Crusades Book II Released

[Compass Rose]

"Crusades: Book II" is the second title in a planned trilogy documenting the Crusades launched against the Levant over several hundred years.

This title picks up after the Second Crusade’s failure outside Damascus in 1148. The Crusader forces abandoned the siege due to supply issues, conflicting goals, and mistrust among allies. The Levant was left with a frontier society, the Latin states of the Holy Land, which were rich in sacred significance but lacked manpower. These states aimed to maintain their territories, secure routes, and expand influence where possible.

The early period of this era was marked by vulnerability in the north. The first battle in 1149 at Inab saw Nur al-Din defeat the Principality of Antioch’s army and kill its prince, highlighting the fragility of the crusader frontier. The Latin East was not a unified “Crusader Kingdom” but a collection of lordships—Jerusalem, Antioch, and Tripoli—each with its own priorities and rivalries. Cooperation was possible but not guaranteed, and a concentrated enemy force could turn a local defeat into a broader crisis.

Between 1149 and 1204, the background covered in Book II, is a story of momentum and miscalculation: how a frontier society tried to survive in a hostile landscape, how its opponents learned to coordinate and concentrate, how charismatic leaders and hard geopolitics could turn containment into re-conquest, and how grand plans of kings could be derailed by money, weather, and temptation. If Book I ended with disappointment outside Damascus, Book II shows the subsequent long struggle to endure between crusade and counter-crusade, culminating in a finale that transforms the eastern world even as the original goal slips further out of reach.


More information can be found here, directly at the WDS website: https://wargameds.com/products/crusades-book-ii