Siege of Jerusalem Rules
Josephus wrote that 1.1 million people were killed during the siege, the majority of whom were Jews. Josephus attributes this to the celebration of the Passover, which he uses as a reason for the large number of people among the dead. [55] The revolt did not stop pilgrims from Diaspora Jewish communities from migrating to Jerusalem during the holidays to visit the Temple, and many of them were trapped in the city and died during the siege. [56] Armed rebels and fragile citizens were executed. All the remaining citizens of Jerusalem became Roman prisoners. After the Romans killed the armed and elderly, 97,000 were enslaved. [57] Of the 97,000, thousands were forced to become gladiators and eventually died in the arena. Many others were forced to help build the Peace Forum and the Colosseum. Those under 17 years of age were sold in easement.
[1] In April 70 AD, at the time of Passover, the Roman general Titus besieged Jerusalem. As this action coincided with Passover, the Romans allowed pilgrims to enter the city but refused to leave, strategically depleting Jerusalem`s food and water supplies. Inside the walls, the Zealots, a militant anti-Roman party, fought with other Jewish factions that had emerged, further weakening the resistance. Josephus, a Jew who had commanded the rebel forces but later defected to the Roman cause, tried to reach an agreement, but because the Romans did not trust him and were despised by the rebels, the talks came to nothing. The Romans surrounded the city with a wall in order to completely cut off the city`s supplies and thus drive the Jews to starvation. The main objective of the Roman player is to conquer the temple, and there is a time limit of only five phases in which this task can be successfully completed. The designers argued that even if the siege would eventually succeed, the longer it took the Romans, the greater Jewish resistance would become in other parts of the country; therefore, only a brief and effective success would allow the Romans to bring the rest of the country under control. [2] At Tisha B`Av, in 70 AD (August 30),[11] Roman forces finally subdued the defenders and set fire to the temple. [12] The resistance lasted another month, but eventually the upper and lower parts of the city were taken and the city burned.
Titus spared only the three towers of the Herodian citadel as a testimony to the ancient power of the city. [13] [14] Josephus wrote that more than a million people perished in the siege and the fighting that followed. [15] Although contemporary studies dispute this figure, everyone agrees that the siege had a large number of human casualties, killing and enslaving many people and destroying large parts of the city. This victory gave the Flavian dynasty the legitimacy to claim control of the empire. A triumph was held in Rome to celebrate the fall of Jerusalem, and two triumphal arches were built to commemorate him. The looted treasures of the temple were exposed. [10] Richard Berg appointed the 1. Edition of this game in issue 32 of Moves “one of the most beautiful surprises of recent months […] A well-researched game on a relatively obscure subject […] executed with great care and a desire to produce a `good game`. Berg noted that the printing of rulebooks “leaves something to be desired because they tend to be a bit muddy and difficult to read.” He also noted that some “rules can be fuzzy and even confusing.” But he concluded on a positive note, saying, “The whole game is simply a wonderful pleasure for anyone interested in the time, the nature of war or just a good old game […] The siege of Jerusalem could be the best buy of the year. [2] Both sides have leaders. They have a melee strength and a radius of ten hexagonals to activate units. Each side has a commander, Titus for the Romans and Eliezar ben Yair for the Judeans.
These commanders cannot be replaced if they are lost. Each Judean legion or faction has its own leader. They can be replaced, but their control radius is reduced. There are some issues with leaders in this game. The leader, artillery, siege engines and cavalry counters are larger than infantry units. This makes them easier to detect during installation. This also makes stacking difficult. You can have two infantry units pushing your siege tower with two units at the head and one leader.
This is an unstable column and these piles are constantly falling off. Rules never explain how leaders die. I have established a house rule that leaders are a unit and suffer the results of the struggle as leaders. When a guide is stacked with another unit and the result is an “EA”, the unit and guideline are eliminated. If it was an “E”, only the unit is lost and the leader survives. The main problem with this game is that the rules are only semi-organized. An experienced wargamer can handle it, but a beginner would be overwhelmed. The rally phase must be at the end of the player`s movement sequence. I believe that if a unit is disturbed, you should not be able to use it for a round. The Romans and Judeans could gather units too soon. There should be one fire phase per side.
