Deus Vult - Battle of Hattin

Last weekend we had one of the main battles of our Holy Land Crescent & Cross campaign. The battle of Hattin 1187 which sealed the faith of the kingdom of Jerusalem during the Crusades. The initial situation of the battle was very much based on actual battle by the horns of Hattin, or as much as this kind of game can be. Christian army was set up in the middle of the table surrounded by the Muslims led by the Saladin himself.
This was quite large battle involving six players and some hundred miniatures, so it was clear from the start that we should use some other ruleset for this fight, since C&C couldn't handle fight this big. So we used new Deus Vult rules.

Fight itself started with muslim armies approaching cautiously christians, who were organizing hastily their ranks. Muslims kept circling very powerful armored knight formations and fired hails of arrows densely packed christian units. Effective tactics and true to history. After receiving bundles of arrows advance guard launched it's troops forward only to be shot down by the enemy archers. Then knightly orders started attacking and especially Teutonic order and knights of Ibelin struck hard on the enemy, but weren't able to break free. Battle dragged on with quite same note, christians attacking lines of muslims until they were depleted and broke from the fight. Main force under Saladin finally started approaching the king Guy, but it was too late and night fell over the battlefield. The king escaped through the cap opened by the lord Ibelin, who managed to keep rear open. Christians lost the fight, but only Raymond of Tripoli and grand master of Teutons fell during the battle.

Here's some pictures of the fight.

Main force of the christians at the start of the battle.

Strong units of the knights prepare for the fight.

The whole army of Jerusalem by the Horns of Hattin.

Christian ranks...

... and ranks...

... and more ranks.

Beduin riders attack from the rear.

Sergeants of Jerusalem.

A view from the horns.

Muslim HQ at the top of the Hattin.

Muslim fast cavalry.

Tempars line up.

The true cross forms the centre of the army.

Armies meet finally and fight breaks.

Teutonic order runs over some enemy units.

The king Guy and de Chatillion.

Ranks closing to protect the king.

Final situation after all days fight. Backdoor is still open.

This was historical fight by many means. First of all it was based on actual fight of the Hattin. And more over, its was maybe the first time historical 28 mm miniature battle of this size was set up on the Club. There has been some big Napoleonic battles, but not yet medieval. Great game and nice experience.