Smash Up

At Worldcon I saw a game called Smash Up. The box looked pretty neat. It was obviously a card game and looked pretty simple but fun. It caught my eye and I was interested in what the game can offer. Seeing AEG logo on it made me a bit sceptical about the game but without trying the game out I can't say if it is good or not. But the game certainly was popular. (unfortunately I did not take any photos of the actual game)

The thing with AEG is well... When playing AEG games I often get the impression that the game is unfinished. Each game has some flaws and things that one would think that should be figured out while play testing. That is why I'm sceptical about anything with AEG logo on it. But I like their games and systems and I wish that the games would be truly finalized and the rules would be 'complete' and without problems (AEG is 'expert' on handling delayed triggers). And you will experience some holes in the rules during the game. But just agree with the group how to handle that and everything will be fine. Back to the game...

So what's the game about? Smash Up is a shufflebuilding game. That means that each player creates one deck out of two 20 card faction decks. With this (shuffled) deck each player attacks enemy bases and earns victory points. The first player to gain 15 victory points wins the game. That sounds easy enough, right?

Each faction has some kind of theme and when combined with a different deck it usually can make it more powerful, but there are combinations that don't work well. In each deck there are Minion cards and Actions cards (it's usually 10/10). In the base game there are 8 factions. (the game has expansions, bringing new strange factions into the game)

One of them is Aliens. This faction is good at removing cards from the game.
Dinosaurs are big and strong.
Ninjas are stealthy. They can play cards at a moment you would not expect and they can move around
Pirates are also good at moving and they also can kill opposing minions.
In the Robots deck there are only two action cards. The more robots you play the more power you can get, they boost each other but well..that's about it.
Tricksters try to hinder the game. Some action cards are really powerfull.
Wizards are weak minions but they can play more actions or minions per turn or draw cards. One of the few decks that give you control over your deck.
Zombies aren't usually strong but they reccur. They are coming back from the graveyard ... well zombies...

After the players chose their decks base cards are shown (number of players + 1). Base cards have power, victory points values (will be divided in between players after the base is scored) and an ability.

At the beginning of a player's turn effects that happen at that time are resolved. Next the active player can play one action and/or one minion or pass both actions. Minions are played at a base. Actions can affect cards in play (one time effect) or can be attached to a minion or base. At the end of turn that player draws two cards.

At the end of each players turn the total power of minions at a base is added up. If it is at least the same value as the one printed on the card the base is scored. The player with highest power among minions at that base gets victory points based on the leftmost VP value. The second one gets the middle value, the third player gets the rightmost and the fourth player won't get anything. (The ability on the card resolves). The base card is discarded and replaced with a new base.

The game is very simple and can be taught in about a minute and it is a fast pacing game. It is not that 'simple' as it might seem. There are actually many interactions and the game is more about combos that can score a base in one turn. I'd like put emphasis on the combo part but not really sure how. But it is really great to see something like this happen in a game and this can teach a newcomer what can be done with cards and what kind of complexity a card game can offer. Anyway it's a hand management/resource game and if a player is not familiar with that he'll learn fast enough what it is and does not need to spend ages on trying to learn certain card game.

The cards are nicely designed, the card stock is actually good, each faction has its own theme but overall it looks nice together. The game is primarily fun as the overall design suggests that. The game does not really give much space for complexity but mainly this game is for fun and can be used as an entry level for either new (card game/board game)players or children (it is a fun family game).