Game: Groo: the Game

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DrGrayrock — 2008-11-14T15:36:02+00:00

Some cards translated to portuguese

Thread: Re: Wanting to buy or trade for this please

Mr_Nuts — 2008-10-28T17:12:23+00:00

I just found a copy I'd forgotten about and put it on the marketplace.

Edit: I've tried to post a sale for this 4 times now, and each time I get the following error:
"Notice: Undefined index: itemlocation in /var/www/public_html/sell.php3 on line 4"

It looks like maybe I won't be listing it. I'll try again later.

Thread: Military Stable interpretation

fraludico — 2008-07-07T10:33:14+00:00

The card say: adds + 1 attack to any one troop in your town.
What exactly means?
- a. adds + 1 to my army? (like Armory card)
- b. adds + 1 to my army in defense ? (like School of Army card)
- c. adds one more attack phase ? (like Stable card)
thank's

Thread: Re: Wanting to buy or trade for this please

Yokiboy — 2008-06-23T09:40:37+00:00

I bought my game directly from Sergio himself at Gen Con. It's signed and I will never part with it, regardless of the fact that I'm no huge fan of the gameplay.

Thread: Re: Wanting to buy or trade for this please

ScottE — 2008-06-21T19:42:44+00:00

This game is getting pretty hard to find now. I actually bought two copies, one when it was new which we play and another which I bought shortly after it went out of print to keep unplayed. And you really want the expansion too.

This is a very cool game and good luck finding one. I suggest keeping an eye out on eBay. Not sure how much they are selling for now but don't see any up currently.

If you want a game with similar mechanics try Medievalia. It's in print but doesn't have the cool theme.

Thread: Wanting to buy or trade for this please

ebridge — 2008-06-21T15:34:51+00:00

I am very interested in trying this game, and I would like to either purchase it or trade for it, whatever you prefer. The games I have available for trade right now are FF's War of the Ring, Moods, Master Labyrinth, and Carcassonne + River 1 & 2, Traders/Builders, Inns/Cathedrals, expansion (from magazine) and King and Scout.

Please let me know if you have a copy that you would like to trade or sell. Thanks.

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tarheel — 2008-04-26T17:21:35+00:00

A Groo Event card

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tarheel — 2008-04-26T17:20:23+00:00

A Groo Effect card

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tarheel — 2008-04-26T17:19:03+00:00

One of the building cards.

Thread: Re: Groo-vey game

tarheel — 2008-03-31T02:27:25+00:00

ScottE wrote:
Echtalion wrote:
I didn't know there was a new series...I'm going to look for it right now

Issue 3 just came out. Shocked me a couple months ago when I first saw issue 1. I figured we'd never see another Groo but there it was!

Groo will always be coming up with new issue #1's...what is the issue #1 count now anyway!?

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jsper — 2008-02-09T15:31:14+00:00

Some cards translated into spanish

Thread: Re: Groo-vey game

ScottE — 2008-01-23T06:38:11+00:00

I have every Groo comic too! Though not every printing of every comic. As I got the collections I sold off my originals since they were printed on newspaper and didn't hold up too well.

We are sad!

Thread: Re: Groo-vey game

kubelguy — 2008-01-22T19:14:34+00:00

ScottE wrote:
Echtalion wrote:
I didn't know there was a new series...I'm going to look for it right now

Issue 3 just came out. Shocked me a couple months ago when I first saw issue 1. I figured we'd never see another Groo but there it was!

Yep! Got 'em.And I have every issue ever made from the start.But this card game is my number #1 cardgame.Me and my son just played it last night.It can go on forever with all the attacks by groo and armies.

thanks for doing this review and bringing this back to life for the BGG

Thread: Re: Groo-vey game

Zimeon — 2008-01-21T08:13:09+00:00

I got the game in Japan and jumped on it. Never got the expansion, though, and everyone says it improves the game so much…

Thread: Re: Groo-vey game

ScottE — 2008-01-21T03:18:27+00:00

Echtalion wrote:
I didn't know there was a new series...I'm going to look for it right now

Issue 3 just came out. Shocked me a couple months ago when I first saw issue 1. I figured we'd never see another Groo but there it was!

Thread: Re: Groo-vey game

Echtalion — 2008-01-20T22:55:28+00:00

ScottE wrote:
Good job on a nice review. This is my all time favorite cardgame and I highly recommend it. And it's a plus if you like the Groo comic which has been running for 20+ years on and off. There's a new 4 part series (titled "Hell on Earth") from Dark Horse.

This is getting harder to find since its been out of print for awhile. I recently picked up another card game called Medievalia which plays very similiar to Groo but is still in print. It doesn't have the "screw you" cards or a wondering Mendicant so less chaotic but has a similar empire building theme and alittle more robust combat system.

Wow!! My thoughts exactly.

I didn't know there was a new series...I'm going to look for it right now

Thread: Re: Groo-vey game

ScottE — 2008-01-20T21:23:15+00:00

Good job on a nice review. This is my all time favorite cardgame and I highly recommend it. And it's a plus if you like the Groo comic which has been running for 20+ years on and off. There's a new 4 part series (titled "Hell on Earth") from Dark Horse.

This is getting harder to find since its been out of print for awhile. I recently picked up another card game called Medievalia which plays very similiar to Groo but is still in print. It doesn't have the "screw you" cards or a wondering Mendicant so less chaotic but has a similar empire building theme and alittle more robust combat system.

Thread: Groo-vey game

mi_de — 2008-01-20T20:17:37+00:00

Groo and the Groo expansion set were designed by Ken Whitman and were produced by Archangel Entertainment in 1997. It handles from 2-4 players (2-6 with the expansion) and plays in about an hour.

What You Get

Groo comes in a small, rather flimsy card box with a great illustration of Groo preparing to cast the dice in a tense game by Sergio Aragonés. Inside you get 60 oversize, lavishly-illustrated, colorful and very humorous cards and 7 dice, the sides of which must be stickered. The small expansion box, also with a nice illustration, comes with 55 more cards. The original cost of Groo was $16 with a $8 expansion set. For the time, it was pretty steep, but really nothing compared to a standard Steve Jackson game today. The cards are pretty sturdy and great looking, and the dice are also rather solid, so production got a big thumbs-up from me.

What You Do

The goal of Groo is to build ten points of buildings, defending them with your army while avoiding the rampages of the clumsy barbarian, Groo. The cards in the card deck come in several colors: the orange cards are buildings, each with a number (defense value and point value, both) and description: almost every building and card has a ‘special ability’, and these abilities really make the game interesting. Some buildings will score extra if you make a certain combination, like if you have the butcher, baker, and candlestick maker in the same town. Some add defense to your troops, some allow you to exchange goods. The green cards are army cards, like pikemen or archers, or special characters, like Chakall or the Dragon. These are rated for their combat value. The yellow cards are Groo effect cards: when played, these cards cause Groo to do what he does best: mess up the situation of the region he is in. The red cards are ‘wild’, and can be played at any time, and the violet cards are events, which immediately halt play when drawn, to allow their effects to take place, such as passing your hand to your neighbor or making goods you own worthless for a turn. There is also one Groo card depicting the bewildering barbarian. The position of this card will dictate where the Groo effect cards will act: more on this later.

