My Crusading Project

Hi all,
It has been a while and this post is not my usual after action report. I have finally started my long awaited Crusades project.

For over 30 years I have dreamed about gaming the Crusades. Since childhood I have read as much as I could and watched as many movies I was aware of (the good and the bad) dreaming that I could play games in this bit of history. What draws me to this period is the very human factors involved with this conflict. You have heroes, villains, Nobles and serfs. Individuals can affect history with the swing of their sword or the power of their word. Two huge factions fighting over different ways to honor the same God. And of course when you are dealing with men of power corruption and treachery abound. There are colorful flags and pennants with the most brutal combat. I guess that is enough to get going.

Over those years of dreaming I began to accumulate a variety of figures and information. Unfortunately I could never find a rules set that filled the bill until I was introduced to a gentleman from England who was developing a new set of ancient gaming rules. My long time friend and gaming buddy told me about Simon Miller and his gaming concept that soon became the published rules, 'To The Strongest'. Thank you very much!!! These rules were just what the doctor ordered.
Now for the unsolicited endorsement. Buy these rules! They are great fun and you get to finish the game before you grow old. Wait, I already am old.

So here are some pictures of the figures I have completed so far.
The Infidels (Muslims)

The figures are Gripping Beast and Perry for the most part but there are other manufacturers also. Flags are all home made from downloads off the Internet.

The other Infidels (Christians)

All of this took about 3 months and I have much more to do. My next group will be Muslim cavalry while also doing more Norman type infantry.

Above are some flags both completed and before cutting out. These are all printed on regular copier paper and glued together with an Elmer's glue stick. I do print these on the highest quality setting my printer has. I cannot wait to run my first game and am hoping to have enough troops to play in 3 more months.

So there you have it. A dream coming true. I hope to post a couple of more times to follow the progress of the armies. As always comments and questions are welcome.
Good Gaming,
Greg