Worthington Publishing currently has a medieval wargame up for crowdfunding. Crusader Kingdoms: The War for the Holy Land tackles all three major European Crusades of the 11th and 12th century. The game is for one to four players, ages 14+, and plays in 20 to 90 minutes. The Kickstarter project is over 375% funded and you can reserve a copy for a $64.00 pledge through February 1st. Expected delivery is this September.
From Worthington:
Crusader Kingdoms is a game for 1-4 players set in the era of the Crusades, where each player controls one of Outremer’s main Christian or Muslim kingdoms, with the goal of expanding it through intrigue and conquest.
After the miraculous success of the 1st Crusade in 1097, three Christian kingdoms are established in Outremer; the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Principality of Antioch and the County of Edessa. But in 1144 the Crusaders suffer their first setback with the fall of Edessa at the hands of Zengi (the ruler of Mosul and Aleppo), which provokes the 2nd Crusade.
Crusader Kingdoms is a hand management game set in this era, in which up to 4 players control the main Christian or Muslim kingdoms of Outremer. Each turn players receive a variable number of cards that can be troops, events or response cards, and playing in alternate rounds they use them to try to expand their realm. The winner is the player controlling more areas at the end of the game.
Designed by Jesús Peralta, there are four different games between the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Crusades. The game allows cooperative, competitive, and solitaire game play.
With easy to understand rules, you’ll be up and playing within 20 minutes of opening the box. No two games will play the same since certain cards that appear change from game to game. With multiple Crusades and Saladin’s campaign, the game has immense replayability.