Gretchinz! A Tabletop Game Review
This is a cross-post of a review from my Hive blog page. More may be coming soon if there's still any real community here at all. I haven't forgotten this group despite the Steemit coup, I'm just not sure how best to promote it and encourage participation. Any suggestions? Is there anyone even here anymore actually reading posts, or is it all auto-votes and bot trails?
In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only...racing?
Here's an odd game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe pitting players against one another as Ork gretchin engaged in a death race. It took a couple test games to get the hang of it, but this has some serious potential for serious fun.
Gretchinz! is published by Devir Games under license from Games Workshop. The rules are printed in four separate booklets, one each for English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. I think the game originated in Spain, and there are a few typos and awkward sentences from an imperfect translation. It's not like some of the bad manuals for Chinese tools, but it raised some questions about quality control. Games Workshop is usually on top of this sort of thing.
The game components are well printed on good quality cardboard. I had no problems popping out the parts and assembling the buggies. The result is a sturdy and functional game piece. The book also suggests that two games can be combined for 5-8 players, and the front panels can be swapped to allow the extra buggies to be differentiated. Player cards have a pop-out piece so dice can be arranged in the panel, and colored tokens can be used to mark who has which buggy. The tokens have a dual-colored side to mark the options for extra players as noted with the buggy assembly earlier.
Cards are all high quality, and they serve dual purposes as a race course layout and attack cards. The rules state that the cards should be held so the player can only see the terrain side, and opponents see the symbols. This creates an interesting information disparity. You know what your opponents have, but not your own hand. When laid out as a race course, the cards define what happens as players progress.
Obviously, the goal is to move ahead, shoot opponents, and block their routes to victory. The game is playable with two players, but I think three would be better and four would be ideal. Players roll dice to determine their course of play with up to three actions per turn.
- Veer left (move diagonally ahead and left)
- Veer right (move diagonally ahead and right)
- Draw two cards
- Klan ability (only used with optional klan rules)
- DAKKA! (attack an opponent or terrain card)
- Eye of Gork (or maybe Mork) (ask an opponent how many attack cards are in your hand)
Each turn begins with rolling for actions. Dice may be re-rolled until one player declares he is happy with his lineup by shouting "WAAAGH!!!" Other players are stuck with what they have at that point. Optional klan abilities may affect what happens next, but otherwise, that first player takes their turn, and play rotates around the table until that turn is concluded.
Moving ahead is always a diagonal move, and a new row of cards is placed ahead of each buggy as it advances. The winner is the first to move ahead seven rows of cards. However, the cards include various obstacles, and players may attempt to shoot the terrain to remove benefits, or attack an opponent directly to inflict flame counters. Accumulate three flame counters, and lose a turn. Since the attack side of the cards isn't known to the attacking player, they may flip a malfunaction card that adds a flame counter to themselves instead, or an explosion card that makes them discard their entire hand. If there are more than two players, there is also the possibility of collisions between cars adding an extra layer of chaos.
youtu.be/brQK5g517NM
I asked the Mother Thing if she would like to try this game a couple nights ago. The first round was a mess as we muddled through trying to learn the clumsily-translated rules from scratch. The following day, she demanded a rematch after we had re-read the rules and discussed where we thought we had gone wrong. That's a good sign for this game, because it is nothing like her usual choices. The next game went much mroe smoothly. I still won, but she gave me a run for my teef* that time.
My final verdict: This game is solid fun. I paid $35 USD** at my friendly local game shop, and considering the licensing fees from GW and the typical cost of games from small companies, it's not outlandish. The components are good quality, the box has a decent divided tray to contain everything, and despite the minor flaws in the rules translation, it's a solid all-around product. The strategy and information asymmetry are fun elements that keep it interesting, and the goofy premise makes it an easy introduction to the grim darkness of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
*Ork currency is teeth (pronounced teef ) acquired through hunting beasts, warfare between tribes, or random fistfights between Orks, any of which may happen on any given day in an Ork camp.
**Please upvote so I can recoup some of that! I don't get free review copies of anything, and nobody accepts teef around here!
