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Napoleonic Wars
1803-1815
the first crusade
A Chronology and Scenario
By Paul Leach
We had so much material for our First Crusade theme that we couldn’t fit it all into our
Wargames Illustrated 267 issue. Instead of leaving you without it, we’ve decided to put
it up on our new-look website for all to enjoy. Keep an eye out for more “bonus” content
like this in the future.
A detailed chronology of the First Crusade
1071
1096
The Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantines
at Manzikert. The Turks bring Anatolia
under their control while the empire
suffers under usurpers and instability.
March: Armies of the People’s Crusade
depart for Constantinople.
1081
Alexios Komnenos becomes Emperor of
the Byzantine Empire with the help of
the powerful Dukas family. He restores
a good measure of order but spends the
next decade defending the realm against
the Normans of southern Italy.
Factional fighting
follows the death
of the Shah
The People’s
Crusade
May through June: Elements of
People’s Crusade harass, rob, and/or
massacre Jewish Rhineland communities.
1 August: Peter the Hermit’s hordes
arrive in Constantinople. Emperor
Alexios moves the unruly hosts to
Anatolia within a week.
The walls
of Antioch
August through December:
The Crusader princes’ armies
depart for Constantinople.
21 October: Kilij Arslan destroys the
People’s Crusade at Civetos.
November through May 1097: The
princes’ armies arrive in Constantinople.
1097
1092
The Great Seljuk Sultan Malik Shah dies.
Syrian and Anatolian factions break away
from the Sultanate and vie for regional
dominance in subsequent years.
1095
1-7 March: Ecclesiastical Council of
Piacenza receives Byzantine appeal for
military support against Islamic enemies.
July through September 1096: Pope
Urban II tours France to solicit aid and
organize the First Crusade.
18-28 November: Council of Clermont.
Pope Urban II delivers the Crusader
sermon publicly the first time on 27
November. The ultimate objective of
the martial pilgrimage: restoration of
Christian rule over Jerusalem.
December through March 1096:
Peter the Hermit begins the People’s
Crusade movement.
14 May through 19 June: Crusaders and
Byzantines besiege Nicaea. Kilij Arslan
fails to relieve the siege of his capital city
(16 May). The city eventually accepts
Byzantine surrender terms.
Late June through September:
Crusaders begin grueling trek though
central/western Anatolia to restore
Byzantine control over interior. Separate
Byzantine coastal operations begin before
year’s end and continue through the
following spring; they penetrate deep into
southwestern Anatolia.
1 July: Seljuk and Danishmendid Turks
ambush Crusader vanguard en route to
Dorylaeum. The Turks flee at midday
when the rearguard arrives; Crusader
numbers and a flank attack prove too
much for Kilij Arslan’s army.
September through October: Tancred
and Baldwin engage in Cilician mission.
20 October: The Crusaders begin
their siege of Antioch.
17 November: Genoese fleet arrives
at St. Simeon. The Crusaders take its
supplies and construct Malregard on the
November through May 1099: The
Crusader princes engage in land-grabbing
campaigns in northern Syria as they
maneuver for rank over their peers. The
winter sieges result in massacres, sacks,
and even cannibalism.
1099
northern slopes of Mount Staurin
to deter Turkish sallies.
31 December: A large Crusader foraging
expedition defeats Duqaq of Damascus’
relief army in a chance battle.
1098
9 February: A mounted Crusader force
defeats Ridwan of Aleppo’s larger relief
army. Shortly afterwards the Crusaders
receive a diplomatic deputation from the
Egyptian Fatimids.
4 March: An English fleet (possibly
exiles in Byzantine service) arrives at St.
Simeon. The Crusaders use supplies to
build La Mahomerie at Antioch’s Bridge
Gate between 10 and 14 March.
2 June: Stephen of Blois abandons siege
before Kerbogha of Mosul arrives to
relieve Antioch. Emperor Alexios returns
his army to Constantinople in July;
Stephen’s dire news greatly influences his
decision.
3 June: The Crusaders take Antioch
through treachery and sack it. Only the
city’s citadel holds out.
4-5 June: Kerbogha’s army arrives at
Antioch. He initially attempts to capture
it through the citadel, but settles upon a
siege after his troops lose a long, bloody
struggle on Antioch’s eastern slopes.
14 June: The Crusaders discover the
‘Holy Lance’. This relic contributes to
the faith and fervor of the increasingly
desperate army.
28 June: The Crusaders defeat
Kerbogha’s great host outside
Antioch’s walls.
16 May: The Crusaders depart from
Arqa for Jerusalem, with the exception
of Bohemond, who remains in Antioch.
They meet little resistance on the way.
7 June: The Crusaders reach Jerusalem.
13 June: Jerusalem’s Fatimid garrison
repulses the Crusader’s first assault.
17 June: Genoese ships arrive at Jaffa.
The Crusaders use its supplies to
construct siege artillery and towers in the
following weeks.
15 July: The Crusaders
capture Jerusalem.
