Gwent

Blending the CCG and TCG genres, GWENT sees you clash in fast-paced online PvP duels that combine bluffing, on-the-fly decision making and careful deck construction. Collect and command Geralt, Yennefer and other iconic Witcher-world heroes. Grow your collectible arsenal with spells and special abilities that dramatically turn the tide of battle.

• Gwent Meta
• Gwent Collect Em All
• The Official GWENT Website
• Gwent Police

Discord: teddybeer#4727 - The Voice of Gwent discord. Mail: teddybeeratgwentdotone (English please) If you spot any errors (text included) you can report them and I will fix them. Since I do not use social media anytime you share the website it will help people find it and discover the beauty of Gwent. GWENT is a card game of choices and consequences, where skill, not luck, is your greatest weapon. Pick a faction, build an army, and wage war.

Gwent (Old Welsh: Guent) was a medievalWelsh kingdom, lying between the Rivers Wye and Usk. It existed from the end of Roman rule in Britain in about the 5th century until the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century. Along with its neighbour Glywyssing, it seems to have had a great deal of cultural continuity with the earlier Silures,^[1] keeping their own courts and diocese separate from the rest of Wales until their conquest by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. Although it recovered its independence after his death in 1063, Gwent was the first of the Welsh kingdoms to be overrun following the Norman conquest.

History[edit]

Establishment[edit]

The area has been occupied since the Paleolithic, with Mesolithic finds at Goldcliff and evidence of growing activity throughout the Bronze and Iron Age.

Gwent came into being after the Romans had left Britain, and was a successor state drawing on the culture of the pre-Roman Silures tribe and ultimately a large part of their Iron Age territories. It took its name from the civitas capital of Venta Silurum, perhaps meaning 'Market of the Silures'. In the post Roman period, the territory around Venta became the successor kingdom of Guenta, later Gwent, deriving its name directly from the town through the normal sound change in the Brythonic languages from v to gu. The town itself became Caerwent, 'Fort Venta'.^[2]

Early Gwent[edit]

The medieval kingdom was traditionally^{[citation needed]} taken to be the area between the Usk, the Wye, and Severn estuary. To the north, the area adjoined Ewyas and Ergyng (later known as 'Archenfield'). According to one Old Welsh genealogy, the founder of the kingdom was Caradoc Freichfras.^{[citation needed]} The earliest centre of the kingdom may have been at Caerwent, the Roman administrative centre, or perhaps Caerleon, formerly a major Roman military base. Welsh saints like Dubricius, Tatheus and Cadoc Christianized the area from the 5th century onwards. According to tradition, in about the 6th century Caradoc moved his court from Caerwent to Portskewett, perhaps meaning nearby Sudbrook. Other suggestions are that Gwent was founded by Erb, possibly a descendant of Caradoc, who may have been a ruler of Ergyng east of the Black Mountains who won control of a wider area to the south.^[3]

A later monarch was the Christian King Tewdrig who was mortally wounded repelling a paganSaxon invasion. His son Meurig may have been responsible for uniting Gwent with Glywysing to the west in the 7th century, through marriage.^[3] It has been suggested that Meurig's son, Athrwys, may be the origin for King Arthur, although others consider this unlikely.

At times in the 8th century, Gwent and Glywysing appear to have formed a single kingdom. Gwent may also have extended east of the River Wye into areas known as Cantref Coch, which later became the Forest of Dean.^[4][5] Its eastern boundary later became established as the Wye, perhaps first determined by Offa of Mercia'sdyke in the late 8th century, and certainly by Athelstan of England in 927. The area west of the River Usk was Gwynllŵg, which formed part of Glywysing.

