Trogdor!! The Board Game

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The logo

The box and its contents

This article is about the board game. For other uses, see Trogdor (disambiguation).

Trogdor!! The Board Game (shortened to Trogdor!!) is a board game adaptation of TROGDOR!, made by The Brothers Chaps (Boardelectrix) and James Ernest. The box art, game tiles, character cards, and item cards are drawn by Chris Schweizer. The rulebook was written with Loneshark Games. The plastic miniatures were sculpted by Rick Van Velsor, the person who sculpted the collectible figurines.

Trogdor!! is a cooperative puzzle area control game in which the players work together to burninate all of the game tiles, thatched-roof cottages, and peasants. Every player controls Trogdor, assuming the role of one of the nine (twelve, counting Strong Bad's) Keepers of Trogdor. Each Keeper has unique powers and items, both decided by cards. The game is for one to six players, and play time is 30 minutes with variable levels of difficulty the players can set. The recommended age is 14+.

The campaign was put on Kickstarter on Tuesday, July 17, 2018 with a goal of $75,000, which was surpassed in the first few hours. The campaign ended on Wednesday, August 15, 2018, with a total of $1,421,903 (nearly 20 times the goal) and 23,338 backers. Preorders were available on Backerkit from September 17 to October 31 (originally October 15). Extra items, such as character meeples, enamel pins, and shirts, were also available with preorders. Shipping to backers began in early July 2019. The Brothers Chaps ordered enough copies so they can sell extra copies in the Store once the backers receive theirs, but it is unknown how many will be available. Any extra copies will not include the extra features earned by the Kickstarter backers. A print-and-play version can be made here.

The game was available on Kickstarter in two main levels: Wingaling Level ($40) with wooden meeples, and Burninator Level ($60) with plastic miniatures. Through a partnership with Wyrmwood Gaming, there were also Wyrmwood Beefy, Majesty, and Consummate Levels ($200, $500, and $1800, respectively), featuring high-quality handcrafted boards with extra features and accessories. Due to all six Kickstarter stretch goals having been met, the game includes a "Stack 'Em To The Heavens" mini-game featuring the meeples, a soundboard website, and alternate Trogdor meeples of The S is for Sucks Dragon, Strong Bad's original Trogdor drawing, Strong Mad's "DAGRON" attempt, Wormdingler, and Strong Sad's chiaroscuro dragon. A "backer burnination Bingo" was also completed, in which people could submit their Trogdor fanstuff to complete a Bingo board and unlock a live stream of Matt Chapman playing and voicing Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People episode Homestar Ruiner.

History

The first hint at the board game

The idea first came up after The Brothers Chaps started playing more board games with their kids and friends. They made a prototype with 3D-printed and painted pieces, and contacted Patrick Rothfuss, who introduced them to James Ernest of Cheapass Games. James helped make and playtest the game.

On September 29, 2017, a video of a cottage being 3D-printed was posted on Strong Bad's Instagram account, the first indication of the board game. He later posted a CG model of Trogdor being rendered. After that, he posted pictures of the prototype game board, but none of them were clear enough to see well. A "Slantwise" card was revealed on January 24, 2018, in The Deleteheads Download Vol. 1.

The game was confirmed on March 19, 2018, by both the Index Page and the @StrongBadActual Twitter account, with a photo of the board. More cards were revealed on @StrongBadActual the same day in a reply. It was playable every day from 12 PM to 2 PM in Kickstarter Couchland (room 103) of PAX East. During The Brothers Chaps' panel at PAX East, they revealed much more information about it. An advertisement video was posted on @StrongBadActual on June 12, 2018, announcing the release date of July. A dedicated webpage was made for it on June 29, 2018, with a Twitter account (@trogdorgame) and a Facebook account (trogdortheboardgame) created the same day. The @trogdorgame Twitter account is now deleted for unknown reasons. The Kickstarter campaign was live from July 17 to August 15, 2018. There was a playtest at Gen Con on August 2 and 3, 2018, another at PAX West at Uncle's Games in room 214 on April 5 to 8, 2018, and lastly JoCo Cruise in March 2019. Later, a rulebook EP was released.

