| Code: | GMT2325-24
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| Category: | Board & Card Games
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Retail: | $75.00
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Cost: |
please inquire
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One of England’s most popular literary heroes is a man whose most endearing activities to his public were the robbery and killing of landowners, in particular church landowners, and the maintenance of guerrilla warfare against established authority represented by the Sheriff. A man who would now, of course, be described as a terrorist.
- Rodney Hilton, “The Origins of Robin Hood”, Past & Present #14 (Oxford University Press), 1958
A Gest of Robin Hood is the second game in the Irregular Conflicts Series, further adapting the COIN system to depict peasant revolts, feudal tax collection, and outlaw activities in late 12th century medieval England. Transposing one of GMT’s most popular systems into a simpler format and a more approachable setting makes A Gest of Robin Hood perfect for newcomers to wargaming. At the same time, it also offers a tight challenge for more experienced wargamers who can enjoy a tense asymmetric duel in under an hour.
Highlights:
An ideal entry point to the COIN system and the ICS series: a two player, relatively low complexity game with a family friendly theme that plays in one hour and introduces all of the key concepts found in the COIN series.
A new hidden movement mechanic: The Sheriff will chase Robin Hood across Nottinghamshire to prevent him from organizing peasant revolts, but Robin can sneak away and hide amongst his Merry Men.
A second new hidden movement mechanic: Carriages serve as a simple twist on Lines of Communication, transferring wealth back to Nottingham while providing a target for robbery by the Merry Men—but some of them might be a trap, containing concealed Henchmen!
Random encounters with rich travelers: Robin Hood draws from the Travelers Deck when conducting a Rob action, then decides whether to play it safe or demand a larger ‘donation’ with potentially negative consequences.
A streamlined sequence of play: Further developing the two-player sequence of play first found in Colonial Twilight, this new sequence of play is easy to understand while still presenting difficult tactical decisions.
Player Factions:
Robin Hood and the Merry Men: Robbing from the rich to give to the poor. An archetypal insurgency faction focused on undermining the Sheriff’s authority by inciting peasant revolts, robbing carriages and travelers, and building a network of camps across Nottinghamshire.
The Sheriff of Nottingham and his Henchmen: In charge of maintaining order and collecting taxes for Prince John. A proto-counterinsurgent faction focusing on suppressing peasant revolts and securing roads to ensure the safe travel of wealth confiscated from the parishes.
A Gest of Robin Hood taps into this rich historiography, leveraging the romantic story that we all know but setting it in a more realistic context by depicting Robin Hood as a complex figure. A social bandit, as the historian Hobsbawm describes him, at the head of an insurrection against the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Contains:
17” x 22” mounted game board
Event Deck
Travellers Deck
37 Wooden Pieces
5 Pawns
One half-size, full-color countersheet
Two player mats
Two player foldout screens
Two custom 6-sided dice
Rules of Play booklet
Playbook booklet
Learn to Play booklet
A 2" box
