Smash Up: Half the Battle (EN)

Smash Up: Half the Battle drops you straight into the golden age of thirty-minute toy commercials, those Saturday morning cartoons that sold just as many action figures as they told stories, and that stuck in the memory of an entire generation. This box adds four completely wild factions to the Smash Up card game universe: Pearl and the Images, the Adolescent Epic Geckos, the Rulers of the Cosmos, and G.I. Gerald. Just like in any game of Smash Up, each player combines two factions to build their own unstoppable deck, then sends minions crashing into bases to rack up victory points before the other side does. G.I. Gerald pushes things even further by introducing a brand new card type, designed to throw a wrench into its sworn enemy's plans. With four complete factions in the box, this expansion plays straight out of the gate for two, while still fitting perfectly with the rest of the series for four-player showdowns.

You'll probably love Half the Battle if you grew up in front of Saturday morning cartoons that felt more like extended toy commercials than actual stories, and if the idea of teenage reptile ninjas, pop idol heroes, or comic-book soldiers smashing into each other makes you grin. This box is also for you if you already collect Smash Up and want fresh faction combos to catch your opponents off guard, or if you simply want to jump into the series with a complete, ready-to-play set.

A nice mechanical touch: G.I. Gerald is the first faction in this box to introduce a brand new card type to the Smash Up system, a way to keep the formula fresh more than a decade into the game's run. Half the Battle joins a long tradition of standalone Smash Up boxes, like Monster Smash or Science Fiction Double Feature, that can be played on their own for two or combined with every other Smash Up expansion for four-player battles.

Paul Peterson, the original creator of Smash Up, is behind this fresh batch of factions, staying true to the formula he launched more than a decade ago.

Half the Battle is standalone: its four factions are enough to get two people playing right out of the box, no other game required. If you want to bring a third or fourth player into the fight, you'll need to combine it with other Smash Up factions, such as those from the Smash Up base game, also available at L'As des jeux.

BOX CONTENTS
4 playable factions: Pearl and the Images, Adolescent Epic Geckos, Rulers of the Cosmos, G.I. Gerald
A rulebook

Number of players: 2
Playtime: 45 minutes
Age: 12+