Smash Up Review
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They are also good as a partner to Zombies because that Invader can be brought back from the graveyard after it dies. Pairing them with Wizards is usually pretty good too because you effectively guarantee that you will get to the two Invaders at least once throughout the game. The key to doing well in Smash Up is picking races that complement one another and then executing each faction’s strategy as efficiently as possible. A player will not be successful in having a general Smash Up strategy that they use no matter which factions they have… they really need to play differently for each combination. I will go through each faction, how to use them, which other faction to pair up with them, the bases they prefer, and which are best to use as a counter-faction to those chosen by your opponents.
There’s a lot of enjoyment to be had here purely from some of the insane combinations that can be made. But it’s a really neat little card battle game too, with a surprising amount of tactical thought that can be applied to it. It’s a fast-paced, straightforward, and brutal card-battling game with almost endless replayability, considering all the potential for expansions.
There are even loads of expansions that add lovecraftain monsters and pretty girls with steam powered jet packs but we’ll leave expansions out of today’s discussion. If you can’t already tell from the review, Smash Up scores high on our “Let’s play again” game meter. In addition to wanting to explore all the different combo abilities between factions, playing more frequently also speeds up the game play as players become more familiar with the cards.
I really like the interchange of Character Modifiers and especially how you can play them on either yourself or others and get beneficial effects regardless. Maybe because I had discarded so much I didn’t have much left to play and couldn’t get those cards out. Mulan also has a few cards that let you outright destroy other Characters, which is nice and not that prominent in the Disney set (I guess because Disney is more touchy-feely?). It’s not unbeatable, depending on which faction it’s paired with.
Winning is highly dependant on timing that big play, that game changer, when a table full of veterans sits down to duke it out. Unlocking unforseen strategies with factions that don’t seem to pair can be a hell of a lot of fun. Tricksters are also tempting because they have ways to play more minions and get minion-count bonuses too. Here is a table of each faction along with the count of minions, and their average power, and actions. Of course this does not take into account cards or abilities that increase their power or resurrect dead minions. Smash Up is a quick, easy-to-learn “shufflebuilding” game by Paul Peterson and published by Alderac Entertainment Group.
Place any of those cards on the bottom of their owner’s deck. Return up to 2 Madness cards from your hand or discard pile to the Madness deck. cost of living arlington tx You can only play this minion on a base where you have at least 6 power. Destroy a minion here belonging to each player who does not do so.
Deciding who gets what faction can be a big source of contention. Over time, you’ll work out some brilliant faction combos. Problem is, other players are unlikely to want to let you choose a combo that’s too strong. Note that a base can only be scored during the scoring bases phase of a turn.
After all, gamers know Smash Up pin pop culture’s best concepts against each other. However, no one anticipated bordering into fandom territory. This set contains four factions, all of which are “totally not” like some of the biggest franchises out there. Hardcore Smash Up fans should probably get this set for its collector’s value.
As Jaden shows in his card game video review, once the Minions start landing on bases and special Actions are played to move Minions around and change things up, there’s a lot going on to keep track of. And players typically have a number of choices to consider. So for a theme that sounds pretty wacky and fun, there’s a lot of thinking involved. Ninjas are a mysterious faction… you never know what a Ninja player might do during base scoring.
