Fidchel - Pen and Paper Wargame - Download Links

The Ancient game of Celtic Strategy, a lost art that time has left behind.

I've always been fascinated by the Celts, as a race, a culture, religion. To imagine the Celtic village elders sitting down to engage each other in Fidchel (the Celtic equivalent of chess) always made for an entertaining idea.

Men and their Wargames...

Making my own game was a natural choice, and I recently discovered the concept of a game so simple and self contained you just needed a rule sheet and a play sheet. Minimum commitment but maximum enjoyment. It was a cool idea I thought I'd give it a go.

So I decided I'd have a go at making a modern interpretation of the old game - except without having to get a board and pieces -- just print three sheets of paper.

It's a cross between Rock/Paper/Scissors and Chess; so very easy to play and actually quite strategic.

All you need to play is one Rule Sheet, Two Play sheets (one for you and one for your opponent), a pencil and an eraser.

The idea is simple - it's like a wargame whereby you must kill your enemies and recruit more warriors. The strategic element is where you have three options of where to send your warriors. There are different benefits of each place but when they encounter the enemy they fight, they kill and they die.

Here's the interesting part. You decide where to send them in secret. So each turn you mark down where to send them on the play sheet by writing the number of warriors in each area then reveal with your opponent to see where the fighting took place, who stole gold, who found honour and who got bashed.

It's the secrecy that brings the strategy as you will have to anticipate where the enemy will be, to either avoid them or fight them depending on what you need. If the Opponent is low on men, they will look to steal your gold and raid your camp. Perhaps they will anticipate this ambush and march straight to the battlefield.

Me and my Fiance played our first game a little while back and had a good laugh as the MacBurglers fought against the McDuffers with my Chieftain Fergus the Sly, ultimately leading the MacBurglers to victory over Rob MacRoith of the McDuffer Clan.

Links are below for the downloads so give it a shot and let me know what you think. Unless you hate it, because I might just go into a Warp Spasm!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1lf469tRjKmMm4way1aa3lseXc/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1lf469tRjKmLV9JMmVrR29qaW8/edit?usp=sharing

~Fraser