KNIGHTS OF JUSTICE

                                     THE SIEGE OF MALTA 1565

                                                   In THE WARGAMER N. 50

INTRODUCTION

Knights of Justice is a grand tactical level simulation of the Islamic attempt to crush the Knights Hospitallers during the year 1565. Each game turn covers one week of real time. The Christian player controls the Spanish, Maltese, Mercenary and Hospitaller units. The Muslim player controls the Algerian, North African and Turkish units. The map shows the part of Malta island where the siege took place. There are four strongpoints, Forte Sant’ Elmo, Birgu, Senglea and Forte Sant’ Angelo, all of which start under the Christian control. The map also shows the elevated terrain around the four strongpoints and the sea around them. 
 
SEQUENCE OF PLAY

1) ATTRITION PHASE. 
Muslim Redeployment Pulse. During this pulse, the Muslim player can/must execute three actions. A ) He may move any artillery units on the map from the current hex to any other eligible hex ( trench hexes, Muslim controlled Strongpoint hexes or any other kind of hexes from which it is possible to trace a path to any map edge without entering a Christian ZOC ). Every kind of unit exerts a ZOC, with the exception of the Muslim units in a sea hex (i.e. the Muslim units moved by sea ). No unit exerts a ZOC into Forte Sant’ Angelo across a non-destroyed fortification in that strongpoint.  It is not possible to move the artillery units in a sea hex. Each artillery unit may be moved any distance without following a path of hexes. The moved artillery units are disorganized at the end of their redeployment. B ) He must move any non-artillery unit from the map to one of the two Muslim Camp Boxes. There are two Muslim Camp Boxes: one for the units at full strength, the other for the reduced units ( all Muslim and Christian units, with the exception for those, which represent a single gun, have two steps ). He may rebuilt units combining two reduced units of the same type ( there are several type of Muslim units ) into a single full-strength unit. This is done by eliminating one of the reduced-strength counters from play and returning the other to its full-strength face, ( this option is not available for the Christian player ). C ) He must execute, from the 3rd turn, a Non-Battle Casualty die roll and eliminate the specified steps of strength. During the siege, the outbreaks of dysentery and other serious illnesses were a major factor in sapping the strength of the besiegers. 
Christian Redeployment Pulse. The Christian player may redeploy any Christian non-artillery unit to any fortification or breach hex in a Christian controlled strongpoint. Christian artillery units can never be moved. As for the Muslim player, the redeployment can be of any length: it is important that the Stacking limit should be respected. The Stacking limit is six units for the Christian and only one unit per hex for the Muslim. 
Reinforcement Pulse. Both players may bring reinforcements into play ( there are not replacements ). All Muslim reinforcements are placed in the Full-Strength Muslim Camp Box in the turn in which they are scheduled to arrive. The Christian reinforcement must be placed in any fortification or breach hex of Birgu, provided it is Christian controlled: if not, the reinforcements are placed in any fortification or breach hex of Forte Sant’ Elmo. If both are Muslim controlled, the Christian player cannot deploy his reinforcements. If the Attrition Pulse of the game turn when the reinforcements are due to arrive is omitted, these units may be brought into play during the first subsequent Reinforcement Pulse, which is played. The players cannot voluntary delay the arrival of the reinforcements. 
Engineer Pulse. The Christian player may remove one “ Walls Breached “ marker or two “ Wall Damaged “ markers from the map and place an “ Obstacle “ markers in up to two eligible hexes. The Christian player may repair the walls damaged until at least two strongpoints are under his control, if he controls only one he cannot repair walls damaged or breached. The obstacle markers may be deployed in a moat or shore hex adjacent to a Christian controlled strongpoint: the obstacle marker has ZOC and must be attacked by the Muslim player in order to remove it. The “ Walls Breached “ and the “ Wall Damaged “ are the effect of the Muslim artillery fire or/and fire attacks by non-artillery units against the hexes with a fortification. In addition, there is the “ Walls Breached “ due to a successfully Muslim mining.  The Muslim player may then place one “ Trench “ marker in an eligible hex and may announce a new mining operation or place two “ Walls Breached “ markers as a result of an existing operation. The “ Trench “ marker must be deployed adjacent to an existing one in a clear or shore hex: they serves to redeploy the artillery units and to deploy the other units before to start an assault against a Christian controlled strongpoint. The Muslim mining attempts serve to destroy the Christian fortifications and they are in addition to the damages caused by the artillery fire or/and fire attacks by the Muslim non-artillery units. The Christian player can conduct countermining attempts to reduce or to nullify the Muslim mining. 
