u/Fardrengi

Not pictured: Religious Fanatics

Honorable mention to Rome: Total War's mod library.

Amazing battle that culminated in not only a heroic victory, but a successful Crusade. Barely a dozen turns into my Kingdom of Jerusalem campaign (Stainless Steel 6.4), I was forced to preemptively call a Crusade on Gaza while I watched the Ayyubid Sultanate gather their forces at my border. Poland, my recent ally, was the first to enlist. By the time I mustered my own force and officially joined the holy mission, my Slavic supporters had made it to the fortress - now garrisoned by 1900 men and a general, with another army guarding the exterior.

Kerak meanwhile was under attack by the army of nearly 3000 in the above photo. When my Faction Heir joined the Crusade and sieged Gaza (with my Polish brothers-in-arms adjacent to me), the Ayyubid stack left Kerak to join in the defense. Thus, battle was initiated.

The first wave of attackers was repelled just in time for my Crusaders to pivot formation and fortify the top of a hill against the largest army of Islamic warriors. Javelins and arrows alike were endured and then answered by my Templar Crossbowmen. My Sergeants held the enemy infantry in place as my Marinae and Pilgrims charged the flanks. Lord Jean and his Knights of Jerusalem and Knights of St. Lazarus spent the battle running down archers and mopping up routing units.

The Polish proved reliable, albeit somewhat tardy, allies. Shockingly, an entire third of their army was made up of Pilgrims and Fanatics, but the Senior Duke was wise enough to recruit both Armenian Cavalry and Khwarazmian Cavalry as mercenaries once arriving at the Holy Land. I let my co-Crusaders take on the last Ayyubid army led by the general defending Gaza, who fell valiantly in battle.

After the carnage, two entire Ayyubid stacks were destroyed and the third decimated to a paltry skeleton of an army. Lord Jean then peacefully occupied Gaza - careful not to destroy any of the valuable infrastructure that the fledgling kingdom will need in the struggle to come.

Set up some trebuchets to defend a bridge, then grab the popcorn

"The Children's Crusade was a failed popular crusade by European Christians to establish a second Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in the Holy Land in the early 13th century. Some sources have narrowed the date to 1212. Although it is called the Children's Crusade, it never received the papal approval from Pope Innocent III to be an actual crusade. The traditional narrative is likely conflated from a mix of historical and mythical events, including the preaching of visions by a French boy and a German boy, an intention to peacefully convert Muslims in the Holy Land to Christianity, bands of children marching to Italy, and children being sold into slavery in Tunis. The crusaders of the real events on which the story is based left areas of Germany, led by Nicholas of Cologne, and Northern France, led by Stephen of Cloyes." - Wikipedia

Christian Guard FTW. I have never recruited the Granadine Lancers.