Thread: Gloire Review: Great game withy some flaws.

cutlass — 2007-09-26T10:07:39+00:00

This review was made for Cerberus2 http://www.cerberus2.net/
Comments or question are welcome as always.
I see I'm the first to review this game.

Gloire: Swashbuckling adventures in the age of kings.

Gloire is a thin booklet with rules for a miniature Wargame. Wargame being not entirely the correct word, Skirmish game is better. Players each take a hero or villain under their control, sometimes aided by followers and retainers.
Each gaming session will be based on a scenario, available in the rulebook yet additional scenario’s can be downloaded from the publisher’s website.

The rules are pretty straightforward; the game uses 10-sided dice that you roll either under your score or under your opponents score, depending on what you are doing.
Each model has, just like in an RPG a number of stats, these are as follows:

Brains
Brawn
Guts
Blade
Musket
Dodge
Speed
Defensive Rating
Weapon Strength

A test on one of these stats succeeds if your roll plus the used stat plus any bonuses equals or exceeds 10.

After each player determines initiative he can let his models move and fight. Each model can perform one action; this can be moving, climbing, jumping, shooting, etc… Apart from this they each possess Hero Point, which can be used to influence a dice roll, move or shoot further, do more damage or aim at a specific location.

Combat is either ranged or close. Every weapon in the game has its own scores for range, accuracy and power (damage). Special rules are also noted for some weapons. Each time a ranged weapon is used the to hit roll is compared to the victims dodge roll. The player with the highest score succeeds in his attempt, being either a dodge or a shot. Of course there are a number of rules dealing with range, cover and visibility. Apart from these obvious rules you can opt to give a model suppressive fire. When this succeeds you won’t do damage but force your opponent to dive for cover or drop to the ground. He’ll need a successful Guts roll to continue moving next turn. Close combat works in a likewise manner but the weapons and options are different

The difference between winner and loser can make changes on the battlefield. A defender can be pushed back or even trade places with its attacker. This makes for a lively and interesting combat system. When a model is hit the damage will be deducted from a specific location that, in turn depends on one of its stats which means your hero or villain will lose his edge if he becomes wounded. A hit in the legs, for example will result in a model that has fewer movement and dodge scores. Apart from the damage there’s a chance your model will panic. Each time he or she receives a wound you must roll for his or her courage (Brawn), if this fails the model flees. Every new round the model can try to regain its senses in this manner unless it runs off the gaming board.

Furthermore there are rules for vehicles (coaches) and horses but the most interesting about this game is that your model, just like in a Role Playing Game, has a number of special capabilities that are comparable with skills or feats. These special abilities make sure every character is (in a certain way) unique and has followed a special fencing school, is very able with pistols, can poison or deceive other models, etc…

Models have a certain ‘Grade’ that determines how many of these abilities they can have and with whom they can duel. A duel can be called by any model towards another model with the same grade. Such a duel can only be refused if the controlling player is willing to sacrifice a hero point in doing so. If this is not the case the rest of the battle will be put on hold while the two models duel it out.

Apart from the special abilities the more important heroes and villains can also have Virtues and Flaws like refusing to fight lesser opponents, falling prone for compliments or letting fleeing enemies go.

The special abilities are without a doubt the valuable part of the game that is simple but not too simple and very entertaining. A game of Gloire is accompanied by quite a bit of bookkeeping; especially of you play with many players or models. Unfortunately there are no rules included for letting your favourite model accumulate experience and level upping like in a true RPG but there’s an expansion called “Under the Black Flag” that also features pirates where this is said to be possible.

Gloire is a robust game system that will be able to entice both the wargamer as the roleplaygamer but there are some lesser points.

The fist and worst displeasing point is the price. 17 dollar is quite a bit for a softcover booklet of barely 100 pages whereof the biggest part are characters. And then you have no figurines or maps. A map and some counters could do a lot for this game. A pack of models quickly costs about 40 Dollars without delivery costs. For clarity: the publisher of Gloire doesn’t make these. The rulebook has few illustrations, most of which are just pictures of the figurines in play, the drawings aren’t really great. Additionally you can find some scant explanations about the time of the musketeers but this is barely sufficient, for a game where the emphasis lies in interaction and story a bit more background and historical information would not disappoint.

Score:

Liveliness: Weak lay out and illustrations. No gaming board or other necessary components. 6/10
Quality: Little bang for your bucks, decent quality for a softcover. 6/10
Game system: Excellent, fast and easy system with lots of options and special rules, a sound way of transforming a swashbuckling background into an entertaining game. 9/10
Score: Nice game if somewhat expensive. Keeps the feel of chandelier –swinging with a rapier in your hand and a beautiful maiden on the side pretty well. 7/10

Image

bnocturnal — 2007-03-19T16:34:59+00:00

Back Cover

Thread: Info?

Capitaine Grappin — 2006-10-18T15:13:30+00:00

Unpublished, no website, how can I get more information about this game?

Image

crusher100 — 2006-10-18T14:23:00+00:00

Image

crusher100 — 2006-10-18T14:11:29+00:00

Image

crusher100 — 2006-10-18T14:07:31+00:00

Image

crusher100 — 2006-10-18T14:07:06+00:00

Image

crusher100 — 2006-10-18T14:06:19+00:00

Image

crusher100 — 2006-10-18T14:06:15+00:00

Image

crusher100 — 2006-10-18T14:05:51+00:00

Game: Gloire

Thread: Gloire Review: Great game withy some flaws.

Image

Thread: Info?

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image