Smash Up Core Set

Recently I have received a copy of Smash Up to review and over the week-end my husband and I have discovered this game.   The game is for 2 to 4 players but apparently we keep hearing or reading that it is better when you play 3 people.  Personally, we will try to tweak it have 6 players so that our kids can play with us.  We realize that it could make the play time a bit longer if we do so.   

The goal of the game is pretty simple – use your minions to crush enemy bases and the first player to score 15 victory points wins!  The game is essentially a shufflebuilding game where you select two factions which contains twenty cards each, shuffle them into a forty cards deck and compete to smash bases.  

As I mentioned previously there are 8 factions in this game.   Let me present them to you:

• Aliens
• Dinosaurs
• Ninjas
• Pirates
• Robots
• Tricksters
• Wizards
• Zombies

Each faction is composed of twenty cards.  You will need to choose two factions in order to play.

You will also have sixteen bases included in the game.   Before the game start, you will shuffle the bases and positioned some for play.  You will have to put as many bases as you have players plus one.  For example, if you are three players you will put four bases on the table.   The rest of the bases are put on the side for future use when a base if conquered.  Oh!  Each base also has a breakpoint that needs to be conquered as well as three value point listed on the card for the first, second and third.  Bases also possess an ability that could be done during or after conquest.

So the first player to play is the person who got up the earliest that morning.  Most board games have funny rules to decide who is the first player.   It had some twist I find!  Play continues clockwise.   On your turn you will play one minion, one action, play one of each or play none.  Once you have finished your turn you can pick two cards for your hand.  You cannot have more than 10 cards at a time in your hand.  

To play a minion, you will select a base and put the minion card beside it, facing toward you.   Do what the card says and move on to the next step.   To play an action, show your card and do what it says.   Once you have finished, you need to discard the action unless it has an ONGOING ability.

Slowly as the game progress, you will check regularly if the base is ready to score.  Scoring a base happens if    the total power of all minions on that base equals or exceeds the bases’s breakpoint.

When a base is score, the player with the most power on it is the winner.  That player gains victory points equal to the number on the left on top of the base.   The second highest gains the middle number and finally the third place gets the number on the right.   Once a base is score, all cards return to the discard piles of each player except the ones who have some special ability allowing them to move to another base.  Once a player reach fifteen value points, the player wins the game.

For the price of the game, you get quite a bit in it – 8 factions, amazing dividers, and 16 bases.  The game is easy to learn and play.  You should expect a game time of about 45 minutes.  This game is perfect for ages 12 and up.   However, I am pretty sure that my younger kids ages 8 and 10 will grasp the concept quite rapidly – maybe even faster than me…   After two games with my husband, I have yet to win.  However, even if I get frustrated because I do not completely get the ability that I need to do or simply because my hands is packed with minions with no actions (or vice versa), I persevere and I hope to win Smash Up one day.

Smash Up has also a bunch of expansions which will make you game even more interesting like Awesome Level 9000, The Obligatory Cthulhu Set, Science Fiction Double Feature, The Big Geeky Box (Essentially this is a storage box which allows you to store the game and its expansions in it.   It also contains plastic dividers, one factions and two bases.), Monster Smash, Pretty Pretty Smash Up, Smash Up: Munchkin, and It’s Your Fault.  And from what I have seen on BoardGameGeek.com a new expansion titled Cease and Desist is coming out this year.

Smash Up and all its expansions are available for purchase at your favorite game store, even on amazon.ca and amazon.com.

AMAZON.CA

   

   

   

 

AMAZON. COM

  

  

  

 

Disclaimer: Thanks to AEG for sending the above mentioned game for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this post . Please note that the post was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Valley of the Kings: Afterlife

Valley of the Kings: Afterlife
By Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG)

About the game

When you die, you can take it with you!

Take on the role of Egyptian nobles at the time of the pharaohs, preparing for their death and burial in the Valley of the Kings.  Using an innovative deck-building mechanic with a crumbling pyramid, players fill their tombs with jewelry, chambers, weapons, tomb art and other treasures.  The player who collects the most valuable artifacts in their tomb wins the game.

Our Thoughts

My husband and I played Valley of the Kings: Afterlife recently and we had a great time learning this game.  Essentially the game is a deck-building game but with a different twist as it uses a pyramid design to allow you to purchase your cards.   Let me explain.

