Miami Dice

[@KabukiKid]

I like the idea of Smash Up better than the actual gameplay of Smash Up.

[@FinnCanDo85]

+KabukiKid Same here. It's way too much work for what it offers. I really want to like it, but I just don't :(

[@AX5Terminator]

+DiceTillDawn have you played the game before? it's actually quite simple to set up and play.

[@FinnCanDo85]

+General Ivan Yes I have and I even own it (and 2 expansions, but looking to perhaps trade it off) I understand and agree that it is pretty easy to setup and play, but the constant calculation of the bases and the combination of card abilities and ongoing effects just make it so cumbersome to manage in comparison to how simple it is that I just don't enjoy playing it. I would like it to either make the effects and abilities much easier to track and keep it lighter or then make something much more strategic and heavy.

[@AX5Terminator]

+DiceTillDawn hmmm i've never had a problem keeping track of all the effects. I rather enjoy the math and reading compression that goes into this game. To each its own i guess.

[@MisanthropicPrime]

+KabukiKid I also thought the idea of smashing two factions together would be a fun game, but the execution of the design is too clunky, too random, and too unbalanced to be enjoyable. I gave it multiple plays, but it each time I always felt like the winner was decided before the first real turn of the game began. Some faction combinations seemed unstoppable, and others were completely counterproductive (where one faction's mechanisms worked completely opposite of the other, making the deck fight against itself rather than the other players).

[@elecguts]

If Tom had a mustache, he'd totally be Wario

[@thorny1]

Love smash up! Have only done it only two or three times but played with 6 people in teams of two with some house rules. Every player chooses ONE faction and they play with their teammates faction. All rules and play are normal, each person draws five from the shared team deck. However, only one player on a team can use their hand and no sharing cards or showing your teammate your hand. The big change is that you alternate your teams turn between you and your teammate. Adds a bit more strategy and planning and seemed to work okay as well as gave some factions that had anytime actions an upper hand.

Oooh, I was totally not expecting a review of an older game, awesome! I would enjoy more older game reviews that were never covered by Tom.

[@robertdunn4847]

+Sean Thompson But the thing is it was covered by Tom. Three years ago.

[@chrisnutt2135]

It is a good look back. There are a lot of expansions for smash up now, even though it doesn't feel like it since they all fit nicely into a single box. The core gameplay of Smash Up has thankfully stayed the same and every expansion simply adds new choices and surprises to the core gameplay. The only expansion that is worth avoiding is the Cthulhu one since the madness cards barely affect gameplay when only one faction in a 4 player game uses them. That's pretty good going for a game with 5-6 expansions out.

[@CNightmare072]

While there's a lot of good things to say about it, I think the best thing about Smash Up is that it has an insanely long discovery period. Every new expansion exponentially increases the amount of possible combinations. I have every faction aside from the Munchkin ones, so 34 current factions. 34 x 33 / 2= 561 DIFFERENT POSSIBLE DECKS TO PLAY AS. Because of that, the game feels fresh forever. I also agree that 3-4 is the magic number for this game. 2-player games feel incredibly different & certain strategies are a bit too overbearing. 5 players though is too chaotic; bases break before you have a chance to go.

[@BG_StuartJ]

I will frequently take one card from each deck, shuffle them, and deal 3-4 to each player. Then each player keeps two of the cards dealt to determine their decks. This helps prevent people from outright picking the OP combos.

[@AndrewKapish]

I absolutely agree that Smash Up, as a free-for-all game, is at its best with 3 players. And though I will never play another 4-player free-for-all game of Smash Up again in my life, Smash Up makes an amazing 2v2 team game. The first player to 15VP still triggers the end-game, but the team with the higher total VP wins. I think a 2v2 game of Smash Up would make a great Dice Tower live play. Maybe once you get your hands on the It's Your Fault expansion? I seriously recommend checking out this variant. boardgamegeek.com/thread/1247262/team-smash-2v2

[@martinjmcc1981]

When are you reviewing the New expansion?

[@skidawg22]

Still enjoying this game with all expansions - and have preordered the It's Your Fault expansion that comes out soon. I always play with random factions, even though Geeks is my favorite faction in the game, and have played with 5 and 6 players as well as the standard 3 and 4 (warning: never play this with 6). Also doing a 100 game challenge with this game, and it's going well.

[@skidawg22]

+Michael Czerniewski Just in case it needs clearing up, I do play with Cthulhu and Munchkin elements and just have them available when/if they're needed.

[@Ama-Deus]

i always put bases equal to the number of players to have early fights also there is an app to keep track of the score 'Smash-up Randomizer''

[@Informal_Geek]

Where'd you get the spider legs Tom? ;)

[@WilliamTaylorII]

The "pretty pretty princess" faction you scoff at is actually really good and has some really strong cards. And as much as I don't like Steve Jackson, I bought the Munchkin set and it also adds some good stuff to the game.

