Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
I didn’t quite know what to expect when I sat down with Gruntz, a small-box game for two from designer Carter Scott and publisher Allplay. I generally try to go into games as blind as possible so my expectations don’t affect my response, but I had gotten the idea somewhere that Gruntz would be a spiritual cousin to Warhammer 40k or Kill Team rather than in the lineage of chess. I was ready for something messier, muckier. Gruntz, it turns out, is dazzlingly clear and transparent.
You and your opponent take turns moving units and adding units, in that order, with the goal of controlling the three indicated spaces in the middle of the board. Controlling two at the end of your turn nets you a point. Controlling all three, should you be able to manage it, nets you two. In a brisk race to three points, either is a significant gain.
Units come in a variety of shapes and sizes, each with different capabilities. In order to capture those center spaces, you have to use your Gruntz and your Captain, humble units that can only move one space at a time and are defenseless in the face of enemy attacks. The vehicles, Tanks and Trucks and two types of airplanes, present a veritable rainbow of options.
The bulk of your available forces are the land units. When you deploy a Tank or a Truck, it can be equipped with one of three things: a Cannon, which makes it a roving death machine; a Transport, which allows you to deploy Gruntz in adjacent spaces; or an Anti-Air cannon, which prevents enemy planes from passing overhead.
The planes, which travel via diagonal lines cutting across the board, rain hell down on whatever they fly over. The Fighters can take out anything that isn’t a Tank, while Bombers can take out land vehicles. Both function primarily as deterrents, making certain spaces riskier for an opponent to occupy. Deterrence is a large part of Gruntz, which may drive certain types of players crazy. The establishment of a Fighter along a certain line threatens the positions I wanted to make use of, so now I will have to spend some time developing a response. I can send my troops into certain death, which may suit my plans nicely, or I can stall, calling up an anti-aircraft truck and maneuvering it into position.
This is where the transparency comes in. You can never say you’re surprised by something in Gruntz. If you are, it’s entirely your fault. As I mentioned above, your turn actions are movement and then deployment, strictly in that order. You can move once and deploy twice, or move twice and deploy once, but those are the only options. It is not possible for a unit to appear and then move on the same turn. You’ll always know in advance. Gruntz is about tempo and control and finding a response that forces your opponent to do the same.
There’s even acerbic commentary implicit in the rules dictating troops and vehicles. Lose a soldier, and you put it right back into your supply. Lose a vehicle to enemy attack, and it’s out of the game. The grunts and Gruntz, on the other hand, are infinite. The vehicles cost time and money. Human bodies are disposable. Grim!, but not wrong.
Gruntz is one for the fathers and grandfathers who really resonated with the “How often do men think about Ancient Rome” meme. It’s a cute and punchy abstract masquerading as a history game, or perhaps I mean that the other way round. Hard to say. Either way, I quite like it.
Gruntz details
- Designer: Carter Scott
- Artists: Filip Gavril, Lorenzo Colangeli
- Publishers: Allplay, Bull Mansion Studio
- Release Date: 2026
- Player count : 2
- Age range : 12+
- Time range : 10 - 30 minutes
- Mechanism(s): Action Points, Area Majority / Influence, Grid Movement, King of the Hill, Tug of War
- BGG Geek Rating: 7.19711 - converted to Meeple Mountain scale: 3.5.
- More articles about Gruntz.