Five cards are dealt to each player. Each player turn has six phases. Once these are complete, the next player gets his/her turn. The first phase is for discarding any cards you wish from your hand, to be replaced by new draws in phase two. If an event is drawn, it is immediately applied. Phase three allows you to declare one attack using your army against another player. The attack strength is calculated by adding the total attack values of all committed troops. The defender can opt to use his own troops to defend. The respective attack and defense values are determined, modified by any buildings or other effect cards. If the attacker scores higher, the defender must make up the difference in building values, discarding a number of structures equal to the difference in the combat values. If the defender has a higher score, huzzah! The town is safe. All troops used, both for attack and defense, are discarded after the battle.

Phase four is the construction phase. The seven dice are rolled at this point. One die is the Groo Movement die. Groo can either stay in the town he is in (if the Rufferto dog head comes up) or move one or two towns to the left or right of the phasing player. The other six dice display goods: goods, labor, money or Groo heads. Each orange, green, and yellow card have a cost for activation, shown on the card. Using the dice results, the phasing player can build cards from his hand. For example, the Dragon costs a coin, a labor, and a good. The Groo heads can be used to activate the yellow Groo effect cards, usually resulting in the disbanding of armies or loss of buildings at Groo’s location. Once the phasing player has built all he/she wants (or is able), phase five starts wherein any unused dice are passed to the next player, who may try to build cards from his own hand. This continues until all six dice have been used, or everyone has had an opportunity to build with the remaining dice. The last phase has everyone refilling their hands to five cards. If the phasing player has ten points in buildings, they have won! Else, the game continues with the next player taking their turn.

What I Think

First, I would never play Groo without the expansion cards. Namely, the basic deck only has one event card, which is a real shame. Groo is a very random game, but I think packs a lot of fun and laughs in a little box. I really like the artwork (the orphanage is my favorite) and like the ‘take that’ aspects of the game. The dice rolling/resource production mechanism works quite well. With six players the game can drag on for 90 minutes, which is too long. A two to four player game is about right, and ends in 30 to 60 minutes. There is a little option for strategy in which cards you want to hold/discard, how big an army you want to use or whether it is better to go for a building ‘blitz’. The wild cards add some real uncertainty, and you never know when the nasty event cards will pop up. If you are a Groo fan, or if you like a light, destructive card game and don’t plan to take it too seriously, I heartily recommend Groo, but only with the expansion set.

Thread: Re: A new game...

ScottE — 2008-01-18T08:25:53+00:00

I got a copy of Medievalia today in the mail and it looks promising. Doesn't have nearly the number of unique cards as Groo so don't think it will replace my love for playing that game. All the custom art in Groo really makes it fun to play.

But Medievalia has a more involved combat system then Groo from reading the rules. One annoyance was they didn't put any rules on the cards so they wouldn't have to print other languages so you have to refer to the rules or the little ref card to find out the character powers. Also there's an updated PDF of the rules which is MUCH better. Don't bother reading the included one since it sucks in comparison.

So I think this will be a good game but won't replace Groo. Probably less chaotic since there's no Groo event cards that will destroy your town. Instead you can see the armies marching your way and prepare abit.

Thread: Re: A new game...

ScottE — 2008-01-06T09:09:56+00:00

Groo is my all time favorite card game and one we pull out a few times a year to play. It got me so interested in the comic I spent several years collecting a complete set of the comic! Oh and a new 4 part comic just came out recently so there's even more Groo!

Glad to hear someone took the card system and made a new game. It's a great design and deserves to be used again. Too bad so few know about this game. Glad I have two copies!

Thread: Re: A new game...

BAYLEYAW — 2007-11-15T21:32:03+00:00

ejamer wrote:
I'll try it, as long as the game comes with cheese dip.

"hungry"
Sorry I ate all the cheese dip ( and any other supplies at Groo's location )

URP !!!

Thread: Re: A new game...

Echtalion — 2007-11-15T20:27:44+00:00

Hehe...
Glad to see there are fans of this nice game out there. It's the game I have played the most in my life, so far, partly due to the quick time to play, and the desire of revenge over your enemies, in case you lost

Thread: Re: A new game...

atholbrose — 2007-11-12T10:42:02+00:00

jpat wrote:
Sounds like they erred.
Mendicants.

Thread: Re: A new game...

jpat — 2007-11-12T02:58:02+00:00

Sounds like they erred.

Thread: A new game...

Echtalion — 2007-11-12T02:47:19+00:00

There is a new Essen 2007 release: Medievalia. It's a card game with 110 cards, very similar to Groo.
You build armies and buildings, and attack the other players.
Instead of rolling dice for resources, you get resources from the cards played.
The core rules seem very solid, maybe even better than Groo's, but it lacks all the unique characters and buildings Groo has(Arcadio, Orphanage, etc...)
It's like Groo:the card game...without Groo

Thread: Re: Groo:Crítica em Português (Review in Portuguese)

MGBM — 2007-11-04T01:23:55+00:00

Thank you!

I'm afraid that, as far as I know, BGG doesn't have a way to translate anything written in other language than English. Google has a translation tool but it doesn't a good job of translating portuguese into english.

Anyway, thanks again!

Thread: Re: Groo:Crítica em Português (Review in Portuguese)

tritone — 2007-11-04T00:32:39+00:00

João,

I gave your review a thumbs-up just... because! It´s a review of a game about Groo!

Unfortunately I don´t speak Portuguese and I would love to read your review. Does anyone know if BGG has a mechanism for translating articles into other languages?

And if not... why not?

Thread: Groo:Crítica em Português (Review in Portuguese)

MGBM — 2007-11-03T15:26:00+00:00

Originalmente publicado em www.abreojogo.com e www.rededejogos.com

Groo, uma criação de Sergio Aragones, é um bárbaro com duas katanas acompanhado pelo seu fiel cão que destrói tudo o que toca, de maneira literal. O homem é um desastre ambulante, destruindo cidades inteiras de uma só vez. Não admira, então, que ele seja temido por onde passa. E agora é a vez de nós tentarmos evitar ter a atenção do Groo.

Groo: The Game é um cardgame onde nós temos que construir uma cidade e um exército que destrua as cidades dos outros jogadores, ao mesmo tempo que tentamos evitar que o Groo passe pela nossa cidade. Aviso já que este jogo tem uma expansão e que tal expansão é absolutamente essencial para se jogar este jogo de maneira decente. O jogo base sem expansão é demasiado sem interesse. Logo a minha review é do jogo com a expansão.

Neste jogo nós construímos uma cidade e um exército, e para tal temos que saber que resources a gente vai ter. Para tal rodamos uns quantos dados que nos dizem que recursos recebemos para a ronda e, mais importante, dizem para que cidade o Groo vai. Depois disso, o jogador pode comprar com os recursos que saíram edificios ou tropas. Cada vez que compra terá que eliminar os dados usados. O que sobrar passa para o jogador seguinte, e assim por diante. Os edificios muitas vezes têm poderes especiais, o que pode gerar combinações de edificios para ficarmos com poderes interessantes. O exército é somente usado ou para defender a nossa cidade ou para atacar as cidades dos outros jogadores. Ganha quem atingir um determinado número de pontos primeiro. De salientar que existem cartas de Groo, que implica que se forem compradas o Groo provoca um pequeno cataclismo na cidade onde está, pelo que é importante livrarmos-nos do Groo o mais depressa possivel. Pensem num jogo de passar a batata quente a outro.

O número de jogadores é até seis, e neste jogo quanto mais melhor.

Passemos à análise.

