Objective of the Game

Alright, listen up, recruits! In The Grizzled, you and your band of brothers are trying to survive the horrors of the Great War, not by fighting, but by sticking together. Your main goal is to get rid of all the Trial cards in your hands and make the Peace card visible. If you can do that, and no one has any cards left, you've won the game and made it through the Great War together! But beware, the war takes its toll. You'll lose if the Monument card ever becomes visible, or if any player ends up with 4 or more Hard Knocks after the Support phase.

Setup

Let's get you ready for the trenches. Here’s how to set up your game of The Grizzled:

1. Each player picks a Grizzled card and places it in front of them, Good Luck Charm side up.
2. Everyone gets 3 Support tiles: one with a , one with a , and one drawn randomly from the rest. (Note: With 2 or 3 players, the and tiles aren't used.)
3. Take 25 Trial cards and place them face down on top of the Peace card. This is your Trials pile. The remaining 34 cards go face down on the Monument card, forming the Reserve of Morale.
4. Place the Speech tokens between the card piles. The number depends on how many players you have:
   • 5 tokens for 2 or 3 players
   • 4 tokens for 4 players
   • 3 tokens for 5 players
5. Give the Mission Leader token to the player with the most impressive facial hair.
6. And just like that, you're ready to begin!

For your first few games, we strongly recommend ignoring the Traps from the Threat cards. Once you've got the hang of it, you can add them in for a normal game.

The Turn of Play

A mission in The Grizzled is a tense affair, broken down into 4 steps. Here's how it generally flows:

The Mission Leader Chooses Intensity

The Mission Leader kicks things off by deciding the mission's Intensity, which is the number of cards each player will be dealt from the Trials pile. Cards are dealt one at a time, starting with the Mission Leader. The intensity starts at a minimum of 1, but for the very first mission, it's always a minimum of 3 cards. If the Trials pile runs out during dealing, just stop; some players might have fewer cards.

Actions

Starting with the Mission Leader and going clockwise, players take turns performing one of these actions until the mission ends:

• Play a Trials card from their hand:
  • If it's a Threat (like Night, Snow, Rain, Mask, Shell, Whistle), it goes into No Man's Land in the middle of the table.
  • If it's a Hard Knock, it's assigned to the player and takes effect immediately.
  • Trap Cards: If you play a Threat card with a Trap symbol, you must draw another card from the Trials pile and play it immediately. If this new card is a Trap, ignore it. If it's a Hard Knock, assign it to yourself.
• Use a Good Luck Charm: Flip your Grizzled card over. Then, discard one Threat card from No Man's Land that matches the type of Threat on your Good Luck Charm. You'll need to recover it later to use it again.
• Make a Speech: If you have a Speech token, you can use it to encourage your comrades! Choose one of the 6 Threats and announce it. All other players (who haven't withdrawn) can then discard one card from their hand that contains that specific Threat. The Speech token is then removed from the game.
• Withdraw and play a Support tile: You're done with this mission! You can no longer take actions. Secretly choose one of your remaining Support tiles and place it face-down on your Grizzled card, indicating which player you're supporting. All played Support tiles are revealed at the end of the mission. While withdrawn, any Hard Knocks you possess have no effect for the current mission. If you have no Support tiles left, you can still withdraw; you just won't play a tile.

End of the Mission

A mission concludes in one of two ways:

• Success: All players have withdrawn. The cards in No Man's Land are discarded.
• Failure: Three identical Threats are present in No Man's Land (including any Phobias and Traumas from non-withdrawn players). The cards in No Man's Land are shuffled back into the Trials pile.

In both cases, unplayed cards remain in players' hands, and Hard Knocks stay assigned. Then, you move to the Support phase.

Support

Once the mission is over, reveal all the face-down Support tiles. The player who received the most support benefits from the group's help. They can either:

• Get rid of 2 Hard Knocks cards affecting their character, OR
• Recover their Good Luck Charm (flip their Grizzled card back to the Good Luck Charm side).

If there's a tie for most support, no one gets the benefit. Players keep the Support tiles they received.

If the mission was a failure, only Support tiles from players who had already withdrawn are considered. In this case, the player with the most support can only get rid of a single Hard Knock card.

Morale Drop

The war grinds on, and morale drops. Transfer cards from the Morale Reserve to the Trials pile. The number of cards transferred is equal to the total number of cards remaining in players' hands, with a minimum of 3 cards. The Mission Leader token then passes to the next player, and the former leader gets a Speech token if any are left.

A new round begins!

End of Game and Scoring

The game of The Grizzled can end in victory or defeat:

• Victory Condition: You win when the Trials pile is exhausted (the Peace card is visible) AND all players have no cards left in their hands. You've signed the Armistice and made it through the Great War together!
• Defeat Condition 1: As soon as the group's Morale Reserve is exhausted and the Monument card is revealed, you lose.
• Defeat Condition 2: After the resolution of Support, if any player has 4 or more Hard Knocks, the group fails, and the game is immediately lost.

Tips for Winning

This war is tough, but here are a few pointers to help your squad survive:

1. Communication is Key (but with limits!): You can't reveal the exact cards in your hand or your chosen Support tile. However, you absolutely *can* discuss strategy, count the cards in the Trials pile and Morale Reserve, and hint at the types of Threats you're holding. Use your Speech tokens wisely to clear out problematic Threats from everyone's hands!
2. Know When to Withdraw: Withdrawing isn't giving up; it's a tactical move. Withdrawn players' Hard Knocks become inactive for the current mission, and they get to play a crucial Support tile. Sometimes, withdrawing early to support a struggling comrade can save the mission.
3. Manage Hard Knocks: These are brutal and can lead to an instant loss. Prioritize helping players with multiple Hard Knocks during the Support phase. Also, remember that a Speech can sometimes help discard a Trauma or Phobia with a corresponding Threat.