Nothing Gained But Glory
A game for 2 players designed by <PERSON> & <PERSON>
Introduction
Nothing Gained but Glory in the fifth game in the remarkable Series: Musket & Pike Battle (GMT/Vae Victis)from GMT Games.
The battles in the series are set in the era of musket and pike warfare where infantry units armed with pikes had interspersed among their numbers of musketeers and arquebusiers, usually accompanied by wings of cavalry.
Nothing Gained but Glory is set during the Scanian War of 1675-1679. There are seven battles covered in this game: Fehrbellin – June 28, 1675; Halmstad - August 17, 1676; Lund – December 4, 1676; Malmö – June 25-26, 1677; Landskrona - July 14, 1677; and Warksow – January 18, 1678.
There is also a "bonus" battle from the Second Northern War, Nyborg - November 14, 1659.
Components
Nothing Gained but Glory comes in the standard sized GMT box with three full counter sheets, 2 full sized back printed full size maps (22x34) and one half sheet map, rules, two scenario books (one of which contains an extensive history of the Scanian War), player aids to keep track of game information, and a 10-sided die.
Components in the box
The map graphics are some of the best this series has seen, including the use of decorative elements, such as single trees in clear hexes - these add to the beauty of the maps without distracting from the flow of play.
Sample map detail - note the lovely trees
Rules & Game Play
It's worth mentioning that the game has some fairly involved rules. GMT rates them a 6/9 on their scale. The rules are 28 pages long, but are exceptionally clear and concise for a game with this much detail to keep track of, and the rules summary and player aids are both excellent guides. For new players, keeping them at hand is a must, and even old hands will find them useful to keep near.
A turn follows this sequence:
* Initiative is determined.
* Wings are activated
- Preemption attempts are made
- Wing commanders can try to change their order status
- Units in the active wing perform a single action
* Close combat is declared and resolved, active player first
* Wings may attempt continuation
* Rout movement
* Marker removal (a bookkeeping phase)
The Musket & Pike games revolve around command and control of your army's wings. The order status for each wing both constrains what you can do, and when you get to go relative to other wings on the board.
Command status chart
Each turn, the side with the most units under Charge orders goes first. There are a series of tie breakers to determine who goes first; simply stated, wings are activated in order of Charge, Make Ready, Receive Charge and Rally. The game includes an ingenious mechanism whereby someone can attempt to preempt a wing that's been activated in order to act first. 993
If they fail, they get a "No Continue" marker for their troubles, meaning they'll only have one activation this turn. Wings that have completed their first activation may attempt to go again, up to two times, subject to preemption each time. In the former instance, the commander is bypassed and has to wait (and will go next, subject to possibly another preemption attempt). In the latter instance, the commander who failed his continuation attempt is flipped to his finished side and the next commander set to go (or a bypassed one) begins their activation.
The game ends either after the number of turns noted in the scenario, or at the end of any turn where one side has all their wings under Rally orders, meaning they've left the field. In the former case, victory points are tallied and the difference compared to the scenario's victory conditions. In the latter case, the side that withdrew can do no better than a draw; that said, when a situation becomes untenable on the field, it's perfectly reasonable to withdraw to fight another day, so it fits with the theme.
Nothing Gained but Glory comes with version 5.0 of the Musket & Pike rules, which has minor updates and clarifications to previous versions. One specific change is a new withdrawal rule that allows a unit to withdraw when approached, provided specific conditions are met. Of note, Nothing Gained but Glory includes one city assault scenario (Malmö), which includes assault bridges that have their own special rules spelled out in the scenario rules.
Assault bridges
The musket & pike era of battle relied on commanders being able to control their units, and more importantly keeping them in formation and reforming them quickly after close combat. 100