Smash Up
Overview
Smash Up is a “Shufflebuilding Game.” That is, players combine two distinctly different 20 card faction decks, shuffle them together and form one formidable force to gain control over enemy Bases. Smashing up Bases is worth Victory points. The first player to score 15 Victory Points wins! Piece o’ cake right? Well, hold onto your pirate hats. Things are about to get real messy!
Set Up
Before getting to gameplay, let’s talk about what makes Smash Up super special: the Factions. The core game includes 8 Factions. Each Faction is endowed with unique traits that make them really effective in world domination. These traits translate into game effects when the cards are played.
Let’s meet the conquering hordes…
- Aliens: These pesky invaders love to disintegrate things, and will allow you to remove cards from play. They have spiffy ray guns.
- Dinosaurs: Big… really big. It’s all about power and stepping on things. Oh and they have weapons. They add power to your deck. Did we mention big?
- Ninjas: Silent and deadly. They can be played and move freely in the game, providing unexpected card plays from your hand. Huh? What as that?
- Pirates: They do love their ships and cannons. Pirates provide movement abilities and blasting other players’ minions right off the table. Kaboom!
- Robots: Replication, multiplication, domination! Robots’ card effects allow you to play more robots, and more robots and… well, you get it. Minion domination!
- Tricksters: Gnomes, Fairies and Goblins! Their tricky powers allow various game effects, mostly messing with your opponents’ strategy. Snicker Snicker. Poof!
- Wizards: Magic just seems to break all the rules and this faction does! Take more actions, draw more cards, Play more minions! Moo ha ha!
- Zombies: Um… they … just … wont… die. ‘Nuff said.
During setup, players choose the two factions they will to use to create their deck of doom and shuffle them together. Players draw a hand of 5 cards and are ready to go.
During the game players will be attempting take over Bases; each with their own game play effects. There a number of Base cards dealt to the table at the beginning of the game equal to one more than the number of players. This is very simple math. You can handle it.
There are two types of cards that make up a players deck: Minions, and Actions. Really that’s all you need to know… let’s get to the game play!
Gameplay
Play dem Cards!
After any “Beginning of the Turn” effects occur, a player may play one Minion card and one Action card from their hand in any order or not at all.
Minions are played to Base cards. Each Minion card has Power. That’s the number in the upper left of the card. They also may have an effect that occurs when played.
Actions are played then discarded, unless they have an ongoing ability. Which means it hangs around and is… ongoing. Ok, that was a bit obvious.
Check for Scoring!
After any cards are played, players see if a Base can be scored, (demolished, crushed and pulverized). If the total power of all the Minions at a Base (no matter who played them) is equal to or exceeds the Breakpoint number in the top left of the Base card, that Base scores. (and is demolished, crushed and pulverized).
The big giant numbers on the Base card are the Victory points that are awarded when a Base scores. The player with the most Power at the Base when it scores is awarded the VP on the left of the card. The second highest Power gets the middle number of VP. And the third highest gets the right hand VPs. Once a Base is scored a new one is drawn to replace it, and the mayhem continues!
After any Bases score (or don’t) a player then draws 2 cards to end their turn.
Play continues until a player scores 15 victory points and has succeeded in taking over the world!
Components
AEG continues to impress with quality components and rich immersive artwork. The cards are sturdy. The box has an insert with many empty slots for expansions. The artwork is different for each faction, which gives each faction their own look and feel. The rulebook is as entertaining as it is informative. Hats off to Jeff Quick for one of the best rulebooks yet.
Learning Curve
With a concise rulebook and an ease of game play, the game can be taught in minutes.
Who would enjoy this game?
Final Thoughts
Shuffling cards is just so gratifying. Isn’t it? Besides the obvious physical fiddly something to do with your hands while chatting about new game hotness, there’s that sound…that “frrrrrrrrup” and some deep psychological satisfaction in the knowledge that your deck – the cards you need – just might be assembling into some perfect order to bring you a decisive victory. Or will they? Better shuffle again to make sure…
Smash Up designer Paul Peterson has a great deal of experience with shuffling, having worked in R&D for Wizards of the Coast during the glory days of Magic and Pokémon. So it stands to reason that Smash Up is infused with all this shuffely goodness. But at its core, Smash Up is about combos. (not the cheese filled kind).
