Card game: Smash Up

Smash Up is a hilarious game for 2 to 4 players. The main feature of the game is that each player's powers are assigned at random based on a combination of two factions that have varying strengths (and a few weaknesses). Unfortunately, there are some balancing issues, and some combinations of factions are quite weak in comparison, but usually everyone can have a stab at winning.
Aim of the game is to reach 15 or more victory points. The players compete for bases by spawning minions and using actions. Victory points are assigned in ranking order to the players with the strongest force (in form of minions and enhancing effects) on the base. Unless someone interferes with that ...

The Smash Up box in all its glory. 

Also nice is that one can each of the extensions of the base game as 2v2 games. We have not tried that option yet, but it should make for some very quick and action-packed games.
We tried to play with more than 4 players once, but it turned out that there is a reason for the player limit: The turns were too long to keep everyone invested in the game, and the table became too messy with all the bases. It was nearly impossible to follow the game and see who had which minions on which base.

The contents of the box, holding three sets of rules (the same rules each time, really), 16 factions, and 2 sets of bases (some were duplicated for unknown reasons). Oh, and there are some victory point counters, but a piece of paper works quite well as an alternative.

Setting

Pure craziness. Fight the Pirate-Cthulu Worshippers with your Alien-Plants while keeping an eye on the Dinosaur-Robots.

Timing

If I can remember correctly, we needed a 3/4 hour for a 4 player game, and considerably longer a 6 player game, which we cancelled in the end because it was taking too long. Well, house rules can suck.

Space Requirements

Each player has a deck, a discard pile, and a hand, but the bases and the cards surrounding them will easily take up a medium-sized table for a 4 player game.

Conclusion

Go wreck them with whatever faction combination you get!

Smash Up on Board Game Geeks. And Awesome Level 9000. And of course the Obligatory Cthulu Set.

Game review: Elder Sign

Elder Sign is a card-based cooperative game for 1 to 8 players. The game "board" is created by drawing cards at random and is constantly changing.

Setting

Elder Sign is set in the universe of the stories of H. P. Lovecraft. One of several supernatural beings (chosen at random or after agreement of all players; among them the iconical Cthulu) is awakening and threatening to destroy the world. The players have to search the local museum for elder signs to ban this enemy while being hindered by its creatures and worshippers. These obstacles have to be overcome by fulfilling tasks based on dice rolls. The players can (and should) support each other.
Fulfilling tasks is based on getting a task-specific number of dice rolls together. Certain events increase (items) or decrease (monsters/ events) the number of dice available, and players can support each other by 'holding' a desired result. Up to three tasks make up an adventure, and passing an adventure gives access to rewards like elder signs required to stop the awakening elder horror.

Timing

Unlike its big brother Arkham Horror, Elder Signs can be finished in less than 2 hours. Also, each player's turn is shorter in Elder Sign, making it easier to keep all participants engaged in the game.

Space Requirement

Elder Sign is based on cards, but the cards representing the different rooms of the museum take up quite a bit of space. All in all the space of a standard board game is required; more Settlers of Catan than Talisman.

Conclusion

Elder Sign is a fun "horror" game that scales well with varying numbers of players, so it is easy to accommodate even larger groups (up to 8 players). Its cooperativeness keeps all players involved even if it is not their turn since all decisions affect themselves. 

Board game review: Bang!

Bang! is an easy-to-grasp, quick card-based game for 4-7 players. Part of its charm come from the different roles assigned at random to the players, and guessing each other's role is essential for succeeding in the game.

Setting

Bang!'s genre is the wild west. The player represent different roles (sheriff, deputy, outlaw, renegade) with different characters (humorously named after infamous wild west (anti-)heroes). The roles except for the sheriff are secret, and victory conditions are dependent on the role, so similar to saboteur a good part of the game consists of guessing each other's role. The bandits have to kill the sheriff, the sheriff have to kill the bandits and the renegade, and the renegade has to be last man or woman standing to win.
Combat occurs by shooting each other with everything from a revolver to a Gatling gun.The distance of the players from each other around the table determines if they can attach each other, with a number of items extending or shortening the range of each player.

Complexity

The rules are quite easy to grasp, which can already be discovered by going through the rules: There are 2 sets (English and Italian), which use the same cards. Although some descriptions on the cards are in Italian, the symbols are unique and easy to understand for English-speakers. And probably Germans. Not sure about the last since I have spent too much time in the UK.
The rules are short, but apparently all-encompassing. Sometimes it is necessary to read the explanations of two skills (used attack and defence) in order to sort out what is supposed to happen, but these occurrences are rare and so far have always been resolved non-ambiguously.
The main complexity actually comes from the different characters of the players. It is sometimes hard to remember what the special abilities of each character are, especially when they are triggered rarely. Also, the character abilities are the main cause for imbalances within the game, although everything evens out after a few rounds.

Space Requirement

All players need at least space for 2 cars (their role and their character) plus an indefinite number of additional weapon and equipment cards in front of them, but this gets rarely out of hand.

Timing

A round of bang can be easily finished within 1 hour, but this depends on the number of players and how easily they can kill each other.

Conclusion

Bang! is a very fun game. Its pace is moderate, and especially the last two players standing can have an extended stand-off. An additional bonus is that it can be played even on a camping trip given low space requirement.

Game review: Saboteur

Saboteur is a quick card game for 3 to 10 players.

Setting

Saboteur is set in a dwarven mine, where the golddiggers are trying to get to some gold nuggets, while the saboteur(s) are trying to stop them. This is done by laying out cards with representing mining tunnel segments. The players do not know each others's roles, and there is a chance that actually no saboteur is present. They can handicap each other by destroying tools or blowing up part of the tunnels. Part of the fun are the random accusations and wrong suspicions until the saboteur(s) reveal(s) themselves by their actions.

Complexity

The rules are easy to grasp, and after at most 2 rounds of "what does this card do?" all players can concentrate solely on the game and finding the saboteurs - or blowing shit up.

Space Requirement

The creation of the mining tunnel maze requires a fair bit of table space while playing, say most of a dinner table or nearly all the area of a 3-man-tent, but since Saboteur is based solely on cards it packs away into a small package about double the size of a poker deck.

Timing

Depending on how familiar all players are with the rules, 3 rounds of Saboteur can be finished within 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Conclusion

Saboteur is a nice quick time-filler. The rounds a short, so there is hardly any pressure if one has to finish by a certain time.