Smash Up
Released in 2012 by AEG (Alderac Entertainment Group) Smash
up is a 2-4 player ‘Shufflebuilding’ game featuring a host of stereotypically
geeky factions from aliens and robots to the often conflicted ninjas and
pirates.
The artwork on the box, which itself feels nice and sturdy
with a vinyl-esque finish to it, is really good. Featuring an all out brawl
between the contained factions and a very comic book styled title banner. This
caught my eye the first time I saw it.
The rule book bears the same image as well as the games sub
title ‘The Shufflebuilding game of total Awesomeness!’ and the rules are some
of the most concise, simple and well written I’ve come across yet! They get the
rules across with none of the usual messing around and unnecessary fluff that
others are bogged down with. Some games, don’t misunderstand me here, benefit
greatly from all of the added blurb that the writers put in but it isn’t always
implemented in the best way, and this can make a slightly complex game into a
sodding mystery when you have to sift a rule books pages for the one little box
of text you need and find it hidden on a page that, at first glance, contains
nothing important or related to gameplay. As I said, with Smash Up there is
none of this, the rules are straight forward and uncomplicated and most of what
you need to know is written on the cards themselves!
Inside the box was a treat too. The inside has a
compartmentalized plastic insert, allowing you to keep your different factions
separated when not in play and with enough spaces to accommodate future
expansions, the first of which is out already.
The cards are very nice. Not the best I’ve held but better
than the average for sure. They shuffle very well, in fact out of the box they
are probably the best shuffling cards to date (and considering the main theme
of the game is ‘shufflebuilding’ this is a good thing!), and the artwork and
finish is really good.
The cards are divided up into eight different 20 card
faction decks and one 16 card Base deck.
The factions are Pirates, Ninjas, Aliens, Zombies, Wizards,
Tricksters, Dinosaurs and Robots. Each one has different strengths and
abilities and is divided into Minions and Action cards. Minions are used to
score points and the actions are pretty self explanatory really, they let you
do stuff!
At the start of a game the players chose two of these
faction decks and ‘shuffle’ them together to form one deck, this is the
‘Shufflebuilding’ element. This creates the chances for many combinations and
many random conflicts.
Based purely on the look and feel of the contents, and the
rule book, I would give Smash Up 9/10 so far. Really well made, good looking
and fun, and that’s before the first game!
Gameplay
Awesome Sauce!
This game is so simple to play and so fun! Each turn players
get to play one Minion and one Action card, or just one of either. Some cards
allow you to play extra minions or actions and even return cards from the
discard pile (which for the Zombie faction is one of the main points!) and play
said cards onto the base cards, of which there are one per player +1 (so a
three player game there are four bases).
Each base card has a ‘threshold number’ printed on it and
when the total strength of the minions currently on it exceeds this threshold
the base is destroyed and points are awarded to the players in order of their
total strength there i.e. the player with the greatest strength will usually
get the most points and the second and third less and less. Each base also has
an effect which is triggered when destroyed, such as allowing the winner to
place one of the minions back into his/her hand instead of the discard pile (as
this is what happens to any minions when a base is destroyed) or allowing the
runner up to keep a minion there when the next base replaces the defeated one!
The game is a race to 15 points and this relatively low
figure makes the game keep a great pace and stops the game from dragging at
all! There is a mechanic that whenever one of the players 40 card decks runs
out the discard pile is simply shuffled and restarted but in the games we have
had so far, the game is usually well over by this point.
Smash Up is a brilliant, frantic, fast and funny game with
the right balance of tactics, timing and last minute backstabbing to steal the
high points. I stand by the 9/10 and would recommend this as an essential for
any gaming group as an ideal quick game for any audience and skill level. Pick
it up if you can, you’ll love it!
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