Onward Christian Soldiers: The Crusades

About this board game

Onward Christian Soldiers: The Crusades is a strategic-level game for 1–7 players, with a playing time of about 300 minutes, covering the First, Second, and Third Crusades.

Scenarios range from a seven-player version of the First Crusade to an alternative Third Crusade in which Frederick Barbarossa survives and his army reaches the Kingdom of Jerusalem largely intact. Players guide Crusader factions—including Northern Franks, Southern Franks, Sicilian Normans, and Germans—or Muslim factions such as Northern Syrians, Southern Syrians, and Mosul Turks.

Its activation system lets players choose which leaders and armies they want to use during each game turn, while keeping the precise order of action uncertain. Leaders can move as far as they want, but movement and attrition are closely linked, creating difficult choices about how far an army should press onward.

Combat gives sieges and ravaging a major role while still reflecting the distinctive tendencies of different armies in field battles, including the Frankish Heavy Cavalry Charge. The game also features commanders such as Raymond, Bohemond, Godfrey, Tancred, Louis VII, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Nur ad-Din, Saladin, Frederick Barbarossa, and Richard Lionheart.

Three sets of cards include 110 cards in total. Leader cards create an Activation Deck, while separate Crusader and Muslim Event Decks introduce events ranging from capturing cities through treachery to suffering additional attrition from oppressive heat.

• 876 full-color counters
• One 22×34-inch full-color map
• Two rule books, a playbook, four player-aid cards, and two six-sided dice

Multi-faction rules allow armies to combine, especially for major sieges such as Antioch, while multiplayer negotiations determine who controls a combined force and claims a city when it falls. Onward Christian Soldiers offers a detailed, highly interactive look at the central campaigns of the Crusades.