Game: En Garde

Thread: Re: An illustrated session report

Tycho — 2008-08-24T21:43:22+00:00

It seems this was a great report ... until deleted. A real shame.

Thread: Re: Tiles for En Garde

GaryP — 2008-06-26T16:36:37+00:00

Rummikub has eight tiles of each number between 1 and 13 (four colors), plus 2 jokers. That should work very well indeed. (You can also use the 10s as zeros for the Sumo variant.) I'm not sure about Sweden, but Rummikub is very common in the U.S. and Middle East. In fact, I just passed by a copy at a thrift store this week. I wonder if it's still there, now that I know what to do with it...

Thread: Tiles for En Garde

Yokiboy — 2008-06-26T12:16:32+00:00

Are there anywhere I can get some cool, Domino-looking tiles to replace the cards used in En Garde? I'd love to score a set of 25 tiles, five each numbered 1-5. Any ideas of where I can find such a set?

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Nimrod6 — 2008-05-08T22:13:50+00:00

The pieces fit in the folding board

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Nimrod6 — 2008-05-08T19:41:08+00:00

Built a set around some skeleton miniatures

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fenolin — 2008-04-21T15:17:12+00:00

Home made version: playing

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fenolin — 2008-04-21T15:16:05+00:00

Home made version: box

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fenolin — 2008-04-21T14:55:07+00:00

Home made version: board

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fenolin — 2008-04-21T14:54:25+00:00

Home made version: player aid

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fenolin — 2008-04-21T14:53:42+00:00

Home made version: special cards

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fenolin — 2008-04-21T14:52:55+00:00

Home made version: base cards

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fenolin — 2008-04-21T14:52:06+00:00

Home made version: box top

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fenolin — 2008-04-21T14:51:16+00:00

Home made version: box bottom

Thread: Re: rules and missing?

Liumas — 2008-04-11T22:09:58+00:00

Check the Links at the bottom of the page for the game. (Chris Lawson's rules are official.)

Rules in non-English languages can be found in the Files section on the game page.

You are now a Fish that has been lead to Water - go drink!

Thread: rules and missing?

WalkerRedEye — 2008-04-11T18:25:54+00:00

i recently aquired this and it has no english rules (a pair of admittedly nice, big scale miniatures but no rules in english) can anyone point me towards a downloadable english rules set?

also i may be wrong but i have a vague feeling i am missing something in my set too (apart form english rules obviously), it has a nice dioramay board (which needs constructing even!) the 2 figures and a deck of cards with numbers on, is that really all there is too it?

thanks in advance

dave boulton

Thread: Re: Can you retreat and attack?

saminurmela — 2008-04-06T19:37:14+00:00

According my Abacusspiele version from 1994, the answer is no.

In the Advanced game, there are four possible moves: a move forward, a move backwards, an attack and Advance and Attack (consisting of moving forwards and attacking, this also gives the defender an option to move backwards instead of parrying).

There may be other rules versions around, though.

Thread: Can you retreat and attack?

skeletodoc — 2008-04-06T18:22:26+00:00

This question came up in our last game.

Thread: Re: Attack & Parry

matthiske — 2008-03-31T21:00:05+00:00

Yes, you can strengthen your attack with as many cards as you wish.

Thread: Re: Attack & Parry

skeletodoc — 2008-03-31T20:18:34+00:00

In advance attack, can you fortify your second card again to add strength like in a standard attack?

Thread: Re: Attack & Parry

kentreuber — 2008-03-07T00:05:53+00:00

I believe the attacker returns to the space he started in.

Thread: Re: Variant: deck shuffled when ends

Gyges — 2008-03-05T13:14:33+00:00

I dunno, I kind of like the card counting. The game ending also makes board position a lot more important, insofar as you can force a win based on ebing farther ahead than your opponent. Whatever floats your boat, though.

Thread: Re: Variant: deck shuffled when ends

laticpot — 2008-03-05T12:56:27+00:00

Do you reset the people before you carry on or do you just keep fighting?

Thread: Re: An illustrated session report

bulldozers — 2008-01-12T21:33:35+00:00

How did I miss this one..? Another lovely session!

Thread: Re: En Garde

smithhemb — 2007-12-29T01:05:54+00:00

I got it for Xmas @ levalet.com.

Thread: Re: An illustrated session report

Ninjabob — 2007-12-09T17:29:50+00:00

Thanks.
I wasn't quite sure, because it does make the move and attack very powerful.

