FooL´s Gambit Rules Draft v1

Fool`s Gambit - A Gentlemen's Game.

Rules for a swift, symmetric, abstracted to the barebone, but still

epic tabletop Skirmish Version of Excellent Generals*.

The idea is to be so portable and easy to pick up, to enable

thrilling large scale regimental battles anywhere, anytime with
anyone. No dice, rulers, miniatures or tables necessary ;)
(though we still encourage you to spice up the Bases with some 6 to
10 mm Regiments of Romans, Skeletons, Fusiliers or Robots)

Each Base represents a regiment of dozens of soldiers and each Player

commands up to 9 of those regiments. The rules are a guideline to a
good play. But especially with light weight Bases on a table we
recommend not to take all positions, rotations or movements too
strictly, but use a bit of imagination and common sense. A formation
of hundreds of soldiers is not always in perfect order and a lot more
dynamic than a tiny wooden base would allow to represent.
Nevertheless, as bound in combat rules are strict and important for
the game, if a regiment can not reach contact with an opponents
regiment by doing fair measurement, it might mean that the men are
not fast enough to charge this round (if it feels like a stretch of
rules, it might be a stretch of rules… and in terms of combat or
movement: if in doubt, advantage is always front over flank over
back).

The game can be played in its original quick and simple version,
called Fools Gambit, where Stamina replenishes every round and
clever manoeuvring is key, making it usually quickly end in a bloody
but very exciting climactic battle in the center in which you have
to read your opponent when placing your Tokens during combat. (Chess
meets Poker)
The more strategic version, Excellent Generals, plays slower and
more like a classic tabletop. This will likely be the base for a
further expansion into different unit types, asymmetric factions,
spells, abilities and heroes.
We recommend experiencing both versions and then choose the one more
appropriate for your round of players and occasion.

(*name for the full game subject to change and suggestions. Contesters are “Kings and Fools”, “Pocket

Lords” and “Fools Gambit” - calling the quick version “Fools Skirmish”)

11 Jan 2022 www.excellentminiatures.com 1|14

 FooL´s Gambit Rules Draft v1
Preparation:
Each player receives 9 Blank Bases (BB) [these will be used as
regiments], 1 Commanders Base (CB) [this is a regular base that has
symbols on it and a line drawn at its length half and is used as your
movement indicator and combat token], 9 StaminaTokens (ST) and 5
Tactic Tokens [change name to leadership/morale/luck tokens?] (TT).

2 piles of 2 TT are placed on a central line between opposing

players start position, furthest apart from each other on that line
[one left, one right, these function as “baid” or secondary
objectives to promote tactical choices].

11 Jan 2022 www.excellentminiatures.com 2|14

 FooL´s Gambit Rules Draft v1

If a player is less experienced, feel free to give this player more

TT than the more experienced player as a handicap.

The game could be played as a full frontal assault, free for all, or
one defender, one attacker, but it is recommended to add a king of
the hill or capture the flag objective to the center between the
piles to prevent stasis.

Spacing of everything on the battlefield setup is what players agree

on and what type of battle they want to play. (the more space, the
more manoeuvring, longer the game, the more useful faster units) -
as a minimum we recommend 3 x a Bases Length (BL, usually 40mm,
compared to Base Width BW, usually 20mm, though it works with 50 to
20 or even 60 to 20 as well) between central line and player start.

You can also add “terrain”, objects that block line of movement.
Playing at home, some rocks and gravel from the garden might look

11 Jan 2022 www.excellentminiatures.com 3|14

 FooL´s Gambit Rules Draft v1
nice as terrain. In case you are in a Bar, use an empty glass or some
salted peanuts.

You can also re-enact a scenario or historical battle.

Blank Bases:
Each Base has a long and a short side. When a Regiment is not bound
in combat or entrenched, the long sides are considered the front and
the short sides are the flank. When bound in combat via a long side,
this long side is considered the front, the short sides are the
flanks.
[we assume that a regiment that is not distracted by combat would
simply turn their backs if an opponent comes too close]
When entrenched, all sides are considered front for combat purpose.

[Variant to spice up play: A) any regiment can be considered mounted,

this can be resembled by their front being the short sides and flank
being long sides of the base. It receives +1 IM, but no additional
ST.
B) Nobles can initiate combat (charge and bind another unit) also via
the short side as well (flanking rules still apply)]

Once game material has been distributed and battlefield layed out,
players build their Decks.

