We Mix Everything We Can!

 Have you ever wanted to lead an army of ninja aliens into battle? Wizard leprechauns? Or maybe robo-pirates? "Zamis" gives you such an opportunity. It's a modern classic that spawned countless dopes and remains popular among players. Personally, I fell in love with the game from the first game a few years ago thanks to the crazy mix of settings and chaos that takes place in it.

ABOUT THE GAME

 In Smash Up, each player chooses two factions and shuffles their decks, each consisting of 20 cards. As a result, combinations like those described above are obtained. The goal of the game is to score 15 victory points. Points are scored for capturing the base. To capture the base, the total strength of the henchmen on it should exceed the value indicated on it.

 At the start, players have 5 cards in their hand. During his turn, a player can place 1 of his henchmen on one of the bases and play 1 action. If, after a player's turn, the total strength of the henchmen in the base exceeds the specified value, it is captured, and the VPs are divided among the players depending on whether they took first, second, or third place in that base. After counting the points, the player draws 2 cards, and the next move comes. The game ends after someone has scored 15 points.

WHAT MAKES ZAMIS SO GOOD?

 1. Great and unique illustrations and setting. For a game of this kind, a mixture of many factions is exactly what is needed. In my experience, newcomers are very attracted to the process of choosing and mixing two factions in the most ridiculous combinations. In the last game, one of the players got really excited about the prospect of playing zombie dinosaurs.

 2. In the game, surprisingly, there is a place for strategy. The D&D fan part of my gaming cell became familiar with the strengths of the chosen factions after a few turns of the first game and developed strategies accordingly. Indeed, some factions focus on discard pile manipulation, others pile on numbers, and so on.

 3. There are many combinations here and it is interesting to try them out. For a lightweight game like "Smash Up", replayability is simply a must. Yes, you will probably quickly decide which factions are your favorites and prefer to play with them, but if you stick to certain combinations, the game can quickly get boring. Even in the "Smash Up" base there are a lot of different combinations, and if you add 1-2 dops, there will be enough of them for dozens of games.

 4. Although it's almost filler, it's comprehensive enough to keep you interested in the game. The basic mechanics are very primitive: play 1-2 cards, follow the instructions on the card, score points from the bases, draw 2 new cards. But there is room for strategy and scrolling through quite complex combinations. And there are also a lot of actions, henchmen and special abilities of the bases, which you need to manage correctly if you want to win.

NOT EVERYTHING CAN BE PERFECT

 1. Due to the diversity of the text, sometimes there is an information load. Although the game is simple, during the course of the game, so many action cards, constant abilities of henchmen and special features of the bases can be used simultaneously (not to mention the potential possibilities of the cards currently in your hand) that you can lose count or at least forget about some useful possibility. Once you've memorized most of the cards, it gets easier, but the first few games can be confusing.

 2. The game has quite strong randomness. Although "Smash Up" is not as random as many other fillers, you will suffer from a bad hand at times. In one recent game, I had no henchmen for 4 moves in a row. And all 4 of my strongest cards ended up on the bottom of the deck. There are ways to deal with randomness in Zamis, but a poorly drawn hand can lower your chances of winning.

 3. Beginners will have a hard time. As with most decks ... but a person who has never played a certain faction is unlikely to be able to play it optimally right away. However, for many, this is not a problem, since players still receive a fan. After all, "Smash Up" is a frivolous and not very serious game.

CONCLUSIONS

 I consider Smash Up to be one of the best light/middleweight card games out there. Thanks to the number of additions, you will always have new interesting combinations to try, and even the fan base of combinations is enough for many games. This is one of the main advantages of "Smash Up": the factions are sufficiently different that there is room for various play styles and strategies. Another advantage is a wonderful (in my opinion) art. Among the disadvantages is the variety of text on the cards, which can overload the brain or at least distract. Especially beginners. In addition, an unsuccessfully drawn hand significantly reduces your chances of winning. But as far as I'm concerned, these flaws don't detract from the fanfare you can get from Smash Up.

USEFUL LINKS

Batch on the BGG portal

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/122522/smash

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