Bombardment Pulse. Muslim artillery units that are not currently disordered may conduct fire attacks. The intent of the bombardment is to damage and to destroy the Christian fortifications and to inflict losses to the Christian units in the target hex. Each artillery unit fires separately and a hex can be attacked more than one time in a Bombardment Pulse. The bombardment is resolved as a normal fire attack by a non-artillery unit. The Muslim player roll two dice on the CRT under the appropriate column and the result is immediately applied. In order to bombard, an artillery unit must have a LOS from the firing unit to the target hex. A LOS is blocked by friendly or enemy units or by intervening terrains, which are more elevated than the terrains in which there are the firing unit and the target. 
Recovery Pulse. Both players return the disorganized units to normal status.
Track Pulse. The Muslim player must decide whether he wishes to storm. If he selects to storm, the two Storm Phase markers are placed in any boxes of their respective tracks of the Muslim player choice. There are two tracks: one indicates the day of the week in which the Storm phase start; the other the hour ( the shaded boxes indicate that the assault is made during the night hours ). Each day has twenty-four possible assaults and there is no limit to the number of days or hour that a Storm Phase can last. Play then enters that Storm Phase. If he decides not to storm, the Game Turn marker is advanced one box along the Game Turn Track ( one box represents one week ) and the play enters the Attrition Phase of the new Game Turn. 
2 ) STORM PHASE
Assault Preparation Pulse. Muslim player may place one Muslim non-artillery unit of his choice in each fortification or breach hex of a Muslim controlled Strongpoint, and in each trench hex on the map. These units must be drawn from either of the two Muslim Camp Boxes. If no units are left in the Muslim Camp Boxes, none may be deployed. The normal stacking limit must be obeyed. 
First Christian Movement Pulse. The Christian player may move any non-artillery unit, which is not in an enemy ZOC up to its printed   movement allowance. Each unit ( for the Muslim artillery or non-artillery, for the Christian only non-artillery ) has printed MPs that the unit expends in its movement. If a unit is in an enemy ZOC, it cannot move at all ( except during the night turns in a Storm Phase ): the only way a unit can exit from an enemy ZOC is via combat result. 
First Muslim Movement Pulse. The Muslim player may move any Muslim non-artillery unit, which is not in a Christian ZOC, up to its movement allowance. 
Christian Fire Combat Pulse. Christian artillery and non-artillery units may conduct Fire attacks against Muslim non-artillery units. In this pulse, the Christian player may fire attack any Muslim non-artillery unit. The range of fire is limited to two hexes for the non-artillery units. The fire is possible only if it is a LOS between the firing unit and the target. It is not possible to combine fire from artillery and non-artillery units: each unit fires separately. A target hex may be fire attacked more than one time per pulse. If a unit ( artillery or not ) is in a Muslim ZOC, the fire is mandatory: in other words, the Christian units in Muslim ZOCs must fire during the pulse. To resolve the fire attack, the owing player rolls two dice on CRT under the appropriate column and then the result is applied: there is only one CRT, used for the Muslim bombardment, fire attacks and shock combats. The CRT has the following results. 1 ) “ –“ No Effect. 2 ) “ M “ Morale check: the target unit or stack must make an immediate Morale check. If they pass nothing happens, if they do not, they become disordered and in some cases must retreat one hex, if already disordered they must retreat. Every unit has a morale value ( from A, the best , to E, the worst ), which modifies the die roll for a morale check. 3 ) “ S “  Step Loss. The target unit or stack must eliminate one step of strength. 4 ) “ E “ Elimination. All units in the target hex are eliminated from play ( there are not replacement in this game ). 5 ) “ D “ Walls Damaged. In addition to other results, if a fortification is present in the target hex, a “ Wall Damaged “ marker is placed in the hex. 6 ) “ B “ Walls Breached. If the target hex contains a fortification, a “ Walls Breached “ marker is placed in the target hex. These two last results are applied only in the Fire Attacks or Bombardment, they are ignored in the shock combat. 
Muslim Fire Combat Pulse. Only Muslim non-artillery units may conduct fire attacks against Christian units ( artillery or not ): the procedure is the same as for the Christian Fire Combat Pulse.
Second Christian Movement Pulse. The procedure is the same as in the First Christian Movement Pulse.
Christian Shock Combat Pulse. Christian non-artillery units must shock attack the Muslim units in their ZOC, they may combine their combat strength. The player uses the same CRT as in the Fire Combat, with the difference that the “ Wall Damaged “ and  the “ Walls Breached “ results are ignored. If as a result of a shock attack, the defender hex remains empty of the enemy units, the attacker may advance. All the results of the CRT for all kinds of combats never affect the attacker.
Muslim Shock Combat Pulse. The Muslim attacks are resolved in the same way as the Christian ones.
Second Muslim Movement Pulse. The procedure is the same as in the First Muslim Movement Pulse.
Recovery Pulse. Both players return disordered units to normal status.
Track Pulse. Muslim player may choose to abandon his attempt to storm. If he chooses to abandon, the players remove the Storm Phase markers from their tracks and advance the Game Turn marker one box on the Game Turn Track. Play then enters the Attrition Phase of the new game turn ( one weak is passed ). If the Muslim player decides to continue to storm, the Storm Phase ( Hour ) marker is advanced one box and the play enters another Storm Phase. 

