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The latest expansion in Alderac Entertainment Groups flagship series. They now present Smash Up – Excellent Movies, Dudes! I’m thrilled they have jumped back on to their more traditional way of expanding the game with lookalike factions to some recognisable (but not the same) characters from the world of fiction. I’ve always appreciated the humour from this style of faction and I’ve been very impressed with their interpretation of some 80’s favourites.
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 Excellent Movies, Dudes bring to the series?
Action Heroes
A new set of almighty power 5 minions like the Avengers and the Princesses from previous sets. This faction sees some of those 80’s legends get a run out now. Only 6 minions which means 14 actions in tow within this faction. The minions unsurprisingly at power 5 come with powerful “ongoing” actions that will have huge influence within the game. They are all about power and breaking the bases, much like the huge muscle-bound characters of the 80’s cinema. High explosions and mass destruction. They do not partner well with all factions but are incredible with others.
Back Timers
Another time travelling faction in the game series that utilise the new stasis rule (put a pin in that as I’m coming back to it.) Their strength lies in putting cards into stasis to bring out later in the game. A more classic form of 10 minions and 10 actions in this faction, they are led by Alex P McGlide and the Zany professor. Again, it’s all about how this side partner with another faction. Having not tried all the combos yet, you can clearly see again the Back timers will work a lot better with some than others.
Extramorphs
I remember the first time I watched the “extramorphs” film and it was thrilling and terrifying at the same time. That is what this faction brings to the game. 10 minions and 10 actions once again led by that ever impressive Hive Queen. They are mobile and relentless with a real knack of getting more minions into play. Kind of like their relentlessness in the movie. I believe they will work well alongside most factions, maybe not the factions with high power though.
Wraithrustlers
Who are you realistically going to call? That’s right, the Wraitrustlers. 10 minions and 10 actions once again in this faction led by Funkman! They are quite a complex faction to use, probably the most challenging in this set as they focus on destroying your own stuff to gain an advantage. Like the Back timers they are playing the longer game to gain the advantage. They also have a bit of power operating in the background as well. They are an intriguing faction for sure.
Stasis
When I saw this new rule assigned I thought it would be more prominent through all the new factions, but it’s not. Only attached to the Back timers faction from what I can see. Very simply, Stasis involves putting a card in front of you with X amount of stasis counters on it. It is playing a minion or action with the ability to put the card into stasis. At the start of each subsequent turn take a stasis counter off each card with stasis counters on it, and when you take the final stasis counter off a card, you can play that card as an extra card to the normal turn allowance. There are a few more rules to it than this, but that is the general synopsis and you can imagine the onslaught of cards from this faction later in the game. It’s a nice new additional rule.
Alderac Entertainment group have successfully done it again bringing new styles of faction to the game again. It is mightily impressive how they keep tweaking their own mechanics to bring new variations to the game, given how much content they have already produced and the fact that the new factions seamlessly fit in with all the existing content to date. I’m in awe of it and they do have me well and truly hooked to this game series.
Final Thoughts
Excellent Movies, Dudes is another fantastic edition to this amazing game series of Smash Up. I’m a huge fan again of this expansion set. I love the theme tipping the hat to some 80’s sci fi classics. I cannot see any fan of Smash Up being disappointed with this addition.
