Review Details

Smash Up: The Obligatory Cthulhu Expansion

Product Review (submitted on October 27, 2015):

This expansion adds some exciting new factions to the madness of Smash Up with four factions built around the works of HP Lovecraft. Of course, this is smash up, so the art and abilities are more on the goofy side than the usual eldritch horror game. Each faction has some interesting abilities though they do seem a bit similar to some existing factions in function. For example, Innsmouth residents are very similar to the zombie faction.

The most controversial aspect of this expansion is the Madness mechanic. Madness cards are given to players by various cards within this expansion and all of the factions are dependent on the mechanic for some effects. Madness cards that end up in the player's deck at the end of the game subtract from their victory points and can make a big difference. Since only the Cthulhu expansion factions can directly affect Madness cards (though they can be affected by some other card effects in other factions), some faction choices may be greatly hampered by Madness. This can be really off-putting so it really is necessary to make sure every player is OK with Madness cards before starting the game and removing the requisite factions and bases if not. This can be a bit of a headache but a bit of experience has shown that Madness generally adds more to the game than it subtracts and careful play (and decent draws of course) can easily work around it.