The Inside Scoop on Gaming

"Clashing Blades" is a simple, fast paced card game, designed to simulate the back and forth action of a fencing bout. Unlike a lot of card games on the market at the moment, it uses a regular deck of playing cards, which is something that most people have at least one of lying around the house.

Setup

Before the game is played, the deck of cards needs to be divided up.

First, the face cards (the jack through king of each suit, and the two jokers) are removed from the deck and set aside. These come into play using the advanced rules.

Next, the six, seven, eight and nine of hearts are removed from the deck. These are used by the two players as their "hit points". Each player has 15 hits (one player gets the six and nine, while the other gets the seven and eight). These cards are used to keep track of the number of hit points each player has left.

Finally, if you are only playing the basic game, the rest of the heart cards are also removed from the deck. These will not be used at all.

Playing the Game

Each player is dealt seven cards from the remaining deck. The suits of the cards and their values are important, as they will dictate the actions you can take during that exchange:

Spades are attack cards. The value of the card represents the damage that the attack will do if fully successful.
Diamonds are defence cards. The value of the card represents the amount of damage the defence will negate.
Clubs are parry/riposte cards. They act as defence cards to the value of the attack they are facing. If the face value of the club card is higher than the opponent's attack card, then the remaining points become an attack back at the opponent.

There are three phases of each turn:

The En garde phase, in which each player chooses a card from their hand to play. These cards are revealed simultaneously.
The Exchange phase, in which the players take turns in playing cards, until the "disengage" happens.
The Disengage phase, which occurs when one player suffers damage, neither player is facing damage (which happens if both play either diamonds or clubs, or an attack is countered), or both players run out of cards. If neither person has taken damage and at least one of the players still has cards he/she can play, then the you continue again with the current hand.Otherwise, you shuffle the deck again and get a new hand.

Play continues with exchange after exchange until one player is reduced to zero hit points.

Advanced Rules

There are two advanced rules which make the game more interesting.

Rule 1 - The extra heart cards

The extra heart cards are shuffled back into the normal fencing deck. You can't play these during the exchange phase, which reduces the number of useful cards in your hand. However, if you inflict damage on your opponent, you can then play a heart card, which signifies a particularly stinging wound. Before the first en-garde phase of the next hand, your opponent has to discard one or more cards with a total face value equal to or greater than the value of the heart card you played. It can be extremely frustrating to be on the receiving end of a 10 of hearts, and then find that the highest card in your next hand is a 5.

Rule 2 - The Face Cards

The face cards are the "special effects" of the game. If, during the exchange phase, one player counters the attack of their opponent exactly, they can turn over the top card of the face deck (which was set aside earlier). The effect of the card depends on the suit and the value. A spade signifies you have used your free hand to punch your opponent, doing extra damage. A diamond is a good footing card, which you can save for a later time and use as extra defence when you need it most. A heart is a second wind, which lets you regain lost hit points. A club is trickery, forcing your opponent to discard a number of cards from their hands. The minor joker means you have disarmed your opponent, and they must discard the rest of their hand. A major joker means you have dropped your own weapon, and you have to discard the remainder of your hand.

The game in play

Once both players have a grasp of the rules, the game play tends to be fast and furious. There are a couple of schools of thought about how to play. The first is to start with the biggest spade card you have, which is usually referred to as fencing with meat cleavers, especially if both players do it. The second school is to play more tactically, holding your bigger cards for an exchange or two, in the hope of getting rid of some of your opponents better defence cards. Personally, I prefer the second school, and I particularly enjoy an exchange that passes back and forth a couple of times.

I taught my wife how to play after I came home from Gencon this year and she took to it like a duck to water. I'm still trying to figure out how, but she has managed to beat me every time we have played. In some respects it concerns me a little; between "Clashing Blades" and Cheapass Games' "Before I kill you, Mister Bond", I fear she is turning into a card game junkie (not that that's necessarily a bad thing; it just gets VERY expensive out here in Australia).

We found a couple of the rules to be slightly confusing, but that may have been because we missed a couple of minor points in the rules (which is a problem with any game). On the whole though, the rules are straight forward and quite simple to understand. The tactics for the game on the other hand take a bit longer to figure out.

Getting the game

"Clashing Blades" is designed by Lester Smith, who is better known as the author of the Dark Conspiracy RPG, and the designer of the Dragon Dice collectable dice game. "Clashing Blades" is the first of Lester's "shareware games", which borrows the concept from the software industry. Basically, for those unfamiliar with the concept, you can download the game rules and try it out for free. If you like it and would like to continue playing it, you are encouraged to send Lester $5.00.

You can get a copy of the Clashing Blades rules from Lester's website. There's also another shareware game there, "Powerhouses of Wrestling" which uses dice to simulate the wrestling matches of the WWF and the like.

All in all, I would have to say that "Clashing Blades" is a great little diversion for somewhere between half an hour or an hour. I've had a lot of fun playing the game, as I keep imagining the sword fight between Inigo Montoya and Westley in "The Princess Bride" every time we play. With a very small amount of work, it would be easy to adapt the rules for swashbuckling games such as Castle Falkenstein, or perhaps even 7th Sea.

