We independently review everything we recommend. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more With its relatively simple base gameplay, Smash Up offers fast-paced gaming sessions for up to four players which see each participant compete against each other to crush more Bases than their opponents.
This is done with the help of a deck of cards containing different “suits” from multiple factions. Each faction has different abilities, like the pirates who move the cards, or the zombies, who bring them back from the discard pile.
However, Smash Up’s relatively simple playstyle might not be enough for some players. Fortunately, the game offers a ton of expansions to help them spice up each gaming session, so here we’ve compiled a list of the best Smash Up expansions.
List of Smash Up Expansions
- Smash Up Base Game
- Smash Up Awesome Level 9000
- Smash Up The Obligatory Cthulhu Set
- Smash Up Science Fiction Double Feature
- Smash Up Pretty Pretty
- Smash Up It’s Your Fault
- Smash Up Cease & Desist
- Smash Up What Were We Thinking?
- Smash Up Big in Japan
- Smash Up That 70s Expansion
- Smash Up Bigger Geekier Box
- Smash Up World Tour International Incident
- Smash Up Excellent Movies, Dudes!
- Smash Up World Tour Culture Shock
- Smash Up 10th Anniversary Set
- Smash Up Teens
- Smash up Titans Pack
- Smash Up Penguins
- Smash Up Goblins
- Smash Up Knights of the Round Table
- Smash Up Oops You Did It Again
- Marvel Smash Up
- Disney Smash Up
Smash Up Base Game
In essence, the game is a deck builder or roster builder. Players need to have the most power on the basis of their minions when the base is broken. Said minions come from a total of eight factions – pirates, zombies, ninjas, robots, dinosaurs, wizards, tricksters, and aliens, although only two of these factions are in play at once. Their respective decks are combined into one comprising a total of 40 cards and each faction’s minions have their own abilities.
We’ve already talked about some of them, but let’s summarize everything again:
- Pirates – move things around the table
- Ninjas – can steam various things from opponents
- Zombies – can return from the discard pile
- Robots – are able to make more of themselves
- Dinosaurs – excel in raw power
- Wizards – can let players get the exact cards they need in a situation
- Tricksters – make it difficult for your opponents
- Aliens – move enemy minions back to their player’s hands and manipulate Base cards
Players will use these cards to score different Bases on the maps which would give them Victory Points (VPs) at the end of each round. If anyone has 15 VPs or more at the end of a round, then the player with the most VPs wins! If two or more participants have the exact number of points, then the game continues until one player has the most points. Remember to check your score at the end of each round!
Buy Smash Up base game on Amazon US / Amazon UK
Smash Up Awesome Level 9000
With the basics of the game explained, we can move on to the first of our list of Smash Up expansions – Awesome Level 9000. Also sometimes called Smash Up II, this expansion integrates seamlessly into the base game and brings four new factions to the table, which are:
- Steampunks – they use their engineering prowess to upgrade the bases, giving them new abilities
- Killer Plants – they can grow very fast if they are not checked in time
- Ghosts – have different abilities which actually benefit from the player having fewer cards in their hands
- Bear Cavalry – if normal cavalry is strong, then Cossacks riding bears is stronger. They can drive opposing minions to other bases
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Smash Up The Obligatory Cthulhu Set
One of the bigger Smash Up expansions, this one brings a total of eight new bases alongside its four factions. As you might expect, it’s themed around Lovecraftian horrors and the various places they are manifested. The expansion’s factions are as follows:
- Eldar Things – manifestations of Cthulhu itself, you can use them to terrorize opponents into Madness, which would hinder their minion’s abilities
- Innsmouth – the residents of this quiet New England coastal town may seem rather weak at first, but they can “bubble up” from the depths en masse, essentially giving players a big boost with many cards flowing into their control at once
- Minions of Cthulhu – make big use of the madness cards, which are a specific mechanic for this expansion
- Miskatonic University – another faction that critically uses the Madness cards, this time allowing players to draw and discard them at will
Buy Smash Up The Obligatory Cthulhu Set on Amazon US / Amazon UK
Smash Up Science Fiction Double Feature
A nod to mid-20th-century science fiction, this expansion features eight more bases and four factions inspired by retro sci-fi. Cyborg Apes can upgrade minions with powerful enhancements. Meanwhile, Shapeshifters can take samples of the most powerful creatures and warriors they can find to copy into both enemy and friendly minions and use their skills.
