The bringing together of two Smash Up Factions at the beginning of the game is key. The whole basis for the base control combat game is how well you can put two factions together and make them combo up where it counts. You can choose how to make that selection a few different ways. Everyone can either take what they want and it kind of works out, or there can be an ultra-competitive draft. There are so many amazing ways to play Smash Up, you just need to let us help you make sense of it all. Below is the list of all the Smash Up Factions, sorted by expansion and time.
Visit the Smash Up Guide for all other information.
TABLE OF CONTENTS: (01) Core Set | (02) Awesome Level 9000 | (03) The Obligatory Cthulhu Set | (04) Science Fiction Double Feature | (05) Monster Smash | (06) Pretty Pretty Smash Up | (07) Smash Up: Munchkin | (08) It’s Your Fault! | (09) Cease and Desist | (10) What Were We Thinking? | (11) Big in Japan | (12) That ’70s Expansion | (13) The Bigger Geekier Box | (14) Oops, You Did It Again | (15) World Tour: International Incident | (16) World Tour: Culture Shock
CORE SET – SMASH UP FACTIONS
Aliens
Return minions in play to their owners’ hands, instantly gain victory points without even scoring a base, and manipulate bases.
Dinosaurs
Play high-powered minions, boost your minions’ power, and destroy weaker minions.
Ninjas
Destroy minions and actions, switch your minions in play with those in your hand, and sneak onto scoring bases at the last second.
Pirates
Move around from base to base, especially during base scoring, and destroy weak minions, usually several at the same time.
Robots
Play a bunch of weak minions as extra minions, often with power bonuses.
Tricksters
Force other players to discard cards from their hand, destroy actions and weak minions, and make bases undesirable to play on.
Wizards
Draw and play a lot of cards each turn, especially actions.
Zombies
Discard cards from your deck, play minions directly from the discard pile, and retrieve discarded cards into your deck/hand.
AWESOME LEVEL 9000 – SMASH UP FACTIONS
Bear Cavalry
Move other players’ minions away from bases where you have minions, and destroy moving minions.
Ghosts
Gain benefits for discarding a lot of cards and gain benefit for having very few cards in hand, especially power boosts.
Killer Plants
Play extra minions, usually straight from your deck, play cards with delayed effects, usually happening at the start of your next turn, but that will give you more benefits as turns go by.
Steampunk
Play play-on-base actions that benefit you, giving you more power and movement, and salvage discarded actions from your discard pile, especially play-on-base actions.
THE OBLIGATORY CTHULHU SET – SMASH UP FACTIONS
Elder Things
Give Madness to other players, usually forcing them to choose between drawing one or giving you an advantage, force them to reshuffle those Madness cards into their deck, but on the other hand you have strong minions that are difficult to play.
Innsmouth
Keep playing and refilling your hand with the same power-2 minions and gain benefits for having several minions with the same name on bases.
Minions of Cthulhu
Play powerful actions and recover cards from the discard pile at the cost of drawing Madness cards or destroying your own minions.
Miskatonic University
Draw and discard Madness cards to use powerful effects and play cards that can get rid of them.
SCIENCE FICTION DOUBLE FEATURE – SMASH UP FACTIONS
Cyborg Apes
Power up your minions with powerful play-on-minion actions.
Shapeshifters
Copy other players’ power and abilities, boost your minions’ power, and destroy and replace your minions with other minions, especially from your deck.
Super Spies
Sort your deck, take a peek and manipulate the top of each player’s deck, force your opponents to discard cards, and play specials while bases are scoring.
Time Travelers
Repeat the abilities of your minions in play, retrieve cards from your discard pile, especially actions, and manipulate bases.
MONSTER SMASH – SMASH UP FACTIONS
Giant Ants
Generate a lot of +1 power counters and flexibly transfer them among your minions.
Mad Scientists
Generate a lot of +1 power counters, especially when one of your minions is destroyed, and remove them to gain benefits.
Vampires
Destroy weak minions and generate +1 power counters, especially from the destruction of minions.
Werewolves
Gain temporary power boosts at very specific times, gain benefits from minions with the highest-power, and destroy weaker minions.
PRETTY PRETTY SMASH UP – SMASH UP FACTIONS
Fairies
Play cards with a choice between two effects and mess with other players’ non-standard actions, especially play-on-minion actions.
Kitty Cats
Weaken other players’ minions, temporarily take control of weak minions, and destroy your own minions for effects, whether minions you played or minions you took control of.
Mythic Horses
Gain benefits for playing or simply having minions on the same base as another one of your minions.
Princesses
Play with a reduced number of minions in your deck, but with a cast of six power-5 minions with useful abilities, and support your deck with movement, card draw and minion retrieval.
SMASH UP: MUNCHKIN – SMASH UP FACTIONS
Clerics
Retrieve your discarded cards, usually random cards, and move your minions away after their bases score.
Dwarves
Draw treasures cards, usually from the treasure discard pile, and gain power boost from play-on-minion treasures.
Elves
Help other players with card draw and power boosts, while helping yourself in exchange.
Halflings
Draw and retrieve a lot of minions and play them as extras on bases where you’re lagging behind other players.