The idea is simple and familiar: combining two sets of cards where each is focused on one particular card effect. This has been done for years in most collectible card games and most recently in Deck-builders. The beauty of Smash Up is that all this “combo creation” is taken care of for you. The game challenges you as a player to make the right play at the right time. The card effects and their combinations have been built, play-tested, gift wrapped in cool themes and are waiting for you in the box. This makes the game accessible, and allows a player to enjoy the game experience instead of focusing on any in-game deck construction.
At first several of the factions seem overpowered and undefeatable, especially when used in combination with each other. But once players familiarize themselves with the game, the different factions and card effects, counter strategies emerge. For example: all the Factions decks in this core set have an even number of Minions and Actions in them (10/10) Except the Robots, that have 18 Minions and 2 Actions. Once you know this, you can try to affect your card play accordingly. The most powerful faction? Adding up the combined power of all the Minions in each Faction gives the Robots the lead here (with 38) but with only 2 Action cards, they become sitting… robots. Wizards have the lowest combined powered Minions (24), but have the ability to play multiple actions, making any Faction they pair with a force to be reckoned with and so on. These traits balance the Factions and their mixing very well.
Smash Up is an excellent 3 to 4 player game offering a ton of player interaction and game play choices. But with two players, the game gets a bit more predictable as some card effects are limited with the choice of only one opponent.
One important and unlikely aspect of Smash Up is its value as an entry-level game. Although the game is listed as ages 12+, the game is a perfect way to teach younger children (or new hobby gamers) the practical aspects of how card combos work. And even though the game can get a bit “mathy” as you add up the powers of the Minions, this is a real positive for younger players as well. With little overt violence and moderate graphic images, the game is great fun for families to play with children as young as 8.
There is so much more to Smash Up than meets the eye. It’s not just a light filler. It’s well-constructed, accessible, and intelligent as well as funny and just plain fun. And you get the sense it is only the beginning. As more Factions are inevitably added in (there’s space in the box!) the game will grow with a gaming community that’s willing to embrace it. Play it for the fun of it!
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…Yep, I’m serious.
Smash-Up is a very interesting game that has been published by Alderac Entertainment. The theme is factions, and there are 8 to choose from with the game, with plenty of room for expansions later on. Each faction consists of 20 cards, and two factions are combined together to make a single playable deck, which can then be used to play against your opponents. A faction consists of minion cards and action cards; Minion cards have a power ranking from 1 to 7; 1 is the least powerful, while 7 is the most and is the domain of King Rex, the most powerful minion in the game. Action cards are just that; you can play one action card per turn (as well as one minion card per turn), and that action can do anything from allowing someone to play extra minions, to clearing an entire location of minions, depending on the faction that uses the action.
The object of the game is to control locations. At any time in the game there will be four locations available to control. Each location has a break point; a score total that will tell when the location can be collected for victory points. When the break point is reached (by placing minions on the location until the break point value is met or exceeded), scoring begins, and victory points are awarded based on who had the most points in minions placed on the location, who had the second-most, and who had the third-most. The person who has the first-place spot won’t necessarily get the most victory points, however; some locations have better rewards for coming in second place in the rankings. The locations will also sometimes have effects that come into play while a location is in play or when a location is scored, and these effects can have an effect on who ultimately was rewarded the most by that location. Once a certain number of victory points are reached, the game is over, and whoever has the most, wins.
The decks, however, are where the real fun of this game lies. When I first played this game, it struck me to how similar the formation of decks is with another collectible card game – Magic: The Gathering. Don’t get me wrong; Smash-Up isn’t nearly as complicated, and they actually managed to recapture the feel somewhat without oversimplifying it. Let me explain.
