John Blanche and Tuomas Pirinen have revealed a brand new one-versus-one duelling game coming soon. En Garde will be a fast-paced and dynamic 54mm scale game set in a Low Fantasy world of swashbucklers, brigands and more.

Ben Hook, the Scarred Menace // En Garde

En Garde is a world conceived alongside Nigel Wood, Ronan Duggan and Tuomas Pirinen. The game is set in a new Low Fantasy world, where heroes and villains fight for their honour in daring duels. The focus is currently on a one-versus-one duelling game, where players take control of 54mm figures (John Blanche's preferred scale) and engage in intense duels, with movement at the centre and combat that feels dynamic and interesting.

Cap'n Rodolphus Noble // En Garde

The first miniatures for the game will come as a small collection of hand-sculpted miniatures, released through a crowdfunding campaign called Vanguard. This will allow you to get your hands on the miniatures, sculpted by the likes of Paul Hicks and Patrick Masson, based on concept art by John himself.

From here, this first release of duellists will turn into a full-blown tabletop game that will feature additional fighters and more, fleshing out the experience and giving you more dynamic scenarios to play out.

Dread Lord Geminiano Caravello // En Garde

What you're seeing here are those early miniatures for En Garde, painted by the folks at Dark Ages Workshop. In the same style as another of John Blanche's intriguing projects, Inquisitor, En Garde's characters feature deep backstories and personalities. You can actually read about all of these characters over on the En Garde Facebook Page.

Mi'lady Carmilla // En Garde

We've had some sneaky peeks at some of the background and the mechanics of the world of En Garde already, thanks to Jordan Sorcery and videos that he has released over the past few days.

John Blanche's En Garde

John Blanche's En Garde - Interviews

Delving into the background, Jordan Sorcery talks about the not-so-sneaky inclusion of vampires into the mix of En Garde. However, in a bit of a twist, they are the good guys in this setting. If you'd like to know more, I would highly recommend checking out his videos, as they are a great dive into the inspiration behind En Garde and what the plans are for the project.

Duel // En Garde

Duelling games are certainly an interesting concept, as they provide you with some challenges when it comes to the rules. You need to keep the game engaging for the players involved, so it doesn't become a simple case of move into combat and stay there until one player's character is dead. I have faith that Tuomas Pirinen will do something intriguing with the rules and it will be great to get this in wargamers' hands so they can have a tinker with it.

I also like that John Blanche has now fully embraced the "I do what I want" phase of his life. Going for a 54mm scale is great and allows the sculptors to show off with really detailed miniatures like the ones we're seeing here. I am interested to see if there will be rules for making your own duellist and what strange conversions people come up with.

As mentioned above, make sure to check out En Garde HERE for more information as it comes out.

What do you think?