Em termos de apresentação este jogo é bom. Vem numa embalagem muito pequena onde cabem as cartas e os dados. As regras são simples e facilmente lidas. As cartas é que não são da melhor qualidade, mas também não são muito más. As ilustrações vêm directamente da mão do autor do Groo e são engraçadas, dando uma boa ideia de como é a BD de onde o jogo é baseado. Os dados são dados normais onde colamos autocolantes que indicam os recursos nas faces. Nada a salientar no que respeita a apresentação, é prático, cómodo e sem nada que o destaque dos outros cardgames.

Este jogo têm um tema muito bom que pega bem. Estamos a construir uma cidade e não queremos o Groo nela a todo o custo. O tema pega também graças à arte das cartas que ajuda-nos a visualizar o mundo do Groo. Neste caso não é um jogo abstracto, sem tema nenhum, este jogo consegue, e muito bem, transmitir o tema sem problemas. Ficamos fascinados com os nossos edificios. Mais, ficamos ligados a eles e quando os destroem sentimos-nos mal por uns momentos e depois decidimos atacar o jogador que o destruiu. Portanto em termos de tema este jogo tem sucesso nessa área, o que é comendável.

Em termos de sorte, este jogo tem e muito. Para começar a sorte existe na distribuição das cartas para os jogadores e no sacar cartas, logo aqui temos o factor sorte típico dos cardgames. Estamos dependentes do que sacamos e, neste jogo, se sacarmos uma má mão é quase impossivel fazer algo decente dela. Logo aqui temos um ponto negativo do jogo, não permite a um jogador com uma má mão fazer algo dela. Depois o factor sorte é exponenciado pelo rolar dos dados que determinam os nossos recursos. Estas duas variáveis quase que transformam o jogo num luckfest. Quase. Apesar disto o jogo corre supreendentemente sem muitas discussões sobre como a sorte foi madrasta. Embora o jogo tenha uma tonelada de sorte em cima, joga-se bem e a sorte não intrefere tanto no jogo como uma pessoa possa supor. Mas quem não gosta de sorte em excesso não vai gostar deste jogo. Pessoalmente, não me importo com o factor sorte deste jogo, neste caso torna o jogo mais divertido que frustrante.

A interacção entre jogadores é activa e directa. Os jogadores podem-se atacar uns aos outros na sua ronda, o que implica que as acções que nós fazemos influenciam directamente os outros jogadores, e é directa pois os jogadores estão a atacar-se entre si. Mesmo que não se ataquem os jogadores podem jogar Groo cards, que fazem com que o Groo provoque um desastre, o que é mais um aspecto da relação directa entre jogador no que respeita à interacção. Fora estes casos, a interacção é maioritariamente passiva mas directa.

Quanto a estratégia e táctica, este cardgame é quase absolutamente táctico. Se o Groo não estivesse presente, este jogo teria uma boa dose de estratégia, mas com o Groo e como não sabemos onde o Groo irá parar na próxima ronda é escusado fazer planos de longo-prazo pois o mais provável é, se o Groo vier para a nossa cidade, então a nossa cidade ser completamente destruida. Isto é frustrante pois este jogo pede que uma pessoa faça estratégias boas mas infelizmente o Groo torna qualquer estratégia invariavelmente inválida. Mais, se o Groo não estiver na nossa cidade podemos ser alvo de um ataque do exército de outro jogador. Sendo assim eu diria que este jogo é maioritariamente táctico com uma pitada de estratégia. A imprevisibilidade de planos a longo-prazo é um aspecto que tira valor ao jogo em vez de dar, e é uma pena. Só podemos jogar o que está na mão e tentar combinações engraçadas se a nossa cidade não sofreu nenhum desaire, mas fora isso não compensa pensar que vamos ter a cidade de pé no próximo turno.

Este jogo não é um gamer's game, nem de longe, mas também não é um filler. Demora demasiado tempo a jogar para ser um filler e as regras são complexas a mais. O jogo também cria situações onde é necessário constantes decisões do jogador, o que não acontece frequentemente em fillers.

O peso do jogo é um Light Middleweight sem dúvida. Não é um jogo pesado mas também não é algo leve que se jogue num instante. Este jogo requer um compromisso dos jogadores e, como tal, necessita de algum tempo para ser jogado.

O que me traz ao aspecto negativo mais marcante deste jogo. A duração de jogo. Embora digam que este jogo demora menos de 40 minutos a ser jogado, a verdade é que este jogo pode-se prolongar por horas e horas. Um jogador pode estar à frente e é completamente dizimado pelo Groo ou pelos outros jogadores, e isto repete-se várias vezes. O que poderia ter sido um jogo divertido prolonga-se desnecessáriamente durante muito tempo até que chega uma altura em que é uma agonia continuar a jogar. Este é um jogo que beneficiaria claramente de um tempo curto de jogo, mas tal não acontece. De facto se o jogo for jogado por um grupo agressivo não me admiraria que este jogo chegasse às 3 ou 4 horas de jogo. Um ponto negativo que desvaloriza o jogo e em muito. Além de não podermos fazer estratégias o mais provável é termos a nossa cidade e exército destruidos e lá temos que começar tudo de novo. Isto assim não tem graça.

Quanto à longevidade do jogo, é fraca. As primeiras sessões com o jogo serão um sucesso, não tenham dúvidas, mas a natureza repetitiva do jogo cedo se fará notar e em pouco tempo deixarão de ter interesse em querer jogar a este jogo. Uma longevidade muito fraca que em nada ajuda o jogo. Este jogo é para realmente ser-se jogado uma ou duas vezes por ano.

O dinâmismo do jogo é excessivo. As cidades e exércitos estão sempre em constante mudança para melhor ou pior, o que provoca um dinâmismo excessivo e faz com que os jogadores tenham sempre que estar atentos a todos os outros jogadores, em toda a altura do jogo. O jogo, no entanto, obriga os jogadores a tomarem decisões a todo o instante, mesmo que as decisões nunca sejam tensas, o que indica que este jogo requer total concentração por parte dos jogadores. De salientar que existem uma ou duas cartas que estragam o jogo completamente. O orfanato impede o Groo de atacar a cidade com esse edificio, o que implica que quem sacar o orfanato e o jogar é praticamente o vencedor do jogo se os outros jogadores não o atacarem de imediato. E quem tiver o dragão no exército pode, basicamente, matar o que quiser num instante. Ponto importante neste jogo é que as cartas de exército usadas, tanto a atacar ou a defender, são sempre descartadas no fim da batalha, portanto o exército torna-se um aspecto mais temporário do jogo.

Quanto a introdução a novatos, este jogo é bom se e só se for jogado num grupo que não seja agressivo. Se forem agressivos, esqueçam, os novatos irão sair do jogo com má impressão. O tempo de jogo também pode ser um mau factor, pois não sabe nada bem a alguém passar 4 horas a repetir sempre as mesmas jogadas. Portanto é um bom jogo para novatos se tiver as condições certas, caso contrário nem pensem em usar este jogo com novatos.

O problema de analysis paralysis é quase inexistente. Por ser um jogo fortemente táctico não se ganha nada em fazer planos a longo prazo, logo um jogador sabe o que jogar quando é a sua vez. É muito raro um jogador ficar mais que 20 segundos a pensar o que fazer quando é a vez dele.

Em relação a downtime entre jogadas, este jogo tem um downtime relativamente alto, principalmente se for jogado com seis jogadores. No entanto como os recursos não usados são passados para o jogador a seguir, o downtime acaba sempre por ser mitigado de maniera relativa.