Instructions

For complete instructions, see the official rulebook.

General

The objective of the game, as outlined in Trogdor's song, is to:

• Burninate the countryside: flip all twenty-five tiles to the burninated side.
• Burninate the peasants: remove all peasants from the board, whether by chomping or burninating them.
• Burninate the thatched-roof cottages: set all three cottages aflame.

Once all three conditions have been met, the game ends in victory.

Setup

See Trogdor!! The Board Game Items for complete descriptions of game components.

The map, cards, pieces, and Trog-Meter

Game Board

Place the twenty-five countryside tiles, unburninated side up, in a five-by-five grid. Players may use the board presets listed in the instruction booklet or come up with their own configurations. For easier play, place cottage and lake tiles on edges, and place the two tunnels far from each other. Once the board has been arranged, place one cottage and one peasant on each cottage tile. Place Trogdor on the center tile, and place the two knights and the archer on different tiles.

Place the Trog-Meter, action deck, movement deck, and Void card next to the board, with space for two discard piles. Place the Troghammer and the flame helmet in their spaces on the Trog-Meter. Fill the Trog-Meter with the remaining four peasants.

Keepers of Trogdor

Each player will assume the role of one of the Keepers of Trogdor, granting them special abilities as described on the card. These abilities do not need to be recharged, and may be used only on the player's turn unless specified otherwise. Deal each player a Keeper card, either chosen or at random.

Items of Trogdor

Each player will have an item that may be used to perform a special action as described on the card. These actions may be used only on the player's turn, and must be recharged by satisfying the condition on the card before they can be used again. A player's item may only be recharged on their turn, and may not be used more than once per turn, regardless of recharge (though it may be used and recharged, or recharged and used, in the same turn). The Disk of Healing does not recharge and may only be used once per game. Deal each player an item card, either chosen or at random.

Action and Movement Deck

Players will draw from the action deck on their turn to determine the actions they can take. Seven of the action cards are Troghammer cards. Remove these from the action deck and set them aside; they will be shuffled in the first time Trogdor takes damage. Shuffle the action deck and deal one action card to each player.

Movement cards will be used to specify the movements of peasants, knights, and the archer during the countryside phase. Shuffle the movement deck and place it where players can reach.

Any method may be used to determine who takes the first turn.

Turns

A turn being played with meeples

Each turn consists of two phases: one where the player controls Trogdor, and one where the countryside takes actions. Note that the countryside phase is still considered part of the turn of the player who just moved Trogdor.

Phase 1: Trogdor's Actions

Draw an action card. The player should now have two action cards in hand, and must choose one to play and one to "bank" for a future turn. Each action card should specify a number of action points (AP) and a special action or ability that Trogdor is allowed for that turn. Note that these abilities are optional and do not need to be used. If the player doesn't like either of their action cards, they may discard one to gain 5 AP with no special ability. Once an action card is chosen, it may be discarded.

If a Troghammer card is drawn:

• If the Troghammer is not yet in play, place it on the center tile.
• If the Troghammer is in play, draw a movement card, and, ignoring all other information on the card, move the Troghammer along the movement path (damaging Trogdor and repairing cottages as in a normal knight movement).

If at any time the Troghammer lands on a tile occupied by a knight or archer, draw another movement card and move it again. After a Troghammer card has been drawn, discard it and draw a new action card. Note that the Troghammer is a knight, and if he is in play, all rules applying to knights apply to him as well.

