Last Crusade, The - The Battle of Nicopolis 1396

Please note that this is a DTP (Desk Top Publishing) game designed on a desktop computer and all components, including the counters which will have to be cut and mounted, are printed on paper. These are designed by some very well-known designers and are a low cost alternative to today's professionally produced games. On rare occasions, some of these games are reproduced by other companies with higher quality components including die-cut counters but most of them are not. If you believe this game to have a professionally produced version, please contact us with your inquiry and we will help you to locate it if it does indeed exist.

THE LAST CRUSADE is BSO’s continuation of its series of medieval battles, including SIMON SAYS, THE LAST RAID and LONGBOW. THE LAST CRUSADE is another of BSO’s gifts (granted, you pay for this gift) to the gamer who enjoys playing solitaire, to see what happened in these famous battles and why … and whether or not you could have changed that outcome.

At Nicopolis, the Christians, led by a strong contingent of French and Burgundian men-at-arms, got together with Hungarians, Wallachians and Transylvanians, all under King Sigismund, to stop the Ottomans from spreading north from Contanstinople, and to push them back into Asia. The Ottomans, seeking to establish their frontier on the Danube, were led by Sheik Bayazid I, known as Yildirim, or The Thunderbolt. The Ottoman army was just short of its peak, and contained some of the best heavy cavalry in the world.

The battle is an almost entirely mounted one, except for a strong contingent of the soon-to-be-famous Ottoman Janissary foot. It features light cavalry, armed with both bow and crossbow, plus troops from almost every army the Balkans could offer. It also features the infamous French inability to do anything but charge, immediately and straight ahead, at whatever lay in their path. At Nicopolis, if they had coordinated such a charge with Sigismund’s Hungarians, it might have worked. As it were, it was the last battle fought against the “infidels” by a joint army of Christian Crusaders.

THE LAST CRUSADE is designed for quick learning and easy play. Game rules are 5 pages, there are no “turns” - play is continual - and combat resolution is a single die roll. Play time is about 2 hours.

Each game of THE LAST CRUSADE includes Rules/Charts, one sheet of Mike Lemick designed, beautifully colorful cut-and-paste counters, and a marvelous Bill Ramsay, computer-drawn battlefield map (in 2 sections).