On the more human side, we have Time Travelers, who are seemingly one of the few who realize how strange the world has become considering pirates are intermingling with dinosaurs, wizards, and robots from the future. Time Travelers are a somewhat complicated faction but allow players a lot of flexibility on how and when to score Bases or use different skills.
Rounding out this expansion’s roster are Super Spies, who can discover various abilities that allow players to foil the plans of their opponents.
Buy Smash Up Science Fiction Double Feature on Amazon US / Amazon UK
Smash Up Pretty Pretty
So far we’ve had various factions ranging from hardy pirates to disgusting monsters of Cthulu. But Smash Up can offer much cuter things instead with this expansion, which brings Kitty Cats, Princesses, Fairies, and Mythical Horses. They use their cuteness, royalty, or magical tricks to control enemy minions. Like other Smash Up Expansions, this one also brings eight unique bases to the Smash Up board game.
Buy Smash Up Pretty Pretty on Amazon US / Amazon UK
Smash Up It’s Your Fault
A larger expansion than the previous one on our list, “It’s Your Fault” introduces ten new bases, as well as five new factions, which are:
- Dragons – they focus on making bases less attractive to other players, ensuring enemies do not score the bases you’ve laid your eyes on
- Mythic Greek – like ancient athletes training, these minions gain more power the more and more actions you play
- Sharks – if you want to take out enemy minions, this is the faction for you. Your sharks will become stronger the more enemies they destroy
- Superheroes – what makes a good Hero? Why, protecting the weaker ones of course. This is why these cards change your weak minions into much stronger ones.
- Tornadoes – one of the most destructive manifestations of nature’s wrath, they can move entire buildings with ease in real life. This is why their main focus in the game is to move cards around the tabletop, giving the player a lot of control
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Smash Up Cease & Desist
Based on famous franchises, such as Star Trek and Transformers, these factions bring popular TV and film series to Smash Up:
- Astroknights – they find and play actions that increase the power of their motley minions. These cards are based on the Jedi knights from Star Wars
- Changerbots – as the name suggests, they are based on the Autobots. They focus on talents that allow players to “switch” between having a strong minion or a weaker utility minion
- Ignobles – we are well familiar with the dirty tricks that houses from Game of Thrones do, so you can also do them as well in Smash Up. Ignobles can give control of minions to their players before taking them away, manipulating their way to victory
- Star Roamers – the United Federation of Planets’ fleet is focused on exploration and discovery, so the faction inspired by it can return minions to their owner’s hand to gain mobility and protection
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Smash Up What Were We Thinking?
Smash Up Expansions are famous for their bizarre combinations of characters and this one is no exception to the rule. It combines the likes of teddy bears, rock stars, grannies, and explorers, returning to the randomness of earlier expansions. These will allow you to gain power from enemy minions, get an advantage from bases with a high breakpoint, rearrange the deck in many ways, and control which will be the next base to appear. Truly, what were the creators thinking with this randomness.
Buy Smash Up What Were We Thinking on Amazon US / Amazon UK
Smash Up Big in Japan
Back to a more consistently themed expansion, this one features cards based on various franchises and tropes from Japanese pop culture.
