I’ve been a pro wrestling fan since the late 1970s. I loved everything about it back then – the colorful (yet still somewhat believable) personas, the pulse-pounding matches, the smoky “bingo hall” atmosphere of the venues, and the ultimate struggle between good and evil. Slowly but surely, wrestling has become something much different – the personas are far beyond believable, the matches feel more like perfectly choreographed Hollywood fight scenes, the shows are in massive, brightly lit arenas, and the good guys turn bad (and vice versa) so often that it loses all meaning.

In short, modern wrestling generally does very little to excite me.

That’s one of the reasons Legends of Wrestling is a gift from the deities as far as I’m concerned. What? I’ve not explained what LoW is yet? Fair enough.

Legends of Wrestling is a card game that seeks to emulate the pro wrestling of years gone by. It offers an incredibly simple and fast playing rule-set that allows you and your friends to jump right into the action within 5-10 minutes. The rulebook clocks in at 14 pages and is written in a clear, concise manner. The author (Tom Filsinger) uses a breezy, conversational tone throughout the rules, which makes everything easy understand. If anyone has ever played Filsinger’s other game, Champions of the Galaxy, they’ll be completely ready to roll on Legends of Wrestling. Four double-sided chart pages accompany the rulebook as well. These will be explained later on in this review.

Plus, the core set comes complete with 24 black and white wrestler cards, which is certainly enough to get your fed up and running in full force.

Most modern wrestling fans will likely be wondering who some of the wrestlers are (and shame on those who aren’t at least vaguely familiar with them), the game comes packaged with a 12-page booklet full of brief bios.

Oh, and how can I forget the two itty-bitty d6s that are packaged with the set. They are, first and foremost, cute. I like ‘em.

HOW LOW IS PLAYED

Legends of Wrestling characters have three levels of Offense and three levels of Defense. Each level consists of six “slots”.

Each Offense slot presents some form of attack, followed by a rating (from 1-3). This rating designates how potent the move is. A mere armbar is likely going to be “1”, whereas a devastating move such as a piledriver will probably max out at “3”. A few slots may say, “into the ropes”, “into the turnbuckle”, “deathjump”, or “out of the ring” in lieu of an attack with a rating. These results indicate that the opponent must roll on one of the charts. Finally, one slot on Level Three Offense is taken up by his finisher, a move he specializes in. A few wrestlers possess two finishers. A wrestler’s Offense levels may look something like this:

LEVEL ONE OFFENSE:

1. knife-edge chop – 1

2. side headlock – 1

3. into the ropes

4. shoulder breaker – 2

5. hammerlock – 2

6. vertical suplex – 3

LEVEL TWO OFFENSE:

1. head slam to post – 2

2. knee lift – 2

3. into the turnbuckle

4. elbow smash – 2

5. reverse neck breaker – 3

6. side suplex – 3

LEVEL THREE OFFENSE:

1. out of the ring

2. side Russian legsweep – 2

3. superkick – 3

4. military press slam – 3

5. running knee drop – 3

6. FIGURE FOUR DEATHLOCK

Each Defense slot tells how well the character can shrug off (or dodge) an opponent’s incoming attacks. Most of the slots will say, “dazed – 1”, “hurt – 2”, or “down – 3”. The higher the number, the more damage a given move caused. Certain slots list the wrestler’s own name (followed by a “1” or “2”), rather than one of the three primary results. These are called reversals and they represent the wrestler turning the tides and taking to the attack. Lastly, on Level 3 Defense, you’ll find that the wrestler has a Pin rating in one slot. The lower the rating, the harder the wrestler is to pin. A wrestler’s Defense levels may look something like this:

LEVEL ONE DEFENSE:

1. JOHN ABNER – 2

2. dazed – 1

3. dazed – 1

4. JOHN ABNER – 1

5. dazed – 1

6. hurt -- 2

LEVEL TWO DEFENSE:

1. hurt – 2

2. hurt – 2

3. dazed – 1

4. JOHN ABNER – 2

5. JOHN ABNER – 2

6. hurt -- 2

LEVEL THREE DEFENSE:

1. PIN 6

2. down – 3

3. down – 3

4. hurt – 2

5. hurt – 2

6. hurt – 2

The game proceeds with the attacker starting off on Level One Offense. He rolls a die and announces the result. Let's say John Abner rolls a "shoulder breaker -- 2". This indicates that the opponent must roll on Level Two Defense. Let's assume that John Abner’s opponent rolls a "hurt 2". This means John Abner now rolls on Level Two Offense. If the defender rolls one of his reversals, he takes to the attack at a level equal to the number following his name. When a wrestler on defense rolls his Pin result, he must roll higher than his pin number on 2d6. If he fails, he has been pinned. If he succeeds, he kicks out and the opponent rolls on Level Three Offense. If the attacker ever rolls his finisher, the defender must instantly roll to see if he is pinned.

Each wrestler card lists a few other stats (Agility, Power, Ropes, Ring, etc.), but they are usually just referenced in the various charts.

The above only demonstrates the basic version of the game. LoW offers numerous advanced rules that you can pick and choose from in order to customize the game to better suit your preferences. The wrestler cards show references to advanced rules in parenthesis in order to keep everything straight. A couple examples of the advanced rules are as follows:

Fatigue: Another (lower) Pin rating is shown on each wrestler card. This is used in the advanced rules. Whenever a wrestler kicks out of a pin attempt, the Pin rating is increased by one, making it harder to escape defeat the next time around.

Finisher Ratings: Each finisher has a rating, from “0” to “+4”. This number is temporarily added to the opponent’s Pin number when hit with the move in question.

