Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
The story of the Picrocholine Wars is one of the most well-known passages of the novel Gargantua, written by François Rabelais in 1534. Using a brawl between shepherds and millers as a pretext, Picrochole, King of Lerne, declared war on Gargantua's father, Grandgousier.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Grid Movement
Move pieces between adjacent spaces on a regular grid.
Dice Rolling
Roll dice to introduce uncertainty into actions, production, movement, or resolution.
Movement Points
Spend a movement allowance across spaces with different costs.
Hexagon Grid
Use a hexagonal map where each space connects evenly in six directions.
Simulation
Model a real or imagined system through detailed cause-and-effect rules.
Read the full game description
The story of the Picrocholine Wars is one of the most well-known passages of the novel Gargantua, written by François Rabelais in 1534. Using a brawl between shepherds and millers as a pretext, Picrochole, King of Lerne, declared war on Gargantua's father, Grandgousier. A model of the enlightened monarch of the Renaissance, Grandgousier attempted to avert war by all means. But Picrochole, taking this as a sign of Grandgousier's weakness, invaded his neighbor's kingdom. Grandgousier calls upon his son, and Gargantua, at the head of an army of his loyal companions, inflicts a humiliating defeat on Picrochole, who flees on the back of a donkey. The Picrocholine Wars simulates this celebrated episode of French literature through a fun and simple wargame. Players will find and discover in this game all of the events that gave the novel parodying the chivalric tomes of the era its charms: the giant Gargantua, of course, and his friends Gymnast and Frère Jean, but also the cheating Picrochole and his lieutenants. Though it has its "rabelaisien" side, The Picrocholine Wars is a balanced game in which each camp has its own distinct strengths and during which players will have to adopt the role of both the attacker and the defender. The Picrocholine Wars combines gaming pleasure with culture and history, and is ideal for initiating new players into wargaming.