One of the early conflicts addressed by Italeri figure sets were the crusades, mostly the early ones, which at the time was not well covered by other manufacturers. Up to that time 'medieval' tended to mean Hundred Years War, so by expanding on the crusades Italeri were to highlight this more interesting series of conflicts, where armies of very different character would meet in a challenging environment.
This was the first Italeri battleset to have a meaningful accessory - a really big one. It was the Zvezda stone fortress, with four corner towers, gatehouse and curtain walls. It also came with a cardboard base to site the castle. To assault or defend this fortress the following figure sets were included:
Since the Saracens are present we must be talking about the crusades here, and there were certainly many sieges during the history of those conflicts and the Crusader states in general. The design of crusader castles varied greatly, but this one is rather more elaborate in the design of the walls than was typical, and of course a great deal smaller than most. Despite that the model is a lovely one, and can easily be expanded with suitable additional purchases, making for a very attractive centrepiece to this set. Both sets of figures are pretty good too, so this is a really nice way to present the early Italeri medieval sets.