Headed into GenCon, one of the most anticipated titles was a “Shufflebuilding” game from AEG entitled Smash Up. During the convention, it was hard to turn a corner or go more than a few table lengths in Hall E without seeing someone playing it; and now, a little more than a week later, it seems to have overtaken the gamer zeitgeist. Rightfully so…
Simply put, shufflebuilding means players will choose two faction decks and shuffle them together to build a deck. With 8 factions to choose from in the base game, this equates to 28 different pairs to play with from the onset. Though some pairings are, in my opinion, better than others, each set has a distinct personality to discover: Trickster Aliens feels different than Trickster Wizards. Likewise, Wizard Pirates feels vastly different than Wizard Ninjas.
To start, players draft their factions in a “snake” type methodology, meaning player 1 will draft a faction, then P2, then P3, etc. Once P4 has drafted his/her faction, the draft order snakes back around, with P4 getting the first pick in the 2nd round, then P3, then P2, and so on. Once players have picked their 2 factions, they shuffle the decks together and deal themselves 5 cards off the top.
Admittedly, there is a heavy “screwage” aspect to the game. Your minions will often get blown up, bounced, moved, etc. There is also a lot to keep track of, especially in a 4P game where you need to monitor how much power is on a base, tally modifiers, keep track of what belongs to whom, etc. Detractors of the game mention that 4P games tend to look like the component dumps of a well-known video reviewer. They also complain that, with modifiers and multiple minions on a base, tallying things up every turn can make the game feel too “mathy.” I will concede the first point. The game’s sweet spot seems to be—for me—with 2 or 3 players, as 4 gets a tad too chaotic for my tastes.
I don’t however, think that the game is too mathy, because everything is simple math. The highest you’re going to count is, I believe, 25. For adults, that shouldn’t be that hard. If you’re playing with kids, it’s also an excellent opportunity to practice adding and counting. The only time the game gets too “mathy” for me is when I’m playing with/against Robots and myriad microbots come out. At times, the microbot +1 abilities and stacking can get a bit fiddly to keep track of. I’ve remedied this by putting some d10 in my box, but I can understand if people don’t like doing that.
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| Plenty of room for expansion. (Thanks to GFBRobot.com/GeekInsight for the photo) |
Lastly, I’ve heard a lot of people disappointed with the fact that Smash Up doesn’t come with a way to keep track of your score. This was justified by some of AEG’s higher ups by saying that the inclusion of score markers would have upped the price for the game, and I can respect that. It’s not that hard to rustle up some d20 to use, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to see something more “official” included in future expansion packs.
Overall, Scott and I both greatly enjoy Smash Up. While we haven't played every combination of factions, we have seen each card dozens of times, so we’re starting to chomp at the bit for expansion factions*. In any case, Smash Up will continue to hit our tables with great regularity and we look forward to seeing how the game expands in the future and how it’s implemented on iOS.
And, for those wondering about the base factions and their specialties, here they are:
Aliens – Aliens are pros at bouncing minions back to their owners’ hands. Many alien players will also utilize the 1VP ability of the Invader to their advantage in addition to switching out a base with the Terraforming action. When playing with the aliens, you’ll be able to recycle minion abilities constantly. I typically like to play against Aliens with Robots (to quickly overwhelm the bounceback abilities) or Ninjas (to sneak in at the last minutes and not give them opportunities).
Dinosaurs – Boasting the largest minion in the games (basal stat wise), the dinos are simply BIG, and many of their actions will only serve to make them and their fellow minions bigger. Typically, I like to pair Dinosaurs with Wizards to allow for multiple growth actions on a single turn, or with Zombies to allow my actions to dig the monstrosities back out of the discard pile to break bases in multitudes.
Ninjas – Masters of stealth, I think I hate playing against the Ninjas more than any faction in the game. If they aren’t neutralizing your stuff (via poison, infiltrations, etc) or bouncing back to your hand to play more minions (Acolyte), they’re popping in at the last second to add 3 or more to the power (Shinobi) on a base and go from 2nd to 1st. The tricksters seem to be a good foil to the Ninjas due to their discard abilities which can yoink the stealth cards from hand.