Each faction in Smash-Up does something, and does it particularly well.
Pirates can move from location to location, changing the amounts of minion points associated with that location and possibly stealing a first-place ranking out from under another player’s feet.
Robots can send other minions out via actions or minion effects, superceding the rule that only one minion can be played a turn; they’re very fast.
Tricksters are representative of fey folk; they excel in locking down a location and doing things to mess up other player’s plans.
Dinosaurs have very few additional effects, but they make up for it in sheer power, and can quickly bring a location to its break point, usually scoring at a significant level.
Aliens can bounce minions back to their owners hand (note, this can be done with the Alien minions as well), and can gain victory points through use of the Invader card.
Wizards excel at card draw, and can utilize actions that will give the player the ability to play more actions, meaning that they can often use cards one after the other.
Zombies can utilize cards from the discard pile, ensuring that zombie cards are never truly gone; they’re just misplaced for the time being.
Ninjas are sneaky, and can both kill minion cards, as well as substitute or sneak in minions to change the end result of a scoring round.
When two of these factions are united to make a 40 card deck, these abilities will combine. Zombie Pirates can place minions in the discard pile to a location on the card when there are no minions in hand, then move them to another location to force that location to score. Robot Tricksters can place multiple minions on a location, then play action cards to make sure that it will be more difficult for other players to put their own minions on that location. Alien Wizards can go on a rampage, using multiple actions to return other minions to their owners hands, then lay down an Invader to gain one Victory Point, then return that same Invader to their own hand to play again later on.
To get back to my original point. This game is like M:TG in that it combines two different ‘civilizations’ in order to produce a deck that works. Combining the decks gives things a flavor that makes for interesting synergy. Where this game trumps M:TG is that sometimes in M:TG, you can have problems playing cards because you don’t have the mana to use everything, and sometimes you simply don’t have enough power. In Smash-Up, you can play a card without paying a cost, and all the factions are designed to work together with ease. Every faction is worded so that any card that has affects a minion will affect any faction’s minion; negative effects are specified as opponent’s minions, which keeps things clear.
The game is simple to learn and easy to play, which is good. The game also runs fairly quickly once learned, which means that you can get in a couple of games for rematches with other players. Keeping the individual factions to 20 cards is good to make sure that you will eventually use cards from both factions in the course of the game, but I think utilizing 25 or 30 cards decks might have been better for longevity. Having 8 factions means you can either try something new for a game (there are a lot of combinations to exhaust), or you can stick with a tried and true favorite.
Personally, I find the fun of this game lies not in trying to find combinations that win you the game, but in finding logical impossibilities or combinations that just seem silly. Zombie Robots make me laugh, simply from the definition. Doesn’t something have to die before it comes back as a zombie? How can robots die? If they cease to function, can’t they simply be repaired? Note that you could have Robot Zombies, though…just need to catch a zombie and make em a cyborg zombie. So that only works one way. Wizard Dinosaurs is another interesting concept. Where can a Dinosaur find a pointy wizard’s hat that large? And how can a T-rex hold a spellbook with those tiny little hands? My advice when playing this game is to be as silly as possible and try to enjoy the game for what it is; a mashup of cliches that works out to be a pretty entertaining game.
I just played this for the first time with my eight year old son this weekend. I opened the box, read through the rules with him, and we each picked two factions. He picked Dinosaurs and Tricksters, and I picked Zombies and Pirates. We put out the three bases and began to play.
Play through:
For each of the first two or three rounds we were both only playing 1 card (a Minion) and then drawing two to get our 5 card hands up to 10. Once I reached 10 cards and had to start discarding I realized that if I’m going to be drawing two I better be playing two like I’m supposed to (1 action, 1 minon per turn unless there are special abilites that come into play).
