Each enemy card has a unique battle track, consisting of 4-6 spaces each. And once the topmost space of a battle track is reached, the enemy is defeated. But that's easier said than done. When a new enemy comes into play, a marker is placed on this battle track, normally in the second lowest or third lowest place. This marker will move up, if, in a round, enough matching dice are assigned to that enemy. How many dice are necessary to move up a space, is given on each step of the battle track by a number and sometimes also a colour. For example a 3+ in the next space of the battle track means that three or more dice must be assigned to that enemy to move up a space. Colours stand for the needed colour of the dice, e.g. a 2+ blue means that you need two or more dice assigned to that enemy with at least one of them a blue die.

If an incorrect combination is assigned to an enemy, nothing happens. If however there is only a single die at an enemy, the marker of the corresponding battle track is moved down one step. And this is definitely not a good move, because if the maker reaches the bottom space, Maia will suffer a wound until she dies. Additionally the die goes to an exhaustion track where it stays for the next three rounds.

You might wonder why you should assign a single die to an enemy if that leads to wounds and maybe death. The answer is: insufficient time and limited options to re-roll the dice. The main phase of Proving Grounds is played in real-time. You have exactly one minute each round to roll (and re-roll) dice from your available dice pool, before these dice are assigned to the enemies due to their final number. So, a dice with the number 2 is assigned to the enemy in the slot with the 2 and the blue die with the number 6 to the matching enemy in the six slot.

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This still seems to be easy enough, but a rule for the re-rolling snarls the things: Only sets with two or more dice showing the same number may be re-rolled, meaning no singles. You start the game with eight dice, but more and more dice enter the game. In the end, what seems to be a wide choice of positive dice results, results in a frantic weighting of choices. Is there enough time to re-roll a set of three dice-4 results? Three dice-4 results might seem to be a good result, but if the enemy at the slot 4 demands 4 dice for the next step on the battle track, they are of no use there. On the other hand, they won't do no harm at this place, but if you re-roll the dice, there might be a new single die, for instance at slot 1... The remaining time is the important factor. A minute can pass really quickly...

If I now tell you, that a lot of enemies have special abilities that must be considered, you probably won't be shocked. Some are positive, others negative for the hero. For example there is an enemy who demands a successful attack each round (a set of dice assigned to this enemy), otherwise the battle marker moves down one space as if only a single die has been assigned to the slot. Another enemy favours yellow dice that count as two dice when assigned to this enemy.

The rules are simple, but it is hard to keep your objectives and all the enemies' different abilities in view in the real-time phase. Especially in the first rounds, you have enough problems finding sets and singles in the frantic rolling phase. Still there are six more modules that further expand the game, introducing new game elements, more dice, special abilities for Maia and new companions for the one or other side. That ensures varieties and long re-playability.

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As usual, RENEGADE GAME STUDIO has spent this solo hero game a fantastic look. The game comes with an extra 28 pages short story book that explains the background as well as the outcome of the plot to the interested players. Although this is not an all-night read, it is well written, and definitely contributes to the exciting atmosphere of Proving Grounds. You should like luck-dependent dice games and the stressful phase of real-time games, before you accept the challenge in the Proving Grounds. But if you do, you will be rewarded by a diverting, challenging solo game with a great story.