Road to Damascas 1143

This is a scenario from the Hail Caesar book.  We enjoyed playing it 3 years ago & decided it was worth a re-run.  Again we modified it a bit to suit what we have.  We used our Hail King Richard rules - Hail Caesar modified for medieval.

The Damascans have a holding force of infantry in the village with a screen of horse archers in front.  A relief column is coming on the road from the far end of the table. The crusader army is coming on from the near RH corner.  To win the crusaders have to clear a passage for their baggage train through the village & through the pass halfway along the LH edge of the table by 10pm (2.5 hours playing time).

The Damascans in the village are putting up a surprisingly good fight as both sides bring more troops onto the table.

Dismounted  knights have failed to break into the village.  Dismounted Ghulams broke one unit & the other hasn't even been able to dig skirmishers in the houses.  More crusader infantry is being sent forward to join the attack on the village.  Opposing lines of cavalry have formed to the right. 

The knights have finally taken the houses, but most of the village is still in Damascan hands.  To the right of the village the leading knights have ridden down some Ghulam cavalry, but the ring of horde archers is wearing them down. The 3rd Crusader division is being slow to deploy on the right.

The knights have finally taken the centre of the village, but a pocket of resistance on the left remains On the right the Damascans have counterattacked.  The infantry of the 3rd division has been turned left & is marching to reinforce the other infantry which is running out of steam.  The knights in the centre have been forced to retire by the horse archers, but the other 2 brigades of knights have now got to the front.

On the left, horse archers pepper the crusader infantry as the Damascans form a new line with the infantry in their relief column & the Crusaders bring up fresh infantry.  The knights in the centre are being kept disordganised by bow fire.  The knights on the right has destroyed some enemy cavalry before it could deploy, but are now ringed by horse archers.  

A renewed attack by the crusader foot now engaged with the levy infantry of the relief column rather than dismounted Ghulams, but there are lot of them to hack their way though.  The 1st brigade of knights has broken.  An attempt by the 2nd brigade to break through to support the infantry has been driven back,.  The 3rd brigade is being surrounded by horse archers.  

At nightfall, the Damascans still hold part of the village though their troops there are on the verge of breaking.  The crusader foot in the centre has broken one line of levy but there is another behind it.  The knights on the right are mostly shaken & verging on breaking.  The Damascan cavalry is also badly mauled.  The crusaders may well have enough infantry left in fighting shape to clear the way though eventually, but they have failed to do so by nightfall so are defeated.

The initial stubborn defence of the village against the dismounted knights was the key to the Damascan win.  Not only did it buy time, but it led to the crusaders sending all their infantry that way leaving the knights to take on the masses of Damascan cavalry without any infantry support.  The knights did well enough against the Damascan horse when it could catch them, but without any bowmen to counter it the steady attrition of the horse archers wore them down.

It's a great scenario & nicely balanced though between two very different armies.  In our previous go at the scenario (see blog 22/09/2015) the Crusaders won in an equally desperate fight.