Perhaps it is more because of our father/son dynamic, but we tended not to go against each other when placing minions on bases. Since there were three bases and only two of us (number of bases = number of players + 1), we didn’t “feel the need” to fight over a base. This made it fairly simple for each of us to score bases and take full points for each. I did finally get to a Zombie card that allowed me to play a Minion on each base that I did not already have a Minion on, so we did have some confrontations, but it was not until scoring the last base of the game (putting us both over 15 points) that there was any true confrontations.
We both had started playing on the Central Brain base (Base special ability “+1 to all Minions on this base”) when I scored my second to last base putting me at a tied score of 13. My minions on this base included three “First Mate” Minions whose special ability is “After this base is scored, you may move this minion to another base instead of the discard pile.” This triggered the scoring of this base as well, and gave me the advantage on the base. Final score Dad: 17 Son: 16.
Components:
The box, which is made of heavy material and will last for some time, contains 9 different decks: 1 of bases and 8 of different theamed factions. There is also 9 additional spots in the plastic tray for more decks so when the much rumored expansions are released you will have some place to put them. The slots for storing the decks are smilar to what you have in a Dominion box, only not as deep. I think that they could have fit more slots in the box (or made a smaller box) if the slots themselves were smaller, but that’s just me. There is also an glossy instruction book in the box that was written with fun in mind, so make a point of actually reading it.
Overall:
I really like this game and will definately be bringing it to game nights with my friends, as well as playing more with my son. It’s quick (listed time 45 mins, but could go faster) and easy to play and depending on the attitude of your players could get very rowdie. I recommend this for anyone who is looking to get fun, social game going at party or just a quick fun game at home.
I picked this game up after eyeing it for quite some time. First was the kickstarter, then seeing it on the shelf in a semi-local comic shop for months. After stopping in recently to pick up some books for myself and my daughter, I decided what the heck… It’s only 30 bucks, right?!
FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
My daughter was extremely excited upon seeing the box art. I was excited to dig in and see the cards. The box felt VERY light, and to be honest I wasn’t expecting that much inside (knowing that only 20 cards per 8 factions would only amount to 160 cards plus base cards). Seemed like an awfully large box for what it was…
And yep, on opening the excitement diminished for a short moment (only for a moment). It was mostly dead space – an insert, rule booklet and 3 packages of cards. It struck me though, once all of the cards were separated, that the insert did a decent enough job of holding all of the included factions and base cards on one side, leaving room for 2 more expansions (at 4 factions each).
FIRST PLAY:
My daughter and I were first to try a game, before she went to school. Being only 7 1/2 years old, I wanted to learn it/teach it to her first, before having a full blown family game with the wife included. We decided to play until it was time to leave for her school, and see who had the most VP at that point.
I played Alien Tricksters, she chose Zombie Dinosaurs. I was able to capture the first base, really liking the combo of Aliens and Tricksters. I also delayed her from getting a base, by using Terraforming (alien action card) that switched a base she was close to scoring on, with one that would take her a bit longer (higher power on the base).
That gave me enough time to take one base for 5 points, and play an action on the new base that took away its ability. That ability would have awarded her 1VP for every 5 power she had on the base (she had the entire base, I had no minions there). That would have netted her 7 VP instead of the standard 2 VP for highest power player. At this point, it was time to quit. Very close game! Lots of strategic elements and things to watch for. Lots of screwage and trickery! I liked it a lot.
SECOND PLAY:
Now it was time to introduce the wife to it. She took Alien Tricksters, I got Ninja Dinosaurs, daughter took Wizard Robots. My wife and daughter were off to a faster start, but through smart play and some luck I was able to catch up mid-game. Score was 10, 9, 9. I was leading. Smart play like coming in SECOND place for a base scoring (for a base that awarded more points to the person with the second highest power on the base!), and playing Shinobi cards and Ninja actions that allowed me to play to a base as it was scoring, helped me come from behind. It was then between my wife and I, fighting over another contested base, to see who would nab the 5 points and take the game. I was barely able to take her out and slip in the win, before she would have played an Alien that brought her VP to 10, and caused the base to score (in her favor), netting her the 5 left.