Em termos de visual, este jogo é decente. Quando um jogo acaba é sempre engraçado ver a disposição e a arte das cartas e ver como as cidades ficaram formadas no fim. Mas apesar disto este jogo não é nenhum Big City, pelo que non-gamers não acharão muito interesse neste jogo.

Em termos de mecânicas, temos mecânicas de set collection, hand management, conflicto e passar a batata quente a outro. O jogo implementa e executa de maneira adequada estas mecânicas, pelo que não há nada a salientar quanto a isso. Não oferece nada de novo mas é sólido a executar o que oferece, especialmente na mecânica de passar a batata quente, para a qual este é o melhor jogo que já vi a implementar essa mecânica.

E é isto.

Este jogo é quase puramente táctico, pelo que para quem goste de doses elevadas de táctica num jogo é um jogo obrigatório. Os jogadores tácticos vão adorar este jogo, disso não tenho dúvidas. No entanto o tempo excessivo de jogo irá afastar muitos jogadores deste jogo, pois o jogo acaba por se tornar muito chato ao fim de uma hora e meia de sessão.

Pessoalmente não acho o jogo grande coisa, mas também não é um jogo própriamente mau, é simplesmente um jogo aborrecido que se joga bem uma vez ou outra mas que não é para jogar continuamente, senão o grupo nunca mais jogaria a isto.

Apesar disso, eu até gosto de jogar ao jogo uma vez por ano, quando se joga é divertido, provoca boas conversas e gargalhadas entre o grupo. Não é um mau jogo, simplesmente sofre de alguns problemas que o tornam pior do que na realidade merecia ser.

Recomendado a quem goste de táctica nos seus jogos e de quem goste de construir algo do nada. Se não gostam nem dum nem do outro, então não vale a pena arranjarem o jogo.

De salientar que se querem mesmo comprar o jogo, comprem a expansão ou esqueçam mesmo, o jogo sem expansão é muito pior do que com expansão. Portanto a minha nota é do jogo com a expansão.

12 de 20.

Thread: Review by SOS (from 1997) - with some FAQ and a variant

sos1 — 2007-03-03T18:23:42+00:00

If you already know who Groo is: rejoice! More artwork! A fun game! Go buy it!

If you don't know, I don't have space to explain the wonderful zaniness that is Groo the Wanderer, star of a long-running comic book of the same name. The comic is by Sergio Aragonés, winner of the 1997 Reuben award (sort of a cartoonists' Hall of Fame award). Groo is temporarily on hiatus now, but there have been over 140 issues over the last dozen years, so go check out some back issues at a comic store.

Good news to both Groo fans and Groo novices is that this is an excellent game. While not a collectible card game, there is already one expansion set, which is also highly recommended.

On the plus side, the artwork is wonderful, the rules simple and largely clear, the replay value high, most of your favorite Groo characters are included, there are enough special effects cards to keep the game exciting, and it's a blast to play - a mix of skill, luck and a lot of laughs.

On the downside, there is no mention of mulching, a serious omission. Also missing are Granny Groo, Bunta, and those lizardmen soldiers, for reasons unknown. And Captain Ahax is typoed as Captain Ajax, but Sergio might actually pronounce them the same.

The basic set includes 60 cards and seven dice, enough to play with up to four people. The dice stickers include pictures of Supplies, Labor, Kopins, Groo, Rufferto, and pointing hands. (Sergio is a very visual-oriented person, so pictures are used when possible.) The expansion set includes another 55 cards, which will allow you to play with up to six people (and makes it a better game regardless of the number of players. The game plays best with more people, BTW.).

There are six kinds of cards: Groo himself (only one of these, thank heavens!), Groo Effects, Events, Buildings, Troops, and Wildcards. The object is to be the first to build a town worth seven victory points (each building card has a VP value). This is hard because: (1) the other players may send their armies to destroy your town-in-progress, and (2) Groo. In the comic books, any town Groo enters suffers some damage - it's just the poor soul's nature. While not malicious, he's very stupid and clumsy, and a jinx of the worst nature. So the Groo card is a hot potatoe (spelling appropriate to Groo's mentality level) which can wreak havoc to whatever town he visits.

Each player turn has six phases:

1. Discard as many cards as you wish;
2. Draw your hand up to five cards;
3. Make one attack (optional)
4. Roll the dice to determine Groo's movement and your resources, then allot your resources;
5. Pass any unused resources to your left - that player uses what he wishes, then passes them to his left, etc.;
6. Draw your hand up to five cards, and it's the next player's turn.

Resources are required to bring certain cards out of your hand, shown on each card. You need Kopins (money) to build a Castle, for example, but Supplies to bring in The Minstrel (who can double your combat ability if you speak in rhyme). "Groo Head" resources allow you to play Groo Effects cards - when these are played, bad things usually happen to the town where Groo is currently located.

Phase five, above, is a wonderful innovation: pity the soul who rolls six Groo Heads and has Groo move to his town at the same time! You'll hear the other players gasp in admiration . . .

Most cards have a special effect listed at the bottom. This is very entertaining and keeps things from being a simple send-Groo-and-stomp game. The expansion set is very useful even if you don't play with more than four players: it adds a lot of variety in cards of all types (except Groo).

Combat is very straightforward: pick your attacking troops, the defender decides which troops will defend, figure any special effect bonuses, and subtract defense value from offense value. The result is the value of victory points (shown on buildings) the defender must lose. All troops which participated in the attack are then discarded. This simple mechanic allows you to whittle down someone near to victory, while preventing huge army buildups, the bane of certain other games.

This game is highly recommended - smooth, fast, fun play with wonderful artwork - what more do you want? And if your opponent draws a card, looks at the artwork for a few seconds, and bursts out laughing, you don't know whether he has the dreaded "Did I Err?" card (which shows a very embarrassed Groo watching townspeople fleeing from a town being destroyed by an avalanche he accidentally started) or a harmless card such as the Butcher, which simply has a very funny picture.

---------------------------

Two-Player Variant

This variant changes how you read the Move Groo die - the one with Rufferto and pointing hands.

When Groo starts a turn in a town: * if you roll a Rufferto, Groo stays;

* if you roll a Move One, he goes to the other town,
* if you roll a Move Two, he goes to a spot midway between the two towns!

When Groo is between the two towns, Groo Effect cards can be played by either player, to affect your opponent. He stays in between towns until moved by a card or die result. Thus, on my turn, I can play Groo Effects cards on your town, and you can play them on my town during the Leftovers phase, providing there's enough Groo Heads for both of us.

When he begins a turn in between towns: * a result of Rufferto means he stays there;

* a Move One means he goes to the town of the person who rolled the dice;
* a Move Two means he goes to other town.

BTW, my close friends who play a lot of two-player Groo really love it. Their house rule, however, is that it takes 14 points to win in a two-handed game! I'd be tempted to make it 10 points, myself.

-------------------------------------

NOTE: After I posted this article, r. n. dominick responded with a list of answers from the rules writer to his questions. Here they are:

* The dealer goes first.

* If you get dealt event cards, you play them when you pick up your hand. If they say "remove at the beginning of your turn" your first turn counts. [sos: we have a house rule to reshuffle them into the deck after drawing replacement cards if dealt Event cards, but I agree the above is the rule of the game.]

* To win, you have to have seven victory points at the end of your turn, after the leftover phase, not have seven victory points when you roll the dice. [sos: This one is actually listed in the rules under Definition of a Turn.]

* Structure bonuses are cumulative: one residence is worth 1 VP, 2 are worth 4 VP and 3 are worth 6 VP. The butcher, baker and candlestick maker are worth 6 VP if you have all three in your town.

