Expansion Review – Smash Up: Excellent Movies, Dudes!

Hey there, it’s been a while!

I mean, it’s been a while since you’ve seen a Smash Up review from me, not since you’ve seen anything from me.

Unless you haven’t been visiting this blog at all, in which case I am now sad.

But welcoming to a new visitor!

I am a child of the 80s. Those were my formative teenage years, so I love so much of the media and music that was going on in it (and much of it that I don’t love, but we won’t go there).

Paul Peterson and the folks at Alderac Entertainment Group decided to come out with the perfect Smash Up expansion for me!

Ok, that probably wasn’t their intent, but it still worked out really well.

Excellent Movies, Dudes! is the…ok, I’ve lost count…let’s just say next expansion in the whole Smash Up saga, and it is chock full of 80s movies references.

(The Smash Up wiki says that this is the 21st expansion)

The expansion comes with four new factions along with more power/VP tokens and some new tokens, called “Stasis” tokens.

The artwork varies, so I’ll mention that with each faction.

Here they are in brief before we continue:

• Action Heroes (80s Action Movies)
• Backtimers (Back to the Future)
• Extramorphs (Aliens)
• Wraithrustlers (Ghostbusters)

I’ll admit up front that, while I am somewhat familiar with it, I have never seen a Ghostbusters movie.

Yes, get your shocked face going…there you go.

However, I still appreciated all the references.

How are they?

Let’s take a look.

If you want an explanation for how Smash Up plays, check out my review of the base game.

Let’s start with the Action Heroes because Stallone’s kind of giving me the side-eye.

Artist: Francisco Rico Torres

The Action Heroes faction is based, as previously mentioned, on the action hero movies of the 80s.

Their specialty is that they like to be alone.

Take a look at Gracie Bones, above. If she’s the only minion you have at a base, you can place a +1 power counter on her give it an additional +1 power counter for each one that’s already on there.

That can ramp up quickly!

Quickly enough to make it useful?

It’s hard to say.

All Out of Bubblegum (damn, I love the imagination of whoever names these cards) lets you bump up the power temporarily (even if they’re not alone!), which can help with base-breaking.

The Final Stand action is incredible, though.

A special that lets you destroy one minion from each other player (assuming they have one at power 3 or less) if you only have one minion at that base.

Insane!

Robobro is a real pain in the ass to play against, as he doesn’t even have to be alone!

He gets +1 power each time somebody plays or moves a minion at his base.

That’s just incredible.

Here are some more cards from the faction.

The Kickboxbro also brings in one of the new mechanics for this expansion: Storing a card.

Storing a card lets you place it underneath the card to be made available at another time. For Kickboxbro specifically, you can use his talent to play an Action that you’ve stored there as an extra action, letting you delay playing it if you wish.

Not only that, but if he’s alone on the base when it scores, you can use his talent before the base scores!

Seems the right time to play that Trucker action that lets you move up to 3 minions to a base, right?

The Action Heroes are a fun faction to play, though they do take a little bit of planning since they get so much more powerful when they’re alone.

Still, even without that, a 5-power minion is nothing to sneeze at (unless you want to get your face punched in).

Torres knocks it out of the park again with the artwork. It is so good, and definitely makes you feel like you’re watching an 80s movie.

Is it just me who is amused by the “Hostage Rescue” action that would let you put Rumbro on top of your deck?

Would Rumbro really be a hostage who needed to be rescued?

Anyway, let’s move on…

Artist: Mad Boogie Creations

The Backtimers are based on the Back to the Future movie franchise, and they add another new mechanic to the game: Stasis.

I love the Sidelined Girlfriend card, because that kind of thing was so prevalent in the 80s.

But Peterson actually makes her able to come to the rescue! Unlike the movies…(or did she do much in Back to the Future II? I don’t remember).

Anyway, when you play her, you can play her like a 2-power minion, or you place a Stasis counter on the card.

What Stasis means basically is that at the beginning of your turn, you remove one Stasis counter from each card that you have a marker on. If you remove the last one, then that card can be played during your Play Cards phase as an extra Action/Minion.

For Sidelined Girlfriend, she not only lets you put a +1 power counter on another minion when she comes out of Stasis, but she also gets a +1 power counter herself.

Impressive!

A lot of the faction’s other cards are built around the Stasis markers, either allowing you to put a card (or two!) in Stasis (wow, I cannot type “Stasis” in one try for the life of me), or maybe remove Stasis counters to get your cards out even faster.

What Stasis basically does is allow you to flood a base (or flood a bunch of actions) with multiple card plays at a future time.

A lot of these will also let you add power to your minions, like Will Have to Do, which lets you either put a card in Stasis or place power tokens out.

The Zany Prof will help you move those Stasis cards out sooner if you need them…or keep them if you don’t yet.

That’s pretty much the whole thing with Backtimers – manipulating when you want to play certain cards.

It’s a really interesting, but also incredibly fiddly mechanic.

Until you get into the habit of removing a Stasis counter each turn (ever since I said I haven’t been able to type that word in one try, I’ve been able to…), there will be a lot of “oh, I forgot to remove these markers. I guess I’d better play this card now! Let me rethink what I was going to do…” moments.