THOUGHTS:
I really loved this game. Wife loved it, kid loved it. Folks, what we have here is yet another huge hit with the family. In fact, it’s so quick to set up and get into playing the game, I think this one will see the most play time of any family games we have so far.
The thing is, there is enough strategy here in faction and card combos, timing, hand management, and base abilities, that it’s deep enough that more experienced gamers are probably going to love this as well. It doesn’t appear at first like it would be a game with such depth, but there truly is. Someone left behind early on, can really watch things and play smart and make a good comeback, most of the time. I like that.
Drafting the factions in the beginning ensures that no one is guaranteed the “Best Combo” every time you play. It also makes for a very different game each time. Bases come out randomly as well, and have varying levels of “power” needed to score them. They also have (most of them) abilities that affect scoring, players turns, moving of minions, etc. And not always, as I described above, is it best to come in FIRST place… you have to pay attention to the bases on the table!
More factions are definitely needed/wanted, and will only help the game. With a 4 player game, there is the chance that someone ends up with a faction combo that isn’t quite as strong as some others, but it’s not terribly bad. Again, more expansions will help remedy that issue. The combos are plenty, the possibilities are vast as is, and will only get better. Drafting the factions (as recommended/stated in the rules) is how I would go about this, which may turn off “power gamers” who always want to go with what they see as the strongest/best combo. You can, however, get around THIS by buying another base set, and letting people be able to choose duplicate factions. The only problem here, is designating during play which ones are yours (but this can be remedied by using different colored sleeves to differentiate).
All in all, I can’t recommend this game enough. This one knocked Legendary out of the top spot for my family (even though we still play Legendary), and I can see it being a favorite for a long, long time.
Smash Up is game that I had no knowledge of until two weeks ago. I was looking for card games or deck building games that were not collectible. I wanted a card game that had everything needed to play it in one box as I’ve grown tired of Magic the Gathering.
As I was researching different games such as Dominion, Ascension, and Nightfall, I kept seeing Smash Up come up. Finally my curiosity got the best of me, and I took a look at what Smash Up had to offer.
Let me tell you right now, after one look I new I had found what I had been looking for. Smash Up has everything I wanted. A self contained card game, prebuilt decks, very simple mechanics, a number of themes that cover a lot of interests, and short lite game play.
Now that I’ve got a few games under my belt, I’m even more excited about this game and it’s future. So let’s break it down. Everything I like about the game and few things to take into consideration.
-The Components
– 176 total cards
– Rulebook
– Box with card holding insert
The cards are very nice and durable, which is important because they will be shuffled many, many times during game play. Also, all the artwork on each card is very nicely done with a playful style that fits the game perfectly.
The rulebook is one of the best written and laid out rulebooks that I’ve ever read. It’s very clear and makes it super easy to learn how to play this game very quickly.
The box and the insert are very nicely done. AEG has done a wonderful job by giving enough space for each slot to hold a SLEEVED faction. This is very impressive to me as I’ve seen other games not take sleeves into consideration when making their boxes ( I’m looking at you Sentinels of the Multiverse ).
-The 8 factions
This is obviously the meat of the game. The 8 factions account for 160 of the cards, and they don’t disappoint. The variety of factions is fascinating. You have Aliens, Dinosaurs, Ninjas, Pirates, Robots, Tricksters, Wizards, and Zombies. Almost any gamer will be able to find a faction that they can immediately identify with no matter their age. Each faction has 10 minions and 10 actions, except for the Robots. They have 18 minions and 2 actions.
The factions all play differently and give you 28 possible deck combinations. In short, Aliens bounce stuff, Dinosaurs are powerful, Ninjas are sneaky, Pirates move from base to base, Robots flood the table, Tricksters play tricks, Wizards use a ton of actions, and Zombies keep coming back. With all the combinations you’ll have a unique playing experience each game.
