CMON The Grizzled

This game comes in a small package but it's size is deceiving and it's a pretty full sized, mainly card based game of deeper strategy than you expect when first reviewing the rules and attempting to play. There aren't very many rules to remember which makes it a better pick up game than many others and they're pretty easy to grasp. At it's core it is a cooperative game where you still have private information that you're not supposed to share and the goal is to get rid of as many cards as you can while managing the risk of having too many cards in play that lead to losing conditions based on what is showing. The game penalizes you for being both too cautious in the cards you play but also too risky in playing too many at once so in this sense it is actually a fine balancing act.One thing I have to stress here is that if you're looking for a two player experience, as some might be when looking at card games in particular, technically you can play this game with only two and we've tried it but I found the experience to be pretty lackluster in this case and would recommend against it unless you can get at least 3 people, but preferably 4+ together. The game seems very constrained with only two players and to make matters worse it requires you implement a phantom 3rd player which makes things a little bit nonsensical. There are far better two player games, keep this one for bigger groups.The box, tiles and cards are of top notch quality and everything feels substantial and made to last. Overall I'm happy to add this to our games collection and the fact that it doesn't take a huge amount of space up on the shelves is a big plus.

The grizzled does a wonderful job of bringing the dispair of WWl to your table!Pros* Simple to play/learn* Hard to win* Good scale, ‘easy’ to insane mode* Artwork by Tignous* ThemeCons- Not much depth- Font on the cards- Is it winnable?This is a good co-op game that limits your communication. You can't tell the others what cards you have in your hand or give hints to what they may be, so you never know when someone is going to play a card that will force you to withdraw, or if you are unlucky and can't withdraw (due to a hard knocks card) make the mission a failure for everyone.There is one, hard way to win The Grizzled, and 2 easy ways to lose the game. Winning is done by using up all the Trial cards from the deck, thus revealing the Peace card, and having no cards in every player’s hand. Losing the game is done by either having one player with 4 Hard Knocks symbols (lightning bolts) or running out of the Morale deck and displaying the Monuments card.This really is a hard game to win, so don't expect to win on your second play, or fourth, or even your tenth. If however, you are winning easily (cheater), then they have ways to help you make it more difficult.With respect to the depth of the game, there really isn’t much. That is both a bad thing and a blessing. The game is so hard to win and somewhat demoralizing that having much more depth may distract you and pull you out of the theme.The font used for the Hard Knock cards suck. I understand why they used it, they wanted to make it look hand written, but it can be hard to read, especially from across the table and upside down.If you are looking to pick up The Grizzled, grab the expansion too!  The Grizzled: At Your Orders! Card Game Expansion  It really makes the game easier to win! The Grizzled: At Your Orders! Card Game Expansion

Great components. For someone like me who enjoys cooperative games with simple rules, this is great. The nature of the cards drawn, who has what left in their hand, etc., adds considerable complexity to the game, but the rules can be learnt in about 5 minutes. An interesting aspect of this game is that, although cooperative, the rules limit what you can speak about. As a result, although the team are trying to work together, it is really down to the individual to try to move the team, rather than the individual just going along with the group decision.It is difficult to meet the win conditions, but what is interesting is that the game has various difficulty levels. You can move it up a level of difficulty by making use of the so-called trap symbols on the cards. You can also increment the difficulty by adding more cards to the "Trials" deck (which means you have more endeavours to tackle before you can win the war). And then you can bring in your own rules: You can simply change the rules about how other tokens like the Speech tokens are used (discarded or replenished), or how many hard knocks you can take before the war is finished (the rules specify that it's four).This is not a game for young people, because there is a lot to keep in mind. That's what took this down a star for me. I know some people will love a game that means you are constantly checking what is happening at every moment and to make sure you remember all the rules, but I find it just a little excessive in that respect.

This is a very fun game. Hard to win but not hard to understand. When you win you and your team will feel an actual sense of accomplishment. My one major gripe with this game is within the two player ruleset.With two players, the rules change and one rule is you play with a third virtual player. He only provides support (a crucial part of the game) and the rule is he provides his support at random. This makes no sense to me as if it was an actual player he would be strategically giving his support to the players who need it most. Me and my gf play by changing the rule from random to whoever is in most need of support. The game flows much better with two people that way and is much less frustrating. Recommended either way.

This game was a lot of fun. I played it as a two person game and it would work well up to about 4 people. It's rare to have a co-operative game rather than a competitive game but that's what makes this special. Would fully recommend.