- Itty Critters – based on Pokémon, players will have to earn the trust of unique power-2 minions to handle any situation and win with a burst of power
- Kaiju – on the opposite end of the spectrum of size, these huge monsters will allow you to capture bases by playing actions directly on them
- Mega Troopers – you might need them if you have problems with the previously mentioned monsters. They are also one of the rare factions to have a titan and also have various abilities that boost the power of minions beyond their base value
- Magical Girls – inspired by the likes of Sailor Moon and other mahou shojo animes, this faction relies on a lot of skill by the player to make good synergies between minions
Buy Smash Up Big in Japan on Amazon US / Amazon UK
Smash Up That 70s Expansion
The 1970s have gone down in history with their aesthetic and culture and this expansion tries to bring a little bit of that into the modern day. It features staples of the era, such as Disco Dancers, who use their moves to duplicate the effects of standard actions. Another faction that has some pretty cool moves are the Kung Fu Fighters, who work together to strengthen themselves through various abilities.
They are joined by Truckers, who can “haul” themselves and their base actions around the table to gain power. Finally, coming straight from action films of the era, Vigilanties have very oppressive and reactive effects on other players’ cards.
Buy on Smash Up That 70s Expansion on Amazon US / Amazon UK
Smash Up The Bigger Geekier Box
By this point, we have talked about many extra expansions to the base Smash Up board game and if you’re getting most or even all of them, chances are you might be getting low on space. For this reason, the Bigger Geekier Box provides a way to accommodate more sets. It is an upgrade on the aptly “just” Big Geeky Box and comes with the previously released Geeks and Smash Up All Stars factions with their corresponding bases. The first of these factions specializes in messing with other players’ game plans. Meanwhile, the second one is composed of cards from previous sets, and it specializes in cycling through your deck and retrieving cards from it and the discard pile.
Buy Smash Up The Bigger Geekier Box on Amazon US / Amazon UK
Smash Up World Tour International Incident
Continuing our list of Smash Up expansions, this one is themed around cultural icons of various countries around the world. We have Mexican Luchadores, who focus on playing actions on other players’ minions in order to trigger other cards’ effects. Meanwhile, another type of wrestlers, Sumo Wrestlers to be precise, use their skills to move enemy minions away from your minions’ bases.
These two types of athletes are contrasted by French Musketeers, who can chain together a lot of extra actions, gaining more power and drawing cards each time they play such actions. Meanwhile, their French-speaking cousins from across the pond, the Canadian Mounties, use their horses to move around the map, especially to bases with enemy minions, gaining power in the process.
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Smash Up: Excellent Movies, Dudes!
By now we have seen that Shamsh Up likes to add various franchises to its roster of decks, so how about we expand that with some 80s classic films. This set includes Action Heroes, who are totally not inspired by roles played by Arnold Schwarzenegger or Silvester Stallone. This faction focuses on controlling single minions on bases which can increase their power a lot. If action is not so much to your tastes, then you may like playing Backtimers, who can use their time-traveling not-DeLoreans to put cards in stasis to play them on future turns.
However, if you like more of the monster types of movies, then Extramorps, which are of course inspired by the Aliens franchise, are for you. They allow you to play minions off the top of your deck and cycle through the cards in a set order.
Things in this expansion are rounded out by Wraithrustlers, who will help you deal with any paranormal entities you may encounter in your games. They focus on finding and destroying play-on-base actions, especially those sub-typed as “Wraiths”, and gaining benefits for doing so.
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Smash Up World Tour Culture Shock
If you want to go back further in time than the 80s, then you might want to check out this expansion, which brings five new factions inspired by old folk tales from around the globe.
- Anansi Tales – this faction focuses on placing cards from your hand into other players’ hands. This gives you certain benefits either immediately when the action is performed, or when the enemy player decides to discard the card
- Ancient Incas – focus on playing and replaying play-on-base actions with most of their cards triggering or getting better the more actions you have or play on the same base
- Grimms’ Fairy Tales – moving to Europe and some classic tales, cards from this faction focus on pairing up minions who, just like Hensel and Gretel, can work together to outwit opponents
- Russian Fairy Tales – staying in Europe, Baba Yaga and other witches of these stories can transform minions into other minions, especially random ones played off the top of the deck
- Polynesian Voyagers – just like their real-life counterparts, this faction focuses on moving around a lot and spreading over several bases, which could give lots of control to players
Buy Smash Up World Tour Culture Shock on Amazon US / Amazon UK
Smash Up 10th Anniversary Set
Last year, the Smash Up board game marked its 10-year-anniversary and to celebrate that, the company released an update that harks back to the randomness of earlier Smash Up expansions.