[@Monkeyb00y]

Pretty Pretty Smash Up expansion: Fairies, Mythic Horses, Kitty Cats, and Princesses. Amazing :)

[@curtisbean3549]

Love the South Dakota shirt

[@ghjk9592]

I've only got the base game tried pretty much all combinations of factions but i've become pretty adept with a Robot/Dinosaur team-up so much so when we do play it now on occasion certain people I play with know to take one or the other if they pick before me.

[@godofzombi]

It could still use more expansions. I'm hoping somewhere down the line we'll get Luchadores, Cowboys (Right there with you, Tom!) and Mummies.

[@johnblack3204]

I've played with 6 players before. It gets chaotic it but it's viable. For space we played on the floor and time wise it took about an hour and a half.

[@EclecticCamel]

+John Black I strongly disagree. 4 max.

[@thorny1]

John Black Have only done it only two or three times but played with 6 people in teams of two with some house rules. Every player chooses ONE faction and they play with their teammates faction. All rules and play are normal, each person draws five from the shared team deck. However, only one player on a team can use their hand and no sharing cards or showing your teammate your hand. The big change is that you alternate your teams turn between you and your teammate. Adds a bit more strategy and planning and seemed to work okay as well as gave some factions that had anytime actions an upper hand.

[@Informal_Geek]

My first reaction to Princess expansion was blah, but it got my wife into playing the game and other friends...WIN!! Honestly, ninja ponies was pretty fun too. Also, I don't like Munchkin but I like the idea of more options to choose from and turns out, the Monster/Treasure decks don't require you to use Munchkin factions and added real good elements to the game, to where we won't play without them.

[@chrisnutt2135]

Yeah. The only dud expansion so far is the Cthulhu one, which never sees play in my group any more since no one likes using the madness cards. Princesses, cats and Werewolves from the recent expansions proved to be big hits at my table.

[@Informal_Geek]

I agree with worst out of all. However, in a 3-4 player game, the Madness cards are fun. I think what hurts it the most are the factions...they aren't as interesting to mix with other factions. What's Miskatonic doing with Pirates?

[@shady610]

I've only played the base game with 2 players. I did enjoy it, but i feel it would be better with more. Also interested in playing other factions.

[@FatherTime89]

+Mario Sickenberger There's lots of expansions in fact one just came out today (they do 2 a year). I'd recommend starting with awesome level 9000 (it adds killer plants, steampunks, ghosts, and bear cavalry).

[@petemartin6488]

We usually just random the factions. Lay them all out and roll a d20 and take that faction and then do it again. Prevents people from choosing an "OP" combination. Although we usually don't play with the Cthulu factions because they don't necessarily play well unless other Cthulu factions are in the game. We've played with 5 before (maybe even 6), but I found it dragged the game out too long and added a lot of downtime between turns. Sam, you're missing out by not having the Pretty Pretty expansion. It has some great factions and who can deny that using a princess to hit someone over the head with a frying pan is a bad experience?

[@dabearz27]

Didn't you already review this?

[@chrisnutt2135]

They say in the video they made this just to see how the game has aged over the last 3 or so years. They are still very positive about it, in Sam's case even moreso.

[@dabearz27]

+Chris Nutt Why Smash Up and not other games though? I'm pretty sure the reason they did this is because Tom is giving Sam a platform to explain games on Miami Dice to try and get more views for Sam's other videos.

[@skidawg22]

+newkillerstar26 Also, the next expansion - It's Your Fault - comes out very soon. I'm looking forward to the review for that one.

[@NewTrollVideos]

Our gaming group takes one card from each faction, shuffles them, and then passes out two of them to each player so each game is completely random.

[@skidawg22]

+New Troll Cool. I use wooden tokens - 1 per faction, each with handmade Sharpie art - and everyone draws 2 for their factions. The tokens are a big hit among the people in my gaming circle.

[@FatherTime89]

+Michael Czerniewski I have assigned each faction a number and we roll a dice. If we're not playing with munchkin or Cthulhu then all factions are accounted for with a 30 sided dice (in fact with the newest expansion there's exactly 30 factions that aren't cthulhu or munchkin). If we are playing with them we use a random number generator app. I like your token idea, where did you get the pellets?

[@skidawg22]

+FatherTime89 Another interesting idea. My tokens were bought at a local Michaels craft store. The drawings on each token are done by me with a Sharpie.

[@logicguy37]

Interesting that Sam says he has no desire to play the Pretty Pretty Smash Up yet he loves Fairy Tale......

[@professormayhem3080]

There is just too much constant adding up of values in order for me to feel engaged enough to like this game. I want to like it, but every time I play, the same thing continues to ruin the experience for me (i.e., "Let's stop and add up these values to see if any of these bases score") Ugggh! it's too much. What a shame.