Thread: Re: An illustrated session report

Ninjabob — 2007-12-08T04:23:11+00:00

Wow, very nice!
I just got this game and it helped me with a couple confusing rules.
Here's one question I still have.
When the attacker moves AND attacks, and the opponent retreats instead of parrying, the rules seem to state that it is the attackers turn again. Is that right?

Thread: Re: An illustrated session report

monkeyrobot — 2007-12-02T07:58:07+00:00

Congratulations for such a fantastic session report. keep ´em coming!

Thread: Re: Reedition by Ferti Games

Yargo — 2007-12-02T06:59:20+00:00

pierolalune wrote:
I'll be at the spiel to draw and sign "Mr Jack" boxes.. Let me know if you take "en garde" I'll dedicace it !

I have no idea if it's correct to say dedicace but it sound pretty

See ya at spiel
You probably mean dedicate, dedicace is close enough

Your english looks fine to me, I've seen native english speakers who type worse than you

Thread: Re: An illustrated session report

asgelb — 2007-12-01T21:26:35+00:00

What a coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool session report! Very professional looking. I'm going to buy this game...how great that each round is just minutes!

Thread: Re: English Version?

asgelb — 2007-11-30T18:34:31+00:00

haha thats great..and you loved it so much you stayed? If I make it out that way I'll be sure to drop you a line!

Thread: Re: English Version?

asgelb — 2007-11-29T19:03:17+00:00

Thanks a ton!!! How long have you been living in Japan? My goal is to get there for my 30th bday...2 years tops from now. I've wanted to go there for so long, and have such an interest in Japanese, food, culture, sake, and the like!

Thread: English Version?

asgelb — 2007-11-29T09:49:35+00:00

And I'm not talking about Duell

I love the look of this version...can the rules be dl'd in English. And if so, is there anything in the game that has writing on it, or are the cards/board all numerical and illustrated?

Besides components, is there any difference between En Garde and Duell?

thanks!

Thread: Re: I once owned a dog that was smarter than you!

asgelb — 2007-11-29T09:27:57+00:00

Oh how I loved the Monkey Island Series. Meeemorrrieees!

Thread: Re: I once owned a dog that was smarter than you!

Noaceyet — 2007-11-21T05:34:21+00:00

CthIngo wrote:

Cons
The 3D-stage is a great idea and looks cool, very much fitting the theme. Sadly it's partly a little unstable, but I think I can work around this someway. Still, it's a small minus and could have done better.

Lot of crazy glue. I just glued the whole thing together. I don't intent to play the other side of the board. But my-oh-my....it is flimsy when put together. But ohhh sooo pretty.

Thread: Re: YouTube instructions

Mallgur — 2007-11-19T11:15:57+00:00

hmmm... too bad. I just don't have enough time to get into all that Second Life thingie... besides it would be a bit pointless to do it just to play this game, I guess...

Thread: Re: YouTube instructions

LurkingMeeple — 2007-11-19T02:32:35+00:00

Mallgur wrote:
Is this playable online? The instructions seem to indicate this, but I have found no links or info about an online version on BGG ecept for Sumo...

It looks like it's inside the virtual world, Second Life.

Edit -- A quick google search just confirmed that:
http://slgames.wordpress.com/2007/11/02/en-garde-2/

Thread: Re: YouTube instructions

Mallgur — 2007-11-19T00:50:30+00:00

Is this playable online? The instructions seem to indicate this, but I have found no links or info about an online version on BGG ecept for Sumo...

Thread: Re: Reedition by Ferti Games

smithhemb — 2007-11-16T14:48:33+00:00

levalet.com has it in stock now.

Shipping to US has increased (now $10 CDN flat fee), so you'll probably want to buy something else with it!! At least that's my excuse...

Thread: playing the last card

ca26 — 2007-11-14T15:51:21+00:00

don't know if I should post this in En Garde or Duell.
I have neither yet but it seems they're one and the same.

Question:
I've seen posted several different interpretations of what to do when the last card is drawn.

Why bother? Why not just let the game continue until there are no more moves/cards left?

So, if I draw the last card (presumably at the end of my turn), why can't my opponent then go (assuming he has viable cards in his hand)?
And, then he just can't replenish his hand after he moves.
Then, assuming I have a couple of cards left, I go.
Then he.
etc, etc.
Until the possible moves in our hands are resolved.
Once there are no more moves possible, the game ends.

Seems easier to explain/remember and more logical.
'Just play til you can't'

Thread: Re: en garde with dice?

ca26 — 2007-11-14T03:33:04+00:00

you're right.
to use dice one would still need a mechanic for strategy thrown in there somehow. And then it would be a different game. Maybe better, maybe worse. But different for sure.