-The 16 bases
The bases are how you earn your victory points to win the game. Just as the factions, you get a decent variety of bases that are themed to match the factions. You actually have 2 bases per faction so to speak, and each base, except for one, has it’s own unique ability that is in play as long as the base is in play. So not only will you find awesome combos between 2 factions, but you will find awesome combos involving the base abilities as well.
-The game play
The basic concept of the game, called Shufflebuilding, is just shuffling 2 factions together to make a 40 card deck. This is both simple and complex at the same time. This game has quite a bit more depth to it than I initially thought. Any one can sit down with Smash Up and shufflebuild, but gamers that want depth will find it in the combinations of factions and how each faction works with each other faction. Not to mention finding combos that factions have with the different base abilities. And if the base game gets a little stale, you can add another set of base game factions in. This gives players different match up options because with 2 sets of factions, 2 players could both use Ninjas as one of their factions and so on and so on.
Now the game isn’t just about shufflebuilding, you have to play your minions on a base, and when the base reaches it’s breaking point any player who has minions at that base has a chance to gain victory points. Depending on the number of players in any given game, a base could possibly award up to three players points when it breaks. If a base happens to have minions from 4 players, that means someone isn’t going to earn any points. The first player to earn 15 victory points wins the game.
In my experience games will only last 30 to 45 minutes once each player understands how to play the game. Some games could be shorter or longer depending on the number of players which can be 2, 3, or 4 players.
-Replay value
This game has tons of replay value. With the 28 shufflebuilding combinations, this game should see quite a bit of play at your table. And as stated above, you can always add a second set of base game factions to add even more match up options for your players.
-Who will like this game?
This game hits a wide variety of players and game groups. It would be a hit for Family gaming, gaming with friends, any avid gamer, and even casual gamers. This is the type of game you could take to your local game store and get a game going with any one very quickly.
-Some things to consider
While this game is a huge hit for me, it might not be for every one. Sometimes the game takes on a role of “attack the leader”, and that can upset some people. Other times a player may fall very far behind in points and become disinterested with the game in progress. If your gaming group has players that fall into these categories proceed with caution. Otherwise, I’d recommend that every gamer give this game a try. It’s a solid 9 out of 10 for me.
P.S. Be on the look out for Smash Up Awesome Level 9000. The first expansion for Smash Up due out in April that will offer 4 new factions that should really add some exciting new game play.
One of my delights at the convention was AEG’s Smash Up. Although at first I thought it would probably be shallow (considering all the topical humor), I soon found out that it was actually quite enjoyable. Thanks to John Goodenough for demoing it to me (which convinced me to get my own copy).
Putting forward a new mechanic that AEG calls “Shufflebuilding”, each player chooses two factions and shuffles them together to create one 40 card deck of Minions and Events. Play consists of playing 1 minion and 1 event on a base card until ALL cards there add up to the stability or higher. The base is then broken, and players score points based on their individual power ranks.
The fun and strategy comes in the matchups. Each faction has a sort of “theme” that it does well. Zombies, for example, are good at bringing minions out of the discard pile. Robots are good at launching massive hordes of minions. And dinosaurs are just plain massive. No matter which two factions you choose, you can be sure to find new combos all the time in the struggle for victory.
Where Smash Up lacks complexity, it makes it up with fun and interesting choices.
I played Smash Up at AEG’s Friday night board game Extravaganza that they do at Gencon every year [ok so for 2 now, but still...]. I had a blast and got a copy right away [So I ended up with 2, it will make a great gift].
The game is sort of like deck builders, except that players get 2 half decks [each faction has a different play style], there are 8 factions in this core set, and you shuffle them together. This makes for some very odd sounding combos that can make for some fun times. I have played Robot Wizards, Trixter Pirates and Zombie Wizards. The game comes with 28 possible combos and AEG informed me there will be an expansion with 4 more decks, which expands that to [if my math is correct] 65 different combos…
The game plays fast and the only complaint I have about the whole game is that it should have come with some way to track points other than a pen and paper.
This is a good game for families, casual gamers and avid gamers like myself.