Trogdor burninating a cottage

Once an action card has been chosen for play, Trogdor may take actions—up to the number of action points specified on that card. These are the actions that players can do:

• Move Trogdor one tile to the north, south, east or west. Trogdor does not have diagonal movement or wraparound movement unless granted by a Keeper or an action card.
  • Trogdor takes damage if he moves onto a knight's tile.
• Chomp a peasant on the tile Trogdor occupies. Remove the peasant from the board and add it to the Trog-Meter (Trogdor's health).
• Hide on a mountain tile, rendering Trogdor invulnerable to the knights and archer during the next phase. Set Trogdor on his side to represent his hidden status. This action will end the turn.
• Burrow from one tunnel tile to the other.
• Burninate a tile, a peasant, or an eligible cottage.
  • Burninate a tile: Flip the tile Trogdor occupies to the burninated side. This does not affect any other pieces occupying the tile. Note that burninated tiles retain any special function they had previously.
    • The lake tile must be surrounded by burninated tiles on all four sides before it may be burninated. (This condition does not wrap around if the lake is on the edge of the board.)
    • Cards that let players burninate a tile other than the one where Trogdor is standing ignore the usual burninating restrictions; for example, the lake tile can be burninated regardless of the condition of its neighbors.
  • Burninate a peasant on the tile Trogdor occupies: Crown the peasant with the flame helmet. Then draw a movement card, and, ignoring all other information on the card, move the peasant along the movement path, burninating each tile the peasant visits (including its starting tile). If the peasant reaches the end of its path without being saved by the lake (see below), it is removed from the board and placed in the Void, not on the Trog-Meter.
    • If the peasant visits an eligible cottage, the cottage is ignited. If the peasant's path ends on a burninated cottage, the peasant is re-ignited with a fresh movement card.
    • If the peasant visits another peasant, the other peasant is ignited—complete the current peasant's movement and then draw a fresh movement card for the other one.
    • If the peasant visits the lake, the peasant is extinguished and the lake is left unharmed, regardless of its burnination status. (There is, therefore, no point in burninating a peasant who is already at the lake, as it will be extinguished instantly.)
  • Burninate a cottage on the tile Trogdor occupies: In order to be eligible, a cottage's tile must be burninated, as well as the eight tiles surrounding it. As with the lake, this condition does not wrap around. If the cottage is eligible, it may be burninated by flipping the piece to its burninated side.
    • Note: cottages may be repaired by knights. If the tiles around a burninated cottage are repaired by peasants, the cottage is not automatically repaired, but it will make it more difficult to re-burninate if it does get repaired.
• Pass and forfeit any remaining action points.

Phase 2: The Countryside's Movements

It's time for the countryside to fight back. Draw a movement card. All peasants, knights, and the archer have wraparound movement: if they move off the edge of the board on one side, they reappear on the opposite side.

• Observe the number of peasants (zero to four) in the top left of the card. Spawn peasants from the Trog-Meter until the number of peasants on the board is greater than or equal to the number of peasants on the card. Note that health lost due to peasant spawning is not considered damage, and thus Trogdor cannot be killed by peasant spawning. Peasants may be placed on any cottage tile, given the following rules:
  • A cottage that is already occupied by a peasant cannot spawn peasants.
  • A burninated cottage cannot spawn peasants.
  • If there is no cottage that can spawn a peasant, or if the Trog-Meter is empty, no more peasants can be spawned. Peasants never spawn from the Void.
• Move all peasants on the board one tile in the direction specified on the arrow. If the arrow is green, peasants repair the tiles they step onto. Peasants do not repair cottages—if a peasant steps onto the tile of a burninated cottage, the peasant is burninated.
• Move the knights (including the Troghammer if he is in play) and the archer along the movement path.
  • If a knight visits Trogdor's tile, Trogdor takes damage; move one peasant from the Trog-Meter to the Void. If a knight visits a burninated cottage, that cottage is repaired.
  • At the end of the archer's movement, it fires arrows along its row (if it last moved horizontally) or column (if it last moved vertically). If Trogdor is in this row or column, he takes damage. Note that arrows do not touch the archer's tile; if the archer is on Trogdor's tile when he shoots, Trogdor is not harmed.
• Remember to shuffle the Troghammer cards into the action deck the first time Trogdor takes damage.

It is now the next player's turn. Turns move clockwise.

