Stats:
No. of players: 1-2
Amount of time to play: 60 min
Age requirements: 10+
Set-up time: 15 minutes

Guardians of Graxia Rules Description:

Guardians of Graxia is a fantasy-themed, card-based war game. You must conquer or guard lands by summoning mythic creatures to fight for you.

Guardians of Graxia is scenario based and comes with 6 two-player and 6 solo scenarios. There are also rules for creating your own custom scenarios. To begin you must set up the map. The map is made up of terrain tiles that are offset to create a hex-like grid.

You’ll get a starting hand based on the scenario. Each round after the first you’ll draw four cards total from either the spell or unit decks. This is the Draw Phase.

During the Command Phase you can move, attack or shield units. You may also cast Command Spells. These help maneuver and support your units.

Combat is resolved in several steps that compare attack and defense values, adjust dense for terrain, cast Battle Spells and discard a card to add to or subtract from a unit’s attack or defense value. This final step is hidden and adds bluffing into the game.

Adding new units happens during the Command Phase too. Summoning a unit (and casting spells) costs mana. Mana is gained every round. Each terrain tile owned will generate some mana based on its type.

Each round you also check for victory conditions. Meet the scenario goals and you win.

A Quick Review of Guardians of Graxia:

Guardians of Graxia is a medium-weight strategy war game. There is luck since you draw cards, but not a lot. You can plan basic strategies based on the cards in your hand and adjust as you draw new cards.

The components in this game are top-notch and the art work is well done and fit the fantasy theme fantastically.

Unfortunately this is another game with a horrible rulebook. Things aren’t explained very well and you’ll have to dig around on BGG for some answers. There is one combat player aid and two would have been nice. Player aid for the breakdown of the turn phases would have been nice too, Again if you go to BGG you’ll find a fan-made one.

The first couple games will have you digging through the rulebook but you’ll catch on pretty quickly. The system is not too complex and some repetition will help keep the basics in your mind. Combat can be a bit mathy, but the battle tracker helps to keep things pretty simple. Actually the worst math is adding up mana for tiles you control.

Guardians of Graxia has some nice elements of a CCG combined with a war game. The game plays well with two or one player(s). If you play solo you take turn for the game. There are rules for running the non-player, but they are a bit hard to follow and understand.

I am not sure if the rulebook will be updated or if player aids will be created, but Guardians of Graxia is the kind of game that begs for expansions. I hope these issues would be fixed if an expansion is released.

As it is Guardians of Graxia is a good game with a bad rulebook. If you are willing to do some searching most answers are out there. Some rulings you’ll have to make on your own. If these issues did not exist I think this game would easily rate a 4 overall.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 4 out of 6
Luck 3 out of 6
Player Interaction 6 out of 6
Replay Value 3 out of 6
Complexity 3 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 3 out of 6