When I first heard about Smash Up, I thought,
ONE: The concept of just putting cards down to break a base sounded too simplistic.
TWO: Zombies, Aliens, Pirates, Dinosaurs, Ninjas, Robots.. haven’t we had enough of how “NERD COOL” these things are in pop culture?
THREE: Deck Shuffling?
So here’s the quick breakdown of Smash Up. There are 8 faction decks, Zombies, Aliens, Pirates, Dinosaurs, Ninjas, Robots, Wizards and Tricksters. Each Person takes two factions decks which contains 20 cards each and shuffles them together. They draw five cards. Bases are dealt face up according to the number of players plus one. You may play one action and one minion on your turn. When the total number of minions’ power on a base equals the base’s breaking point number, the base is scored with the person having the highest power total on the base getting the amount of victory points for the first place position (the far left number) and so on for the second and third place. The first player to reach 15 points is the winner.
So, the Pros: As much as I hate to say it, it is kinda cool to have a deck full of Zombies and Dinosaurs. The art is spectacular. Even some of the card names are clever. The game is fast and super easy to learn, which makes teaching it even easier. With the eight factions with multiple combinations of decks, the replay value is quite high. I have played this a bunch of times and still have not used a couple of factions.
Now the Cons: I still feel like the base breaking thing is short on reasoning. I don’t know why it bothers me so much, but it does. Maybe I just think that there could be some great explanation for why these factions are coming together and why the bases are breaking. The other thing that most people, including myself, have a problem with is the issue of balance. Some faction combinations are just too much stronger than others. I’ve played a game with Zombie Aliens and just mopped the floor with my opponents. I did just purchase the expansion, Smash Up: Awesome Level 9,000, but have only played it once, so I’m not quite certain if the new factions have fixed things just quite yet, but I can say that with the 4 new factions, if you are playing a four player game, the last person is less likely to get a faction they REALLY don’t want.
All in all, this game is fast, fun, and easy to play. I really do love when games prove to me that they are better than I think and not worse *cough* zombie fluxx *cough*.
I demoed this game at Gencon 2012 and then played two or three games with the people there. The mash-up of the various factions is very amusing (Ninja Aliens, Zombie Pirates, etc …)
It’s very easy to learn and we had a mix of players from 12 to 57 years old, all having fun while playing.
However, some of the factions have better synergy with other factions, which means you can end up with an unbalanced game. Zombie Aliens, seemed particularly powerful. Robot Wizards, on the other hand, seemed to lack any real synergy.
The Smash Up box is designed to hold a lot more than the eight faction decks included in the base game, so it seems obvious that the plan is to put out more and more faction decks. Once there are enough decks that everyone can pick out faction pairs with some synergy, the game may not suffer (as badly) from imbalance.
All in all, I enjoyed the game. I just wish it was better balanced.
Bought this game sight unseen at GenCon 2012. I tried it out that night and it was extremely easy to learn and fun. The game is extremely easy to pick up for anyone of any age. While I was at GenCon everyone was telling me that different combinations were the broken ones. As I played the game more I found that most combinations were actually pretty fairly balanced and a game could go anyway depending on the bases that popped up and the cards drawn. It has a high replay value too since there are 8 different factions and you’ll want to play with and against all the combinations! I highly recommend this game to try out with your friends or your family. Pick up a second copy to add more people to your game or make factions play against each other.
P.S. Dinosaurs always need laser beams
I have been following this game for a while and was lucky enough to be able to demo it at GenCon 2012. Got to get multiple games in and got a great feel for the game. Is this a game you should get? The short answer is; “Most Definitly”.
The game is very quick paces once you understand the cards and what they can do. Howerver with new players NOT knowing what they can do can present the oppisite effect and slow down the game. One of the beautifull things about this game is that you can stratigize your next move or just play what your gut tells you and either way you will have a great time.
The other reason I like this game is the cool combination that can set up by combining different factions, so you road to victory is changes every game you play. This also contributes to the replayablitly.