THE WRESTLERS

The mix of wrestlers given in the LoW core set is surprisingly good: Ox Baker, Red Bastien, Nick Bockwinkel, Bobo Brazil, The Destroyer, Ted DiBiase, Giant Baba, Gorgeous George (with Cherie Dupre), Frank Gotch, Iron Sheik, Killer Kowalski, King Kong Bundy, Harley Race, The Road Warriors, “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers, Playboy Buddy Rose, The Sandman, “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka, Greg Valentine, Johnny Valentine, Jimmy Valiant, Johnny Valiant, and Nicholai Volkoff. In other words, it covers all eras, from the earliest years of the 1900s (Frank Gotch) to the Golden Years of the 1950s (Buddy Rogers, Gorgeous George, etc.) and even the 1990s (Sabu and Sandman). Also, pretty much every wrestling style is well represented.

Overall, the stats do a fine job of capturing the essence of the wrestlers they are based on, though I did find a few inaccuracies here and there. The one that sticks out in my head is the absence of Gorgeous George’s infamous “flying rolling hiplocks”, a very unique barrage attack that won most of his matches for him. Still, it’s easy enough to make any fixes yourself.

The card art ranges from “very classy” (Snuka, Gotch, Iron Sheik, etc.) to “awkward” (Johnny Valiant, Jimmy Valiant, etc.). Thankfully, most of it weighs toward the former. Still, none of the art spoils the visual impact of the cards and most of

LEGENDS REMATCH

Legends Rematch is the first expansion set for LoW. It serves up more of the same, namely a whole slew of wrestler cards to add to your fed; twelve more of them, to be exact. Unfortunately, the selection is less diverse than in the basic set: Capt. Lou Albano, Jim Cornette, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Don Leo Johnathan, B. Brian Blair, Jumpin’ Jim Brunzell, Koko B. Ware, Mil Mascaras, Sweet Stan Lane, Beautiful Bobby Eaton, Cowboy Bob Orton, and Sabu.

There seems to be a very strong emphasis on the 1980s this time around, which is fine, but I’d have liked to see more eras represented. That’s just a “me” thing, though, as I’m more into the wrestling from the decades before the ‘80s (the 1950s is my favorite of all). Still, I can’t complain. For one thing, much of it depends on which wrestlers Tom can get permission to include. For another, most of the wrestlers are ones that I do like.

As far as the art goes, it follows the base set in that it’s “hit and miss”, but with more “hits” than “misses”. Cards such as Jim Cornette, Sabu, and Bob Orton are spot-on, while ones like Jim Duggan and Don Leo Jonathan leave a bit to be desired.

Like the starter box, Legends Rematch comes with a bio booklet that dutifully clues gamers in on who all these wrestlers are. There’s really not much more to be said about it other than it’s well researched and entertaining to read.

All in all, Legends Rematch is a useful addition to the LoW game.

MY THOUGHTS

----GOOD STUFF---- LoW is a fast-paced, roller-coaster ride through the wild and wooly world of pro wrestling from yesteryear. It’s easy to learn and captures the feel of the subject matter splendidly. More importantly, it’s as addictive as any game I’ve ever played… and far more addictive than most. Once you start kicking butt in the ring, it’s incredibly difficult to stop.

From a design standpoint, LoW is astoundingly tight. Tom Filsinger is a one of the most underrated game designers around. His minimalist style is refreshing and it shows that one doesn’t have to include a mound of rules in order to cover a lot of ground. It amazes me how he pulled off catering to the pro wrestling genre in such a tiny rulebook.

The game system is perfect for those who enjoy tinkering. It’s so easy to create new add-ons or even adjust the existing rules. It genuinely stands up well to this sort of modification, which is one of the reasons for the system’s longevity. After all, the system itself (in the form of Champions of the Galaxy) has been around since ’85.

LoW is also extremely versatile. It can be played solo without any hitches whatsoever, which is how many promoters (i.e., LoW players) do it. Also, it can be played as a full-blown RPG if it strikes your fancy. I find this to be the most enjoyable approach to utilizing the LoW rules.

Finally, LoW (like its sister game, Champions of the Galaxy) boasts one of the most devoted fan bases I’ve ever witnessed. They are constantly creating new “bootleg” sets (which Tom so graciously allows and encourages), posting results of their shows, devising rules for new types of matches, and much more! Even I have gotten in on the fun by releasing a fan-created set in my (increasingly rare) free time. It’s called Vintage Mayhem and you can check it out here.

----BAD STUFF---- I’ll be totally honest with you – I’m grasping at straws here, as I really can’t pinpoint any severely negative points about LoW.

I think my only complaint about LoW is that it requires no skill on behalf of the players. The truth is that it’s mostly random and player choices are kept at a minimum. A part of me would like to see the game involve more strategy and tactics, but that’s not what Tom was aiming for. It certainly functions nicely regardless of this and is still a blast to play.

CONCLUSIONS

Legends of Wrestling delivers the goods. It’s ultimately something of a “beer and pretzels” game, but it can easily become much deeper and involved if the participants so desire. It offers rapid-fire gameplay that admirably reflects the genre it is meant to emulate.

If you’re a fan of wrestling and enjoy rules-lite games that can be easily modified, then LoW could be exactly what you’re looking for. The starter set costs $19 and Legends Rematch will set you back $12. Both products are, as far as I’m concerned, well worth the price. You get a whole lot of game for just over $30 (if you purchase both sets, of course).

Don’t forget to visit Filsinger’s homepage, which offers a lot of interesting goodies and a very active set of message forums.