They say that all is fair in love and war. A certain Mr. Hayes certainly thinks so!

Mr. Hayes deployed his effette Fatamids army around the oasis. His Ghulams watched the flank of his host, but where was his corps of Syrian lancers? The brilliant Christian commanders, myself and Chris, decided to reconnoiter with all available knights, travelling at the greatest possible speed!

Having seen that the Fatimids had a flank march, I decided to ignore it. Unwise I hear you sneer, especially so when Martin threw a six- the flank march was on its way! Once my sub-commander realised he wasn’t facing the Syrian lancers, he became bolder. The only way I thought Chris and I might “cooperate” was to have three uncontrollable corps. But, Chris’ pilgrims were quite sedate.

Instead of evading when my elite Knights came within range, the Ghulams stood and shot. All sixes along the line gave the holy warriors something to think about! The charge, when it came, resulted in more losses. All sixes again, from five units? Even I became suspicious!

How we laughed as Hayes described it as bad luck. How we groaned as Hayes refused to pass the dice over. How the infidel squealed as the dice was forceably removed from his clutching fingers. How red did Chris go when the dice was from his dice box!

As a solicitor was called, Martin’s lancers began the long awaited flank attack. Without their magnificent dice gift from Allah, the Christians were through the opponents to their front and out the other side. The brave Frankish knight commander held off the Syrians as the rest of his command headed for the camp. With luck going the Christian way, for a change, the heretics were reeling.

The Fatamids tried to regroup around their artillery park but the medium foot were no match for the Christian Knights. Once again the knightly host were through the defences before the Syrian lancers could attack their vulnerable rear.

Above- the brave Sir Baldwin acts as rearguard!

It was a little perturbing to see a small group of onlookers giving Martin Hayes a good kicking. I shouted to see if help were needed, but the assailants said that five was probably enough. A red faced Chris Jackson left shortly after……..

Post-script- fired up by our middle Eastern frolics, I ‘m off to the printers to get our campaign map run off. The idea is to use the simple and much loved Risk mechanism to generate tabletop games. Keep an eye on next week’s instalments.