Roue Breizh 2010

"Roue Breizh / The Lords of Brocéliande" is strategy game set during the Dark Ages in the Celtic land of Brittany (the north-west corner of France). In the Breton language "Roue Breizh" means "King of Brittany" (Roue is pronounced "Roué", the old pronunciation of the French word Roi or King). The game comes with an educational booklet setting out the history of what was, to the medieval mind, a mystical land associated with the knights of the Round Table and the legendary forest of Brocéliande.

In this game, players play the feudal lords of Brittany who have survived the fall of Rome (or have fled from their original homeland: Britain) and now face barbarian invasions from the sea and the encroachments of the Frankish kingdom from the east. The Breton lords gradually settle and connect up their different domains, establishing towns and defending themselves against the terrible Vikings and Northmen. The aim of the game is to found ever larger baronies, counties and duchies, whether on one's own, or in combination with the domains of an ally. At the end of the game, one of these lords will be crowned King of Brittany: the "Roue Breizh"!

Mechanisms: Kingdoms are made and unmade, alliances are formed at will. There's no elimination of players. Instead, players are given the chance to form alliances, and may freely give and receive lands as they make or break alliances at the end of each turn. During a turn, members of the same alliance are not allowed to attack each other. Being a member of a strong alliance will allow each player in the alliance to have a better dice-roll in times of conflict. Some players are also members of the Council of Brocéliande, which gives its members more power, but also - inevitably - the obligation to redistribute resources and to promote the development of other players instead! Gaming enthusiasts will certainly enjoy the fact that "Roue Breizh" gives a decisive advantage to team-play, through the principle of rotating "coalitions". Between each round of play, the formation and re-formation of teams gives rise to complex interactions between the players as they negotiate the terms of their alliance.

(This is an amended version of the summary published on the Tric Trac website, in French).