Fortune and Glory

It is the late 1930s and the world is in turmoil. Humanity is on the brink of war as imperialist nations in the Far East and Europe work aggressively to expand their domination. The Nazi party have taken control of Germany and now darkness spreads across the globe in their hunt for powerful occult artifacts that can give them the upper hand in the days to come. But the spirit of adventure and freedom won’t be stamped out so easily.

Heroic adventurers from around the world answer the call, racing against time to hunt down ancient artifacts, explore deadly temples, and fight back the powers of darkness from engulfing the world. It is a race of good versus evil and only a cunning and agile explorer can claim the ultimate prize of... Fortune and Glory!

Fortune and Glory, The Cliffhanger Game is a fast-paced game of high adventure, vile Villains, edge-of-your-seat danger, and thrilling Cliffhangers to keep you enthralled for more. Plays play as adventure seekers and archeologists on the hunt for ancient relics and treasures in exotic and fantastic locations hidden behind paralysis dangerous. Meanwhile, you must beware not only the forces of nature, but the nationalistic plague that is the Nazi party infiltrating the world in search of occultist and ancient relics in order to harness their power for their sinister plan of global genocide.

Flying Frog Productions bring us another attention-grabbing genre movie based game. Let me get this out of the way now. Many criticisms of FFP always seem to boil down to the art design of their games. The PhotoShop -> Filter -> Artistic -> Drybrush effect is used throughout the majority of their games is including here as well. Let me state this loud and proud; think it perfectly fits that B-movie feel FFPs games have. Furthermore if you don’t like it and disregard the game based solely on the art design you are missing out on a fantastic game and I couldn’t pity you more. I’m sorry to come across so rash but I feel so strongly for this game and this genre of the gaming world and it has become a point of pride to defend it, but enough of the aesthetic, on to the game.

The game begins with a set up of the beautiful board and the starting artifacts. An artifact will have a listed number of Fortune it is worth and a number of Dangers that must be overcome in order retrieve the artifact. You will place a token on a random location on the board for each artifact. Players then either chose to pick your daring hero or heroins or deal one out randomly. Each hero is unique with their own flavor text, stats, starting location, and special abilities. Next, if players are playing cooperatively or are playing with the Vile Organization players will close to combat either the mafia or the Nazi party. The Zeppelin is placed as well as starting secret bases and bunkers and a starting villain. Now you’re ready for the adventure.

Each turn will begin with all players simultaneously roiling for initiative, should anyone roll a 1 they draw from an event deck. The player with the highest initiative will go first and play will proceed clockwise. Beginning with the first player, a hero will roll a die and move that many of spaces along the board. Should a hero encounter a Nazi figure during their movement phase they must immediately resolve combat. After all players have resolved their movement players will in turn order resolve an Adventure Phase. Should your hero be in a land or sea space without an adventure icon on it they will roll a dice and on a roll of a 1,4,5, or 6 draw an event card and take it into their hands.

Should your hero end their movement phase in a space with an adventure icon on it, your hero will attempt to retrieve the fabled relic. You will begin to draw cards from the Danger Deck. Danger cards are the bulk of the action, a danger card will give your adventure story and plot twists and test your hero to the brink of death. A Danger card will have a skill check that must be met a certain number of times in order to successfully pass the danger, once a player passes the danger they have the option to press on the adventure or camp down and heal their wounds and collect their glory. Whats glory you say? Well, Glory is more of less the currency of the game, you use it to buy gear and allies and in some cases to travel to another city, you collect glory by going on Dangers and completing them. But here is the catch, should you chose to Press On to another danger and you don’t succeed, you end your turn and flip your card over to it’s Cliffhanger side. Cliffhangers are significantly more difficult challenges and should you fail your Cliffhanger your character is KO’d. Play will precede as such until the heroes are able to collect enough Fortune.

When all heroes have resolved their adventure phase and you are playing with a vile organization you will resolve the villains turn. The villains will spawn more henchmen or soldiers on the map as well as attempt to retrieve artifacts themselves. Should the vile organization retrieve a set number of artifacts or go up on their villain chart they will win the game.

Fortune and Glory is without a doubt, one of the best games in my collection. I positively love the experience I get with Fortune and Glory and I have never been even close to find another game that brings me such joy. I want to stress the word experience, because that’s what this game is, its an experience in edge of your seat trills, hair raising adventure, and fast paced game play. Every die roll in a tense die roll, every card you draw could be your last, every fight you do could lead you a wounded mess or feeling like a total powerful hero from the pulp era.

You see, Fortune and Glory may be one of the most luck or random based games I’ve ever played, and it’s design is all about the fluctuation of luck and the roller coaster it leads you on. This may be a turn off for some player, I know for a fact that there are people who attend my gaming group who would tear their hair out due to the amount of die rolls and random card draws in the game, but for me, THAT is what makes the game special.

You see, I honestly feel many publishers and designers are afraid of making a game like this. A game that leads to an experience like that only Fortune and Glory can deliver because of the predominant fallacy that strategy equals good and luck equals bad. You see, I am utterly bored by games that have you quietly sit at a table and do math for 12 turns ahead to beat an opponent on points. I love games that bring our the kid in you, games that have you role-playing, making funny voices, has you talking to the others around the table, has you standing up for a tense die roll, and no other game has done that better for me than Fortune and Glory. If you’re a gamer who isn’t allergic to die rolls and randomness, due yourself a favor and check this game out. Adventure awaits.