire.) Movement Rate (2.0) COMPONENTS Fleet Strength Onward Christian Soldiers: The Second and Third Crusades uses Activation Markers • 1 22"x 33" game-map • 2 sheets of 1/2" cardboard playing pieces • 1 sheet of 5/8" cardboard control markers • 1 sheet of 1/2" game markers • 1 Rules Book • 4 Player Charts and Aids Cards Strength Points • 2 six-sided dice (2.1) THE MAP The 22" x 33" mapboard covers the area of The Middle East—or The Holy Land—as it was during the 11th to 12th centuries. Most of The Holy Land was difficult to traverse by armies, with the small, but tough, mountain ranges channeling traffic into specific paths, Control Markers those paths usually guarded by cities and fortifications of different size and strength. Towns are large circles, Cities are squares. The paths also include small circles (Points) with numbers therein rep- resenting Attrition costs, not Movement Points. England France Germany Latin Cities Towns Points Fatamid Saracen Armenia © 2006 GMT Games, LLC Onward Christian Soldiers 3 (2.4) THE DICE Battle: Combat between two forces. There are two types: Full Onward Christian Soldiers uses six-sided dice. Sometimes only one Battles, in which armies fight each other toe-to-toe, and Harass- die is used (1d6). At other times players roll two dice and add the ment Attacks, in which Muslim/Saracen forces try to cause small numbers together (2d6). At still other times, both dice are rolled, losses to the Crusader/Frank forces at low risk to themselves. with the two numbers combined (2d66) to form a double-digit num- Campaign Rating: The number on the right of each Leader counter. ber, with the red die read first and the white die second. For in- stance, rolling a red 4 and a white 2 yields a result of 42. Cities: The squares on the map. Spaces with large circles are Towns, not Cities. (2.5) GAME TERMINOLOGY AND HISTORICAL NOTE: Most of these “cities” were hardly that ... ACRONYMS more collections of a few buildings than anything else. The big The following terms and acronyms are used throughout the rules. cities, such as Antioch, were quite big for that era. Antioch was one of the largest cities in the Western world at that time. 1C: First Crusade version of Onward Christian Soldiers (OCS). 2C/3C: Second/Third Crusade version of OCS. City Entry Space: The space to which the City is connected. Each city has only one City Entry space. ASP: Army Strength Points, a generic way of indicating the strength of an Army. Control: The last faction to solely occupy a City, Town, or Castle controls it. Activated: A Leader is considered activated when his Activation Marker is drawn (although it’s possible to draw the marker and pass DR: Acronym for die-roll (also spelled dieroll without the hyphen the Activation). All Crusader Fleets are considered activated when here). A DRM is a die-roll modifier, a number used to adjust the the Crusader Fleet Activation card is drawn; Fatimid Fleets can ac- die-roll. tivate only on the play of the “Fatimids” Muslim Event Card [1C Entry Space: Same as City Entry Space. only]. An Army is activated when an activated Leader does some- thing with them. Event Deck (1C only): The card deck that determines random events. Players take cards from the Event Deck only after drawing Activation Card (1C only): Cards that currently form—or that may one of the “Draw Event Card” cards from the current turn’s Activa- be purchased to form—the Activation Deck, and drawn from the tion Deck. See 4.0. deck during the Operations Phase to determine which leader or force goes next. Faction: The essentially separate armies of each side (Franks or Saracens). Activation Deck (1C only): The card deck that controls the order in which armies and fleets move during the turn. It consists of the Force: Army, Garrison, or Leaderless ASPs. Leader Activation Cards purchased for the current turn, plus the Garrison: Leaderless ASPs in a City or Town. See also Intrinsic Standard Activation cards automatically included with every turn. Garrison. The Activation Deck is assembled anew at the beginning of every turn. See 4.0. Interception: Stopping an army as it moves, engaging it in battle. Activation Points Marker (1C only): Markers drawn randomly Intrinsic Garrison: 1-ASP force inside a City or Castle. All Cities by the player(s), at the beginning of each turn, in order to determine or Castles automatically have an Intrinsic Garrison at all times; if which of each faction’s Leader Activation Cards will be added to the current one is destroyed, it is automatically and immediately the Activation Deck for this turn. Activation markers bear the des- replaced by one belonging to the capturing faction. ignation AP, meaning Activation Points. Leader Activation Card (1C only): Activation Cards that bear the Activation Marker (2C/3C only): Markers drawn randomly dur- name of Leaders of the various factions. ing the Operations Phase to determine which leader or force goes Line of Communications (LOC): A line tracing back to a source next. of Resources. It can potentially include Points, Towns, Cities, and Activation Rating: The number on the left side of each Leader Sea Areas. There are two types of LOC: Limited and Unlimited. counter. NSP: Naval Strength Point; each Fleet counter begins with 2 NSP Adjacent Space: A space with a connecting line directly to the space and can be reduced to 1 NSP before being eliminated. in question. Path: See Space. Army: ASPs with a Leader. Point: See Space. Assault Points: Points inflicted by an army that Assaults a city; Resources: The ability each city has to ameliorate Attrition.