Later Crusader

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Historical Overview Section

The Second Crusade (1147–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe, called in 1145 in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year. Edessa was the first of the Crusader states to have been founded during the First Crusade (1095–1099), and was the first to fall. The Second Crusade was announced by Pope Eugene III, and was the first of the crusades to be led by European kings, namely Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany, with help from a number of other important European nobles. The armies of the two kings marched separately across Europe and were somewhat hindered by Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus; after crossing Byzantine territory into Anatolia, both armies were separately defeated by the Seljuk Turks. Louis and Conrad and the remnants of their armies reached Jerusalem and, in 1148, participated in an ill-advised attack on Damascus. The crusade in the east was a failure for the crusaders and a great victory for the Muslims. It would ultimately lead to the fall of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade at the end of the 12th century.

The only success came outside of the Mediterranean, where Flemish, Frisian, Norman, English, Scottish, and some German crusaders, on the way by ship to the Holy Land, fortuitously stopped and helped the Portuguese in the capture of Lisbon in 1147

Useful Links

User-contributed links about this army:

• Flags to download for the Crusaders, from the Fanaticus site
• Painting Guides from Brendan Moyle's site
• Early Blazon.com Site showing early coat of arms from their onset to the end of the Crusades, with separate sections for each Crusade
• Knights of St. John DBA Figure Gallery for this army - from Fanaticus
• Later Crusaders DBA Figure Gallery for this army - from Fanaticus
• Later Crusaders DBA Figure Gallery for this army - from Fanaticus
• Later Crusaders DBA Figure Gallery for this army - from Fanaticus
• Crusader Flags to download and use
• Equiping a Hospitaler Knight re-enactment shopping guide
• Fanaticus Painting Guide and potted history
• Crusader States history

Allied Contingents

• Armenian, Cilician : Dates: Any Swords and Scimitars page 27 : Cavalry, Armoured Knight or Hvy Knight lancers (pre 1100, 1100+ and post 1150) with 2 units of take-it-or-leave it infantry to boost break points
• Egyptian ,Fatimid : Dates: 1167 Swords and Scimitars page 12 : Lancer or Bw/Sw Cavalry adds some flexibility to the main list, but complulsary protected spearmen take a bit away. 4 LH is nice.
• Byzantine, Komnenan : Dates: 1163 to 1169 Swords and Scimitars page 23 : 4 Knights are the crème of this ally, LH with Bw/Sw and drilled lancers are a nice support.
• Armenian, Cilician : Dates: Any Swords and Scimitars page 27 : Cavalry, Armoured Knight or Hvy Knight lancers (pre 1100, 1100+ and post 1150) with 2 units of take-it-or-leave it infantry to boost break points
• Bedouin : Dates: Any Swords and Scimitars page 35 : Loads of lancers, with a cute minima of 4-16 LH lancers. Tasty! The ally of choice
• Syrian States : Dates: Any Swords and Scimitars page 29 : Compulsary Bw/Sw cavalry, optional cavalry and LH lancers, more Bw/Sw - and some cheap foot units. Worth looking at

Using the Army in FoG

• It is always hard to win with this army so only select it if you have an infinity or like the romance of the period. If you want to be competitive in competitions then look else but that said there is no better feeling when your Crusaders have just wiped the floor with your enemy. It just does not happen often.
• Some would say leave your infantry to guard your camp and just use your knights –that guarantees you will lose just as it happened historically to the Crusaders. The Crusader infantry are vital for pinning and delaying the rest enemy while the Knights thump your target of choice.
• Knights work best one battle group on one battle group never fight one Knight BG against two foot BGs or a split across one mounted and one foot BG. It is unlikely that you can disrupt both foot BGs so in the joined action phase you will be forced to break off giving your opponent time to bolster the BG you did disrupt. It is a similar situation fighting a mix of mounted and foot BGs your knights will usually beat the enemy mounted but if you fail to disrupt the foot you are force to break off in the JAP giving the mounted a chance to rally.
• The Crusaders do better with allies and for my money the Byzantines are the best. You get an allied general, drilled heavily armoured knights, LF bow and two BGs of LH bow/swordsmen. Put the Byzantines on one flank so you can add in the turcopoles which is enough to drive off enemy skirmishers and give you a strong flank.
• Its about knights. Take only the minimum foot and use them to guard the camp, and then attack in a wall of knights across the table
• If you put the knights into a single ranked battle line then only the two outside BGs need to be drilled.
• Use an ally to give you LH on the flanks of the Knights. A Bedouin ally, a BG of lancer Cv with a couple of BGs of lancer LH (instead of the Turcopoles) is pretty handy for running off the enemy skirmishers.
• BGs of 6 knights are probably too wide to use effectively
• A deployment that alternates Knights and Crossbows might not be a bad choice against enemy LH/Cv. It would let you deploy the knights with some ranks in reserve with the gaps filled wtih Xbows to help chase away (or at least make more painful) skirmishers
• Defensive spears struggle to push forwards against most things - only take them if their role is (rightly) to hold up the enemy.
• Crossbow units generally are troops which do not win battles. They can cause heavily armoured and armoured knights pause for thought, and are pretty good against cavalry but generally unless you expect to face off against lots of knights, or cynically plan to use them as a unit of 6 in column to support spearmen from behind you may be better spending points elsewhere on game winning units.
• Two BGs of military order knights is too many, you can't afford the AP in this army.
• Try to put down maximum difficult terrain. It disorders MF so they cannot intercept charge from it, and it gives less places for the enemy to hide, whereas in RGo cavalry and LH can still get away from you.