Trogdor's Fiery Rage

If Trogdor takes damage while the Trog-Meter is at zero, he dies—or rather, he "rage-quits". Trogdor's Fiery Rage is a special endgame phase in which Trogdor has one last chance to beat the game in a blaze of glory.

Draw five movement cards, and, ignoring all other information on the card, move Trogdor along each movement path sequentially. Trogdor gains wraparound movement for this phase. Including his starting tile, Trogdor lays waste to everything he touches: tiles and cottages are burninated regardless of eligibility, peasants are removed (without triggering peasant burnination), and knights are killed (although the archer lives). If, by the end of the five movements, the win conditions have been met, Trogdor has achieved a "total table-flip victory". If not, "Trogdor [retires] in defeat, to burninate another day."

Strong Bad encourages players to end each game, regardless of the outcome, with a rousing "IT'S OVER!"

Book of Haldo

For complete instructions, see the Book of Haldo Rulebook.

In a Tweet from April 13, 2020, Strong Bad introduced a new set of rules for Trogdor!! The Board Game that affects how arrows shot by the archers affect other game pieces.

If playing with Book of Haldo rules, the game board must be set up so two cottages are placed on any of the eight tiles surrounding the center.

The archers now shoot arrows in all four cardinal directions (north, south, east and west) from wherever the archers land at the end of their movement path. Be sure to track the path of each arrow, as it will impact tiles and game pieces in new and chaotic ways. If more than one element occupies a tile touched by an arrow, resolve in the order listed below.

1. Flaming cottage: The arrow flies through the cottage and catches fire, making it a flaming arrow. Flaming arrows burninate every tile they pass through (including the lake), in addition to the effects described below.
2. Peasant: The peasant is shot and rendered "immobilized". Arrowed peasants do not move and do not count in the peasant spawning tally. However, Trogdor can—and must in order to win—still eat these peasants. Arrow path ends.
   1. If the arrow is flaming, the peasant is burninated instead.
3. Tunnel: The arrow flies into the tunnel and out the other end, continuing in its original direction. Trogdor is hit by the arrow if he is standing on the "out" tunnel, but not if he is standing on the "in" tunnel.
4. Knight: The shot is deflected in the direction of the peasant movement on the movement card. The arrow continues flying until it hits something or reaches the edge of the board. If the arrow hits a second knight, the arrow is deflected again in the original direction that the archers shot it.
5. Unburninated cottage: The cottage blocks the shot. If Trogdor is on the same tile as the cottage, he hides behind the cottage and does not take any damage. Arrow path ends.
   1. If the arrow is flaming and the cottage is eligible, the cottage is burninated.
6. Troghammer: He protects himself by performing a spin attack, damaging Trogdor if he is on any of the eight adjacent tiles (but not the tile on which the Troghammer stands). The spin attack does not affect peasants, knights, or archers, and does not wrap around. Arrow path ends.
7. Trogdor: Trogdor is arrowed as normal.

If the archers end their movement path on the same tile that Trogdor occupies, Trogdor sets all four arrows on fire before they are shot.

Stack 'Em to the Heavens

"Now you can play a game called Stack 'Em to the Heavens!"

Stack 'Em to the Heavens is a competitive meeple-stacking minigame. A small white drawstring canvas bag comes free inside every board game box. The bag has an image of Marshie on fire, with the text "STACK EM TO THE HEAVENS!" and the rules on it. According to the Kickstarter page, the bag is intended to be used for keeping meeples in, so the game can be played anywhere. The title (and Marshie's presence on the bag and in the commercial) is a reference to Marshie's song in Malloween Commercial, when advertising that Fluffy Puff Malloweens fit on top of each other.

To play, put the knight and peasant meeples (including the Troghammer) in a bag, shake the bag, and roll the meeples onto a surface. Take turns stacking meeples on top of each other. Face-up meeples are stacked vertically, and face-down are stacked horizontally. Meeples can be stacked upside down, sideways, and so forth. The objective is to make the tower as precarious as possible, making the other player topple the stack down.