Deck Building:
Each player builds their Deck from the 9 Blank Bases. Each player
can muster 3 types of Regiments:
Fools (Peasants, Militia, Mobs, Fodder, Conscripts), Elite and
Nobles.
Their difference in Equipment, Training and Morale is resembled in
their basic stats:
Fools have 1 Intrinsic Stamina (IS) and 1 Intrinsic Movement (IM)
Elite have 2 IS and 2 IM
Nobles have 3 IS and 3 IM

To recruit Elites, you need to stack 2 Bases, to recruit Nobles you

stack 3 Bases, all single Bases left are Conscript Regiments.
(so you could have e.g. 9 Conscripts, 4 Elite (4x2=8) and 1 Conscript
(8+1=9), or 3 Nobles (3x3=9). 1 Noble and 6 Conscripts, etc. Though

11 Jan 2022 www.excellentminiatures.com 4|14

 FooL´s Gambit Rules Draft v1
we recommend a mix of them, extreme decks can also be interesting to
play).

Each Regiment receives ST equal to their IS (Type and IS and IM is

visualised by the number of Bases stacked).

Only when playing Fools Gambit: add +1 TT for each Noble to your
hand.

To spice things up it is recommended to muster your troops secretly

(use your hand or a shield to cover your mustering grounds)

Keep your CB and your TT outside of play area, behind your starting
area, those Tokens are considered “your hand” (compared to a shared
“discard pile” where spent and unused tokens go)

Image 2: A Players Hand at a later point in game. 3 TT and the CB.

Once done with mustering, both players reveal their decks and are
ready to deploy

Deployment:
Here we found 3 options:
1. Each player deploys their deck openly and “independently”
(this usually only works in non competitive groups or for new
players)
2. Each player deploys one regiment at a time, taking turns, the
one with more Regiments going first
3. Each player deploys their regiments secretly in their starting
zone and both Decks are revealed simultaneously when players
are finished.

11 Jan 2022 www.excellentminiatures.com 5|14

 FooL´s Gambit Rules Draft v1
Engagement (Start and Course of Battle):
The Game is played in Rounds, consisting of 2 Phases.
A Command Phase and a Combat Phase.

During the Command Phase players take turns in commanding their

regiments until all regiments have received commands.

The Player with more regiments starts commanding any one of their
regiments (if both players have equal number of regiments, then the
one with less TT in hand starts, if TT is equal, the one with less
ST on board starts, if ST is equal flip a coin.)
The player with less regiments can decide to skip a command turn if
there are still more uncommanded regiments of the opponent than he
has uncommanded regiments.
E.g. Player A has 1 regiment, Player B has 3 regiments, B starts, now
has 1 commanded and 2 uncommanded regiments. Player A has less
uncommanded (1 vs 2) and as such can skip 1 turn. Player B commands
his second regiment, now has only 1 uncommanded left. A now has equal
uncommanded regiments and can not skip, but needs to command. [add
better explanation here for clarification??].
Telling a regiment to stand still and do nothing also counts as a
command but is different from skipping. Skipping means you are not
issuing a command in your turn.

A command can be one of the following:

-Rest (stand still and do nothing, recover Stamina, not be combined
with Move)
-Entrench (remove 1 ST, add at least 1 TT from your hand next to the
base, entrenching takes 1 turn and can not be combined with Move
(only with Rest or Rotate))
-Rotate (around centre point)
-Move (and Rotate) (Rotation only once, but at any time of this
action: before movement, in between or after movement)
Only Regiments not bound in combat can receive above commands.
A Regiment in combat can receive these commands:
-flee from combat **only experimental rules, use with care, in doubt,
just imagine fleeing is impossible*** (spend 1 ST to disengage. If no
ST available, you can not flee. Move straight away from combat for
total IM. Back exposed: The regiment is considered to now face away

11 Jan 2022 www.excellentminiatures.com 6|14

 FooL´s Gambit Rules Draft v1
from the combat. Means it will have its BACK exposed to the opponent
from previous combat. If meeting another enemy regiment that is not
bound in combat during movement, the fleeing regiment is considered
routed and removed instantly)
-disengage orderly (If more than one regiment of a player is engaged
in the same combat, only one regiment of these is bound in combat,
the rest can act equal to a move(+rotate) command and as such leave
combat, as long as the opposing regiment is still bound in combat by
a second regiment (independent of being bound via flank or front or
back). This is not considered Fleeing.

Combat does not need to be commanded, it happens once at least 2

regiments meet with at least one front (have any form of Base
contact). Once a Regiment moves in contact with an opposing
regiment, it is considered charging and will turn its base around
its center to get most of its area in contact with the opponent and
both regiments are bound in combat. Means, they can not move until
combat is resolved.
A note: as bound in combat rules are strict and important for the
game, if a regiment can not reach contact with an opponents regiment
by doing fair measurement, maybe ending just a mm outside of the
opponents base, it might mean that the men are not fast enough to
charge this round, maybe the ground was muddy or the commander simply
underestimated the distance. If its really tight and disputed, a good
compromise is, when the opposing regiment in question (the one you
wanted to get in contact with) has already received commands you can
imagine it is distracted and you can initiate combat. While when the
opposing unit hasn´t received commands yet, no combat is initiated.
Maybe it is able to evade the move or counter charge, depending on
what their next command is.

