Saladin — The Fall of the Crusader States
The Strategic Game of the first Crisis of the Crusader States and of Saladin’s Rise to GloryChoose your path and history will deal its judgement to you. Take command of the famous Templar and Hospitaller Knights, the loyal Ghulams and fierce Turcoman Horsemen, the agile Nubian Archers or the notorious Varangian Guardsmen of Byzantium. Fight on the High Seas for the Oriental Trade with Venetian Galletas, Byzantine Dromons or Egyptian Dhaus. Supply your castles, lay or break sieges or find traitors in the walls. Subjugate the imfamous Assassins, convince the Pope or Khalif to support your cause, or bribe greedy tribes to raid your enemies.
Saladin is a game for 2 to 5 players — but best played with 5 —
roughly recreating the course of events in the Holy Land and its neighboring areas
between the death of the great Zangid ruler Nur-al-Din in 1174 heralding Saladin’s
further rise to power and the battle of Hattin in 1187 which resulted in the conquest of Jerusalem by Saladin.
Even though prompting the popular 3rd Crusade (1190) — with such prominent figures as the English King Richard I.,
«The Lionheart», the French King Phillip II. «Auguste» and the German Emperor Friedrich I. «Barbarossa»
taking the stage — the preceding events culminating in the Crusader’s Loss of Jerusalem were arguably
the effective begin of the final decline of the Crusader States.GAME FACTS:
Many unusal Game Mechanisms!
Huge game board of 90 cm × 80 cm
More than 220 cards
Over 800 Big Troop Counters (including Knights, Varangians and Ships) and hundreds of others
The five groups whose part can be taken by the players are:
- Balduin IV. or Guy de Lusignan ruling the Crusader States as Kings of Jerusalem
- The Egyptian Rulers like Saladin, who founded the Ayubid Dynasty following the Fatimid Khalifs in Kairo
- The still mighty Byzantine Empire ruled by Manuel I. Komnenos and his less able heirs from Constantinople
- The clever Kilij Arslan II., Lord of the unruly Seljuks of Rhum sitting in Konya
- The Syrian Atabegs of Zangid origin or loyal to them, controlling Aleppo and Mossul and — sometimes — Damascus.
This period saw the rapid conquest of Syria by Saladin from his powerbase in Egypt
against frantic attempts of the heirs and former officers of the Zangid dynasty to reestablish their grip on these holdings.
Meanwhile the Crusader States warred and allied themselves with their Muslim neighbors
while the Abbasid Khalifate in Baghdad gaining some leeway from Seljuk rule moved into a last Indian Summer.
It also saw the disastrously defeated attempt of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I. Komnenos at Myriekephalon
trying to crush the Seljuks of Rhum while the Armenian petty kings in Cilicia fiercefully defended their independence.| AGE | 16+ |
| NUMBER OF PLAYERS | 2—5 (best with 5) |
| PLAYING TIME | 15+ hours |
| COMPLEXITY | Medium to High |
