Regular reader may recall that we started playing En Garde back in 2023: https://tgamesweplay.blogspot.com/2023/05/en-garde.html. Rather like our Gereon Rath Berlin Noir RPG sessions they aren't hugely photogenic so I tend not to report on the them much, but we are still plugging away with En Garde two years later!
Readers of a certain age will recall this being published back in the late 1970s. We used to while away our lunchtimes at school duelling, for a time anyway. It is fairly typical of games of the era and is extremely table heavy, much of it reminds of Traveller, hardly surprising given the publisher.
Now of course we just while away our time doing it on Zoom instead in a variety of silly hats. We've played several sessions since my report back in May 2023, and it is still an awful RPG as there is almost no player interaction at all, but the character development is lots of fun. Essentially a lengthy extended Traveller style character generation sequence.
Although it it supposed to be about this (sword fighting) , we've managed to play two entire years without a single swordfight, despite Nick going around looking for fights a couple of sessions ago. The regular umpire, Russell, puts a huge amount of effort into the background and develops group activities for us to do.
There is a regular newsletter, La Depeche, describing our exploits. The most recent major activity was the Siege of Carcassone at the end of the summer campaigning season. This was appallingly bloody and a number of characters died, some of who had taken extremely dubious heroism bonuses in a attempt at glory.
One problem in the game is that is is possible to be come caught in the 'poverty trap', you don't have enough income to afford an increase in social status, but without increased social status, you can't generate any income. One way out is to seek glory (or death) in battle but increasing your chance of heroic actions at the expense of surviveability. A number of players did this and paid the price.
Some others, myself and Tim for example, did rather well: being showered with booty and medals, although not as much as Pete who received an absolute fortune in loot.
Our gathering this week was the occasion of the funeral of one our number who died at the siege, and as he was a noble by birth, the King himself attended! This generated tons of status points by association and some great opportunities for advancement.
Along with the bulletin are a number of other resources, such as the directory of lovely ladies. Here is my delightful Judith Bonboniere, both wealthy and influential, a great asset to a poor Major of a shabby regiment in these difficult times. I spent a great deal of time and cash wooing Judith, but now she is happy to accompany my 'on the town' and being influential will come in very handy. Many of the players now have lady friends, and the supply is running a little short. I can foresee trouble ahead.
Our session this time took us up toe the end of December 1607. Russell distinguished himself in battle on the frontier and was promoted from the ranks to become a Captain. Tim managed to wangle himself a Lt Colonelcy in the Picardy Musketeers by manouvering the incumbent Lt Colonel out on the back of his medal from Carcassone. Lord Mark popped in briefly but was mainly engaged in trying manouvre a wardrobe upstairs to which we gave helpful advice. Privates Roche and Armatys continued to soldier on in their place.
And what of Major du Moulin? Well, I'm still a Major, but I am now a Major in the Crown Prince Cuirassiers, a rather better regiment than the 27th Foot! A move which consumed a large part of my loot from Carcassone. I retain my position as Brigade Major in the 3rd Brigade of Foot. By deft manouvering of various positions, club members and the favour of the King, I managed to advance no less than three social levels in three months. Not bad going. And now I have my eye on a new prize in January, so watch this space....
First however, the King has announced a swordfighting competition with generous cash prizes, so time to practice with the old Rapier.
It is a great fun, very absorbing and makes an enjoyable change of pace from our usual stuff.
It's a game we had "back in the day", rolled up characters and had a couple of goes but it never really worked out for us. I don't think we really "got it" as a game concept.
ReplyDeleteWell, as I said in the post, it is an absolutely awful RPG but quite good fun as an extended character generation game. I've spent some considerable time wading through all the tables to figure out routes for progression, but:
Deletea) I like deconstructing game mechanismz
b) so much is determined by luck in the initial character generation, particularly monthly income
I never bought En Garde but I remember buying Dragon Magazine number 10 (?) back in the day because it had a Kung Fu fighting game based on the En Garde fighting system.
ReplyDeleteOooh kung fu fighting? I've not come across that variant before. The combat system is interesting as you have to commit to a sequence of moves. I've done a bit of sword fighting irl and I suppose it does bear some minor resemblance to the real thing, but it feels very artificial and there isn't any opportunity to read your opponent.
DeleteIt was actually in Dragon Magazine number 2 and the title was "Monkish Combat in the Arena of Promotion" by John M. Sneaton. Yes, one had to list one's moves in advance. I remember the distance between the two fighters being very important.
DeleteEnGarde! Played in high-school for a while, must say I fall into the “don’t really get it” school, but it entertained for a month or so.
ReplyDeleteRussell has worked very hard indeed to make it a playable multi player game. AppawIm leading on the sword fighting contest in October, so I must get a bit of practice in.
DeleteAt school we used to just fight duels, as an alternative to the Paragon Gladitorial Combat game (which fitted neatly in my school bag). I made a "D6" out of a six sided pencil to play that.
Well, I reckon there's something for everyone. Some of my fondest gaming memories from "back in the day" are of all day sessions of En Garde--I recall one player reaching the Minister of Justice position, and another player (in league with the Minister) accusing another player of calling the king a fink. This resulted in that player being sentenced by the Minister of Justice player to serve the Frontier Regiment for a year. The "criminal" player survived the year and came back with a load of booty (much to the chagrin of the Minister and company). It's that sort of thing that went on in our games--there was plenty of player interaction (duelling was only a small part, and not really central to our games).
ReplyDeleteExcellent! One of our players has attained a government position already (it helped being born a noble). I think with any RPG you very much get out what you are willing to put in.
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