* Cards that "remove 1 [resource] result" (labor, kopin, etc.) aren't covered in the rules at all. It means that when you roll the dice on your turn, if you roll any of that resource, you lose one of them.

And I can add to this list, having heard a confirmation from the writer:

* A card's self-referential special effects take place before any other special effects which affect it, and then doubling special effects occur before additive special effects.

Example: (BV = Battle Value) You are attacking with a

* Cavalry troop (BV 1, with a special effect of +1 when attacking), and have
* The Minstrel, (doubles any one unit's BV), and a
* Military Stable (+1 to one troop's BV when attacking).

First you raise the attacking Cavalry to BV 2 because of its own special effect, then you double it to BV 4 because of The Minstrel, then you raise it to a final total of BV 5 because of the Military Stable.

Composition of the decks: [c]

Basic Set Expansion Total Different Cards
Groo 1 0 1 1
Event 1 5 6 4
Wild 2 9 11 6
Groo Effects 13 6 19 12
Troop 18 15 33 15
Building 25 20 45 33
------------------------------------------------------
Total 60 55 115 71
[/c]
And this message from Paul Chamberland, who played the game at GenCon:

I learned at the demo that at the end of a player's turn, ALL players fill their hand to 5 cards. In the tournament it was ruled that only the current player draws up to five ... From reading the rules, it looks like the tournament interpretation was right. But, from seeing the game play, the demo was MUCH more fun while the tournament, using the real rules, was just a race to bring out buildings. ... I HIGHLY recommend that you play the game with all players drawing up to five cards at the end of every player's turn. It will mean more cards will be played during a game, more Groo cards will be played (which means more fun), and more armies will be available for attacking.

Image

kapnkrunch — 2006-12-16T06:06:35+00:00

Toronto

Image

kapnkrunch — 2006-12-16T06:06:30+00:00

The Sage

Image

kapnkrunch — 2006-12-16T06:06:21+00:00

Minstrel

Image

kapnkrunch — 2006-12-16T06:06:14+00:00

Grooella

Image

kapnkrunch — 2006-12-16T06:06:09+00:00

Groo

Thread: Re: Did I Err???

kapnkrunch — 2006-12-14T01:55:48+00:00

By the way... thanks to everyone for their comments and thumbs-up clicks. It's nice to see that this a forum where people can have a difference of opinion but still acknowledge the worth of a post.

Thread: Re: Did I Err???

kapnkrunch — 2006-12-14T01:53:31+00:00

That was supposed to read "concensus is not equal to truth" but the script ignored the less-than and greater-than symbols side-by-side. My bad.

Thread: Re: Did I Err???

kapnkrunch — 2006-12-14T01:52:04+00:00

citizen k wrote:
Nice review Chris, but the mob is right. If anyone knows how fun chaotic randomness and destruction can be it is M. Faidutti.

Careful... concensus truth. Let's just say we have different opinions and leave it that.

Thread: Re: Did I Err???

jpat — 2006-12-13T17:26:19+00:00

Thanks for the review. As a lapsed Groo fan, I might have to consider trading for this one someday.

Thread: Re: Did I Err???

citizen k — 2006-12-13T16:17:22+00:00

Nice review Chris, but the mob is right. If anyone knows how fun chaotic randomness and destruction can be it is M. Faidutti.

Thread: Re: Did I Err???

spellengek — 2006-12-13T14:21:03+00:00

I'm with Bruno and Ed here. I've never read the comics, but I've always had a lot of fun with the game. Not something I would want to play every week, but once in a while it's a nice diversion.
Note thate I've only played the game using the expansion, which introduces a lot of extra event cards (the purple ones). So I'm not sure whether the game is a lot less fun without the expansion.

Thread: Re: Did I Err???

faidutti — 2006-12-13T07:48:40+00:00

Well, I have to disagree with this review - I didn't know the comics and really enjoyed the game. It's heavy on luck, but with enough nastiness and clever trick to make it really fun, and by the end of your first game, you get to know the characters well. Great game.

Thread: Did I Err???

kapnkrunch — 2006-12-13T03:08:16+00:00

Introduction
The Groo Card Game is a goofy little card-and-dice game based on the Groo The Wanderer comic books by Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier. Players assume the roles of rulers of their respective towns. The object of the game is to accumulate seven victory points, which is done by erecting buildings in your town (buildings are worth a variable number of victory points). Unfortunately, Groo (an oafish and destructive wanderer) is roaming the countryside near all of your towns and if he comes to your town it’s highly likely that many of your buildings will be destroyed. The game is designed for two to for players but games with more than two players are much more interesting and dynamic.

What You Get
The Groo game comes with a deck of 60 cards, rules, seven blank six-sided dice, and a sheet of stickers. The stickers go on the dice and the rules explain how the stickers are to be put on.

Game Basics
Six of the dice are resource generating dice. The three resources in the game are kopins (represented by a gold coin with a “K” on it), labour (represented by a peasant), supplies (represented by a bag of feed), and “Groo heads” (used to play “Groo Effect” cards on your opponents). The seventh die is the “Groo Movement” die. Groo starts in the town owned by the dealer but, based on the results of this die, each turn Groo either moves one or two towns to the left, one or two towns to the right, or stays put. Each turn the player whose turn it is rolls all seven dice. The resources that come up are the player’s resources to use that turn. Any unspent resources are passed around the table for other players to use so it’s in your best interest to spend as many of your resources as you can.

There are several different kinds of cards in the game:

Building Cards: You accumulate victory points by playing building cards. Building cards cost some amount of labour, kopins, and supplies to build and have a number of victory points associated with them. Buildings also confer abilities that go over and above the rules (e.g. the “Residence” building adds an additional victory point to your total if another “Residence” is in your town).

Troop Cards: You can amass an army to attack other towns and destroy their buildings and defend your town from other towns’ armies. Like buildings, troop cards cost some amount of resources to play. Troops can only be used once (either on offense or defense) and are then discarded. Troop cards all have a “battle value” number in the top-right corner. During a battle, each player adds up their troops’ battle values (during a battle you choose which of your troops are participating; you do not have to use all your troops). If the attacker has a higher total than the defender, the defender must discard a number of buildings with a value in victory points equal to the difference. Most troops also have helpful special abilities (e.g. “Grooella” can be discarded to cancel one Groo Effect card).

Groo Effect Cards: These cards cost a certain number of “Groo heads” to play. Unlike buildings and troops which aid you, Groo effects make bad things happen to the town where Groo is currently located. This is most often in the form of troops being slain and buildings being destroyed.

Wild Cards: Wild cards can be played at any time out of turn during the game phase specified on the card. They have game effects that supersede the printed rules.

Event Cards: There are fewer event cards in the deck than any other type of card and they are played as soon as they are drawn by a player. Events are quite often “game breakers” and can turn the tide of a game quickly.

Game Turns
Each turn is divided into six distinct phases:

1. Discard Phase: You may discard as many cards from your hand as you like.
2. Draw Phase #1: You may draw as many cards as you like but your hand may have no more than five cards.
3. Attack Phase: You may use your troops to attack another town.
4. Construction Phase: You roll the seven dice. Immediately move Groo according to what came up on the Groo movement die. You may now spend the resources that came up on the other six dice to play building, troop, or Groo effect cards.
5. Leftover Phase: Any resources you didn’t spend are passed to the next clockwise player. That player may spend those resources to play any building, troop, or Groo effect cards. Any resources that player doesn’t spend are passed to the next clockwise player. Repeat this until every player has been passed the dice or all the resources are spent.
6. Draw Phase #2: You may draw as many cards as you like but your hand may have no more than five cards.