Movement:
The movement system is inspired by the brilliant Alessandro Castello and
his AlphA Strategy Game.
Units range is determined in multiples of their own area.
This means, you cover greater distance when moving in the direction
of your flank (symbolizing the column formation used for more
efficient marching). This also means all you need for measuring the

11 Jan 2022 www.excellentminiatures.com 7|14

 FooL´s Gambit Rules Draft v1
distance a unit can cover is the Command Base (CB), as it has the
same dimension as the Regiments Bases.

Regiments move up to their BL or BW x IM + any ST they like to

spend.
E.G. A Regiment with 2 IM can move to the following:

X X X

X X X X X

X X X

Spending 1 ST will allow the Regiment to move further:

X X X

X X X X X

X X X X X X X

X X X X X

X X X

Rotation happens around the center point of a Base. Rotation of the

Regiment is free only once per command, but at any time of this
action: before movement, in between or after movement. Rotation can
also happen without movement. Spending another ST allows for another
rotation during this command.
Rotation is also free when charging into combat. Once a Regiment
moves in contact with an opposing regiment, it is considered

11 Jan 2022 www.excellentminiatures.com 8|14

 FooL´s Gambit Rules Draft v1
charging and will turn its base around its center to get most of its
area in contact with the opponent and both regiments are bound in
combat.

Especially with light weight Bases on a table we recommend not to

take all positions, rotations or movements too strictly, but use a
bit of imagination and common sense. A formation of hundreds of
soldiers is not always in perfect order and a lot more dynamic than a
tiny wooden base would allow to represent. Try to play fair and not
abuse the slack given. If in doubt, advantage is always front over
flank over back

Combat:

When 2 or more regiments are engaged in combat, the combat receives

a number for betting and all combats are bet on and resolved during
combat phase simultaneously.
(there are no dices or cards. Instead you secretly place tokens and
try to have the higher tokencount per combat. This allows bluffing
and requires reading your opponents further strategy and the value
each combat might have for him. Also your TT are a limited resource
and should be spent wisely. In imaginative terms the count of tokens
resembles the leadership and focus of the officer, the morale boosted
by the Generals attention and also pure luck of individual soldiers
in a chaotic melee battle)

Betting:
Give each individual combat between 2 regiments a number (if 1
Regiment is fighting 2 other regiments, then it is regarded as 2
combats, so 2 numbers are given). A good practice is to count the
combats starting from the side the discard pile is on.

11 Jan 2022 www.excellentminiatures.com 9|14

 FooL´s Gambit Rules Draft v1
Image 3: Combats are numbered from left (where discard pile is) to
right, some Regiments do not have ST left, for clarification: combat
#3: Red has 1 ST, Blue has 0 ST, Blue attacks Red´s Flank. Combat #4:
Red has 0 ST and attacks Blues Flank, Blues Regiment is in combat
with 2 Red regiments, Combat #3 and #4 - …Ideally you give the bases
a color ;))
These Numbers are then “transferred” to the sections around your
Command Base clockwise.

Image 4: sections are numbered clockwise starting from the top left.
Player 1 bets 1 TT on combat 2 and 1 TT on Combat 5. ST are
attributed openly to each combat.
Sections always take the largest distance from each other.
So 2 sections would be left and right or up and down. 4 would be
up,down,left,right. 6 would be 2 up, left, right, 2 down) Up to 6
combats can simultaneously being bet on with one CB without
confusion. If you happen to have more combats going on, be creative
in how to locate your bets, as long as they are clear which number
they are attributed to.
Mind: ST are attributed openly before betting in a way so it becomes
clear which combat they are attributed to. (ST are still bound to
the regiment and can only used by that regiment. But a regiment might
be in combat with more than one other regiment and as such might need
attribution, the player also has the option to not spend any or all
ST in combat, in case his strategy requires ST for a command after
combat)

11 Jan 2022 www.excellentminiatures.com 10|14

 FooL´s Gambit Rules Draft v1
Betting with TT happens secretly. You place any number of TT on one
of the sections around your CB in a way so it becomes clear which
combat they are attributed to.
Once all players involved in combat signal they are ready,
riennevaplü and hands are lifted to reveal the placed TT.
Combat takes place simultaneously, the order in which you resolve
combat does not influence the result of other combats. So a regiment
can be defeated by enemy A in combat 1,but defeat enemy B in combat
2, when engaged with both enemies.
To resolve combat you start from combat #1 to add TT allocated to
this combat to ST allocated to this combat. The result is a Number
of Tokens, this number is called power.
To determine the result of the combat you compare power of both
combatants. The one with higher power wins the combat. If there is a
draw, then it depends on the orientation of the regiments. A
Regiment attacking with its front is always in advantage. If both
regiment fight front vs front, the draw is actually a draw. If one
is attacked at its flank, this regiment looses the draw and as such
the combat.