You can double the firepower and it will have the same effect. The Flavian dynasty celebrated the fall of Jerusalem with the construction of two monumental triumphal arches. The Arch of Titus, which still exists today, was built around 82 AD by the Roman emperor Domitian in the Via Sacra in Rome to commemorate the siege and fall of Jerusalem. [76] The bas-relief on the arch shows soldiers carrying spoils from the temple, including the menorah, during a victory procession. A second, lesser-known Arch of Titus at the southeast entrance to the Circus Maximus was built by the Senate in 82 AD. Today, only a few traces remain. [10] The leader of Jerusalem, Sophronius, declared that he would only speak of the conditions of surrender if the caliph himself went to Jerusalem. Therefore, the city was besieged while Sophronius waited for the arrival of Omar. The siege began in the west at the Third Wall, north of the Jaffa Gate.
In May it was broken and soon after the second wall was taken, so the defenders remained in possession of the temple and the upper and lower cities. As a holy city for the three great religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, Jerusalem has been besieged several times during its turbulent history. A tug-of-war that lasts for millennia, there are several iterations of the siege of Jerusalem. In 70 AD, the Romans destroyed and looted the city, which was then under Jewish rule. Their uncompromising approach wiped out virtually all the Jews in Jerusalem, leaving it dominated by the Romans and then the Byzantine Christians. In 1099, a Christian crusade regained centuries of Muslim rule from the Fatimid Caliphate, but we will focus on the siege of Jerusalem in between. We will examine the siege by the well-guided caliphs (Rashidun Caliphate) who ended Byzantine rule in 637. The siege of Jerusalem dates back to a time when rules were not as organized as they are today. There are enough to start the game, but I had to set up a number of house rules during the fight. For example, they do not say what the arc of fire is for siege engines. This implies that it is in a straight line. I decided that onagers and ballistae should shoot in a straight line, but catapults have an arc of 120 degrees.
Archers and others can shoot anywhere. I`m not sure I`m right, but that`s how I played. The First Jewish-Roman War, also known as the Great Jewish Revolt, broke out after the appointment of the prefect Gessius Florus and his request to receive funds from the temple. [30] Nero entrusted Vespasian, a talented and humble general, with the task of suppressing the rebellion in Judea. In early 68 AD, the Roman general Vespasian landed at Ptolemais and began crushing the rebellion with operations in Galilee. In July 69, all of Judea, with the exception of Jerusalem, was pacified and the city, which was now home to rebel leaders from all over the country, came under Roman siege. A fortified fortress that could have lasted a long time had it not been for the intense civil war between moderates and zealots. In the summer of 69 CE, Vespasian left Judea for Rome and became emperor in December, with command of the Roman legions passing to his son Titus.[13] [ref. Let us now examine the battles of the Caliphate of Omar that led to the siege of the holy city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the largest city the Romans ever had to besiege. They couldn`t surround and starve him.
It had to be attacked by attack. An attack would not be enough for Jerusalem because it was divided into eight different sectors and each sector was a fortress in itself. This had to be done quickly, and with as few casualties as possible as enemies, foreign and domestic, waited to strike when there were signs of weakness. This game is also difficult. Each siege is a different type of battle and a different type of challenge. As a Roman player, I kept wondering if I had made the right decisions. Perhaps another strategy would have been better. I want to play it again, but this game takes too long. That is my main criticism of that. Too many cubes are also rolled. Josephus besieged the second year of Vespasian,[32] which corresponds to the year 70 CE.
Titus began his siege a few days before Passover,[7] on September 14. Xanthicus (April)[8] and surrounded the city with three legions (V Macedonica, XII Fulminata, XV Apollinaris) on the west side and a fourth (X Fretensis) on the Mount of Olives to the east. [33] [34] If the reference in his Jewish War to 6:421 refers to the siege of Titus, although there are difficulties with its interpretation, then Jerusalem at that time, Josephus argued, was populated by many people who came to celebrate the Passover. [35] In his 1977 book The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming, Nicholas Palmer mentioned the many different units involved: “infantry, cavalry, siege towers, battering rams, catapults, evening primroses, zealots, leaders.” He called the game “moderate, quite long.” [3] The Romans were the only ones to have heavy infantry.