Thread: Re: en garde with dice?

franchi — 2007-11-12T07:14:23+00:00

ca26 wrote:
Seems like the same game.. unless watching what goes into the deck in what order (card counting) is part of the strategy.

I realize just using cards would be easier in one aspect. And Miguel, the version you made is BEAUTIFUL. But I don't have numbered cards laying around and i DO have about 100 dice laying around. So, I wondered if that would simulate the exact same game.
I see better now. But in this game card counting IS important. You don't need to count them all, but just remember if there have been exchanges of a given number. For example, since there are only five cards of each, a triple attack (three of the same number) is a winner. But if you know that you have already attacked and been parried with a 2, there are only three 2s left, and then a double attack with 2s becomes a winner.

So it could be a fun game but a different one too. One of my files is the numbered cards, you can print them poorly just to try.

Thread: Re: en garde with dice?

ca26 — 2007-11-12T00:53:38+00:00

well I didn't mean that you'd just roll a random d6 and then that would be your move. I realize that would remove all strategy from the game.

But I wonder if you couldn't have 5 6-sided dice for each player.
You roll them and use some sort of barrier to prevent your opponent from seeing them, but also prevent you from being able to turn/manipulate the dice illegally. You would slide out/expose the dice that make up the move you choose, and keep the rest hidden. When you expose dice, you re-roll just those, simulating drawing fresh cards.

If you can work out the mechanics of holding/exposing dice without allowing for cheating and such, I think it winds up being the same game, no? Each card you draw is gonna be a random number - 1-5. Each die you'd roll would create a random number 1-6 (or 1-5 if you wanna ignore the 6's). Seems like the same game.. unless watching what goes into the deck in what order (card counting) is part of the strategy.

I realize just using cards would be easier in one aspect. And Miguel, the version you made is BEAUTIFUL. But I don't have numbered cards laying around and i DO have about 100 dice laying around. So, I wondered if that would simulate the exact same game.

Thread: Re: en garde with dice?

franchi — 2007-11-09T15:39:02+00:00

Give it a try and you'll see that you cannot play it with dice, or you will play a completely different game! The cards are the core of the game, well, if we can talk about core in a game so simple... (the game is just the cards).

If you have minis and want to try before buying, I posted cards and board for a Troy version I've made:

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http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/info/16080

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/info/16347

The board scale corresponds to 1/72 soldiers.
Miguel

Thread: en garde with dice?

ca26 — 2007-11-09T15:07:43+00:00

I haven't played En Garde yet, but am planning on trying it out soon by using a gamer's battlemat, two miniatures, and such.

I wonder... instead of making the number cards, could one play with 6-sided dice somehow?

Thread: Re: I once owned a dog that was smarter than you!

deltagreen451 — 2007-11-08T14:47:54+00:00

CthIngo wrote:
"He must have taught you everything you know!"

Who knows where this line is from? The Secret of Monkey Island!

"You fight like a Dairy Farmer..."
"How appropriate, you fight like a Cow."

Thank you for the excellent review; I was thinking of buying a copy of the old edition, but think I might just shell out a little extra for this "deluxe" box ^_^

Thread: I once owned a dog that was smarter than you!

CthIngo — 2007-11-08T10:15:24+00:00

"He must have taught you everything you know!"

Who knows where this line is from?

Okay, so this is a review of the new Ferti edition of this Reiner Knizia classic which I just recently bought and got to play with my wife a few times.
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Overview
The game is a series of fencing duels and (maybe surprisingly for a Knizia game) the mechanics and theme fit perfectly. There's probably some neat mathematics behind, some clever formula, but who cares? It's all about honor and victory for the winner in this duel!

What's inside
The box weighs a little more then you'd suspect and has pretty nice artwork from an artist called Pierô. Inside's the main reason for the weight: two heavy metal miniatures of the fighters, about 5cm (2") height each, massive, impressive, with some soft velvet cloth glued on the downside of the base to avoid scratching surfaces, really fancy. Both miniatures are individually designed, you do not get two of the same model just left- and right-handed. They represent the two fighters you also see in the rest of the artwork (cards, box cover), which have different looks and portray different characters.
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More stuff: there's several printed cardboard pieces to be used to build the 3D fighting stage. Yes, you can build a three-dimensional stage the figures are put upon to fight each other. If you don't like it, or don't have time to set it up, say for just a quick game, the backside of one piece can be used as a quickshot play-area, which is a neat idea.
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25 cards is all else you really need for the game; they are numbered from 1-5, with five of each number and different artwork per number. Two small round tokens bearing the faces of the opponent fighters are used to mark the winning rounds of each. There's three small rules booklets in German, French and Dutch, also two thick cardboard rules overviews in card-size, sadly only in French (duh).

