We wanted to try out the gloire swashbuckling rules
The king's courier had been mugged by simple bandits while carrying a load of the king's important and secret and even personal correspondence.
If the letters were to wind up in the wrong hands the implications would be catastrophic to the king.
Thus he sent his two faithful servants Don Armando and Armando's pupil Benedicto to recover the letters and the courier if possible.
We played the first scenario in the book. Waylaid messenger. It had 10 encounter markers strewn across the board and two sets of two figures going around trying to find the lost letters.
They're off to a good start as Don Armando discovers a bunch of secret war plans with the king's seal on it. Benedicto is not that lucky as he trips in a rabbit hole and loses his shoe.
It quickly turns out that they are not alone in their search for the letters. The rebel Marquis Fairbourne and his bodyguard Edgar are also in the area and looking to weaken the position of the king.
Edgar starts by finding the bandits' powder cache.
The Marquis is going about looking for clues to the whereabouts of the letters suddenly finds himself a club point by what appears to be the leader of the brigands!
He hardly manages to draw his long sword before the chief gives him a royal clubbing and leaves passed out on the ground several pounds of bling lighter.
Benedicto charges Edgar but is forced back. Edgar is not interested in fighting Benedicto so he lights a powder keg with a slow match and rolls it towards Benedicto.
Meanwhile the Marquis has regained his conciousness and put a bit of distance between himself and the robber
The fuse on the keg burned a bit faster than Edgar anticipated and goes off with a tremendous boom. Benedicto is maimed by the explosion and suffers severe trauma to his legs.
The Marquis finds the badly wounded messenger and decides to try and bring him back for interrogation.
Don Armondo finds even more of the king's letters but is taken by surprise by two brigands.
Little did the brigands know that Armando was one of his time's best fencers from the school of Capelli. He pushes the opposition away and goes to help out his dear student Benedicto.
Benedicto is not in need of help though. He throws his daggert at the unsuspecting Edgar who thought Benedicto to be dead. Edgar is completely shocked at the barbarism and runs away screaming at the sight of the horribly burned Benedicto even though the dagger didn't do any damage.
The brigands do not seem to learn easily and they assault Armando again. This time he uses them to topple each other and leaves them lying in the bush.
Benedict engages the brigands and finishes his master's work with a jab in the eye and one through the heart.
Edgar has the luck to find some dirty love letters in the mayhem and tries to see his way back to the Marquis but Don Armando is between them and little seems to be able to stop him.
The game ends here as it is very obvious that Armando and Benedicto has had their day and have contained the king's dirty lies and secrets.
Gloire proved to be quite the business for swashbuckling with few figures. I like! We introduced some extra bits like having to take dodge test when you got pushed into or through terrain as a combat outcome which really gave it an extra up I think.
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April 29, 2024, 04:12:58 AM
June 02, 2012, 06:14:53 PM