Designed by Alexandros Kapidakis and published by Phase Shift Games with art by Gong Studios, Boblin's Rebellion is a light card drafting and engine-building game for 1-4 players where you're commanding a horde of goblins in a dungeon. The goblins start off as Sticklers or Screamers but during the course of the game you'll be 'training' (converting) these into Stabbers, Stalkers, Slingers and Sparklers...
You get to take two actions each turn (and you can repeat the same action): Recruit lets you add either three Sticklers or two Screamers to your player board. Conquer lets you take a dungeon room card from the display by paying its cost in goblins; mostly one or two Sticklers but some cards, especially the blue 'ice cave' rooms, demand other specialties. Scout lets you draw three face-down room cards, choose one of them and take it, provided you can pay the goblin cost. Finally, the Exploit action lets you activate the effect of one of your room cards, tho' the blue ice cave cards include 'passive' effects that don't need an Exploit action to activate; there are cards, for example, whose activation is triggered by another player's action.
The game then is an engine builder where you are acquiring cards and using them to upgrade/convert your goblins to other specialties so that you can acquire and/or activate other cards. The conversions reminded us of Sidereal Confluence (WizKids) but without that game's frenetic negotiation.
It's a slightly unusual engine builder because the cards you acquire can be activated only two or three times before they are deemed to be 'destroyed' but they'll give a bonus after they're spent; either a goblin reinforcement or victory points - and the game is a race to be the first to reach 27 points...
Boblin's Rebellion incorporates a couple of in-built expansions offering optional variants. The Hero's Help module adds a deck of Hero cards that give you permanent passive effects. You can claim a Hero card by trading in two 'destroyed' (ie: spent) room cards, so with this module you will only start to access and use the Hero cards mid-game.
The Terrible Trolls module adds larger cubes into the mix and they're used with the reverse side of the player boards. Trolls appear on your player board as you hit set numbers on your scoring track. They adversely affect your play; for example, by adding to the cost of acquiring cards or negating the bonus you get for a 'destroyed' room. You will have to spend a 'trained' goblin (Stabber, Stalker, Slinger or Sparkler) to remove each Troll.
For solitaire play, you remove a card from each of dungeon room decks at the end of every turn: you're still racing to get to 27 points but in this solo mode your race is against the deck erosion timer, and it works remarkably well.
We've enjoyed our plays of Boblin's Rebellion, both as a competitive multiplayer and solo game. And it's good for a change to see goblins as the heroic stars of a game rather than mere minions of an evil superboss.