Matthew BaileyA “not so quick” one ahead of an upcoming deluge of UKGE content.
A couple of years ago, I featured a review of Unmatched: Cobble and Fog and gave it a very strong recommendation. Needless to say, since then I have fallen down the deepest, darkest of rabbit holes with the Unmatched system. Here I present my overall review of the system as a whole, as well as recommendations for what sets to get if you are interested in getting into it.
It’s surprising that I haven’t discussed Unmatched in more detail as, out of the hundreds of games I have played, Unmatched is probably the game that takes up the most of my time. It’s not just a big hit in my household, but also the game that everyone plays in the board game club I run at the school where I work.
In its most basic form, Unmatched can be described more as a card game with miniature movement to provide positioning and tactics. While it can be played as a 2v2 or three-all-against-all format, by far the best way to play Unmatched is 1v1.
You choose your characters, take your deck, as well as a health dial, and place your character in a relevant starting space. On your turn, you can do two things. Firstly, you can move, which also means that you draw a card. This draw is not optional and must always happen whenever you move, which is positive but can also be a negative if you are starting to run out of cards. Secondly, you can attack, which usually involves playing a card face down that your opponent can then choose to defend by playing one of their defense cards face down. You can also use a scheme, which is essentially an effect that doesn’t involve the other player defending.
This continues back and forth until one player is down to zero health and the game is over. What really appeals about Unmatched is that while the rules are relatively simple, the complexity comes through the abilities on the cards as well as each character having a base ability that works just for that character.
The sets you can buy can obviously be used as standalone board games, but the real appeal comes with mixing and matching all of the various characters against each other from any of the sets, allowing for some very interesting matchups. This means that every game you play can be potentially different. I have every single set available (including the brand new Slings & Arrows) except the single releases of Bruce Lee and Deadpool, both of which are extremely rare and retail in the hundreds of pounds. What is, however, good is that Restoration Games have openly said that they are happy with the use of proxies as long as official artwork is not used. I have fan artwork versions of both Bruce Lee and Deadpool that we use alongside the main sets.
The real appeal, therefore, is the creative matchups that can be had as well as the interesting IPs that can be found in the various sets. Do you want to know what happens if Buffy the Vampire Slayer fights a T-Rex? How about if Spider-Man enters into a battle with Medusa? Or maybe having Dracula square off against Hamlet for a battle of literary characters? We know the characters based on the Witcher IP are coming later in the year, and as time goes on, I fully expect to see more and more interesting characters brought into the fold.
Games generally last about 30 minutes and it definitely has a “one more go” appeal. In the school where I work, I have about 15 boys who play this daily, and we have just finished a tournament.
Getting into Unmatched can be a little bit daunting as there is a lot to buy. Most of the sets are good, and I would especially recommend either of the Legends or Cobble and Fog sets if you are looking to get started. The Marvel sets are great fun and obviously will appeal to people who like the Marvel licenses, but it’s worth noting that these aren’t always the simplest characters. Equally, and this definitely appeals to me, some of the chosen Marvel characters are fairly unusual, such as Squirrel Girl and Cloak and Dagger. There’s a brand new set called Slings and Arrows based around Shakespeare that I am really enjoying, but I would not recommend it as a first set as most of the characters in it are quite complex to play.
I will definitely do a separate review of it, but there is also a set called Unmatched Adventures, which also has a cooperative mode but still allows the use of those characters in regular battles. This is an excellent set and would also be a strong recommendation for those new to the system.
You definitely can play this with younger kids; I have played this with Jack when he was seven, but it does require reasonable reading skills.
Unmatched has become pretty much the main board game not just in my life, but a significant part, bizarrely, of my day-to-day work. It is therefore lucky that the Unmatched system is excellent and extremely rewarding to play.
All of the production values are really high. The miniatures are really nice and everything is extremely well presented. I’m also pleased that the same style and design of the box has been consistent throughout the entire series.
I am not saying, like me, you should go out and buy everything, but I would wholeheartedly recommend you pick up a set that interests you. You never know, this time next year you could be having to alter the shelving in your workshop to fit all of the relevant sets on it.
