
2015 · World War I
The Grizzled
Players cooperate as a small group of soldiers trying to survive life in the WWI trenches. Each round the team leader sets how many cards each player draws, then players take turns either playing a card or withdrawing from the current mission. Cards depict external threats (shelling, weather, patrols) and internal stresses (fear, obsession), and most hands remain hidden. Players must manage the order and timing of played threats to make progress while avoiding too many occurrences of the same danger. The draw deck is replenished each round; the group wins only if they empty both deck and hands before failures accumulate.
- Players
- 2–5 best 4
- Playing time
- 30 min
- Age
- 14+
- Complexity
- 2 / 5
About the game
- Art
- Publisher
Expansions
See them in LudoyaPhotos from Ludoya tables
All photos in LudoyaWhere to buy it
Shop prices and second-hand copies, checked every day.
On Ludoya's tables
Full stats in Ludoya- 539
- Plays logged
- 427
- Players
- 27m 52s
- Average play
- 123
- In collections
- 13
- On wishlists
6.1/10
from 69 Ludoya reviews
Garfield2.0 #23 Themeless cooperative game where the game plays you. [c] Theme: ★☆☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Didn't feel it --> Gameplay: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Little you can do --> Interaction: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Not much --> Artwork: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Ok, nothing special --> Luck: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Card drawing --> Strategy: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Not much --> Components: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Nothing special --> Play duration: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Too long --> Easy to teach: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Ok --> Rules quality: not yet read Setup time: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Quite fast --> No downtime: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Very little downtime --> Replay value: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Play till you win...? --> [/c]
Evan5.9 This is a really fantastic co-op game where players try to make it through World War 1 alive. It's a game where you take a deck of hardship cards, and cut 20 of them and put them on top of the win card, which represents peace. Thereby making peace something that you can see off in the distance. Then players get a number of cards to their hands, and have to play the cards one at a time to the center of the table. If a third copy of any of the six threats gets played, the players lose, and the cards that were played to the table go back on top of the peace card pile. If players pass out before that happens, then they make progress. The cards in the center go away, but then you add new cards from the remainder pile on top of the peace pile equal to the cards remaining in player's hands to a min of three. If the remainder deck runs out, it reveals a monument with the players names on it indicating they died in the war. If that wasn't enough, players also can get traumatized by hard knocks cards that force them to play or act erratically if they aren't gotten rid of quickly. The art is gorgeous, and the box and playtime is small. The game is really hard with 5 and easiest with 3 players. ★ Art, Iconography and components functional ★ Clever or interesting mechanisms ★ Reasonably low downtime between turns with mildly AP players ★ Multiple plays stay interesting ☆ Low or mitigatable luck elements ★★★☆☆ Raw enjoyment
SrCornelius8.0 Local-(408)
Rules questions
Answered from the rulebook by Ludoya's rules assistant.
Can I look at other players' cards or show mine to the group?
No — the contents of each player’s hand must remain secret and Support tiles chosen when withdrawing are kept hidden until revealed (see clarifications, page 11).
When I play a Hard Knock, does it take effect straight away or only if I'm still in the mission?
A Hard Knock assigned to a player takes effect immediately when played, but Hard Knocks assigned to a player who has withdrawn have no effect for that mission (pages 6 and 11).
What exactly happens when someone plays a Trap on a Threat card?
When a Threat with a Trap symbol is played, the player draws another Trials card and must immediately play it; if the newly drawn card is another Trap it is ignored, and if it’s a Hard Knock it is assigned to the player (pages 7 and 11).
How is Support resolved — who gets to remove Hard Knocks or recover Good Luck Charms?
After the mission players reveal Support tiles and give them to the chosen player; the player who received more Support than anyone else may either remove 2 Hard Knocks or recover their Good Luck Charm, while a tie cancels the effect; on a failed mission only already-withdrawn players’ Supports count and the winner may remove only 1 Hard Knock (page 8).
When does a mission fail?
A mission fails immediately if there are three identical Threats in No Man’s Land (this includes Phobias/Traumas of players who have not withdrawn), otherwise the mission ends successfully when all players have withdrawn (page 7).
What is the Morale Drop and how can it make us lose the game?
At Morale Drop you total the cards left in players’ hands and transfer that many cards (minimum 3) from the Morale Reserve to the Trials pile; if the Morale Reserve is exhausted the Monument card is revealed and the game is lost (page 9).
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Game facts (players, playing time, age, credits) from BoardGameGeek.






















