Steven B. Guy - Jun 23, 2007 2:29 am (#251 Total: 320) Scenario for Viking--Sarmada (A.D. 1119) Ortoqids: 10 MC, 10 HB, 1 "3". VP 41, PL 16. Deploy A-2, E-2, and/or F-2. Stacking: 2. Leadership: Mt. Ex. Crusaders: 8 SD, 3 HC, 3 CB, 1 "2". VP 32, PL 14. Deploy C-2. Stacking: 2 Game Length: 12 Game Turns Victory Conditions: Ortoqids must control hex C and achieve a substantive victory. Crusaders must prevent this. Terrain modifications: ignore all stream, bridge, ford, road, and all-sea hexes. Ian Raine - Jun 23, 2007 2:48 am (#252 Total: 320) "[Arthur Dent] learned to communicate with birds and discovered that their conversation was fantastically boring. It was all to do with wind speed, wingspans, power-to-weight ratios, and a fair bit about berries." Ortoqids Ok, I looked up the Ortoqids: "The Ortoqids (an Oghuz Turk dynasty that ruled in the Jezirah (northern Iraq) in the 11th and 12th centuries.... controlled Jerusalem until 1098" "The Fatimids... had lost Jerusalem to the Seljuks in 1076, but recaptured it from the Ortoqids in 1098 while the crusaders were on the march... "The First Crusade was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II with the dual goals of liberating the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslims, and freeing the Eastern Christians from Muslim rule. ..... towards Jerusalem and captured the city in July 1099, establishing the Kingdom of Jerusalem and other Crusader states." Byzantine is not really an appropriate description for this, I suppose. Steven B. Guy - Jun 23, 2007 11:48 am (#253 Total: 320) Historical notes for Sarmada Ilghazi and his Ortoqids invaded the Principality of Antioch, besieging a small Crusader garrison. Roger of Salerno, preferring not to wait for reinforcements, marched to break the siege. Ilghazi surrounded Roger's camp and attacked. Roger was killed at the foot of the large jewelled cross which had served as his standard, and his army destroyed. The battle is also known as Ager Sanguinus, Latin for "the Field of Blood". Another example of good Crusader judgment