How to Play

Grendel: The Game of Crime and Mayhem

1-4 players 60-120 min 7.2 Board Game Geek Rating

Players control four asymmetric factions battling for New York City control during one violent night. Grendel dominates crime after massacring family leaders, while Mob forces regroup, Police restore order, and werewolf Argent hunts Grendel. Each faction uses unique mechanics to deploy units, place influence tokens, and trigger three tower-based Mayhem events. Highest scoring player wins.

Published 2026

Grendel: The Game of Crime and Mayhem

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Place the map
Put the map with the correct player count face up (2-3 players on one side, 4 players on other side)
2
Set up towers
Place and load each of the 3 towers near their affiliated zones using counterweights matching player count (stick counterweight into back of matching tower so entire billboard is visible)
3
Choose factions
Each player chooses a faction and takes all components of that color (player board, reference board, mayhem turn marker, influence tokens, cards, aggression tokens, figures, and faction-specific pieces)
4
Place aggression markers
Each player places their black aggression marker on 0 on the aggression track
5
Place pieces on map
Set up neutral pieces according to setup guide, then players take turns placing their groups on any space not occupied by human opponent (Grendel: 2 groups of Grendel Captain or 1 Fear token; Argent: 2 groups of Argent Captain or 1 Ambush token; Mob: 3 groups varying Captain/Grunt/Corruption combinations; Police: 3 groups varying Captain/Grunt/Wagon combinations)
6
Shuffle faction cards
Each player shuffles their 12 faction cards and draws one card into their hand
7
Determine start player
Give start player marker to player who most recently read a comic book or graphic novel
8
Argent setup
Argent player places 3 face-up upgrade cards on display and keeps 10 upgrade cards as draw deck
9
Grendel setup
Grendel player places 12 chits (4 Hunter Rose, 4 Shock Fork, 4 Speed) in Grendel bag and places 12 upgrade chits off to the side
10
Mob setup
Mob player has 4 mob dice ready and places 2 upgraded recruit tokens and 4 upgraded crime tokens near board
11
Police setup
Police player places 2 police cars off the board (they enter top wedge on first turn) and has 8 upgrade tokens ready

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Place chits on tracks
One at a time, place a chit into leftmost vacant space on any of the three tracks (Hunter Rose, Shock Fork, or Speed)
2
Activate icons
Activate the icon below where you placed chit AND every icon to its left, in any order (each action must be completed before starting another)
3
Activate kicker (if matching)
If chit matches color and icon of track, perform kicker action in any order with other actions (Hunter Rose: add aggression; Speed: add aggression; Shock Fork: draw chit and return unused chit to bag)
4
Upgrade track (if full)
If you placed 4th chit on a track, discard 1 chit from that row, choose any 2 upgrade chits and place them plus remaining 3 chits back in bag
5
End turn
After placing all 3 chits, leave all chits on board (only clear when track is full)Mob Planning Turn- **Roll 4 dice** Roll all 4 mob dice (you will allocate 3 and ignore the 4th)
6
Place dice on slots
One at a time, place a die on a die slot and activate it
7
Recruit
Any die can go here; draw 1 card and deploy 1 Captain and 4 Grunts to spaces where you have presence (if upgraded: also move 1 Captain 1 space and deploy more Grunts if Corruption tokens not covering icons)
8
Run the Racket
Any die can go here; activate all revealed icons in that row in any order (choose any side, add aggression, draw card, shield, upgrade)
9
Crimes
Place dice on 2 crime slots matching exact crime you want to commit (Patrol: move Captain up to 3 spaces; Extort: place Corruption token; Clean Up: degrade 1 Influence; Bribe: choose any side on another die and add aggression)
10
Complete 3 dice allocations
Repeat until 3 of your dice have been allocatedPolice Planning Turn- **Move first police car** Move one police car clockwise 1 or 2 vacant wedges around rondel (both start off board, entering top wedge on first turn)
11
Activate wedge icons
Activate all icons in that wedge in any order (Move 2, Deploy, Draw card, Add Aggression, Place Wagon token)
12
Arrest (optional)
If both police cars are in adjacent wedges after first car moves, arrest any piece on map in same space as your piece (cannot arrest last Captain of faction), place in vacant jail, deploy 1 Grunt, release any previously arrested piece from same faction
13
Move second police car
Move other police car 1 or 2 vacant wedges (can jump over other car's wedge), activate all icons in that wedge
14
Arrest again (optional)
If both police cars are adjacent after second car moves, can arrest again
15
Gain upgrade (when passing start line)
When police car passes start line, choose 1 upgrade token and put it in any vacant space on a wedgeArgent Planning Turn- **Flip action cards** Flip over 1 action card at a time from your deck
16
Banish card (once per turn)
After each flip, decide if you want to banish the card by placing it face-up over banish spot (skulls on banished card won't affect you, but you won't activate its ability)
17
Keep going or stop
Keep flipping cards or stop
18
If 4+ skulls showing
You bust; discard action cards until 3 or fewer skulls show, flip bonus tile face down (no free add aggression this turn)
19
If stop with 3 or fewer skulls
Keep bonus tile face up and get add aggression action
20
Activate face-up cards
Activate each face-up card not banished in any order (can place card over one of 4 board spaces to take board action instead: Move Argent 3, Punch once, Gain Upgrade card, Add Aggression)
21
Shuffle when deck empty
If you run out of cards, shuffle discard pile to make new deck (leave banished and played cards on board)Continue Planning Phase- **Take turns clockwise** Continue taking planning turns in clockwise order until a tower triggersWhen Tower Triggers- **Take counterweight** Player who triggered tower takes counterweight billboard and places it in front of them
22
Finish active turn
Active player completes their turn but cannot add more aggression to triggered tower
23
Complete round
If all players haven't had at least one planning turn since game start or last mayhem, continue turns clockwise until each player has had one planning turn this round
24
Disperse aggression
Lift triggered tower, each player reclaims aggression tokens and moves aggression marker to sum of those tokens
25
Discard for aggression
In turn order starting with player who triggered tower, each player may discard up to 2 cards and gain 1 aggression per card discarded
26
Argent cleanup
Argent collects all cards on their board and places them in discard pile
27
Start mayhem phase
Give start player token to player who triggered tower

