30th Mar2022

‘Smash Up: Marvel’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

If you were asked by someone to head down to your local game store to buy a Marvel-themed board game, you would have literally hundreds to choose from – and sadly, most would be rubbish. With that said, I’m delighted to be able to write about a Marvel game that has two things going for it; firstly, it’s really good and secondly, it uses mechanics which really seem to fit with the Marvel universe. What game am I talking about? Well, it’s Smash Up: Marvel, of course!

Smash Up: Marvel is a recent (2021) reimplementation of 2012’s Smash Up from Paul Peterson and Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG.) Smash Up: Marvel is actually co-published by both AEG and The Op (aka USAopoly) and it is The Op who have kindly provided us with a review copy of this excellent game. Like all versions of Smash Up, Smash Up: Marvel is a pleasingly simple premise – and as I said earlier, it really works in this theme. All a player needs to do in order to win is to score fifteen points – which they will do by placing their character cards on bases in order to cause them to “break” which happens when the total value of all cards assigned there breaches the break value.

To aid them in this simple pursuit is the titular mechanism of “smashing up” two distinctly different decks of cards to make one – a mechanic described as shuffle-building by the box. In practice, Smash Up: Marvel includes eight twenty card decks representing the likes of the Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D, the Masters of Evil and the Sinister Six. Each of these decks has a particular theme or focus – some have more powerful characters than others, whilst some work with specific mechanics such as reducing the break point of a base or sacrificing other cards in order to score victory points directly (rather than via bases).

The real fun of Smash Up: Marvel comes when you take two decks such as the Sinister Six and the Avengers and then smash them together – specifically to explore how the two decks interact. In this case, the Avengers can field several very high power characters, whilst the Sinister Six have several cards that reduce the break point of bases. This combination means that players can force the break point of a base very early – perhaps before your opponent(s) can assemble a large enough force to stand against them. The Spider-verse cards, on the other hand, are weaker, but can often move between bases – sometimes on a different players turn.

In terms of Smash Up: Marvel turns, a player simply plays one character card (to a base) and one action card (if they wish.) They may also activate abilities on the cards they have already played – for example those listed as either Special Actions, Ongoing or Talent. Most Ongoing actions are passive and permanent – such as lowering a break point for the associated base. Talents are generally actions with effects like removing another character or moving your own and gaining a temporary bonus, Special Actions are similar to talents, but usually have a condition attached to them – for example when Miles Morales is played, his controller can add three copies of the same card, but only if they already have presence there.

When all players combined have played enough character power to a base, it will break. When this happens, the players compare the power that each one is exerting over the base to see who wins. At breaking point, players may have cards that cause the outcome to become uncertain (such as the Miles Morales ability I mention above) and so any modifiers or actions needs to be dealt with before scoring. Once that’s all done, whoever is exerting the most power will score the most points, and in most cases there is a points value for second and third place. Bases themselves may have modifiers and these will need to be considered.

Smash Up: Marvel scales for different player counts by adding more bases at higher player counts. The standard rules assume one base per player, plus one – so between three and five will be on the table. This works really well, since it means that the only variation is dealt with during setup, and players can consider all of the text on every base card once in play. Of course, once a base is broken and the players have scored it, all cards located there are returned back to their controllers discard pile and another base is drawn to be battled over. There are, again, a few exceptions here where some characters can move away from a base under certain situations, but you’ll come to expect and want to exploit that kind of thing after a few rounds.

All of this is presented to the very highest standard in Smash Up: Marvel. The box is small and has great artwork, whilst the insert works well and leaves plenty of room for future expansions should they happen. The factions are each represented by a large card that explains their play style and unusually, these are made from thick plastic. The cards in each of the eight decks are cut from thick, quality cardboard and even unsleeved, they can be shuffled easily. All of the artwork is done in comic book style (which I much prefer to Marvel games that use stills from the cinematic universe) and there is plenty of it to thumb through.

Smash Up: Marvel is a really, really good Marvel game and it’s also an excellent game in its own right that just happens to make best use of the IP. I would particularly recommend Smash Up: Marvel to buyers who want to purchase for a player who has the time and desire to explore the many different combinations on offer. I would also suggest that whilst Smash Up: Marvel does work well as a head-to-head game, it’s so much more exciting and chaotic at four players. Chaos isn’t for everyone, but it is very much in the spirit of this game, and it just feels that bit more thematic when you have numerous players contesting a single base and the fallout and debate around the table as it breaks. Overall, Smash Up: Marvel is a fantastic game and a strong recommendation from me.

**** 4/5

A copy of Smash Up: Marvel was provided by The Op (aka USAopoly) for review

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