Consider this a qualified “this is a great faction,” with that caveat. If you don’t like fiddly factions, give this one a miss.

Artist: Gong Studios

Extramorphs have a lot of cards that use the “Play off the top of your deck” mechanic, first used (I think) in the Penguins micro-expansion faction.

Essentially, when you do that, you reveal cards from the top of your deck until the minion you are looking for is revealed. Then that minion is played out as an extra minion. You then shuffle your deck.

If you didn’t find the minion type you were looking for before the end of your deck, that’s it. No shuffling your discard pile into your deck.

For example, the Head Grabber (wow, what evocative Alien artwork!) lets you destroy the minion that it’s on (power 3 or less) to then let you play a minion of power less than 4 off the top of your deck.

If you have nothing but Action Heroes in your deck, that’s too bad!

You also have to choose the power, so you better know your deck, at least a little bit. If you don’t have any 4-power minions in your factions, don’t choose 4 as your power.

The Chestbreaker minion basically does the same thing except you put that minion at the bottom of your deck and power you choose is either 3 or 4.

There is a little movement in this faction, with the Extradrone, which also lets you move another player’s minion as well. Also, if you play it off the top of your deck, it will be a 4-power minion rather than a 3-power minion.

Not too shabby!

I also made good use of the Nuke From Orbit base action to destroy a base where an opponent was building up an Action Hero dominance, and it was quite satisfying.

Destroying a base and everything on it is really cool!

It also let me then play a minion at another base instead of trying to concentrate on this base that everybody else was at.

It is a one-time use card, though.

These cards are also pretty cool, but I just have to say how much I love the artwork on the Hive Queen.

That is hilarious.

The Extramorphs are a fun faction with a lot of moving parts in it.

There is a lot of playing minions off the top of the deck, a lot of replacing minions, a little bit of minion destruction, and just a dash of moving minions around to.

It’s a literal smorgasbord of mechanics!

That does make it feel a bit disjointed, but overall it’s a decent faction.

Artist: Gong Studios

Obviously based on the Ghostbusters franchise, the Wraithrustlers are dependent on Base actions and destroying them to become more powerful.

Some of their base actions are called “wraiths.”

Usually they will increase the break point of a base while they’re in play and they will give you a special ability when they are destroyed.

Doesn’t matter who does it, but you know who you’re gonna call to do that, right?

Watson, for example, lets you destroy one of your actions on a base (sadly, that means you can’t destroy anybody else’s actions). If it’s a wraith, then you will get that ability (so for Slimy, each of your minions at the base would get +2 power until the end of the turn).

Ellen is even better (she’s 4 power, not 2 power, so she should be!). She can destroy one of your actions on a base at any time on your turn to reduce the breakpoint of the base by 3. And if it’s a wraith (even if she didn’t destroy it), you get to play another action!

Sounds like a good time to play another wraith.

The Demon Dogs can be great, as they are a wraith but also let you store a card underneath them. If you stored a minion there, you can play that minion as an extra minion. That means lowering the breakpoint (remember that it increased by 3 while the Demon Dogs were in play) *and* lets you play an extra minion when the Demon Dogs are destroyed.

I do like Funkman’s special, just because it doesn’t have to be an action on the base he’s on. It can be anywhere on a base that’s about to score.

That keeps your actions in play so you can destroy them.

Another fun action. The artwork is pretty good. It looks really dynamic and ghostly.

Just like any other expansion, the bases for this expansion highlight the abilities of the associated faction, giving it to everyone.

So if you want to use Stasis counters but aren’t the Backtimers, the Time-Traveling Car is just for you!

I do like some of the synergies, though.

Ancient Crashed Ship definitely helps its associated Extramorphs because of the “Play off the top of your deck” mechanic.

But it also would apply to those minions who are played out of Stasis!

The Building Rooftop is an ingenious twist on its associated Action Hero faction, giving you a way to increase the VP awarded too!

What’s the overall word I would use to describe this expansion?

I used it above.

Fiddly.

Almost all of the mechanics are very fiddly.

The Stasis mechanic: fiddly

The play off the top of your deck mechanic: fiddly (you better get used to shuffling your deck!)

While the stored card mechanic isn’t really that fiddly, I also found it didn’t really come into play much in my 3 plays with this expansion.

Occasionally it did, but you really do have to work to make it pay off (or have the right cards at the right time).

That’s not a knock against the expansion, really.

I did really enjoy it and think that it’s a good expansion.

But until you get used to it, it will add to your play time.

And if you come back to one or more of these factions after a long time away, you will have a lot to relearn.

Just keep that in mind.

If you’re an 80s teen like I was, then this is definitely the expansion for you, though.

(This review was written after 3 plays with these factions)

Other Smash Up Reviews:

• Smash Up (base game)
• Science Fiction Double Feature
• Cease & Desist
• What Were We Thinking?
• Oops, You Did It Again
• World Tour: International Incident
• That 70’s Expansion
• World Tour: Culture Shock
• Awesome Level 9000
• Smash Up: Marvel
• Monster Smash
• Smash Up: Disney
• It’s Your Fault
• Micro-Expansion – Goblins
• Micro-Expansion – Penguins
• Micro-Expansion – Knights of the Round Table