Outremer: Faith and Blood game

Cecil and I managed to finally play our first game of "Outremer: Faith and Blood" by Osprey wargames.

Factions were Crusaders and Saracens.

My figures are a mix of Wargames Factory Saxon Fyrd and Conquest Games Normans, Cecil's Saracens are from Fireforge games.

The crimson crusaders

It was the first go at the rules, so we played all 8 turns which resulted in everyone but 3 crusaders being taken down.

The Saracens scars of battle results were even more unforgiving then me, every Saracen that was taken down suffered a detrimental result. The Commander died of wounds, the Imam Loss of coordination, 2 Ahdath increased medical cost, 1 Ahdath a lingering injury, 2 Saracens captured 1 Ahdath and the second in command both sold into slavery. The 3 Crusaders that were taken down were 2 flesh wounds and 1 Hardened.

The Star of the Crusader warband was unnamed Ranged Militia 1 Soldier, he took down 3 enemy including the Saracen commander.

Buildings are Plastcraft, they look pretty nice.

Unnamed Ranged Militia 1 Soldier gets his first take down, the Saracen archer a top central house.

Unnamed Ranged Militia soldier moving in to capture Saracen Commander, unfortunately (for the commander) the game ended before he could actually capture him.

The game plays well, the activation mechanic keeps both players involved and the combat is quick and bloody.

However the character creation and advancement is completely random. For example you pay for a Ranged Militia 1 Soldier, you roll a two random traits, One basic, the other, in this case, a ranged trait, then you buy his equipment to suit his traits, that's OK when you recruit him, But when he levels up he rolls for another trait so you can have a bow expert suddenly becoming able to carry 5 javelins as opposed to 3 he can normally or crossbow marksman or even an elite slinger.