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Spend aggression in turns
Starting with player who triggered tower, each player spends exactly 3 aggression per mayhem turn going clockwise (if starting turn with less than 3, spend all remaining aggression)
2
Spend aggression on actions
3
1 Aggression - Punch
Destroy grunt in same space where you have figure (1 punch), or destroy Captain (3 punches); each faction gets different reward for destroying figures (cannot destroy last Captain of faction, but can relocate it)
4
2 Aggression - Degrade
Destroy unshielded influence token or flip shielded token to unshielded side; each faction gets different reward for destroying tokens
5
? Aggression - Play card
Pay cost in top left corner of card, complete all effects before other actions
6
1 Aggression - Move
Each faction moves differently (Grendel: 2 spaces plus free moves on Fear tokens; Mob: 1 Captain 3 spaces; Police: 1 Captain 2 spaces; Argent: 3 spaces or jump to Ambush token)
7
Draw card at turn end
If active player has at least 1 piece in 3 or more spaces in mayhem zone at end of turn, draw a card (even on turn they scored)
8
Score when reaching 0 aggression
When aggression marker reaches 0, score immediately (even if other players still have aggression)
9
Grendel scoring
Score 1 point per space in mayhem zone with 1 or more Fear tokens
10
Argent scoring
Score 1 point per space in mayhem zone with 1 or more Ambush tokens
11
Mob scoring
Score 1 point per space in mayhem zone with at least 2 different Mob pieces
12
Police scoring
Score 1 point per space in mayhem zone where they have more pieces than another faction
13
No scoring if 3+ factions
No player scores a space if 3 or more factions are present in that space
14
Sit out after scoring
Once scored, sit out until all players have scored
15
Final player spends all aggression
If only 1 player remaining, they spend all remaining aggression (only gets to draw 1 more card if they have presence in 3+ spaces when they score)
16
Remove triggered tower
Remove tower that was triggered (aggression cannot be added to it anymore)
17
Pass start player token
Pass starting player token to left of player who triggered tower
18
Return to planning phase
Continue taking planning turns; if another tower already triggered, complete one planning turn each before entering next mayhem
19
Three mayhems total
Each tower triggers once in the game
20
Score other two zones
After third mayhem, immediately score the other two zones one more time using same scoring rules (player who triggered final tower scores first, then in turn order)
21
Highest score wins
Player with highest score wins. If tied, player who reached that score first wins

watch & Learn

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FULL rules

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