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Alderac Entertainment Group brings the expansion Cease and Desist to the Smash Up series. Cease and Desist brings the factions Star Roamers, Astroknights, Changerbots and Ignobles. The Smash Up series is one of those games where you feel absolutely anything goes, and the Cease and Desist expansion once again falls right in place with this. Humour jumps out straight away from this set where AEG have created a lot of spoofs of brilliant sci-fi and fantasy genres. The factions are incredibly different and diverse in their play which makes for brilliant additions to the overall game.
There is not a game rules overview this time, please check out my Disney Smash Up blog for a quick overview. Something to keep in mind here is that you can only play a 2-player game with this set alone. Of course, the series is completely interchangeable with everything else Smash Up so you can always “Smash” it up with another set and bring in a 3rd and 4th player.
So, what does Cease and Desist bring to the series?
Star Roamers
For the science fiction fans out there, the Star Roamers are going to look incredibly familiar to a popular TV series and film franchise, Star Trek. The Star Roamers lack power and punch, they are not fighters which may sound odd in a game called Smash Up. Their strength lies in their ability to mobilise exceptionally quickly with teleporters and warp speed. This results in a lot of combined power from your minions being concentrated very quickly in one place. Equally, they’re very good a protecting their strengths and sacrificing their weaker members to do so (those poor “red-shirts”), they are a force to be reckoned with.
Astroknights
Another Sci-fi spoof and arguably the rival film and TV series to the Star Roamers, you see a spoof of Star Wars here. The Astroknights carry, blasters, laser swords and assorted robots to aid in getting you over the winning line. The Astroknights are primarily interested in power which doesn’t seem too surprising with the kit on show, but they have a few other tricks up their sleeve making them excellent companions to other existing factions in the game series. The humour presented in this set is absolutely brilliant, I love all the nods to the different elements of Star Wars that this faction brings.
Changerbots
I wonder what this faction is trying to be? Here we see a tip of the hat to Transformers with the Changerbot faction. The Changerbots are tough! Tough and mobilise quick which sounds a lot like the Transformers to me. Some of these bots are indestructible, if they bed in they are going to be tough to beat. If they are on the move and try to stretch themselves, this is where they become vulnerable and opportunities will arise to get the better of them. They are a very fun faction to use in the game and I really like them.
Ignobles
A truly brilliant faction brought to the game which has a Game of Thrones influence, particularly the Lannister house. They are cunning and full of deceit. The minions constantly changing allegiance (that’s right, your opponents will control your minions at times) but this is part of the overall strategy and will take a bit more thought in how you achieve the win. I can see this faction not necessarily working well with all factions, but they will be devastating with others making them an exciting faction to play with. Where care will be needed is they don’t carry a lot of power on side. This type of faction will be stronger in 3 and 4 player games.
There is a lot to love about Cease and Desist and that is four totally different new factions brought into the game. What is safe to say is each faction brings its own unique strengths to the game and also carry area’s that can be exploited by opponents. There isn’t the perfect faction in this set so the second faction each gets paired with will very much determine how effective they can truly be. Get the right partner and some of these will be unstoppable.
The artwork is always great but I love what they have done here for Cease and Desist. It’s not the films or TV shows but AEG have very much captured the essence of each, particularly the Alien Guru within the Astroknights, who’s that guy?
Final Thoughts
There’s nothing to be disappointed with in this Smash Up set. Cease and Desist brings four very varied and different expansions to the series very much enhancing it. It’s been a treat finding out which factions combine well with what I already have and I really think you will enjoy that as well when you pick up this expansion.