Pirates – One of the most popular picks in my group of friends, the Pirates seem to be very well balanced. They have minions that are immune to attacks (Buccaneers) , ways to destroy or move minions (Saucy Wench, Cannonballs, Sea Dogs, Broadside, etc), and perhaps one of the most annoying minions in the game (First Mate). Considering their versatility, it’s no wonder people first pick this faction with great regularity.
Robots – The robots are your typical swarm deck, aiming to flood the battlefield from the onset with microbots (whose power scales with each additional microbot added to the field). Through the use of things like Zapbots as well, it’s not unusual for a Robot player to put 3 or more minions into play on a single turn. Though most of these bots are small, easily bounced/destroyed 1 or 2 power minions, the Robots can bring in the heavy weaponry (like the indestructible Warbot). And, just in case you flood the battlefield too quickly with one of the 18 minions in the robot deck, there are safety valves present in a paid of card drawing actions (Tech Centers) to replenish your hand.
Tricksters – I guess it says something about me that these little a-holes are my favorite faction. The Tricksters are griefers, masters of denial and resource denial. Many of the minions in this faction (Goblins, Brownies) will cause you to discard if you try to affect them, while others will outright kill off your minions (Gnome, Leprechaun) if they don’t think they’re up to snuff. If that weren’t bad enough, many of the Trickster actions are ongoing effects that cause you to waste a card to get rid of them (Flame Trap, Pay the Piper), or just shut you down outright (Mark of Sleep, Take the Shinies, Block the Path)
Wizards – Probably my second favorite faction in the game, Wizards don’t seem like they could win a game by themselves, but are a fantastic catalyst to the more outrageous combinations in the game because they enable you to play multiple things during your turn and/or manipulate your deck so that you are drawing what you want. Cards like Enchantress will make sure you have a full hand every turn, while complimentary cards like Summon, Time Loop, and Archmage will guarantee you have board advantage more often then not.
Zombies – Admittedly, when I first started playing SmashUp, I thought the Zombies were a little OP, as they won 11 of the first 15 games in which they were played. Having played more with my wife and family, I don’t think the Zombies are OP anymore, though I do hold the opinion that they are the most user-friendly faction in the game. Here’s how to play the zombies: get them in the graveyard as quickly as possible, then bring them back into play continuously. Thankfully, many of the zombie cards are designed to get them into the discard pile. You can do this slowly (Walker) or en masse (Mall Crawl). Once there, you can play them as minions will things like “They’re Coming to get you!” or even swarm a base with the best named minion in the game “Tenacious Z.” My favorite play is to pair Zombies with Robots to give a steady swarm of monsters throughout the game: Lead early with the robots, let them get destroyed, bring them back in force with a steady helping of zombie actions, then reinforce them with the undead.
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| Breaking a Base -- Zombie Wizards (me) vs. Pirate Ninjas (Wife) -- Pretty sure my wife won this one. |
*Through art on BGG and various posts by AEG bigwigs, we know that Ghosts and Plants will be 2 of the next factions. Also rumored to be in the works are Apes, Bear Riders, and some sort of Steampunk fun. The validity of these last three is TBD, however.
**Also Also… just in case Mr. Rowland or his friends with clout happen to be reading this, here are the top 5 factions I’d like to see in the future:
1.) Sharks – Seriously, they get their own week. They should get their own faction. I’d personally like to see “Sith Sharks,” equipped with Darth Vader style breathing apparatus to help them survive above water.
2.) Carnies – I want to pair a Ninja with a Bearded Lady. Ya know, just because.
3.) Chefs/Cook – Yes, I’m biased. So what?
4.) Spies – A picture was spoiled on a geeklist somewhere, so I’m hoping these are in the works.
5.) Dragons – Obvs.