WIN OR DIE: THE CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE

Here we add a comment to the game, seen by the eyes of a Christian player. We have decided to comment only the Christian strategy, because we think that, in Knights of Justice, it is the most intriguing and difficult strategy between the two. Everyone is free to dissent: but our experience has learnt that the Muslim overall strategy is only to bombard and then to storm with a force over ten times greater than the Christian one. In other words, the Muslim player must use all his force without hesitation and with an eye on the turn track: he must conquer all the four Strongpoint and destroy everyone on his path to victory. The Muslim strategy can be only one; the differences may be on the tactics to use: the force in the Muslim hands is so great that the Muslim victory is more a victory of brute force than of innovative and genial strategy. But for the Christian the situation is very different and it is necessary all his skill to resist to the Muslim hordes.
Win or die, in Knights of Justice, is much more than a simple slogan: it is the unique way opened to the Christian to save his Hospitallers and Malta with them. When you compare your forces to the Muslim ones, it seems impossible to resist for fifteen turns: but it is possible, it must be possible. At the start of the game you control the four Strongpoint, at the end it is sufficient only one ( as it has been historical ) in order to allow the Spanish aids to arrive and to drive away the Muslim troops. Your units are weak and only the Knights are a real problem for the Muslim: the other your units are of low rank and they have a chance only if stacked with a Knights unit. Have in mind that the best Christian units have a fire and shock value of two and even if they are stacked together ( six units per hex, maximum ) their total fire and shock strength is twelve. The best Muslim units have respectively twelve and fourteen SPs for shock and fire attacks: and this is the strength of only one unit. Then a lone Muslim unit is better than a stack of six Christian units. We have described the best units of both sides, but the same is true for the other units: the Christian units are little better in morale value, but the difference is so little that it is wise no to count on it too much. If we compare the difference between the artillery units, the preponderance of the Muslim forces are even more evident. But these are the units in your hands and you must play with them. 
As noticed above, the Christian starts the game with the control of the four strongpoint and even for the better Muslim units is hard to assault them: above this, the Muslim must win in fifteen turns, so the art of delay is of the greatest importance for the Christian. Now we give a look to each strongpoint in order to understand better the starting situation on the map. The point of start is Forte Sant’ Elmo. This strongpoint is the first objective for the Muslim because if it is under Christian control, the Muslim can move only one unit by sea and in addition, he must place ten non-artillery units in his camp to protect his ships and his anchorage. These ten units cannot be employed until the strongpoint becomes Muslim controlled. Forte Sant’ Elmo is the most isolated of the four strongpoint and no Muslim player may have any hope to win without to conquer it first. Two strongpoints are towns protected by walls ( Birgu and Senglea ). A bridge of boats that can be used only by the Christian connects them. The fourth strongpoint is Forte Sant’ Angelo, which is separated from Birgu by a moat: it is the only strongpoint across the wall of which the Muslim units cannot project a ZOC and then they cannot attack. Historically, this strongpoint was the unique remained in Christian hands before the arriving of the Spanish forces and the relief of the besieged. Due to these reasons, it is evident that Forte Sant’ Angelo is the final defence position for the Christian and that it is the unique strongpoint that has a possibility to resist. In order to attack it, the Muslim player must spend several turns to destroy at least three walls hexes by bombardment and only after this preparation, he can start his assault, which could be more difficult than expected. 
