Trollland (2010)

From Bruno Cathala:

Trolls used to live happily and merrily in the nice troll country. At night, sitting around the fire, they ate troll meals, told old troll legends, and played traditional troll games. Alas ! this golden age is past. Everything has changed for the worse since aliens, jealous of the troll wealth and culture, have settled in. The Trollland is now infested with Men, who ate cooked meat, Elves with dubious habits, Gobs who played barbarian music and hardworking Dwarves who steal the trolls jobs. As a result, Trollland is now in full decadence.

The Troll king has decided to set it straight and put things back in order. As a troll governor, your mission is to arrest and send back home, in carriages or in dragon charters, as many unwanted aliens as possible. The trick of the game is that each charter scores point only for the player who placed the last alien in it. At the end of the game, the winner will be rewarded by the troll king and promoted as minister of national hideousity.

Trollland’s theme is in no way tacky, nasty or vulgar. It’s the policy the game is rightly mocking which is tacky, nasty and vulgar.

As for the game systems, Trollland (with three ls) is a very good filler card game . It’s light, nasty and clever, in the line of many German style card games such as Coloretto, Mow or Take 5.