Victory Conditions
You win the game if you have seven victory points at the end of your turn (i.e. after the second draw phase on a turn where you rolled the seven dice).

Review
This game is very simple and fast-paced and heavily luck-based. It is not a game where one can count on a long-term strategy because cards are replaced so often and a player has no idea as to the cards that his/her opponents are holding. The random element of dice compounds the amount of random chance that affects victories. You could have the greatest hand in the world but if you don’t roll the resources you need to play those cards you’re stuck.

The cards are all beautifully illustrated by Sergio Aragones and coloured by Tom Luth. The images seem to have been drawn specifically for the game and are obviously not cheap scans of existing comic frames. For some reason Margaret Weis is listed in the game’s credits as “Maker of the Cheese Dip” (cheese dip is Groo’s favourite food but I don’t understand why Margaret’s name is there).

Care was taken to incorporate many of the main characters from Groo comics and their game effects are consistent with the characters’ personas. For example, the troop card for Chakaal has the ability, “No Groo effects card or wild card will affect an army that Chakaal is in.” For those unfamiliar with the comics, Chakaal is a warrior maiden with whom Groo is thoroughly enamoured so it makes sense, in game, that these cards would not affect Chakaal’s army.

While Groo fans should have a lot of fun playing this game, the appeal is almost entirely wrapped up in the theme. The actual game is fairly simple and easy to pick up but unless you’re a big fan of the comics you won't get the inside jokes and the replay value of this game will be limited.

Thread: Session Report

seppo21 — 2005-01-10T14:19:35+00:00

My wife and I have slowly been indoctrinating our families into German Style games. For the most part, we have been quite successful. Since most of them live nearby, we've instituted a Monday gaming night for family and friends.

The players: Stephen (Myself), Christine, (longsuffering wife), Dwight (old friend), Maria (sister), Matt (brother-in-law), and Philip (brother).

First Game: Groo + Expansion

Dwight arrived earliest with dinner in tow. While he was eating, I was reading up on a couple of card games I wanted to play. Maria and Matt showed up shortly thereafter. As usual, they had to spend a few minutes with the girls. My brother Philip had said he was coming, but we didn't know for sure when he might show up. While everyone else was busy, Dwight and I started up a quick game of Groo to pass the time. Before we even got the cards dealt Christine came in, so we dealt her in as well. Dwight made it through most of his first turn before Matt and Maria came in, so we added them. Since they had never played before, I started to explain the rules. Then Philip arrived. Excellent.

We started the game hurting a little as Maria had drawn the event card that eliminated all Kopins. This hurt, although not as much as it could have. Dwight got a building and a solider out on his first turn. Christine used the leftovers to play a residence. Then it was Christine's turn. She was unable to do anything with her roll, so passed the dice. Philip was able to get a building out, and I played the Minstrel. However, talking in rhyme was way too much trouble, so I simply went ahead and discarded him. Dwight got his second building out. Matt wasn't able to do anything on his turn, so I got my first building in place, while Dwight got his third out. On Philip's turn, he placed another building, followed by me. Dwight got another soldier out. On Maria' turn, she was finally able to place a building. She also put a soldier out for defense. I got my third building in place. As the dice were past, Matt used a Groo-head to demolish one of Philip's two buildings,which didn't make him very happy. Since I had used all my cards, I got to draw a full hand. They were all buildings requiring Kopins. Well, all except one. I did get one of them built, though. I now had a total of 6 VP's. Dwight had 4.

On Dwight's second turn, he sent his army to attack me. I was able to block all but one point of the damage, so lost a single building, dropping my VP total to 5. The entire game, Groo had been hanging around near Philip, but he had managed to make his way up the table to Dwight. Before his roll, he sent Groo off to visit Philip again. On his roll, we saw why as he played out the shipyard, upping his VP total to 6. When the dice came around to Maria, she played the wild that gave her two groo-heads. Then she sent Groo to Dwight, killing off the shipyard. She used a second card to get rid of another building of his that used Kopins, bringing his VP total to 3. After this, I was able to get another building down, giving me a total of 6 VP. After this, when Dwight was drawing up, he drew the event card that forces you to play all Groo effects cards on your own town. This wiped out his remaining buildings. I think I was the only person who escaped unscathed. On Christine's turn, she had an amazing roll. She got out one building but sent around a lot of great stuff. No one else was able to use it, so I got another 2 VP building out, giving me 8. Dwight wasn't able to do anything with the one groo-head he received, so we called the game.

Final Result:

Stephen -- 8
Maria -- 2
Christine -- 1
Philip -- 1
Dwight -- 0
Matt -- 0

This was a pretty one-sided game. Fortunately, it did not last all that long. Matt really didn't enjoy it, as he was never able to do anything other than send Groo after Philip that one time. Maria also does not tend to be enamored of games with this level of chaos (such as Fluxx) as she has a difficult time knowing what to do. Despite this, it is still a game I really enjoy -- as long as people don't take it too seriously. Total time about 30 minutes.

Thread: Session Report

daw65 — 2004-02-03T18:20:11+00:00

When I arrived, Richard and Sterling were already there, and they were looking for a quick starter, since we knew it wouldn't be long until more folks showed up. So Sterling got out one of his card games, called Groo: the Game.

It started out with early antagonism, as very early on Jim destroyed Dave's building with an attack, and Dave caused Groo to destroy one of Richard's buildings. But after that, it got pretty quiet, and players tried to build their towns. But Jim was more successful than the rest of us, and the rest of us weren't very observant, because not too long afterwards Jim reached 7 points, and none of us could stop him, meaning Jim won.

Thread: Re:User Review

shadowkeeper — 2003-09-17T13:38:34+00:00

Poor, poor misunderstood Groo. He really is a kind-hearted soul -- as kind-hearted as a Barbarian can be, at any rate -- but he just seems to bring disaster wherever he goes. And his reputation preceeds him: when he wanders into town, the local citizentry dives for cover.

This was the premise of a popular comic book series, written and illustated by Sergio Aragones of mad magazine fame. It is also the theme of "Groo, the Game" a card-and-dice affair that plays like a Mad Magazine satire of "Settlers of Catan". Players try to build up their own town, while seiging the towns of their rivals. On your turn, you roll seven "resource" dice, which show tiny pictures of Supplies, Labor, Money and Groo Heads. You may then play cards from your hand by paying an appropiate resource cost: If you want to build a Marketplace in your town, for example, you can spend a Labor and a Supply die and put the card in play. After you have used all the dice you can, any excess resources are passed on to the next player, who may immediately spend them to bring his own cards into play. This continues until all the resources are used, or every player had had a crack at the leftovers. In addition to buildings, players may also bring army units into play as well. These armies may later be used to attack opponents' villages in an attempt to destroy parts of their towns.

And speaking of destruction ... Each dice roll sends Groo to a new town (or dictates that he stay put), where he may wreck his pecular form of havok. On your turn you can spend the Groo Head resources to play Groo cards from your hand. Groo cards cause all sorts of misfortune to befall whomever is unfortunate enough to have the Barbarian in his midst. Play continues until someone manages to accumulate seven victory points.