As a small goodie there's a booklet with pieces of all the artwork, from sketches to the full detailed and used versions of it, which is nice but of no real use, of course.

The game
The fighting stage, be it the built-up 3d-version or the flat one, consists of 23 fields numbered from 1-23 and a small bar on each side numbered 1-5 to mark the number of won rounds per fighter. The miniatures start on opposing sides, on the field numbers 1 and 23. The cards are shuffled, each player gets a random hand of five and a starting player is chosen. The other 15 cards are the draw pile.
Now players alternately play one card to

a) move their figure on the stage or
b) attack the opponent

Movement happens in exact the number of fields shown on the card. The player may move forward or backward, but cannot move past his opponent or beyond his starting field (1 or 23). He then draws a card from the pile to fill up his hand. A move exactly on the field where the opponent is on is an attack and that's the only way to attack the enemy – playing a card covering the exact distance. Now, the attacker may play multiple cards of this number, if he owns these and decides to do so. Why should he? Well, the opponent may (and should) parry the attack, by playing a card of the exact same number. Say, if the opponents are three field apart and the active players plays two "3" cards, the attacked player must also play two "3" cards to successfully parry the attack. If the attacker only played one, just one would be sufficient to parry (the defender has no advantage in playing more then the necessary number of cards). The attacker may not add another card to his attack after this, he has to put them in on the start of the attack. So if the defender parries, no hit is landed on this attack. The attacker draws as many cards from the pile as he played on this attack back up on his hand. The defender, if he used cards to parry, may NOT draw cards, getting behind in number of cards on hand, leading to the correct assumption that permanently being passive and in the defensive is not a good strategy.

If the defender couldn't parry the attack, a hit is scored (marked on the winner's score track) and this round is over, a new one begins. Game also ends if the last card from the draw pile is drawn (cards played are never reshuffled or drawn back; they may also not be searched to see which cards are already used, by the way). Once this happens, all cards on the both hands are revealed and it is looked at, if any successful attacks could be made of this. Say, if in this situation the players are three fields apart, one of them has two "3" cards and the other only one (or no) "3" card, the first one wins this round and scores. If no attack is possible (to far apart or to close for the cards available), it is looked at which player is moved further into the opponents half of the stage (field #12 being the middle). On a tie – well, then it's tie this time and no one's the winner. If a situation occurs where one player may not make a move at all with the cards on his hands (no move for/backward possible and no attack), the opponent also wins and scores. This repeats till one player scores the fifth time, making him the winner of the whole duel.

There's an advanced rules version which is not that more difficult at all but makes the game more dynamic. It allows the active player to make an indirect attack by playing one card to move into appropriate range and playing one or more cards directly afterwards to attack the opponent (again the exact range must be matched by the card(s)). After this he draws back the number of cards played from the pile. This indirect attack can be parried as usual and described above, but the defender may also decide to play a card to move backward. This ends the defender's turn and he may also draw back a card from the pile. And that's all about the advanced rules!

Pros
First of all, the two miniatures are wonderfully crafted. Lord, are they heavy! Details are great, though I am no expert in this. I am SO going to paint them! The artwork in the game will be of good use for that, so I can match the paint-job exactly to it.

The parts you build the 3D-stage up with are of good quality, thick, but it's a bit tricky to actually construct the thing. Especially the background thing doesn't like to stand right up, it tends to fall down on the opponents which ain't such a good thing… I think I'm going to fix this some way, it's nothing one can't take care of. Anyway, it looks good and adds to the atmosphere.

Theme! Yes, this game has it! Enjoy to insult your opponent every time you play a card! "Take this, you miserable worm!" – "Haha, whom are you going to impress with this, slob!" Well, you don't have to… but it adds to the fun, doesn't it?

A duel, though consisting of several rounds, goes pretty fast, setup time is almost non-existing once you built up the stage (or use the flat stage) and time flies by. Sure, there's a luck component b/c of cards, but hey, it's your job to make the best out of what you get.
Rules are simple, you can start right away.

Theme, ease and quickness of play make it a great game for couples. Of course, it cannot be played by more than two players, but I see this as a pro, not a con, as there's always so many dudes asking for good 2-player-games working for couples. This is one, get it!

Cons
The 3D-stage is a great idea and looks cool, very much fitting the theme. Sadly it's partly a little unstable, but I think I can workaroundthis someway. Still, it's a small minus and could have done better.