Originally, there was an animated GIF on the board game's Kickstarter page, depicting meeples being stacked. The GIF's caption jokingly mentioned that the reader could make up a minigame called "Stack Em To The Heavens". On July 17th, the day the Kickstarter campaign began, the second stretch goal was announced. It was stated that upon reaching $250,000, that joke would be turned into a real game, and a companion soundboard website would be created for the board game. The goal was achieved the next day. On August 15, 2018, Puppet Strong Bad, Mike Chapman, and Lucky Yates played the game live during the Final Hours Playthrough. According to Strong Bad, the rules were made up the day before in five minutes. At this point, the archer was also included. On October 25, 2018, a commercial was released on YouTube.

Fun Facts

Trivia

• There have been some changes throughout the making of the game.
  • The "That Dog Tennis Ball Thing, 'cept with Fireballs" item was originally called "Ball of Fire".
  • There was originally an item called "Pauldrons of Greg", with the ability to prevent Trogdor from taking one damage, recharging when Trogdor devours a peasant.
  • There was originally an item called "Bones of Luckman" that gave the player an extra Action point. This was replaced with Two Gross Beans, which gives the player +2 AP instead.
  • The "High Energy" card was originally called "Trog-Burst", and before that, "Extra Actions".
  • The "Jhonka Help" card originally provided 6 action points, and one of those could be used to eat a peasant on any tile on Trogdor's turn.
  • Peasants could originally only be eaten on burninated tiles.
  • The circumstances for summoning the Troghammer were different. The Troghammer was originally summoned to the board after three Troghammer cards were drawn rather than one, but the Troghammer cards started in the deck.
• Naked Ned is visible on one of the forest tiles, seen here.

Remarks

• The rulebook and the bonus Keeper and Item cards use a different font for Strong Bad's handwriting than the usual AhnbergHand.

Inside References

• The whole board game is intended as a loose adaption of the original video game TROGDOR!.
• The Keepers of Trogdor were the guardians of the Trog-Cave in Peasant's Quest and dispensed battle armor and weaponry used to slay Trogdor. In this game, they aim to keep Trogdor alive and control Trogdor directly.
• The two archers in the game are Mendelev and Dongolev. Crangolev is described as being their cool older sister.
• The alternate meeple dragon figures that can be used in place of Trogdor are from the Strong Bad Email dragon, including Wormdingler.
• One of the Action cards is called Flip 'em Up Dan. There is also a "Flip 'em Up Fran" card.
• One of the Action cards is called "Jhonka Help".
• Hardybardy is said to be available for heavy metal bands.
• Strong Bad's keeper card "Lord Pastryhorn of Fangleburg" features croissant-like horns, which he professed a desire for in 3 wishes.
• One of the items is Ye Flask of Dennis, both running gags prominently featured in the Thy Dungeonman games.
• The Shield of Cumberdale refers to Ron Cumberdale, a child that one of the Keepers of Trogdor held in great contempt.
• The Super Trinket and Old Man Rub items were also used in Peasant's Quest.
• One of the "#1 way way better" items is a Keyswordtar.

Gallery

Social Media

A prototype cottage being printed	Trogdor's prototype 3D model	A heavily-filtered photo	Trogdor's shadow	The "Slantwise" card
The "Consummate V's" card	Uncolored prototype Trogdor game pieces	A sculpt of the new Trogdor game piece	All game pieces with the Store figurines	The meeples
The "Ye Flask of Dennis" card	A GIF of the game with meeples	A stop motion GIF

PAX East

The Trogdor game piece

The uncolored peasant game piece

The uncolored burninated peasant game piece

The uncolored archers game piece

The uncolored burninated cottage game piece

The uncolored knight game piece

The uncolored Troghammer knight game piece

Other

The Index Page image

Appearances

• Debut: @strongbadactual (Instagram)
• The Deleteheads Download
• @StrongBadActual
• Index Page
• Trogdor!! The Board Game Kickstarter campaign and promotional content

See Also

• Trogdor!! The Board Game Items

External Links

• View website
• View Kickstarter campaign
• forum thread re: "Trogdor!! The Board Game"