Because it's shareware, I'd suggest getting a copy of the rules and trying it out a couple of times. If you like it, send Lester the $5. It's not a lot of money, and it might help encourage him to publish more great games in a similar way.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Clashing Blades
Author: Lester W. Smith Category: Card game Company/Publisher: Yummy Games Line: Clashing Blades Cost: US$5 Playtest Review by Geoff Skellams on 10/08/99. Genre tags: none	"Clashing Blades" is a simple, fast paced card game, designed to simulate the back and forth action of a fencing bout. Unlike a lot of card games on the market at the moment, it uses a regular deck of playing cards, which is something that most people have at least one of lying around the house. Setup Before the game is played, the deck of cards needs to be divided up. First, the face cards (the jack through king of each suit, and the two jokers) are removed from the deck and set aside. These come into play using the advanced rules. Next, the six, seven, eight and nine of hearts are removed from the deck. These are used by the two players as their "hit points". Each player has 15 hits (one player gets the six and nine, while the other gets the seven and eight). These cards are used to keep track of the number of hit points each player has left. Finally, if you are only playing the basic game, the rest of the heart cards are also removed from the deck. These will not be used at all. Playing the Game Each player is dealt seven cards from the remaining deck. The suits of the cards and their values are important, as they will dictate the actions you can take during that exchange: Spades are attack cards. The value of the card represents the damage that the attack will do if fully successful. Diamonds are defence cards. The value of the card represents the amount of damage the defence will negate. Clubs are parry/riposte cards. They act as defence cards to the value of the attack they are facing. If the face value of the club card is higher than the opponent's attack card, then the remaining points become an attack back at the opponent. There are three phases of each turn: The En garde phase, in which each player chooses a card from their hand to play. These cards are revealed simultaneously. The Exchange phase, in which the players take turns in playing cards, until the "disengage" happens. The Disengage phase, which occurs when one player suffers damage, neither player is facing damage (which happens if both play either diamonds or clubs, or an attack is countered), or both players run out of cards. If neither person has taken damage and at least one of the players still has cards he/she can play, then the you continue again with the current hand.Otherwise, you shuffle the deck again and get a new hand. Play continues with exchange after exchange until one player is reduced to zero hit points. Advanced Rules There are two advanced rules which make the game more interesting. Rule 1 - The extra heart cards The extra heart cards are shuffled back into the normal fencing deck. You can't play these during the exchange phase, which reduces the number of useful cards in your hand. However, if you inflict damage on your opponent, you can then play a heart card, which signifies a particularly stinging wound. Before the first en-garde phase of the next hand, your opponent has to discard one or more cards with a total face value equal to or greater than the value of the heart card you played. It can be extremely frustrating to be on the receiving end of a 10 of hearts, and then find that the highest card in your next hand is a 5. Rule 2 - The Face Cards The face cards are the "special effects" of the game. If, during the exchange phase, one player counters the attack of their opponent exactly, they can turn over the top card of the face deck (which was set aside earlier). The effect of the card depends on the suit and the value. A spade signifies you have used your free hand to punch your opponent, doing extra damage. A diamond is a good footing card, which you can save for a later time and use as extra defence when you need it most. A heart is a second wind, which lets you regain lost hit points. A club is trickery, forcing your opponent to discard a number of cards from their hands. The minor joker means you have disarmed your opponent, and they must discard the rest of their hand. A major joker means you have dropped your own weapon, and you have to discard the remainder of your hand. The game in play Once both players have a grasp of the rules, the game play tends to be fast and furious. There are a couple of schools of thought about how to play. The first is to start with the biggest spade card you have, which is usually referred to as fencing with meat cleavers, especially if both players do it. The second school is to play more tactically, holding your bigger cards for an exchange or two, in the hope of getting rid of some of your opponents better defence cards. Personally, I prefer the second school, and I particularly enjoy an exchange that passes back and forth a couple of times. I taught my wife how to play after I came home from Gencon this year and she took to it like a duck to water. I'm still trying to figure out how, but she has managed to beat me every time we have played. In some respects it concerns me a little; between "Clashing Blades" and Cheapass Games' "Before I kill you, Mister Bond", I fear she is turning into a card game junkie (not that that's necessarily a bad thing; it just gets VERY expensive out here in Australia). We found a couple of the rules to be slightly confusing, but that may have been because we missed a couple of minor points in the rules (which is a problem with any game). On the whole though, the rules are straight forward and quite simple to understand. The tactics for the game on the other hand take a bit longer to figure out. Getting the game "Clashing Blades" is designed by Lester Smith, who is better known as the author of the Dark Conspiracy RPG, and the designer of the Dragon Dice collectable dice game. "Clashing Blades" is the first of Lester's "shareware games", which borrows the concept from the software industry. Basically, for those unfamiliar with the concept, you can download the game rules and try it out for free. If you like it and would like to continue playing it, you are encouraged to send Lester $5.00. You can get a copy of the Clashing Blades rules from Lester's website. There's also another shareware game there, "Powerhouses of Wrestling" which uses dice to simulate the wrestling matches of the WWF and the like. All in all, I would have to say that "Clashing Blades" is a great little diversion for somewhere between half an hour or an hour. I've had a lot of fun playing the game, as I keep imagining the sword fight between Inigo Montoya and Westley in "The Princess Bride" every time we play. With a very small amount of work, it would be easy to adapt the rules for swashbuckling games such as Castle Falkenstein, or perhaps even 7th Sea. Because it's shareware, I'd suggest getting a copy of the rules and trying it out a couple of times. If you like it, send Lester the $5. It's not a lot of money, and it might help encourage him to publish more great games in a similar way. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)