Though the miniatures are great value, it is questionable if the price is reasonable for a light-weight game like this. Actually, everyone can just print these 25 cards and draw a stage of 23 fields, take two meeples and there you go. One with artistic talents may also make these things very beautiful! There's possibly some miniatures of fencers on the market which can be bought and used for the game. I guess everyone has to decide for themselves if putting such work and time and money into this is worth the probably negotiable savings on buying the original. I'd like to see it going a slight bit cheaper, but on the other hand, the miniatures in the box are really really fine, so I guess the price is actually pretty reasonable. Yes, I'm a little indecisive here, but I don't regret the buy.

Summary
- Excellent 2-player game, even works with wifes/girlfriends!
- Lightweight rules, easily learned
- Fast play
- Great components and beautiful artwork
- Maybe a bit pricey

Hope you like it, my first review

Thread: Re: En Garde

Noaceyet — 2007-10-23T10:35:54+00:00

It doesn't have English rules on their website, and I don't even know when it will be available. I contacted Thor @ gamesurplus, and he'll look further into it, but he can't get it yet.

Thread: En Garde

matthiske — 2007-10-22T23:51:52+00:00

Does the 2007 reedition of En garde come with English Rules? Will this be available in the U.S.?

Thread: Re: Reedition by Ferti Games

Noaceyet — 2007-10-22T22:53:06+00:00

I hope it's ready to ship! I asked my favorite online e-tailer here in the States to look into this for me.

Thread: Re: Reedition by Ferti Games

Sothis — 2007-10-13T11:42:45+00:00

Thank you! See you there!

Thread: Re: Reedition by Ferti Games

pierolalune — 2007-10-13T05:37:33+00:00

I'll be at the spiel to draw and sign "Mr Jack" boxes.. Let me know if you take "en garde" I'll dedicace it !

I have no idea if it's correct to say dedicace but it sound pretty

See ya at spiel

Thread: Re: Reedition by Ferti Games

Sothis — 2007-10-12T23:08:42+00:00

Piero,

I am really pleased about the second board. This is a very good idea as this game is of course great for travelling. I look forward to seeing the game at Spiel next week.

Thanks for the reply, and for bringing this excellent game back to life.

Sarah

Thread: Re: Reedition by Ferti Games

pierolalune — 2007-10-12T20:38:19+00:00

Hi sarah, I'm the illustrator of the game and thanks for the good looking. About the playability, you have on the other side of the board another board which can allow you to play without the big 3d stuff. But believe me, with the all foreground, it 's very enjoyable to play it!

Sorry for my english

Thread: Re: Reedition by Ferti Games

Sothis — 2007-10-11T20:59:21+00:00

Opinion is divided in this En-Garde-playing household: my husband likes the design while I'm a bit disappointed. Art seems to have overtaken practicality. The numbers on the cards are overpowered by the images. There are giant numbers on the spaces: 1-23 so that one player is moving 'backwards' all the time. The figures look good, but I hope the foreground 'wall' doesn't get in the way when moving.

My first impression: good looking but potentially impractical in play.

Thread: Re: Reedition by Ferti Games

chucklinus — 2007-10-11T20:19:26+00:00

This game will be available at Essen in pre-sale. So, it should be available in store soon after that...

The site in English... http://ferti.free.fr/index-e.php

Thread: Re: Reedition by Ferti Games

franchi — 2007-10-11T20:19:07+00:00

They say it will be 32 euros in their shop and 28 euros at Essen. And in addition to the 3D board they add a small board that folds in order to play everywhere...

Too late for me, this game "inspired" me already twice:

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These are my Troy and Star Wars versions, with minis. So I'm afraid I'll skip this one...

Thread: Re: Reedition by Ferti Games

Gyges — 2007-10-11T18:48:18+00:00

I read most of it. It didn't mention a date.

Thread: Re: Reedition by Ferti Games

ijmcf — 2007-10-11T18:35:20+00:00

Charles

That looks spectacular. Any translation on availability?

chucklinus wrote:
Wow! Check out this reedition by ferti-games. The new 3d-board seems wonderfull!

http://www.ferti-games.com/games/engarde

Thread: Reedition by Ferti Games

chucklinus — 2007-10-11T16:24:35+00:00

Wow! Check out this reedition by ferti-games. The new 3d-board seems wonderfull!

http://www.ferti-games.com/games/engarde

Can't wait to have it!!!

Thread: YouTube instructions

Favre4MVP — 2007-10-05T21:51:24+00:00

Youtube Video