The rules are pretty straightforward: the game uses 10-sided dice and you roll either under your score or under your opponent’s 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 the miniatures each possess Hero Points, which can be used to influence a dice roll, move, shoot again, 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 (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 use 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 the same manner but the weapons and options are different
The difference between winner and loser can change circumstances 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 is linked to 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 lower a model’s Move and Dodge stats. 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 to 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 good 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 to do 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 the ability to refuse 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 Gloire gaming session needs 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 wargamers and roleplayers, but there are a few lesser points.
The first and largest one is the price. 17 dollars is quite a bit of money for a softcover booklet of barely 100 pages, most of which are used to present characters. Also, there are no figurines or maps included. A map and some counters could do a lot for this game. A pack of models easily costs about 40 dollars without shipping & handling. To be clear: the Gloire publisher doesn’t manufacture the models. The rulebook has few illustrations, most of which are just pictures of the figurines in play. The drawings aren’t very good. Additionally; you can find some scant background information about the time of the musketeers, but this is barely sufficient. For a game that emphasizes interaction and story, a bit more background and historical information would not disappoint.
Joeri Winkeler, edited by Dirk Vandereyken
