Smash Up: Awesome Level 9000 (2013)

About this game

Featuring four new factions and eight new bases, Smash Up: Awesome Level 9000 – a.k.a. Smash Up II – integrates into the Smash Up base game, bringing exponential new combinations of factions and playstyles! Smash Up: Awesome Level 9000 includes: Killer Plants – Better deal with these guys fast because if you leave them alone, they'll grow all over the place...like weeds! *rimshot* Ghosts – Unlike in just about every card game in history, Ghosts benefit from having fewer cards in your hand. Can you be immaterial? Steampunks – Can't leave a good base alone? The Steampunks will add new abilities to bases to help your strategies. Bear Cavalry – What's scary? A bear. What's really scary? A cossack riding a bear! Bear Cavalry will use fear to drive opposing minions to other bases.

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Strictly 2 players — no more, no fewer.
• Rules load. At 2.1/5 this is a mid-weight game — expect a proper rules explanation before you start.
• Age. The publisher suggests 12 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.