Roblin is a 2 player duel game where you command a goblin clan (red or green), defending your treasure pile while sending units along hex‑based “roads” through terrain and enemy defenders to steal up to three treasure cards per round. The first to empty their opponent’s pile wins.
Setup
Choose Starting Player: The last person who “stole something” goes first (lighthearted).
Assign Treasure & Starting Gold: Red (first player) and Green (second) each take their colored treasure cards. Red draws 3 single‑gold cards; Green draws 4.
Form Treasure Piles: Shuffle the remaining treasure cards face‑down before you.
Deploy Starting Assets: Place your starting road tile, two goblins, and your treasure pile as shown.
Prepare Draw Decks: Shuffle terrain cards, unit cards, and special‑unit cards into three separate face‑down piles within reach.
How to Play
Each turn proceeds in four phases:
- Preparation
- Return all defenders to reserve.
- Draw 3 cards in any mix from the three draw piles (no hand limit).
- “Buy” cards by discarding treasure equal to their combined cost (overpay allowed but there is no change).
- Place bought terrain adjacent to your road network (must maintain at least one open road end).
- Deploy up to three support cards in your “support area” and place bought units in your reserve.
- Declaration
- Assign defenders: place any number of reserve units at distinct road ends (each unit may cover multiple adjacent ends).
- Assign attackers: order your attacking units and pick which road end to launch the raid from.
- Attack
- The leading attacker moves along the chosen road, taking damage from terrain (and road taxes), defenders, and support‑unit effects in sequence.
- When a unit’s accumulated damage ≥ its hit points, it’s knocked out; the next in line continues (each damage source hits only once per attack).
- Survivors reach the treasure pile and steal cards equal to their combined carry value (max 3).
- Resolution
- Return attackers to reserve.
- You may draw up to 3 gold cards from your pile (risking defeat if it empties).
Repeat until one player’s treasure pile is empty.
What Works Well
Clear Thematic Conflict: Goblin clans, sneaky raids, and road taxes fit the “cunning‑versus‑mean” story.
Quick Setup & Playtime: 25 minutes makes it accessible for 2‑player game nights.
Strategic Depth: Terrain placement and road‑end management create forecasting challenges. Diverse unit abilities (e.g., Tunnel Goblins, Forest Goblins) and support cards (Banker, Cartographer, Archer) add asymmetry and replayability.
Hand‑Management Twist: Paying terrain “taxes” in gold from hand forces players to balance buying power versus attack potential.
Areas for Improvement
Rulebook Clarity: Some placement rules (double‑terrain interactions, bridge limits) could use more diagrams or examples (e.g., double terrains on page 7 ). The “road tax” mechanic is introduced late—players may overlook it during initial plays.
Downtime & Bookkeeping: Drawing and buying three cards from three piles each turn can slow down new players. Tracking which damage sources have been “used” during an attack adds a layer of bookkeeping.
Overall
Roblins delivers a compact, tactical duel with a charming goblin theme and meaningful choices in deck‑building terrain layout, and attack timing. With some tweaks to rule clarity and fine‑tuning, it’s a strong, quick‑playing candidate for anyone who enjoys light‑to‑medium complexity duels. For more in-depth review check out our video review on our YouTube channel Here:
