This post was originally two different reviews from the Opinionated Gamers site - which I've combined here to make it easier for you to read up on all the latest Unmatched news. In it, I review the three latest Unmatched sets as well as give commentary on the latest Unmatched news… all from someone (me!) who has played and playtested a good bit of Unmatched over the last few years.
For those following along at home, a brief reminder of the Unmatched content I've previously published on the Opinionated Gamers site:
- In 2020, I published a pretty massive review of the Unmatched game system on the OG… including a substantial bit of writing about how it compares to Star Wars: Epic Duels, the out-of-print mass market game on which it is based.
- Important fact that may summarize that portion of the review: I am still more than willing to sell my lovingly used copy of Epic Duels to finance further Unmatched purchases.
- In 2021, I followed that up with a love letter to the Buffy & Beowulf/Little Red Unmatched boxes.
- In 2022, I not only praised the release of Unmatched Digital but also did a review recap of the four boxes that had been released since 2021 that also included a Jackson family overview of how we ranked the difficulty of the various characters.
Which brings us to 2023 and my most recent reviews!
Houdini & The Genie
Let’s start with the newest Unmatched box… which brings us two new interesting characters with really great card art and impressive figures. The box also includes a new map (King Solomon’s Mine) that uses the same “secret passage” element from the Baskerville Manor map in Cobble & Fog – but this time sized for 1 v 1.
On the difficulty scale, I’d place both of these characters at medium difficulty. (For reference, other characters we put at that level are Beowulf, Ghost Rider, and the T-Rex.) The biggest issue for both Houdini & The Genie is deck management… many of their abilities are powered by boosts, which can leave you depleting your deck too quickly and taking damage in order to chase down your opponent.
As usual, the production of the game is top-notch (one of the hallmarks of Restoration Games products) and the rulebook does the always excellent job of laying out the basic game rules as well as the special rules relating to the characters (particularly Houdini’s “Boost Tricks”).
If you’re a fan of the Unmatched system, this is a must-buy. If you’re trying out the game to see whether you’ll enjoy it, I’d probably suggest the Volume 1 or Volume 2 box first… but this would be an excellent second purchase to add more characters and a new map. Reminder: with the exception of Deadpool & Bruce Lee, every Unmatched box is playable by itself.
Personally, I really enjoyed playing The Genie – the challenge of maintaining my hand and “lunging” at the right time with his extra action power is a tremendously interesting puzzle. Houdini’s escape power is impressive – but I didn’t do as well with it. (I need practice!)
A Peek Behind the Curtain
My sons and I were playtesters on the boxes I’m about to review… and while I’ve gushed for quite a while about how much I loved the prototype version of Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, some of the other characters were less compelling in the versions we tested. Impressively, the good folks at Restoration Games tweaked and cleaned up those decks – and these two boxes are by far my favorites of the Marvel Unmatched series.
I will note that playing with the actual miniatures, a full-color board, and the beautiful art on the various cards makes a palpable difference in your gaming experience. As solid as the basic designs are, it just pops once it has gone through the capable/artsy hands of the Restoration team.
Teen Spirit
All of the usual accolades apply for both Teen Spirit and For King & Country – the box inserts are darn near perfect, the rulebooks do a splendid job of teaching both the basic rules and the special rules for each new character and battlefield, and the miniatures are top quality with a wash that makes them pop (without resorting to my less-than-adequate miniature painting skills).
What really stands out in the Teen Spirit box is the creative thought and design behind each of the characters. Squirrel Girl’s manipulation of her plethora of squirrels (seriously, there are eight of them!) is a joy to play and intimidating to play against. (Yes, there’s actually a card entitled “Horde of Squirrels”.) Ms. Marvel is, no surprise, Stretchy – and that enables her to make attacks up to 2 spaces away and get a free move at the beginning of each turn. Cloak & Dagger are a symbiotic team (again, no surprise if you read the comic books and/or watched the TV show) that need to balance their attacks and damage taken to be at peak effectiveness.
Difficulty-wise, I’d put Ms. Marvel and Squirrel Girl at medium difficulty (I’ll post our current version of our difficulty ratings at the end of this post) and Cloak & Dagger at the top end of challenging (due to how easily you can mis-balance their play and end up in trouble).
If I was forced to pick only one of the Marvel boxes, this would be it for me – I like the Navy Pier map, the Battlefield items feel helpful without being over-powerful, and the mix of characters is really great.
For King & Country
Yadda yadda yadda box insert yadda rulebook quality yadda gorgeous miniatures. (In other words, just imagine I’m saying the same very kind things about For King & Country that I did about Teen Spirit.)
Once again, the creative nature of the character design is what makes this box shine. Black Panther has the ability to suck in enemy character cards (his Vibranium Suit) and use their boost value to power his own attacks. Winter Soldier has to struggle with powerful cards that also contain negative effects due to the lingering fallout from his programming by the Soviets. And Black Widow has mission cards in her deck that have particular requirements that must be met before they can be played.
On the difficulty spectrum, I find Black Widow incredibly satisfying but very tricky to play well, while Black Panther is easier to play and Winter Soldier is a medium difficulty character.
This would be my #2 Marvel box – these were the characters I was concerned about after our playtests that the Restoration team tuned up really well. I’m less a fan of the Helicarrier battlefield… I think it slightly favors ranged characters – but I can (and am often) proven wrong about these things. Just ask my sons.
The Wisdom of Crowds
Difficulty rankings for the various characters… courtesy of Mark Jackson & sons (and Owen, my younger son’s friend who has developed a major obsession with Unmatched: Battle of Legends) – in total, the four of us have easily played Unmatched 400-500 times.
Bad News / Good News Ping Pong
Let’s start with the bad news… Restoration Games announced on February 13th, 2023 that they are putting two Unmatched sets “into the vault” – Cobble & Fog and Robin Hood vs. Bigfoot. Both of these sets will not be reprinted when the current stock runs out.
“With the success of the line and its continual growth, we find ourselves with an ever more crowded roster,” said Restoration Games owner, Justin D. Jacobson. “This, in turn, presents challenges for our retailer partners in deciding what to order and for our customers in deciding what to buy. By putting these titles in the vault, we can give more focus to our active and upcoming sets.”
The good news? On Twitter, Justin clarified that “vaulting” these sets was more like the old Disney film/VHS system, where something could come back out of the vault. That said, there’s no promise that the boxes will return to print – just that they are not permanently shelved.
The ping pong game continues with more bad news – though this information wasn’t entirely a surprise. Due to the expiration of publication rights, the Restoration Games Unmatched vault already contains the Jurassic Park, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Deadpool, and Bruce Lee sets.
Ready for more good news? The press release also mentions that there are FIVE new sets coming in 2023 and 2024, including an unannounced licensed property. (And I’ll note that one of the unannounced sets we helped playtest was a delight, so there’s even more to be happy about!)
So, if you’re interested in picking up Robin Hood vs. Bigfoot (my pick for least expensive solid intro box to the game – what with two great characters and two maps) or Cobble & Fog (the box with the trickiest figures to play well – great for gamer-y types), I’d go ahead and do that.
Note: I received a review copy of Unmatched: Buffy, For King & Country, and Teen Spirit… the rest of my Unmatched collection was purchased with my hard-earned cash. Which reminds me – anyone want to buy my copy of Epic Duels?
Also note: there’s a new (announced) box coming – Marvel: Brains & Brawn – that we playtested and enjoyed. A Restoration Fireside chat video a couple of weeks ago shared that it will be available to order on their website on June 15 - which means it is already there! The cooperative Unmatched: Tales to Amaze! is due out early this fall… with at least 5 more Unmatched boxes in the pipeline. (One of which we’ve playtested and loved.)
No comments:
Post a Comment