In any case, both regiments place the TT and ST that was allocated
to this combat into the discard pile.
A Regiment attacked in its back is considered a 0 Token regiment and
Can not receive further Tokens. Means in practice an opponent only
needs 1 Token to defeat it, independent of the ST still on it.

Classic:
Flanking wins draw (basically counts as +1 Token for the Flanking
unit after a draw is revealed, similar to home vs away goals in a
champions league tournament), stamina can not be used to counter
Flanking (the unit that attacks with its front can use its full
stamina, the flanked unit can not use stamina against this opponent,
it could use ST against a second opponent that attacks its front).
You loose the whole regiment (all stacked bases) when defeated in
combat. This means in practice all regiments have basically only 1
Health Point when receiving damage. (Defeat: the regiment with less
ST+TT bet on this combat is considered defeated. Mind the draw rule
above). Makes flanking elite and nobles decisive.

11 Jan 2022 www.excellentminiatures.com 11|14

 FooL´s Gambit Rules Draft v1
Excellent Generals:
Flanking wins draw, (basically counts as +1 Token for the Flanking
unit after a draw is revealed, similar to home vs away goals in a
champions league tournament) but stamina can be used in combat
involving Front and Flank, just not the regiment that is attacked in
its Back.
Note: regular rules still say you can not charge or attack via Flank,
means contact with your flank on an enemy does not bind them in
combat and if they do not wish to attack, no combat takes place.
Flanks are only for counter-striking (means you can still do damage
to the opponent, but only when being attacked). BUT: If they do not
wish to attack, combat ends, you are not bound in combat anymore and
your regiment is allowed to withdraw from combat.
You loose X bases where X is the difference between tokens (1 for a
draw when flanked, 0 for a draw when front). Makes elite and nobles
a lot tougher

Defeating a Regiment:
-when a Regiment is defeated or scattered during fleeing, the player
which defeated this regiment captures opposing ST equal to the IS of
the defeated Regiment
Captured ST convert to TT after one full round (means they will not
be available during this very combat instantly and also not for the
next combat, but convert in the command phase following the next
round)

Entrench:
When entrenching, your units assemble a defensive position, this
could be a wall of wooden spikes, assemble Rocks and Trees to a wall,
dig a ditch, etc. This gives them an advantage in combat, but only
lasts until they move.
Remove 1 ST, add at least 1 TT from your hand next to the base,
entrenching takes 1 turn and can not be combined with Move (only
with Rest or Rotate))

The Number of TT placed during entrenching serve as your additional

replenishing combat stamina for any combat fought after being
entrenched. But are lost (go to discard pile) once you move again.

11 Jan 2022 www.excellentminiatures.com 12|14

 FooL´s Gambit Rules Draft v1
Entrenched regiments do not have a flank or back, all sides count as
front in terms of combat rules.
When being attacked while entrenching (it takes 1 turn until you are
entrenched), the placed TT can not be used and ST are lost and you
count as a regular regiment.

Replenishing of TT:
-All players receive +1 TT at beginning of Command Phase

-captured ST convert after one full round to equal amount of TT

Replenishing of ST:

Fools Gambit:
-recover all ST = to IS per Regiment at the beginning of each
command phase independently of your command or combat. Except when
fleeing. (the ST is placed on each Regiment up to its IS value)

Excellent Generals:
-no recovery as long as bound in combat.
-when resting, recover ST=IS at beginning of next command phase
-also when entrenched and resting, recover ST=IS at beginning of next
command phase

Win Conditions:
We recommend
-King of the hill zone: receive a point for each round a regiment
ends in the zone undisputedly (means no opposing regiment is in).
After X Points you win (e.g.3)
-...

Any condition that does not require to move gives more power to
entrenched units (while it doesn't make them overpowered, as
advantages are lost as soon as the unit moves, it can make it harder
for the attacking player). Any Condition that requires quickly
capturing something gives more power to the faster units, so we found
a central objective to hold is more interesting as it allows for

11 Jan 2022 www.excellentminiatures.com 13|14

 FooL´s Gambit Rules Draft v1
quick movements and entrenchment, but requiring a balance between a
good formation and quick action.

We love to hear and see from you.

Which rules were abused, which were the most exciting moments, what
works well and what doesn't.
Painted Minis on a Base will likely make the game more enjoyable, as
long as you still attribute the ST without confusion.

11 Jan 2022 www.excellentminiatures.com 14|14