Jackson Gamers' Swashbucking Skirmish Game
Find the Dingus
Using the Gloire rules set

We played this game on March 31st, 2007 at HOBBYTOWN in Flowood Ms. Jim Pitts was the game-mastre.

It had been a dark and stormy night and the Duke's messenger was overdue. The letters that he carried were extremely important to the ongoing diplomatic maneuverings between the Duke of Lorraine and the Arch-Bishop of Metz. It is imperitive that the Duke recover the letters before the Arch Bishop knows they are missing.

Thus began our adventure game using the Gloire rules set, published by Rattrap productions. Each player commanded a hero and his aide/lackey searching for the Duke's messenger and many other valuables scattered about the meadows and woodlands of Lorraine. Our game-master, Jim Pitts ran this game. He had scattered a number of rocks about the gaming area and when players reached a rock, Jim would tell the player what he had found.

Photo by Jim Pitts

Seumus Campbell, Padraig Pelham, One-Eyed McGruff, and Red Beard MacTavish advance down the road, searching for gold and other items of value.

Photo by Jim Pitts

Paolo Visconti on the right and Pietro San Alba on the left, two of the Arch Bishops men, with the bandit Fezzig in the rear. Note the slip of pager between Paolo's leg. This is what he had discovered or stolen, so far in the game. Some of these characters had real wads of paper tucket 'tween their legs by the game's end.

Photo by Jim Pitts

Henri d'Lessep, one of the Duke's men, and Siobhan, one of the Sisters of the Sword, engage the Customs men - Maxwell, Larabee, and Thaddeus.

Players and Their Characters

The Arch-Bishop’s Men

• Bill Hamilton played Paolo Visconti and Pietro San Alba and earned 3 Victory Points during the game.
• Jay Stribling played Johann von Strudel and Jacobus von Hesse. He earned NO Victory Points.

The Duke of Lorraine's Men

• Tim Latham played Henri d’Lessep and Claude Moreau, earning NO Victory Points.
• Sean Pitts played Antoine du Argonne and Roger Duval and ended the game with 3 Victory Points.

The Adventurers

• Fred Diamond played Seaumus Campbell and Padraig Pelham and earned NO Victory Points.
• Phil Young played Etienne Le Bleu and Indigo Montenegro and had 1 Victory Point at game's end.
• Robert Whitfield was de Villemont and Le Gigante, but ended up with NO Victory Points.
• John Hesselberg played Henri and Michel and ended the game with 2 Victory Points.

Officers of the Regiment Orange du Lorraine

• John Switzer was Francois Vizet and Jacques Delacroix, but earned NO Victory Points.

Officer of Royal Zweibieren Regiment and Companion

Ed Sansing played Albrecht von Pabst and Peter "Big Nose" Royan but earned NO Victory Points.

The Sisters of the Sword

• Terri Davidson played Siobhan Fionanighean and Leslie Jamienighean and earned 2 Victory Pointss.

The Hard Men

• Bryan Thompson played One-Eyed McGruff and Red Beard MacTavish who had NO Victory Points.

The Gamemaster (Jim Pitts) controlled the following Non-Player characters:

• The Bandits: Robert the Great and his henchmen Fezzig and Rollo.
• The Customs Men: Maxwell and his enforcers Thaddeus and Larabee.
• The Priests Father Vincent and Brother Cecil

Photo by Jim Pitts

Seumus and Padraig encounter Father Vincent, One-Eyed McGruff chases Brother Cecil, and Henri and Michael look on with amusement; after all, the priests weren't trying to covert them!

Photo by Jim Pitts

Jacques Delacroix (back to camera) and Francois Vizet (to left) of the Regiment Lorraine du Orange encounter Robert the Great, the Bandit Chief and Antoine du Argonne (one of the Duke's men). Captain Albrecht von Pabst of the Palatinate's Royal Zweibieren Regiment and Leslie, one of the Sisters of the Sword look on.

So - how did these rules play?

As Phil Young put it, "It is not very Sanguinary." We played all day and managed to kill only two class 1 non-player characters. BLOOD - we want more blood.

Granted, when we have more games under our belts the games will go faster. But it seems to be very hard to kill a character, or even just to render him "hors de combat."

Photo by Jim Pitts

Another shot of same scene, now showing Henri d'Lessep, one of the Duke's men, joining the fun.

Photo by Jim Pitts

One-Eyed McGruff encounters Paolo Visconti and Johann von Strudel, two of the Arch Bishop's men.

Photo by Jim Pitts

Padraig Pelham is still arguing theology with Father Vincent as Henri and Michael enjoy the tete-a-tete.

And who won this game?

Sean Pitts and Bill Hamilton tied with 3 victory points each. We should have had them fight a duel to find the ultimate winner, but being new to the game, it did not occur to us...

Photo by Ed Sansing

Jim Pitts explains the game to the players. The back of John Switzer's head is well shown!

Photo by Ed Sansing

The countryside where the adventure takes place. Note the small stones - seemingly placed at random, but actually placed with great cunning by the Game-Master. When a character touched a stone the gamemaster drew a random card to determine what was found there.

Photo by Ed Sansing

Ed Sansing's characters - von Pabst and his henchman, the "Big Nose"

Photo by Ed Sansing

Sean Pitt's and Tim Latham's characters - The 4 Musketeers!

Photo by Ed Sansing

Jay Stribling's character finds the wounded message from the Duke of Lorraine.

Photo by Ed Sansing

The monks are looking for a few good men. They approach Fred's, Bryan's and John's figures hoping to enlist them as bodyguards as they go on their pilgrimage. Two of the boys fall for the preaching and began to follow the holy men.

By the time we quit for the day at 2:30 pm, all of the stones had been rolled away, disclosing the "dingus" under each. In some cases this resulted in victory points, but in most, just a headache with some non-player character to overcome!

Will you play this rules set again?

We are already looking forward to it!

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