In this game, you’re harried not just by your opponents’ attempts to ruin you, but also this caveman’s attempts to help! It’s Groo: The Game, based on the Groo The Wanderer comics, and he’s not technically a caveman… which is probably a good thing. He’d be an insult to cavepeople’s intelligence.
Born to more of a medieval setting, Groo is the bumbling buffoon who will trample the new Town Hall you’re trying to build. As such, his good intentions are something to be weaponized, set on your opponents so that he’s far, far away from your work! Unfortunately, Groo’s movements are often dictated by the dice.
Rolling isn’t where your turn starts, but it’s where the explanation does. It’s your turn. You roll the dice. Most of them are resources, except the one that’s moving Groo; resources are spent on cards in your hand, to use them! Buildings, for instance, add Victory Points and special effects to your arsenal, while Troops allow you to defend and attack. When you have Troops at the beginning of your turn, you can use them before rolling and building, but that’s a Later Problem: first, the dice!
See, there’s a catch to the dice, in Groo: The Game. In Groo’s spirit of helping people, any dice you don’t use get passed to your opponent. And, if your first opponent doesn’t use them, on and on, til all the leftovers are used up! Or until they get back to you. Whichever’s first.
That game of “how much of what I can do can I do now?” continues with combat, in which attacking (committing Troops) begets defending (committing other Troops), and all Troops used in the fight are discarded. Can you afford to get rid of your defense? Can you afford to not? Every point by which there are more attacking Troops than defending is a Victory Point of Buildings the defender has to discard. And you only need seven points to win!
This one’s competitive and swingy and thematically a delight. I should check out the comics.