[@exiledsonofhawaii3934]

You should try camelot legends or blood bowl team manager. Less number crunching but similar mechanics. No shuffling of factions though.

[@EntropyGuardian]

I got a cheap bag of d20 from Amazon and use them to keep track.

[@Trevin_Taylor]

there are score mats for free download at BGG. game is really unplayable without them.

[@stormy7722]

3 player, imo, is THE only way to play Smash Up

[@Bundeskaiser]

I like it both with 3 and 4 players. I agree that 3 is probably the best because the factions are best balanced with 3 players (especially factions whose power depend on the number of players like Tricksters and Aliens). There's one main reason why I also enjoy the game with 4 players. With 2 and 3 players it's almost guaranteed that every player gets points as long as you can't prevent them from being at your base with a destruction or move faction. With 4 players it's easier to prevent 1 player from scoring which is extremely useful when a player is already in the lead and close to victory

[@cstud920]

WHY IS THUNDERSTONE DEAD?!?

[@xxtedgegimmerxx]

It’s called a deck building game:)

[@Raidre]

zombie/robot is the best, hands down. that isnt to say it can't be counter picked, but the counter pick prob wont win the game.

[@ZbjetisGod]

+Berd nah I think zombie alien is the best from the base set (but there are better overall with expansions)

[@ProfOfHifi]

+ZbjetisGod I think Ninjas are very powerful if you mix them with strong faction like Dinosaurs.

[@godofzombi]

+Berd Also Zombie Ponies. A late game Zombie lord followed by Aventure Power (Choose a base: Move any number of your minions to it) will break all but the biggest base in one turn. You might get some ninja's blitzing in to grab second place points, but you should still score some big points on the right base.

[@Raidre]

+godofzombi Zombie anything is good. Probably the only OP race is zombies.

[@godofzombi]

+Berd closely followed by aliens if you can spam the invader. Like with the timet travellers/ Time travelling aliens: It makes for a nice Smash Up combo and a good Tom Cruise movie. ;-)

[@CheshireKyle]

The only 2 expansions I plan on skipping at this moment is Munckin and Cthulhu because they change the game too much, for me

[@kirbymaster5]

The Cthulhu expansion has not aged well, or rather, hasn't gelled well with the rest of the game. The elder things faction is stupidly overpowered and the miskatonic university is at a loss if there's no other faction in the match dealing out madness cards.

[@chrisnutt2135]

Yeah. I tend to leave Cthulhu expansion out of the games I play these days.

[@butterscotch998]

+kirbymaster5 Elder things are very good. But they are at a loss if the opposing player is playing either a very fast combo (robots and halfings) that break bases very fast, or if they play against a faction like wizards that always have actions to spare. Though I do agree they are very good, top 5, but far from unbeatable or overpowered. MU is very good. Attempt giving yourself a madness, using it to draw 2, then returning it with the psychiatrist from the discard pile. MU involves a lot of micro managing and using your madness to gain benefits, but making sure you dont take too much that you cant return it with things like "Jinkies" Its a very good deck and is best as a supporting faction used for card draw and extra card playing.

[@Subcomandante73]

I played this once or twice, not much fun tbh.

[@FiLtheThriL]

I don't understand why Sam is so against competitive play of this game. Playing against people who are trying to win can be fun. We use a snake draft and veto method to pick factions. We have everything for this game, and we will randomly pick factions equal to #of players x4 + 2 ( so for 3 players that's 14 ). Then we start the first round of vetoing factions, then choose a faction, then veto, then choose ending up with the last person having 3 to choose from. This allows for people to pick counters or veto their opinion on the "op" factions/combos. The funnest part of this game is making awesome card combos happen. Two player games are fun to me. Tom doesn't understand that being able to get second place with one minion is the strategy of this mode. Feel free to waste your minions on this base to beat me by 20 power. I will get the same points either way. This is why there is more than one base. If you are winning convincingly on a base, then you don't need to score it. Throw some useful minions on a base to force your opponent to try and break it like Archmage or General Ivan. Forcing your opponent to waste their cards is what a lot of factions are meant to do in 2player Smash up. Try Super spy Kittens... it'll change your life.

[@EclecticCamel]

I still like Smash Up, but it def belongs on a top ten lists of bloated games (too many expansions).

[@chrisnutt2135]

+TheGreatHamEl You really don't notice it once everything is placed into the same box. Everything except for the Cthulhu expansion gels really well together. They are all different flavours of the same game. I would only call expansions bloated if it really slowed down gameplay or added too much that you never use. So, something like Dominion's obscene cardpool or the amount of modules added to Arkham Horror over the years, or the sheer number of AGoT LCG releases over the last decade.

[@EclecticCamel]

+Chris Nutt I DO have everything, and this game IS bloated.