Groo's tounge is firmly in his cheek, and players are likely to spend more time chuckling than furrowingly their brows in thought. Indeed, this game should come with a "Beer and Preztels Sold Separately" warning, as they are almost essential to play. But although Groo's great gimmick (the "past the resources" mechanism) and ample humor might lead you to believe that it will be good for a few laughs and little else, a few rounds will demonstrate that there's actually a neat little game tucked away in there, despite all the chaos. The price tag is a little steep, but Groo is a solid game that delivers as much gaming goodness as it does guffaws.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-09-19T23:40:43+00:00

Several years ago, Groo was quite popular with our group. It was played often ... perhaps too often. After several LONG games which stretched WAY past my tolerance limits, I have avoided playing whenever possible. Still, a few will occasionally call for it. This time, Keith, Spouey, Ashton and Lenny were the town builders, attempting to avoid the chaotic rampages of the dim-witted barbarian.

Well, there may well be four more folks who now sit on my side of the fence and will avoid future playings of the game. This one went on and on and on. They played for about 1 1/2 hours before finally calling it quits before a victor could be determined.

Now let me say that this is certainly not the norm. Most games of Groo I've been involved with play to completion in 30 - 45 minutes. However, there is always that possibility that the game will drag and surpass acceptable time limits. This occurs more than I'd like and has tarnished my opinions of the game.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

While our group was playing Kremlin and Vinci, John Moore, Eric Alleman, Lenny Leo and Darren Arnold haggled continuously over what games to play. This irritated Jerry Maus so much, even though he wasn't in the group, he has declared that from now on, if a choice cannot be made quickly, we'll simply roll a die and let that person pick the game to play. I must say I have to agree with him ... I don't see any reason to haggle over what game to play. Most of the games we play only last an hour or two, so why not just play it. It will be over soon enough, and then you can move on to a different game. C'mon, guys ... very few games I have are THAT distasteful!

After seemingly endless haggling, the group decided on Groo. Based on Darren's notes, John made a quick grab for victory, but Eric forced Groo to destroy ALL of John's buildings. What made this even more devastating is that John had six points worth of buildings at the time!

Ultimately, John overcame this setback and still managed the victory.

Ratings: Darren 7, Lenny 6, John 6, Eric 5

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Summertime is here and vacations are taking its toll on our attendance. We dropped to a group of 11, which is a bit small for us.

Eric and Jon were able to arrive early, so I introduced them to Groo, the card game based on the exploits and mis-adventures of that bumbling warrior.

I don't know much about the character Groo, having only read a few of the comic books featuring him. I do know that he is a Sergio Aragones creation and I believe he had his origins in the pages of MAD magazine. Later, there were a series of comic books featuring the character. Now, there is Groo: the card game.

Basically, Groo is an extremely dim-witted, bumbling barbarian warrior. Problem is that in order to accomplish his task (whatever that may be at the time), he continuously destroys anything in his path, usually resulting in mass carnage and destruction in his wake.

The idea behind the card game is to build your city in attempts to reach the game-winning level of seven victory points. You also build troops to protect your town from your marauding opponents. Construction of these towns and troops requires certain provisions, including labor, supplies and, of course, money. The amount available to you each turn is determined by rolling of six dice. The unique aspect of the game is that whatever provisions you cannot use on your turn must be passed around the table for your opponents to use, if they can. Thus, it is quite frequent that every player gets to build each turn.

However, one of the dice causes Groo to move to another town, while other symbols on the dice can allow players to use cards which send Groo into a rampage, usually resulting in the destruction of troops and/or buildings. Sadly, there is usually no protection against the bumbling Groo.

In addition to the destruction usually caused by the barbarian, players can send their troops out to attack opponent's towns. The combat system is extremely simple, a strict comparison of troop strength. If the attacker has more strength, building will crumble.

This is a light, fun game that plays relatively quickly. The games I have been involved in usually take only 30 minutes or so to complete. There is always lots of card play, cruel moves and destruction. Just when a player seems to be closing in on the seven victory points, another player sends Groo to their town and delights in the resulting carnage.

In our game, Eric burst out of the gates early, building to five victory points. Sadly, he was visited by Groo, resulting in the total destruction of his town. Jon was the next threat, but just couldn't seem to acquire the necessary kopins (money) to complete his final buildings. A military attack by Eric left his town severely damaged.

This left the door open for me and I quickly built to seven victory points. Fortunately, I was able to keep Groo away and on my final turn, no 'Groo' symbols were rolled on the dice, so no Groo cards could be activated. Victory was mine!

The final victory point count: Greg 7, Jon 5, Eric 0

The ratings: Eric 7, Jon 6, Greg 6

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

With the arrival of Jon Comeaux and Lenny Leo, we opted for another game of Groo, the game being described in last week's post.

Jon, having been the victim of Groo in last week's game, decided to send the rampaging barbarian on frequent attacks against his opponents. Lenny was the first to feel Groo's wrath, losing all of his buildings (courtesy of Jon). Jon then proceeded to move Groo to my village, resulting in the destruction of several of my fine buildings on two consecutive turns.

An even card was played which forced everyone to play all of the 'Groo effects' cards which they possessed and suffer the consequences as if Groo was in their town. This resulted in Jon losing three buildings while I suffered the loss of one. Lenny and John Moore remained unscathed.

At this point, John Moore was building an impressive town. Everytime we would force Groo to his village, we would not roll any 'Groo heads' with which to activate him. This left John insulated and the construction continued, leading to his impressive victory.

The final tallies: John 10, Greg 4, Jon 1, Lenny 1

The ratings: John 7, Greg 6, Jon 6, Lenny 6

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Summer is still taking its toll on our attendance. 11 gamers were on hand, with many of our regulars on vacation or business trips. Still, 11 ain't that bad ...

Jon and Eric were both able to arrive early again and Jon immediately began begging for another game of Groo. He was hell-bent from the beginning on making sure I didn't win as he claims that I always win this game. Well, that's not quite true .... I've lost more than I've won at it.

Well, the luck of the draw was with me as each hand I pulled I managed to get several building cards. Further, Groo kept his distance, allowing me to quickly accumulate the required 7 victory points. This one was over real fast and had Jon moaning and demanding another play.

Final tallies: Greg 7, Eric 2, Jon 2

We were joined for the second game by Lenny Leo, John Moore and Trevor Antczak. Six players is a lot for this game ... perhaps too many as it takes quite awhile for a player's turn to come back around. Further, it is very difficult to fend off the combined efforts of five opponents if you are approaching a victory.

Eric experienced this first-hand. He seemed destined for victory as he quickly accumulated six victory points in buildings. However, Groo was sent lumbering into Eric's village and everyone quickly seized the opportunity to literally destroy EVERY ONE of Eric's buildings. That'll teach Eric to throw a "Welcome Home, Groo" party!

After a few more rounds, Lenny was the next player to make a stab at victory. However, he was only able to build up to six victory points on his turn. He did construct another building on Trevor's turn, bringing him up to 7 victory points, but had to wait until his turn arrived again to claim the victory. Well, he did not get another turn.

John Moore aided the quite literally ailing Jon Comeaux by playing his hand during his brief absence. That was all that Jon needed as John was able to build Jon's town to the required seven victory points. Since Groo heads were not rolled, no one could cause any damage. John ... or Jon ... claimed the victory.

Final tallies: Jon 7, Lenny 7, John 5, Greg 2, Trevor 2, Eric 2

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

As I returned from the 'open house', the group was just beginning a game of Groo so I was able to join right in. This one was destructive from the very beginning, mostly courtesy of Lenny Leo's rampaging efforts.

