So I have a decision to make. What am I going to write about for my very first post on SWN? I could regale you with some amazing list of my favorite things which, oddly enough, does contain raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Sorry, is the Sound of Music reference not working? Fine, I’ll try something else. I decided against some self serving list. I’ll have plenty of time for that later after I’ve been established for a while. As for now, why don’t I just jump right into things? Why don’t I talk about the new game I just got? No, my friends, I won’t be gushing about GTA. I’m talking about tabletop gaming, which is my specialty. This post will be a review on the newest expansion for a little game called Smash Up. Today I’ll talk about Smash Up: The Obligatory Cthulhu Set. ion to make.
Okay, before I dive headfirst into the new release, let me give you a heads up on the original game. Smash Up is the offspring of Small World, by Days of Wonder, and Ascension, by Gary Games. That is to say it’s a card game of battles between different factions of fantasy, sci-fi, and even literary creatures and characters. In Smash Up you pick two decks of creatures, shuffle them together, and battle for supremacy by fighting for control of “bases” which are represented by other cards. I don’t want to explain the mechanics of it too much, there are lets plays for that..
The question at hand is about the expansion and if I liked it. The answer to that question is a wholehearted, beyond the shadow of a doubt, eh. The core set and the first expansion are must-haves for every type of gamer. It doesn’t matter if you’re a hardcore table top gamer, or a novice. They’re fun and fast with a high replay value. The Cthulhu set has some truly unique and hilarious new ideas but, there’s always a but, it’s all very niche.
The core set and the first expansion have a plethora of interesting characters for you to pick from. You can have a robot zombie army do battle with your friend’s alien pirates while fending off your other friends ninja dinosaurs! My personal favorite combinations are steam punk wizards and plant bear cavalry. Each faction of creatures plays differently so it’s not just the same cards with different skins on them. Thought and detail were put into each deck.
The Cthulhu set, on the other hand, seems to have a one track mind and fails to add diversity to the rest of the game. It introduces a new mechanic to the system called madness and this only comes into play if you’re playing one of the four new creature types. What I would have rather seen was an expansion more like the first one, which just introduced four new groups. Hell, one of those groups could have been Cthulhu themed! But to base a whole expansion on it seemed like a waste. Don’t get me wrong. It is fun and has some really good ideas. But it just falls short of the first two and it doesn’t quite earn the twenty dollar price tag.
I don’t want to be one of those reviewers who can only sleep at night if they pick something to death. Let me end my introductory write up on a positive note. Smash Up and Smash Up Awesome Level 9000 expansion are games you just have to play. If you play board games then stop what you’re doing right now and go get a copy of this game. If you’re not a tabletop gamer then this is a fantastic first step into the wonderful land of non-video games. After you played them a couple times then you can decide.
Before I go there’s a name I want to drop. I’m a Warhammer 40k fan. I love Magic the Gathering, and I love pen and paper RPGs, as well as board games. Lucky for me I can find all of these at my friend’s shop. So if you are looking for something nerd related hit up www.gomythic.com/ , if you’re in Santa Cruz, CA you can stop by the store and say hi.
Thanks for reading my first post and stay turned for the upcoming ones. Winter’s Tale by Fantasy Flight is coming out and, speaking of Fantasy Flight, the first rules supplement for Edge of the Empire is coming out! So look forward to a review on that!
