Goblin Rush
- Board's Eye View
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
Designed by Matthew Baldwin, with cute art from Charlie Campbell, Goblin Rush, from Team Custard Kraken and Pocku Games, is a light filler-length small-box card game for two players.
It's a duelling game where you win by being the first player to build an army of goblin infantry with a total strength of 21 (albeit that this target can be varied by playing a Leader card). Players start off with a hand of four cards. Hands aren't automatically replenished but you have the option of using your turn to draw a card. Alternatively, you can play a goblin into your army for its strength number (ie: contributing to your 21 objective) or you can discard an infantry goblin for its immediate effect; and, as you might expect, there are lots of different card effects, variously applying to you or your opponent. The majority of cards played in this way affect players' hands, and, as a further alternative, you can play a goblin infantry card from your hand to 'fight'. Here again your card is discarded but its strength is applied to goblins in your opponent's battlefield, eliminating cards from there equal to value of your discarded goblin.
That's pretty much the entirety of the rules, so Goblin Rush is easy to pick up and play. Tho' it's unashamedly a 'take that' game where each player will be sniping at the other, it's invariably a lot of fun. And tho' it has a humorous feel to it, there are meaty hand management decisions to be made. Do you play your cards for their numerical value or for their discard effect? Many of the discard effects are highly desirable but, ultimately, you need grunts on the ground to win the game. And watch out because there are four Exploder goblins in the deck. Their discard effect is an Armegeddon that wipes out all of the infantry cards played to the table by both players! If your opponent is in the lead and close to victory, an Exploder discard can re-level the battlefield. It might be as well to try to keep a Mechanic card in hand to cancel an opponent's discard effect...
Team Custard Kraken suggest a playing time of just 5-10 minutes. Some of our plays at Board's Eye View have gone a little longer, at around 15 minutes - especially after a couple of well-timed Exploders - but Goblin Rush remains a brisk game where the losing player will usually want an immediate re-match.