Ashton was blessed with an abundance of buildings and quickly built his town to 5 victory points. Lenny, however, caused Groo to rampage and totally destroy Ashton's village. Payback is hell, however, as Groo wandered over to Lenny's town and subsequently leveled his village as well after Lenny had built to 6 victory points.

John had made some development steps as well, but Ashton and Trevor sent armies his way to destroy most of his undefended buildings. Meanwhile, I had built an impressive army of six troops with some nice attack & defensive modifiers. I was poised to strike whoever threatened to make a grab for victory.

Unfortunately, an event card surfaced requiring all players to use whatever Groo effects cards they possessed in their hands against their own villages. My card, which had previously been passed to me by yet another event card, caused the annihilation of ALL of my troops. John & Ashton were left unscathed.

That card proved critical, however, as it forced everyone to deplete their supply of Groo effects cards. On John's very next turn, he rolled the right combination and was able to build 6 victory points worth of buildings. In spite of Groo being located at his town, none of us had any cards we could use to cause damage. Thus, John claimed a quick and unexpected victory.

The finals: John 7, Ashton 5, Greg 5, Lenny 2, Trevor 0

The ratings: Ashton 7, John 7, Trevor 7, Lenny 6, Greg 6

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

We had an unusually small attendance at our Wednesday night gaming session as only 8 of our regular gamers were in attendance, one of whom arrived very late. In fact, one of the gamers (Kurt Meyer) involved in our Vikingatid game was a no-show, so we were forced to postpone the completion of that game until next week.

I was extremely pleased to have my old friend and college wargaming buddy Joe Smith in attendance. Joe was recently transferred from Jacksonville, Florida to Littleton, Colorado and was in town for business. He was able to time his business engagement to coincide with our gaming night and it was great to be able to sit down and game with him again.

While waiting for the arrival of the rest of the crew, Darren suggested a game of Groo. Usually, this is a fairly quick game, so six of us (Stephen Berry, Clyde Hayman, Lenny Leo, John Moore, Darren and I) dove into it.

This was unlike any other game of Groo I've every played. It dragged on and on and on. Whenever someone would get just a few building constructed, the others would send Groo rambling that player's way, resulting in mass destruction. Stephen was particularly hard hit, having built up to 5 points and then 4 points, only to have his entire town decimated by the bumbling barbarian. None of us were spared his wrath, however, each being hit several times.

With the game's length approaching one hour and no end in sight, we agreed to play one more round. I was able to build up to 5 victory points worth of buildings, but am confident that they wouldn't have remained had play continued.

The final (although aborted) standings:

Greg 5, Clyde 3, Stephen 2, Trevor 2, John 1, Lenny 1

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Jon Comeaux begged for a game of Groo, so I reluctantly agreed. Not that it is a bad game, it's just that we played quite a bit of it awhile back and I kind of got burnt out on it.

The card game is based on the Groo series of comics wherein Groo, a bumbling barbarian, unwittingly wreaks havoc on each player's troops and towns. The idea is to build a town worth at least 7 victory points while trying your best to keep Groo away from it.

Each turn, players roll dice, which not only steer Groo's movement path, but also give certain supplies needed to construct buildings, build troops and play 'Groo effects' cards, which usually cause Groo to go on a rampage, destroying troops and/or buildings at the town where he is currently located (hopefully an opponent's). The player uses which supplies he can to perform these tasks, then passes the unused supplies around the table for his opponents to use (if they can). Everyone refills their hands, and the game continues. This cycle continues until someone constructs a town worth at least 7 victory points and keeps it intact by the end of their turn.

The diabolical part of this game is that Groo frequently wanders to your town and kicks the heck out of it. It is a constant struggle of building and rebuilding. As in many card games, it ultimately comes down to luck. And in this game, luck comes not only in the 'luck of the draw', but in the luck of the dice rolling for supplies, too.

Now, normally all of this luck would be a big turn-off for me, but for some reason, it kind of works in Groo. The game is meant to be chaos, and it achieves just that. One is never quite safe from the rampaging barbarian, or the nastiness of the cards played.

This was one of the quickest Groo games I've ever played. We were all worried about Lenny, who built the Orphanage on the very first turn. The orphanage protects that players town AND troops from any Groo effects cards, so we all were constantly attacking his troops in an effort to get through his defenses and destroy that Orphanage.

Suddenly, after a card which required us to switch hands, Jon promptly constructed an incredible seven points of buildings on his turn and captured a surprising victory. Did I mention that there's a lot of luck in this game?

Finals: Jon 7, Lenny 3, Ashton 1, Greg 0

Ratings: Ashton 7, Jon 6, Lenny 6, Greg 6

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Since I was scheduled do leave on a red-eye 6AM flight Thursday morning for a family vacation up to Washington, DC (going give Bill a piece of my mind!), our gaming session was moved from our normal Wednesday evening to Tuesday. This resulted in a few no-shows and a lighter crowd than normal. But, hey ... they were the lucky ones. They were the first to christen (OK ... bad choice of words) our new gameroom bathroom facilities!

Eric Alleman requested that we try Groo, so along with fellow early-arriver Lenny Leo I began covering the rules. Then, just about the time we were ready to begin, Jerry, Ashton & Darren arrived, so they joined in, leaving me quivering in fear at the thought of another 6 player game of Groo. The last time this happened, the game went on and on and on. I vowed never again to play Groo with more than 4 players.

So much for vows. Mercifully, this one was over quick. Darren was amassing an impressive collection of buildings, but was making the fatal mistake of not garrisoning the town with troops. On Eric's turn, we all felt confident Eric would send his formidable army into Darren's town, eliminating at least 3 points worth of buildings. To our collective shock, Eric opted not to attack. Darren was next in turn order and promptly build five more points worth buildings and claimed an easy win.

Darren 10, Eric 4, Jerry 4, Lenny 3, Ashton 2, Greg 2

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Lenny Leo, Frans Labranche, Emma Labranche, Darren Arnold, John Moore and Jon Comeaux ventured into the wacky world of Groo. I'm amazed that their 6 player game finished very quickly .. in about 45 minutes or so. Further, this was accomplished even playing without the powerful 'Orphanage' card.

I confiscated John's notes ... if you can call them that. Other than the names of the players, his only note was, "Lenny won & beat poor, defenseless Emma". Shame on you, Lenny!!

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

The same group of four (Lenny, John, Jon and Jerry) opted for Groo, which holds some strange fascination for the two Johns. Again, I hope to get a report from Jerry, but John won his second game of the evening.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Following the departure of Jim and Erin and the completion of Battle Mist, we divided into two tables. The choice of games was between Groo and Ohne Furcht und Adel. Having burnt out on Groo awhile back, I opted for Bruno Faiduti's wonderful card game. The Groo-ites were John, Lenny, Jon, Trevor and Keith.

The only report I heard from the game was that John and Jon kept trading blows to their detriment and to the benefit of their opponents. Ultimately, Lenny was the first to construct his 7th building and claim the victory.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

John introduced this card game, based on the comic book series, to Jim, Tabea and Steven. John is a BIG fan of Groo, but isn't too fond of Ohne Furcht und Adel, a game which has a very similar feel. Most everyone else feels that OFuA is a better game.

Based on a verbal report from John, the game ended extremely quickly when a card was played forcing everyone to play the 'Groo effects' cards they possessed on their own town. Every player but Steven had some of these cards, which devastated their towns. Steven's turn was next and he was able to build to the required 7 points and his opponents had no remaining Groo effects cards in which to attack Steven.