Mages
Discard cards for benefits, such as power gain, minion destruction, extra cards, and monster manipulation.
Orcs
Make your minions insensitive to actions and gain benefits for having more power or more minions than other players.
Thieves
Draw treasures, gain benefits for having treasures in hand, usually discarding them for the benefits, and steal things from other players, such as cards or VPs.
Warriors
Play and destroy monsters on bases to manipulate their breakpoints and gain treasures, and gain power boosts from the presence or the destruction of monsters.
IT’S YOUR FAULT! – SMASH UP FACTIONS
Dragons
Play minions and play-on-base actions that manipulate their bases to make them unattractive for other players.
Mythic Greeks
Get power boosts each time you play an action.
Sharks
Move around and destroy weaker minions to get +1 power counters and extra minion plays.
Superheroes
Protect your minions from destruction and morph your weak minions into power-5-or-more minions.
Tornados
Move all minions, move your own minions, move other players’ minions, even during base scoring.
CEASE AND DESIST – SMASH UP FACTIONS
Astro Knights
Play with a cast of ten unique minions that focus on drawing and playing actions that directly increase minion power.
Changerbots
Play play-on-minion actions, use talents to switch your minions between a powerful form and a weaker form with a useful ability, and move your minions around.
Ignobles
Give control of your minions to other players for benefits, and take back control of them when the time is right.
Star Roamers
Return your minions to hand for benefits, and manipulate how your minions are affected, like moving them instead of returning them or having your power-2 minions be affected instead of others.
WHAT WERE WERE THINKING? – SMASH UP FACTIONS
Explorers
Take a peek and choose which base will come next, play extra minions on new bases to take early leads, and move minions all over the place.
Grannies
Manipulate your deck, draw/play actions from the top of your deck and draw/play minions from the bottom of your deck.
Rock Stars
Collect Groupies, gain advantages from bases with high breakpoints, play and move many minions at once to break bases.
Teddy Bears
Play low-power minions as extras, gain benefits from the presence of other players’ minions on their bases, and play actions that neutralize strong opposing minions.
BIG IN JAPAN – SMASH UP FACTIONS
Itty Critters
Summon small minions directly from your deck just for their effects and return them to the bottom of your deck at the end of the turn.
Kaiju
Play with fewer minions than normal, but gain power through your play-on-base actions, destroy other players’ cards, manipulate bases and summon a giant freaking titan.
Magical Girls
Use abilities that get better the more minions you have on the same base.
Mega Troopers
Wait until a base scores to use all kinds of strong Special abilities.
THAT 70S EXPANSION – SMASH UP FACTIONS
Disco Dancers
Duplicate the effects caused by standard actions on minions, thus increasing the number of affected minions.
Kung Fu Fighters
Generate +1 power counters, drain them from any minions, even other players’, and destroy weaker minions.
Truckers
Transfer play-on-base actions around in order to move your minions, and mess with other players’ play-on-base actions, either by transferring them elsewhere or taking control of them.
Vigilantes
Play with a reduced number of minions in your deck, but with a team of seven power-4 minions with powerful and oppressive abilities, including hard removal, power boost and retaliation.
THE BIGGER GEEKIER BOX – SMASH UP FACTIONS
Geeks
Use your knowledge of the game to disrupt other players’ plans. (Previously found in The Big Geeky Box)
Smash Up All Stars
Draw and retrieve cards from your deck and discard pile to get your best cards out as soon as possible and keep them around for as long as possible. (Previously found in the All Stars Event Kit)
OOPS, YOU DID IT AGAIN – SMASH UP FACTIONS
Ancient Egyptians
Bury cards for use in the future and gain benefits from burying and uncovering cards.
Cowboys
Start duels with other players’ minions to get rid of them, and greatly boost your own power to win duels.
Samurai
Get various benefits whenever your minions go to the discard pile from play.
Vikings
Steal other players’ cards and gain power at the cost of placing cards from your hand on the top of your deck.
WORLD TOUR: INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT – SMASH UP FACTIONS
Luchadors
Search for and play actions on other players’ minions, especially Set-Up actions, as a requirement to activate or play cards with much greater effects.
Mounties
Move to bases where there are other players’ minions and buff your minions on bases where other players’ minions are present.
Musketeers
Chain a lot of extra actions that can directly affect your own minions and gain even more power, card draw and extra action as a benefit.
Sumo Wrestlers
Discard cards to gain power, move other players’ minions away from bases where you have minions and draw a lot of cards.
WORLD TOUR: CULTURE SHOCK – SMASH UP FACTIONS
Anansi Tales
Give cards to other players for benefit, gain benefits when they play or discard them, and give away actions that are continuously passed between players.
Ancient Incas
Draw, play and replay play-on-base actions that activate abilities that trigger each time you play a play-on-base action, especially on the same base.
Grimms’ Fairy Tales
Play with a team of several pairs of minions who can only work when they are together with their partner.
Polynesian Voyagers
Move to bases where you don’t already have a minion, gain power and +1 power counters from play-on-minion actions, and put additional bases into play.
Russian Fairy Tales
Replace any minions in play with other ones, usually random ones played off the top of their owner’s deck.
