The Lion Guard: Protect the Pride Lands (2016)

About this game

Stand together to Protect the Pride Lands Fearsome foes from the shadowy outlands are closing in and you must work as a team to fend them off! Race to get Kion to the top of pride rock so he can unleash the power of the Roar and save the day! Protect the Pride Lands is a cooperative family board game based on the Disney Junior show "The Lion Guard". It includes four high quality hero miniatures, 15 unique "outlander" standees and is played on a board with 3-D features. Outlanders (hyenas, snakes and vultures) invade the Pride Lands from different locations while the Lion Guard heroes race to remove them from the board. Each turn, a player draws from the deck and adds an outlander creature to the board as pictured in the top half of the card. Then a choice is given to the player to move one of two heroes, as shown on the bottom half of the card, up to a number of spaces listed. If a hero lands on a space with an outlander, the outlander is removed from the board. There are also "Power Cards" that provide a bonus effect, such as removing any one outlander from the board. The goal of the game is to move Kion to the top of "Pride Rock" before the outlanders get to their winning space. Otherwise the Pride Lands have been invaded and the players lose.

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Works with 1 to 4. It has a designed solo mode.
• Rules load. At 1.3/5 this is a light game — explain it in a few minutes, good for a table that has not played much.
• Age. The publisher suggests 4 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.