Morgannwg[edit]

In 931, Morgan ab Owain of Gwent, later known as Morgan Hen (Morgan the Old), was one of the Welsh rulers who submitted to Athelstan's overlordship, and attended him at court in Hereford. However, Gwent remained a distinct Welsh kingdom. In about 942, Gwent and Glywysing were again temporarily united under the name of Morgannŵg by Morgan Hen, but they were broken up again after his death. In 1034 Gwent was invaded by Canute.^[6]

Destruction[edit]

Gwent's existence as a separate kingdom again temporarily ended when Gruffydd ap Llywelynwon control of the area and Morgannŵg in 1055, so extending his rule over the whole of Wales. In 1056 Gruffyd ap Llywelyn campaigned from the vicinity of Monmouth with an army of Welsh, Saxons and Danes to defeat Ralph, Earl of Hereford, ravaging the surrounding countryside.^[7] However, after Gruffydd's death in 1063, Caradog ap Gruffudd re-established an independent kingdom in Gwent under his father's 2nd cousin Cadwgan ap Meurig.^[3] In 1065 the area was invaded by Earl Harold of Hereford, who attempted to establish a base at Portskewett, but it was razed to the ground by Caradog, and Harold - having by then been crowned King of England - was killed at the Battle of Hastings the following year.^[2]

With the Norman invasion of Britain, the Normans sacked south-east Wales and parts of Gwent in response to Eadric's Herefordshire rebellion in alliance with the Welsh prince of Gwynedd (and Powys), Bleddyn ap Cynfyn.^[8] King Maredudd of Deheubarth decided not to resist the Norman encroachment on Gwent and was rewarded with lands in England in 1070,^[9] at the same time as the chronicler Orderic Vitalis noted in his Historia Ecclesiastica that a Welsh king named 'Caducan' (Cadwgan ap Meurig) suffered defeat in battle at the hands of William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford.^[10] With the Norman invasion of Wales extending westwards, Caradog's area of control moved into Deheubarth to the west, and in 1074 Caradog took over control over what was left of the war-ravaged Kingdom from Cadwgan ap Meurig.^[10]

Norman Lordships[edit]

By Caradog's death in 1081 most of Gwent had become firmly under Norman control.^[3] The Normans divided the area, including those areas which they controlled beyond the River Usk, into the Marcher Lordships of Abergavenny, Caerleon, Monmouth, Striguil (Chepstow) and Usk. Welsh law as seen through Norman eyes continued, with Marcher lords ruling sicut regale ('like a king') as stated by Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester.^[11]

The Normans lords freely built permanent stone castles, many originating from a network of earlier motte and bailey castles. The density of castles of this type and age is amongst the highest in Britain and certainly the rest of the Welsh Marches, with at least 25 castle sites remaining in Monmouthshire alone today.^[12]

Conflict with the Welsh continued intermittently, although the Welsh Lord of Caerleon, Morgan ab Owain, grandson of King Caradog ap Gruffudd, was recognized by Henry II c. 1155,^[13] with Caerleon remaining, in welsh hands, subject to occasional struggles,^[14] until William Marshal retook the castle in 1217 from Morgan ap Hywel.^[13]

Legacy[edit]

Despite the extinction of the kingdom by 1091, the name Gwent remained in use for the area by the Welsh throughout this period and later centuries. It was traditionally divided by the forested hills of Wentwood (Welsh: Coed Gwent) into Gwent Uwch-coed ('beyond the wood') and Gwent Is-coed ('below the wood'). These terms were translated into English as Overwent and Netherwent, the entire area sometimes being known as 'Wentland' or 'Gwentland'.^[12][15]

The Marcher Lordships were the basic units of administration for the next 450 or so years, until Henry VIII passed the Laws in Wales Act 1535. This Act abolished the Marcher Lordships and established the County of Monmouth, combining the Lordships east of the Usk with Newport (Gwynllŵg or Wentloog) and Caerleon to the west of it.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, writers again began using the name 'Gwent' in a romantic literary way to describe Monmouthshire. In the local government re-organisations of 1974/5, several new administrative areas within Wales were named after medieval kingdoms - Gwent, Dyfed, Powys, and Gwynedd. Gwent as a local government unit again ceased to exist in 1996, when replaced by the unitary local authorities of Newport, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen, Caerphilly (which included parts of Mid Glamorgan), and Monmouthshire. The name remains as one of the preserved counties of Wales used for certain ceremonial purposes, and also survives in various titles, e.g. Gwent Police, Royal Gwent Hospital and Coleg Gwent.

