Dave Reviews: Caring for Your Burninator

Trogdor!! The Board Game

Trogdor was a man
No wait, he was a Dragon-man
Or maybe he was just a dragon
....
But he was still TROGDOOOOOOOR

Trogdor (!!), otherwise known as Strongbad's Greatest Drawing, is burninating fields and chomping villagers. But, because Strongbad made him, he needs your help to succeed. You and the other players cooperate to guide Trogdor (!!) to a successful burnination of the land around him before he gets chopped and shot to death by knights, archers, and his arch-nemesis, the Troghammer.

Trogdor (!!) is a simple game. Each turn, you have an action card and draw a second, then choose between them. These tell you how many times Trogdor (!!) can move on your turn, and any abilities that will affect your turn. Then Trogdor (!!) acts. He can move, chomp villagers, burninate tiles, burninate villagers who run around burninating tiles, and burninate other villagers if they run into them, who then run around burninating more tiles. After that, movement cards are drawn for the knights and archers, who damage Trogdor (!!) by running into him (knights/Troghammer) or pointing their shooty things at him in a straight line (archers). Each player also has an item card that can be used on their turn and recharged (only on their turn) if certain conditions are met.

After that, it's just a matter of burninating the countryside and obliterating the peasantry. If things start going wrong, the answers are equally simple. Losing health? Chomp villagers! In a dangerous spot? Hide in the mountains! Not close enough to the mountains to hide? ...probably die!

Trogdor (!!) is good if you remember Trogdor (!!) from Homestar Runner, or you like absurd games with enough thinking to make you feel like you're not totally in debt to luck. It's less good if a high degree of luck bothers you, because this is a 5x5 grid with either three or four enemies running around (there's no way to get rid of the knights/archers/Troghammer), who each move four squares after your turn, and you never know what their directions will be. It is extremely difficult to stay safe without hiding in the mountains, so you're either largely guided by the whims of fate or playing so carefully that Trogdor (!!) will be displeased with your strategy.

It is a reasonably good board game that almost no one would care about if not for Trogdor (!!). Let us tremble before his might.

Score: Six burninated peasants out of eight.