July: The Fatimids take Jerusalem from
the Seljuk Turks.
22 July: Godfrey of Bouillon elected to
rule Jerusalem.
1 August: Bishop Adhémar, the First
Crusade’s papal legate, dies from disease.
12 August: The Crusaders defeat a
Fatimid relief force outside Ascalon.
Kerbogha
“Kerbogha had with him a great army whom he had been assembling for a long
time, and had been given leave by the khalif, who is the pope of the Turks, to
kill Christians... [He had] collected an immense force of pagans - Turks, Arabs,
Saracens, Paulicians, Azymites, Kurds, Persians, Agulani and many other people
who could not be counted.”
From The Gesta Francorum
Pope Urban’s call to crusade
unintentionally spawned the
so-called People’s Crusade, an
unruly collection of peasant armies
nominally led by the aesthetic
French demagogue Peter the Hermit.
Knights and nobles assumed core
leadership roles within the peasant
hordes and gave them some measure
of professional fighting ability. They
rushed to Constantinople with an
uncontrollable temperament
capable of destroying Byzantium’s
goodwill before the ‘real’ crusader
armies arrived.
The armies of the People’s Crusade
provoked enmity almost everywhere
they passed, some even going so far
as to massacre Rhineland Jewish
communities. At least three of the
armies suffered destruction after
fighting the Hungarians. A host of
25,000 actually made it to Anatolia,
where they terrorized the Nicaean
region until the Turks annihilated
them. Peter the Hermit escaped the
disaster and continued to play a kind
of figurehead role throughout the
First Crusade.
Godfrey, Duke
of Bouillon
Wargame scenario:
Napoleonic Wars
1803-1815
The Last Battle of Antioch, 28 June, 1098
The following scenario does not specify a particular ruleset, but players should have no
problem adapting it to their chosen game system.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The Frankish hosts faced a desperate
situation in Antioch. A larger army
surrounded them and they could not
outlast a siege with their meager
provisions. The crusaders had to
somehow break out with an army that had
lost most of its horses. They prepared for
battle with three days of fasting and faced
the enemy hosts with no small measure of
religious fervor.
The crusaders placed Bohemond of
Taranto in command of their combined
forces. His strategy made the best use
of the terrain and a powerful reserve.
The crusaders launched their attack over
Antioch’s Bridge Gate; the Orontes
separated their immediate foes from
their nearest allies. Hugh of Vermandois
pushed the enemy back with horsemen
and archers and then the crusaders
deployed in four battle groups: Robert of
Flanders and Robert of Normandy with
the northern French on the right, Godfrey
of Bouillon with the Germans in the
center, Bishop Adhémar and the southern
French on the left, and Bohemond with
the large reserve. Raymond of Toulouse
remained behind to guard the citadel.
Turkish cavalry slowed Adhémar’s
force as it advanced against the
enemy’s right. The crusader center
and right advanced against Muslim
infantry (possibly religious volunteers).
Bohemond dispatched Renard of Toul
and a rearguard to stop an attacking relief
force from the south. They prevented
a disastrous breakthrough but suffered
heavy casualties. From the north,
Kerbogha and his elite retinue moved
towards the repulsed Muslim line.
The Muslim infantry withdrew across a
wadi and held a low hill for a short time.
They broke before Kerbogha reached
the field and before long his entire army
fled. The sources indicate that some of
his subjects betrayed him, while others
suggest that panic swept the army.
Kerbogha’s army lost relatively few men
despite its decisive defeat.
Armies/ Orders of Battle
The Crusaders
• No more than 20% of troops or
purchase points may be avalry.
• Increase the morale and/or fighting
ability of any peasant infantry units to
reflect religious fervor and dismounted
knights within their ranks.
• The reserve must contain between 30%
and 40% of the entire force.
• Assign major leaders stands or
command bonus effects to each
battle group.
Kerbogha’s Army
• No more than 30% of troops or
purchase points may be cavalry.
Below: Turkish Ghulams charge through
the Crusaders’ defences, into their baggage
train and camp followers.
• Must contain one or two units of
volunteer infantry (high morale/
poorly equipped), which must be
deployed on-table.
• The Flanking Force may not contain
more than 25% of army. It may not have
more cavalry than on-table forces.
• The army may have no more
than two leaders.
DEPLOYMENT
The Crusaders deploy in four groups:
Right, Center, Left, and Reserve.
Kerbogha’s Army on-table forces deploy
in three groups: Right, Center, and
Left. The Flanking Force deploys in the
Crusader rear on the 3rd turn.
The Battlefield
Place 4-6 small hills on the
Muslims’ half of the table.
Who Goes First
The Crusaders go first.
GAME LENGTH
Per chosen rules.
VICTORY CONDITIONS
Each army must destroy or break the
enemy army to achieve a major victory.
An army may achieve a minor victory
if it destroys or routs more enemy units
than it loses.
Above: Robert de Normandie at the Siege of Antioch 1097–1098, Painting by J.J. Dassy, 1850