Crusader Rex is a game of the Third Crusade between the Franks and the Saracens. It was designed by Jerry Taylor and Tom Dalgliesh, and it was published in 2005 by Columbia Games. This module reflects version 2 of the rules. Crusader Rex is owned and copyrighted by Columbia Games, and we present it as a Vassal mod with their permission. Please visit the Columbia website at http://www.columbiagames.com/. You can find there the latest rules and a forum to answer your questions. They sell a whole line of block games, and if you enjoy this one, you owe it to them to buy a real copy! This Vassal module was created by Stan Hilinski in August 2011.
If you right-click on any unit or marker, you will get a menu just for that piece. Most markers can be flipped over to a reverse side. If you draw a box around a group of blocks, then a right-click command will apply to all those blocks. (You can even move them as a group this way.)
Before you start a game with two player, press your "Hide" button on the toolbar. Your blocks will be labeled with a black "hidden" notation in the lower right corner. Your opponent, however, will only see the back of your blocks when you do this. To reveal a block, right-click it and "Hide / Reveal." This is a toggle button to both hide and reveal a block. You will not have these options if you play solitaire, but you will be able to use the two "S" buttons on the toolbar.
To access an individual block in a stack, double click the stack and then select the block. Press up arrow or down arrow to move that block to the top or bottom of the stack. To quickly center the map at a location, right click the map, or use the overview window.
The draw pools are on the map. They act like decks of cards. When you draw one, Vassal randomly picks a block from the stack. If you kill a block, the module will send it either to the dead pool window or into a face-up stack adjacent to the draw pool. At the start of a new year, right-click each discard stack to send those recently killed blocks into the draw pool.
Cards are in a deck in the Cards window. (See toolbar to open the window.) Open your private window and drag and drop cards from the deck to your hand. Like the draw pools, each draw gets you a random card. There is a discard pile next to the deck, which comes in handy for PBEM play. Right click the discards to shuffle them back into deck. (If face-to-face play, you can simply drop cards back onto the deck.)
Each card is faceup when you draw it. When you play a card, put in anywhere on the map, but remember to turn it facedown first! There are colored squares in the seas, so you can drop them on your marker. In PBEM, it will help you remember who played which card. When done, you can right-click the cards to the discard pile.
You can mark or unmark a block with a red or blue mark by right-clicking on the block and selecting that menu item (a toggle). The marks have no special meaning, so you can use them as you choose. For example, you might mark blocks under siege with a blue mark. There is also a markers window. You will find a fortress icon in it to mark units inside a fort if you choose.
You can use the battleboard to handle large battles. Drag the blocks to the battleboard, and put the red "fire" marker on the map to mark the location. The red numbers record hits. The target is a generic pointer. Right click these marker for other marker options.
This game supports solitaire play. You must start a game as the "solo" player. Then you can use the "hide" buttons on the buttonbar to hide either side's units. The buttons will not operate unless you choose the "solo" side. Likewise, the flip buttons do not work if you play solo.