This update has a variety of factions, such as Mermaids, who can manipulate other players’ minions around bases. They are joined by Skeletons who can bury your minions in order to make them more powerful while in the cursed graves.
These scary monsters are contrasted by Sheep, who focus on moving themselves and other players’ minions around the table and making them, and you as well, play extra cards from your decks. The list is rounded out by World Champs, a faction comprised of cards from previous sets that focus on drawing cards, playing extra actions, and boosting your minions’ powers.
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Smash Up Teens
One of the smallest expansions, this one features just two bases and one faction, aptly named “Teens”. They focus on power-3 minions interacting with each other and effects that revolve around playing minions of exactly 3 power.
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Smash Up Titans Pack
Released as part of the TITANS Event Kit, this expansion offers, as you might expect, a lot of titans for pre-Big in Japan factions. We’ve mentioned before that the expansion’s Mega Troopers have a titan, essentially introducing the concept to the game. So how about we add more titans for many of the older factions? Well, this Smash Up expansion adds a total of 16 for various factions.
Smash Up Titans Pack is not available on Amazon US / Amazon UK
Smash Up Penguins
Another small expansion, the Penguins were supposed to be originally part of the canceled World Tour Event Kit. However, they are now available as a separate expansion as a faction that focuses on playing random extra minions straight out of the deck which grants them various benefits.
Buy Smash Up Penguins on Amazon US / Amazon UK
Smash Up Goblins
Continuing with the trend of smaller Smash Up expansions, next we add some chaos to the mix (like there already wasn’t a lot of it) with Goblins. A lot of their abilities work based on the results of a flipped coin. However, things may not seem that chaotic as they actually have many ways to manipulate the coin flip, Furthermore, in a lot of cases either of the two outcomes is positive for the goblins.
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Smash Up Knights of the Round Table
Goblins can often be quite mischievous to the point where there’s the need for heroes to come and deal with them. the Knight of the Round Table might certainly fit the criteria. These heroes ride all over different bases to complete various quests which give them prizes that make them stronger.
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Smash Up Oops You Did It Again
We’ve seen a slew of small expansions already, so how about we go back to the big ones? Oops You Did It Again adds four new factions that bring various historical peoples from around the world and ages into one big pack.
- Ancient Egyptians – they can easily buy new cards and gain extra power by burying them
- Cowboys – they focus on gaining extra power by challenging enemy minions to a duel and defeating them
- Samurai – these cards give the controlling player benefits from being destroyed or being discarded from play, such as power boosts, card draws, and VPs
- Vikings – like their real-life counterparts, they steal things from others in this case usually low-power minions and actions, and gain power at the cost of placing cards from your hand on top of your deck
Buy Smash Up Oops You Did It Again on Amazon US / Amazon UK
Marvel Smash Up
People have often liked to compare fictional characters fighting against each other in various scenarios. With its numerous superheroes and supervillains spread across a multitude of universes, Marvel is a hotbed for such discussions. And if these conversations often don’t lead to a definitive answer, it’s still fun to banter about.
With this expansion, players can sort of give a more literal meaning to these discussions. The pack features a whopping eight factions, along with 16 bases. Players can assemble teams from the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. to fight against the likes of Kree or Hydra. Interestingly, almost all of the art used in these cards comes from the various Marcel comic books, giving the expansion an as authentic a feel as possible.
Buy Marvel Smash Up on Amazon US / Amazon UK
Disney Smash Up
We finish up our long list of Smash Up expansions with another big franchise that sees many popular characters from famous films. Drawing in characters from eight fan-favorite titles such as Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, and Frozen, this expansion pack allows the creation of unlikely allies as players attempt to gain more bases. Speaking of which, these include various locations from the films, such as Arendelle and the Ice Palace from Frozen, Pride Rock from The Lion King, the Enchanted Castle from Beauty and the Beast, and many more.