En Garde

En Garde is a card game that tries to capture the excitement and intensity from the fencing sport. The game, which comes in a box the size of Uno, consists of 32 cards and four cubes (dice). Can a game consisting of so little really do a good job simulating fencing?

Course of the game

The fencers are placed on each side of the 23 spaces long game board. The 25 fencing cards are shuffled and five cards are dealt to each player. The cards are used for moving, attacking and parrying. When you play a card you have four choices:

1. Move forward
2. Move backwards
3. Attack
4. Advance and attack

Attack is done by playing a card with a number equal to the distance to the opposite fencer. The one who is being attacked can parry by playing cards with the same numerical value (and the same number of cards) that the attacker did. "Advance and attack" is a special move that allow you to move and attack in the same round. This makes it possible to attack from a longer distance, but this kind of attack is easier to defend against.

The game proceeds like this, with fencers moving back and forth, feinting and attacking, until one of them gets a succesful hit. The winner scores one point, and the fencers are returned to their starting positions, the cards are shuffled and dealt, and we are ready for a new round. The round will also end when the last card in the deck is drawn. As there are only 25 cards in the deck, this happens quite often, and if a player has a card on his hand to make a succesful attack, he wins the round. If none of the players are able to attack, the fencer that has moved furthest down the track, wins the round.

Winning the game

The game goes over several rounds. Whoever is the first to get five points, wins!

Evaluation

En Garde is a nice, little two-player game. It is an easy game, but since it plays so quick (around 15 minutes), you won't find yourself bored. En Garde is not a game I can play over and over a whole evening, but it's a game I like to play a couple of rounds every now and then. Even though it may not look like it at first, the game has several tactical elements the players need to pay attention to, for example (like most card games) you should try to remember what cards that have been played. If you play several games with the same opponent, you will learn to know each others way of playing, and may then try to guess what cards he has on hand from what he plays. But of course - smart players will of course change their tactics.

So, to return to the question I asked in the introduction: "Is En Garde a good simulation of the fencing sport?" I have never tried the real thing myself, and should therefore be very careful when answering the question, but yes, to me it looks like the games does a good simaluation of fencing. Very simplified, of course, but the game shows clearly how the fencers moves back and forth, fences, feints, looking for an opening, until one of them gets a hit.

The game is actually recommended by the German Fencing Association, and that ought to be a good proof?

Reader comments

cynthia:

Hello, I would like to purchase the card game 'Engarde'. Can you tell me where this game is available?. Thank you

Joe:

Can you tell me where i can buy this game En Garde - Fencing card Game

Trond:

This game was recently republished by Ravensburger (Germany) and Rio Grande Games (US) as "Duel".

Graham:

I checked the Rio Grande Games site, you can find it listed as Duell.

Harish s Gabhane:

Hello, I am Harish from INDIA I wann free fencing cardgame. Please send me card. My address {chhaoni,telipura,chhandwara road Nagpur,Maharashtra,INDIA

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