References[edit]

1. ^Miranda Aldhouse-Green &al. Gwent In Prehistory and Early History: The Gwent County History, Vol.1. 2004. ISBN0-7083-1826-6.
2. ^ ^ab'South-East Wales in the Early Medieval Period'. Archived from the original on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2008.
3. ^ ^abcdRaymond Howell, A History of Gwent, 1988, ISBN0-86383-338-1
4. ^Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). 'Monmouthshire' . Encyclopædia Britannica. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 729.
5. ^R. J. Mansfield, Forest Story, 1965
6. ^Thomas Nicholas, Annals and Antiquities of the Counties and County Families of Wales
7. ^A Brief History of the Town of MonmouthArchived 5 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 11 January 2012
8. ^Douglas, D. C., William the Conqueror, 1964: Eyre Methuen, London
9. ^John Edward Lloyd (1911) A history of Wales from the earliest times to the Edwardian conquest (Longmans, Green & Co.)
10. ^ ^abOrderic Vitalis (12th Century) Historia Ecclesiastica
11. ^Nelson, Lynn H. (1966). The Normans in South Wales, 1070–1171. Austin and London: University of Texas Press.
12. ^ ^abGriffiths, Ralph A.; Hopkins, Tony; Howell, Ray (2008). The Gwent County History Vol.2: The Age of the Marcher Lords, c.1070-1536. University of Wales Press. ISBN978-0-7083-2072-3.
13. ^ ^abJenkins, Robert Thomas (1959), 'MORGAN ap HYWEL', Dictionary of Welsh Biography, Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, retrieved 2016-04-12
14. ^Jermyn, Anthony. '4: Caerleon Through the Centuries to the Year 2000Archived 2013-06-20 at the Wayback Machine'. 2010 Accessed 13 Feb 2013.
15. ^'Monmouthshire - William Camden's Britannia 1695 by Edmund Gibson translated by Edward Llwyd'.

See also

• Barrel - a dwarven card game in the Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski by which the 'Gwent' card game is inspired.

Gwent Meta

On June 15, 2016 CDProject announced the development of a stand-alone Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. GWENT will be available at release for Xbox One, PC and PlayStation 4, GWENT is a free to play game that puts you, not your cards, in the center of the action. [1] Closed beta started in October 2016 for Windows and Xbox One. On May 25, 2017 CDProject announced the start of Public Beta of the game. [2]

• 2Gwent Rules
• 3In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Decks[edit edit source]

Gwent is an ancient dwarven game that simulates the clash of two armies in battle. The players are generals, and the cards are their forces. Gwent players use their own customized decks. You can build one deck for each of the five Factions - Nilfgaard, Northern Realms, Monsters, Scoia'tael and Skellige. Each faction features a number of unique cards that encourage a different style of play. Each Faction also has a faction perk:

• Nilfgaardian Empire - Wins any round that ends in a draw.
• Northern Realms - Grants an extra card after every victorious round.
• Scoia'tael - Decides who takes the first turn of a battle.
• Monsters - Keeps a random Unit Card on the battlefield after each round.
• Skellige - 2 random Unit cards from the graveyard are placed on the battlefield at the start of the third round.

Gwent Rules[edit edit source]

Creating a deck[edit edit source]

• A deck must consist of at least 22 Unit Cards to be played.
• There is no upper limit, but doing so reduces the chances of drawing the most powerful cards. However, this is not a general rule, as Monsters and Scoia'Tael decks benefit from a large size due to the prevalence of cards that spawn their duplicates onto the field automatically.
• The deck can also contain up to 10 special cards (i.e. spells). Hero cards count as units.
• Additional cards can be won from merchants. These are selected at random from a pool of non-hero cards. Unique cards can only be won by following the Gwent quests.

Playing the game[edit edit source]

• At the beginning of each round, both players draw ten cards from their decks, on top of their Leader card.
• After drawing the cards, you can swap out two cards from your hand - or press Escape to skip this step if you're satisfied with the cards you have. Note that you will not draw any more cards during the game, unless you possess units with the Espionage ability.

• The objective is to win two rounds, removing both life gems from the opponent - and preventing them from doing the same. A round is won when your score is higher than your opponent's. A tie will result in both players losing a life gem.
• A round ends when both players pass. A player will pass automatically if they run out of cards. Once the round ends and the winner is decided, the battlefield is cleared and the score resets to zero.