After learning how to play the game, we decided to used our lazy Susan in order to be able to switch the play between the two of us.   We find that when it comes to deck-building games it is good to be able to have the flexibility to flip the game play between the persons playing in order to make a better decision.     So we set up our stock (which contained the level II and level III cards), the boneyard (aka the destroy pile), and the pyramid before starting our play.

Each player gets starter cards which are composed of level I cards.  You will receive in your hand 4 Shabtis, 3 Urns, 2 Boxes of Food, and 1 Offering Table.   You also get a Tomb card as well as a reference card if you need it.   In front of you, you would set up your area in whichever way you desire. 

The goal of the game is to get the more points.   Each turn you play you can do one of three things: 1) buy a card from the base of the pyramid, 2) execute the action listed on a card, 3) entomb a card (once per turn).  How can you buy?  Well each card has a cost which you can find at the top right corner.  For example the Sphinx has a cost of 7.   Each card also have value which allows you to purchase other cards.   The Sphinx has a value of 3 which is indicated in the gold area on the left of the image.   Each card also has an action which allow you to do something else.  Again in the case of the Sphinx the action allowed is to put the next card you take or buy this turn into your hand.  For this specific action it means you will be able to use the new card right away.  Also as you play and purchase cards, the pyramid will crumble allowing the cards located at the top to come down in place on the pyramid.  Once you have crumble the pyramid you can incorporate more cards at the top.  However, the pyramid will always have  only six cards.

There are three types of cards: starter cards (the ones you received initially in your hand), the unique artifacts (like the Sphinx, Ibex statue and so on), and the sets (mummification, jewelry, chambers, weapons, and tomb art).

As you play, you need to entombed cards in your Tomb.   At the end of the game the entombed cards will be used to score the victory points.     For starter cards and unique artifacts the victory points are calculated based on the VP listed on the card.  Simply add these up.   However, there is a different twist in calculating the points for the sets.   In this case, when you have entombed sets you have to determine how many different cards in each set you have (do not count duplicates) and then square the results.  Here’s what my tomb looked like when we finished the game.   So for my Chambers set (orange cards)I had five cards in this set which gave me 25 (5x5) victory points.   The rules also include a scoring example for people who might have difficulty in calculating the points. Also a quick note on our setting… My husband discovered that it would be more visual for him to see the cards stacked in categories so that is what we have decided to do but the idea is to stack your entombed cards under your Tomb. 

We really enjoyed playing Valley of the Kings: Afterlife and look forward to play many more games with it.   It is different than the other deck-building games in many ways as you entomb cards and purchase cards from a pyramid.   There is strategy in this game as you have to build set within your tomb in order to score more points.  Consequently, you have to be aware at what your opponent is doing and think before crumbling the pyramid so that you do not give an advantage to your opponent.     The instructions are easy to follow and very clear from what we have seen.  There was one time we wondered about the action associated with a card and we checked for more insights in the instructions book which provided more information about that card.   However, most cards are very easy to understand.  What I particularly like as well is the tidbits of historical information found at the bottom of each cards where you will be able to read about how the Egyptians used different things in their everyday life or preparation for the afterlife.  This game is perfect to wrap-up some studies about Ancient Egypt.  Thought it is mentioned 14 and up for this game, I am pretty confident that my 8, 10 and 12 years old would understood the rules and pick up the game rapidly.   They already play other types of deck-building games that are above their ages.

The best part is that even if Valley of the Kings: Afterlife is a stand-alone game, it can be mixed with the original Valley of the Kings to play a different game each time and also play up to 6 players.    We enjoyed Valley of the Kings: Afterlife so much that we will probably invest in getting the original Valley of the Kings so that we can play with our four kids as well. 

The box contains 96 artifact cards, 4 tomb cards, 4 reference cards and a rule book.  The game is planned for 24 players but it also include a solitaire rules if you desire to play alone.  Expect a playtime of about 45 minutes.

Good news for people who enjoy the Valley of the Kings games – a new version titled Valley of the Kings: Last Rites will be available soon.  In this new version you must hire artisans, builders, and priests to prepare  your tomb for the afterlife.  Again you will be able to mix this one with the two previous titles in the series. 

Both Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Kings: Afterlife are available at your favourite game store – even on amazon.ca and amazon.com.

    

  

Disclaimer: Thanks to AEG for sending the above mentioned game for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this post . Please note that the post was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.