Crusader Rex Rules 1.3 Posted

Greetings,

An amended set of rules for Crusader Rex has been posted. Click here to download.

After digesting and considering reports of hundreds of games we have made a couple of important tweaks to the game to make playing the Franks a little less harrowing.

The most significant change is a relaxing of the winter limits in Originally Friendly cities. It is now possible to winter 3x the Castle value.

The intent and the effect is to take away some of the stress of wintering and make it possible to garrison a good sized force even if much of the map is in enemy hands. This actually affects both players equally, however, due to the offensive punch of the Saracen player at the start of the game, the Franks see a more tangible benefit right away.

For example, the Franks can winter with 9 blocks in Antioch while the Saracen player can still only winter with 3. By contrast the Saracens can winter 12 blocks in Egypt (Franks only 4).

Additional changes include:

• Franks decide who is player 1 on ties. This gives the Franks a small advantage in controlling the flow of play on ties.
• Frank deployment adjustments restricted to the same Kingdom (Jerusalem, Tripoli, Antioch).
• Saracen starting forces reduced to 4 nomads.
• Tripoli is like Tyre (max. 2 units can storm). The citadel was located on a narrow strip of land and was very difficult to attack in force.
• Saracen Emirs and Pilgrims are permanently eliminated (like Crusaders, Hospitallers, and Templars).
• Adopted the term withdraw for the move to a castle and for calling off a storm attempt. This is to reduce confusion regarding retreats which are now defined only as to another town.
• Winter Campaign card allows 1 move OR supports one group over winter. This allows a group to maintain siege over winter.

The knights’ charge rule was also changed in a previously unposted version 1.2. Some gamers received this set of rules. All games packaged include the latest rules (presently 1.3).

Good gaming…

PS. A nice review of Crusader Rex has been posted to Gaming Report.