• There are three types of unit cards in the game: Close Combat, Ranged Combat, and Siege Combat. The fourth are special cards. Special cards are discarded after they're played, while units are placed on the game board in the appropriate row.
• Certain unit cards have special abilities, which allow you to draw additional cards, return discarded units to the battlefield, increase the point value (morale) of other cards in the row, destroy enemy units in the opposing row, and more. These can turn around the game - mastering them is essential.
• Special cards are essentially spells. Weather cards reduce the strength of ALL cards of a given type on the battlefield, including your own, while others allow you to destroy powerful units or return those on your side of the battlefield to your hand.
• Leader cards offer a special ability that can be used once per play. In some cases, this can be vital - on other, it can be used to effectively skip a turn.

Winning the game[edit edit source]

• The strategy for winning the game will greatly depend on the deck and your hand. However, there is a number of tricks that stay true regardless of which type of deck you play. The primary one is that you play to outlast the enemy. While winning a round by going all-in looks impressive, if your opponent still has two or three cards left in their hand, you are likely going to lose the next one and then the game.
• As such, any action that places cards in your hand is advantageous. Northern Kingdoms and Nilfgaardian Empire decks are built around this concept, with multiple cards with the Espionage ability. While they do add to the enemy score when played, the two additional cards you draw usually compensate for this inconvenience. Monsters and Scoia'Tael decks are more problematic - they have to rely on the opponent playing these cards and then re-using them using the Decoy special card.
• Espionage units are best played when the opponent cannot react - such as after they have passed their turn. You also should keep in mind that though the general rule is 'the bigger strength of your card the better', in case of espionage units quite the opposite is true. Since it counts for your opponent, the less its strength - the better. So best espionage units have little strength (e.g. Thaler has 'just' 1 strength), and the worse ones are huge (e.g. Stefan Skellen has 9). Also when you play espionage cards: either uphold tactics to lose early round (to get more cards to win later) or have at your disposal weather cards that will mitigate their negative influence to one. Of course in this case you should keep the row that you want to deteriorate from your part relatively clean from units.
• Medic units are very useful in game, so pick them any time you can. Medics allow you to take back to the field any discarded units. So even if the power of some medic unit is 0 it is often just as useful as the most powerful card in your deck - just be sure to play that card early, so that you could bring it back and play again in second or third round.
• Hero cards are powerful assets, as they are immune to all special cards. The drawback is that once you play them, they're gone. Play them early on, to force the opponent to deplete his hand countering them.
• The Scorch card targets the most powerful units on the battlefield, regardless of who played them. It's a useful counter to units with the Bond ability, whose strength increases exponentially, or to multiple high strength units with the Brotherhood ability.
• Commander's Horn is a 'must have' card in your deck. It doubles the strength of all units in any of your rows. If you invested heavily in some row - sometimes that means a definite round win. Just be sure that the opponent don't have weather disablers (including special abilities) or you have a 'clear weather' (card/ability) at your disposal.
• Weather cards are particularly useful in disabling entire rows - not just to reduce your opponent's score, but to temporarily debuff your own units to protect against the Scorch card. This is particularly useful for the Northern Kingdoms, with their powerful Siege units.
• If a unit with a special ability is discarded, then returned to the game, its ability will activate again. The one exception is Brotherhood, which only pulls cards onto the battlefield the first time it's played.
• A useful strategy is to allow the opponent to win a single round. Win the first round, play for time in the second, then smash them in the third. Alternatively, play for a tie, then smash them in the second round. Though when playing for the Northern Kingdoms it is often more useful to go 'all in' in order to win the first round, because then you'll have one more free card for winning this round (special feature) and then spent all that rest to win the second round and thus the game.

In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt[edit edit source]

Quests[edit edit source]

Gwent Collect Em All

• Collect 'Em All (overall)
• the Nilfgaardian nobleman (in the Viziman Royal Palace)
• during A Matter of Life and Death
• In the Blood and Wine expansion:

Achievements[edit edit source]

The Official GWENT Website

Gallery[edit edit source]

• First Gwent round in The Witcher 3 with Aldert Geert

For more artworks of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game see Category: Gwent images — card art.

Gwent Police

Video[edit edit source]