A good Muslim player may conquer Forte Sant’ Elmo in four turns and spend other four turns to conquer Birgu and Senglea, in addition two turns are necessary to redeploy the Muslim artillery units: for a total of ten turns. To the Muslim player remain only five turns to bombard and to assault Forte Sant’ Angelo: at the end of the fifteenth turn, he must control the strongpoint or the game is lost. Moreover, five turns pass fast. From these considerations, the importance of the art of delay becomes evident and it must be the centre of the Christian strategy. Another decisive point in the Christian strategy is to conserve the forces as best as possible: above all, the Knights who are a real human wall. In a game, the overall Christian strategy must consider these two different factors ( delay and conserve ): two factors that are often opposite. We think that the Christian must react to the Muslim attacks with great flexibility, having in mind to delay the Muslim effort and to conserve his forces as long as possible. It is not a problem for the Muslim to conquer three strongpoints: the real challenge is to conquer the fourth strongpoint ( Forte Sant’ Angelo ) and to conquer it in time. In these two major efforts of the Muslim, the Christian has the possibility to play a decisive role using his resources and his skill. How, when and in what manner he could opt for a fierce resistance ( delay at the cost of conserve ) or a general retreat from a strongpoint not yet defendable ( conserve at the cost of delay ) is impossible to predict: everything is in the Christian hands and…in the dice! 
At this point, one thing results clear: the Christian player has no opportunity to play a different game than win or die. His opponent wants to destroy the Knights and to conquer Malta: but the real objective of the Muslim is to conquer the European continent. The Knights and Malta are only an irritating stone on his path to Europe: a stone to crumble without any piety. On the Christian side, the Knights and Malta are much more than some warriors of a religious order and a little island in the Mediterranean: they are the last hope to stop the major invasion and the signal of revance and liberty. 
The Christian player represents the few, and in most cases inadequate, forces that have fought against the Ottoman Empire in a struggle that seemed to be without any hope. He must survive not only for himself ( Malta lost, there is not any other place for the Knights ) but, above all, for the Europe and the whole Christendom. In the game, the victory conditions render clear these concepts and it is important for the Christian player having always them in mind. 
Knights of Justice is not a difficult game and it is easy to learn, but it is a perfect game to show how it is possible to win against the odd having only few and weak forces. The Christian strategy is based upon two concepts, delay and conserve: what is difficult is how to balance them in the game. In addition, for the Christian player the concept of victory is to survive until the last turn: it could seem a poor victory. In realty, it is not only difficult to achieve but the greatest victory than an overwhelmed side could hope. An honourable death is far better than a golden slavery ( admitting it is possible that a golden slavery could exist ).                       
 
Lodovico Badali