Trogdor!!: The Board Game

Today's review is of the 2019 release, Trogdor!!: The Board Game. For 1-6 players, it takes 30-60 minutes.

Overview

In this cooperative game, you take turns controlling Trogdor. The goal? Help him 'burninate' the countryside, cottages, and peasants! But look out: the land will fight back. Peasants help heal burninated land, knights damage Trogdor when he enters their space (or vice-versa) and can repair cottages, and the archer can shoot him from afar. Can you and your team decimate the land before the people take you down?

game in progress; image from here

To set up, place a 5x5 grid of tiles, non-burninated side up, and place peasants, villages, knights, and the archer according to game instructions. Give each player a 'keeper' (role) card, item card, and action card. These give you special abilities that will aid you. Put Trogdor on the center tile, and you're ready to begin!

On your turn, you draw an action card and choose one (the one you drew or the one in your initial hand) to use. This dictates your special ability and action points for that turn. Then use your action points to move, burninate land/village/peasants, chomp peasants (gain health), or hide (to avoid taking damage). Then the game has a turn; using randomized movement cards, peasants are placed [taken from Trogdor's health] and move one square, potentially healing burninated land. Then knights move based on the random pattern showed on that same movement card, wrapping around the board when required. 

Turn proceeds in clockwise order. You all win if at any point every tile and village are burninated, and peasants are gone. The game wins if the knights and archer can kill Trogdor before that happens. 

Trogdor's health meter is peasants; when he 'chomps' them, he gains a health. When peasants die in any other way (like by being burninated), they are placed in the void- off the board, in other words. When Trogdor takes damage, remove a peasant from his health and place him into the void. So there are many ways to remove peasants from the game, and only one way to add them to Trogdor's health- by chomping them.

Review

I recently reminisced about Homestar Runner and mentioned this board game, based on a character created in a Strongbad Email. If you like the humor of that web series and are familiar with Trogdor, you will probably enjoy this game, which is chock-full of references to that email specifically and the Homestar universe in general. The rules and wording on the cards assumes it so be so; I'm not sure this would make sense to those unfamiliar. I recently introduced my kids to Trogdor, and they were quite amused. (And now running around the home screaming "Trogdor!!" in a heavy metal voice, just like the web short. My wife is thrilled.) Bottom line: you should know Trodgor before you play this game.

Assuming you know Trogdor, how is the game? It's pretty good. I didn't have high expectations, but this one has some nice elements. The modular tile board is nice, the game moves quickly, and it is fun. I found myself talking in Strongbad's voice throughout for the full experience, which (oddly) does enhance things. There is a heavy luck component- the randomized movements of knights means you cannot strategically place Trogdor, so this is very much a press-your-luck social game more intended for the enjoyment of the theme than the execution of deep strategy. 

Rating: B+