Army Success in Tournaments

11 / 12 Later Crusader Chester Doubles 2008 (S&S)
11 / 14 Later Crusader Roll Call 2008 25mm (open)
36 / 62 Later Crusader Britcon 2008 15mm (open)
36 / 62 Later Crusader Britcon 2008 15mm (open)
43 / 62 Later Crusader Britcon 2008 15mm (open)
27 / 27 Later Crusader Britcon 2007 15mm (open)
(thats nothing above half-way in 6 outings. Ouch!)

15mm Manufacturers supplying figures for this army

You can see some of the figures in the Ancients Photo Gallery also on this site. Most manufacturers also have Medieval ranges, but most these have named Crusader ranges where noted. Also look for Early Crusaders at the Norman page figure listing, and for Arab troops look at any of the Swords and Scimitars Arab armies

• Legio Heroica One of only 2 FoG era ranges they sell, for Crusaders under the reign of Baldwin IV up to the battle of Hattin, but also work for earlier and later periods, and some European aemies of the same era
• Essex Miniatures - Crusader ranges
• Donnington - dedicated Crusader ranges
• Corvus Belli
• Museum Miniatures - Crusades range
• Gladiator Miniatures by Fighting 15's (Previously Black Hat) - Crusaders
• Old Glory 15's, - (Holy Orders, Outremer Knights, Saracens & 3rd Crusade medievals)
• Minifigs - Crusades range
• Irregular Miniatures - Early/Late Crusaders
• Venexia/Vexilia Crusaders & Teutonics
• East Riding Miniatures El Cid & Early Crusades,
• Strategia et Tactica Early Crusader
• Camelot Games Crusader Knights & Arabs, and CXIII medievals
• QRF Models MK range with 13th century knights, and foot. Norman Range too.

Army Lists

Sample army lists for this army

• 3 TC
• 1 TC (ally)
• 4 KN (Military Order)
• 4 KN (Military Order)
• 4 KN (Other)
• 4 Turcopoles
• 6 Spearmen (Military Order)
• 8 Spearmen (Other)
• 6 Crossbow (Other)
• 6 Crossbow (Other)
• 4 Bedouin LH
• 4 Bedouin LH
• 4 Bedouin LH
• 4 Bedouin LH

• IC General
• 2 TC Generals
• 4 Separately deployed turcopoles Protected Average Drilled Bow LS Swordsmen
• 8 Other spearmen Armoured, Average Undrilled Defensive Spearmen
• 6 Other spearmen Armoured, Average Undrilled Defensive Spearmen
• 6 Other spearmen Armoured, Average Undrilled Defensive Spearmen
• 6 Other spearmen Armoured, Average Undrilled Defensive Spearmen
• 6 Military order spearmen Armoured, Average Drilled Defensive Spearmen
• 8 Military order crossbowmen Protected Average Drilled Crossbowmen
• 8 Maronite or Syrian archers Unprotected Average Undrilled Bowmen
• 8 Other crossbowmen Protected Average Undrilled Crossbowmen
• 4 Military order knights, sergeants and turcopoles Heavily Armoured Superior Drilled Lance Sword
• 4 Other knights, sergeants and turcopoles Heavily Armoured Superior Undrilled Lance Sword

As used at Britcon 2007

Name of Army / Date

• Using asterisks inthe edit mode creates a bulleted list in the actual site
• This is a lot easier to do than easier than setting up tables
• For FoG I suggest listing your army in order or march
• with troop desctiptions on each line, for example
• 4 HF Armoured Average Drilled Impact Foot Swordsmen
• 8 LG Undrilled Unarmoured Poor Bowen
• Dont forget to include your Generals !!!

Include any notes you want here, including comments on how to use - or play against - the army.

Remember to leave a line before you copy the above section as a template for your own list

Painting and buying Figures

• Hospitaler Order White cross on Black (Generally portrayed as Hospitaler)
• Teutonic order Black cross on White
• Templar order Red cross on White
• Maltese order White cross on Red (The Knights of St. John Hospitaler of Jerusalem)

eBay Listings

UK Bookstore