From dinosaurs to TV show characters, legends of ancient times to legends of the written page, we have seen just about all of the available characters for the Unmatched system. I just checked our YouTube channel, and we’ve streamed or chatted with gamers fifteen different times about Unmatched, so you already know that I am a fan. The team at Restoration Games has supported the system very well, so it should never surprise me when Restoration announces a new set of heroes to explore.
But when the Disney Marvel license acquisition materialized, I got more excited than I thought I would be, because of my spotty history with Marvel. I haven’t really bought or read any comic books in ages, and I am pretty hit or miss on watching the Marvel TV shows. And admittedly, I’m still waiting patiently for Rob and Justin to announce the long-rumored (by me) Cheers: Sam & Woody versus Gary’s Old Town Tavern set.
And yet, there is just something about seeing your favorite Marvel superheroes from the comic book page come alive in cardboard. We have already streamed for you our plays of some of the younger heroes from the Marvel universe, as Jay and Dave and I played Squirrel Girl, Ms Marvel and Cloak & Dagger in the Unmatched: Teen Spirit set show. As you can see from the stream, all of us were impressed with how thematic the set played.
Our play of the Teen Spirit set juiced me up for the announcement from Restoration of the Unmatched: For King and Country. This set instantly jumped above the other sets from Marvel universe that had been announced at the time as my most anticipated set.
Rob Daviau and Justin Jacobsen, the two principals at Restoration, are credited as the designers of this set. Their love for the system and for the heroes is pretty evident. But let’s get to the basics before we start showering any love.
In Unmatched: For King and Country, players can choose one of three characters to lead in battle. By now, I am sure most of you are familiar with the system itself, but I will give a brief overview. The Unmatched system is a miniature fighting-style game where players choose a hero (and sometimes sidekicks that go with the hero) and battle head-to-head with other players. Each set comes with one to four unique characters. When I say unique, I mean that each one will play completely different. Unmatched accomplishes this by giving each character a unique deck of cards that play up the theme of the character. Big Foot hides and attacks. Robin Hood is good from afar. The raptors want to surround and pounce. You get the picture.
The game is all about tactical movement, and there is very little luck involved other than how your cards are drawn from the deck. Combat is fast and intuitive, just comparing card strength with the occasional shenanigans thrown in depending on a player’s special powers or unique deck. It all adds up to a very frenetic yet cerebral chess match, and in my opinion, fired the Warhammer Underworlds system and FunkoVerse style of minis-on-minis action. I just don’t see any reason to play those anymore when the Unmatched system is so compact, sleek, and intuitive.
In Unmatched: For King & Country, Restoration has three new characters to play, along with a brand-new battle board. For many fans of the MCU, this will be a must-have set, because you can finally play three of the most popular characters from the Avengers franchise: Black Widow, Black Panther, and Winter Soldier (Bucky Barnes).
Before I get to each character, a quick note on the Marvel series of Unmatched. The team at Restoration not only included game boards that feature scenes that will be recognizable to fans of the Marvel universe, but they also added a little wrinkle to the rules. Each box in the series comes with some toys that have designated places on the battle boards, in the form of “battlefield items.”
These battlefield items are randomly placed tokens that come in two flavors. Scheme tokens work like scheme cards from your hand if you are standing on the space next to them (although they do not count as scheme cards for combo-ing with other cards or powers) and can be used as an action and then discarded. Combat tokens work the same way except adding some oomph to your battle (and then discarded).
The battlefield items have added a nice little tweak. None of them break the game, but they do create a race at the start of the game to figure out which one best fits your character’s strategy and then focuses you in on trying to get it. Once they are used up, they are gone, so they do create a sense of urgency at the start of the game (and probably serve to jumpstart the interactions even more quickly.) I also like the fact that they are not only thematic to the set, but they can also be mixed in with other sets and other battlefield items.
Turning back to the three characters, fans of the Marvel universe will be happy with the thematic way each of the characters is built. Black Widow is all about playing special scheme cards, called Mission Cards. Unlike the typical scheme cards that characters use, Black Widow has to meet the requirements for the mission to fire it off. This character is fun for a player, like me, who needs a little focus on the flow of the game because it gives you some direction as you survey the board state. There are a limited amount of mission cards in the deck, so use them wisely.
I also like the fact that Black Widow is slippery. When I play Unmatched, I gravitate toward the characters that can fly around the battlefield, creating havoc and popping in behind other characters. Not only does Natasha have Maria Hill as her sidekick, with decent health but also matching her as a ranged character, but many of her cards let her bounce around the battlefield as bonus effects. Jump in, pop some damage, and then somersault away from the you-know-its-coming counter attack, just like in the movies.
Make sure to keep Maria Hill alive as long as you can. Not only does she have that awesome ranged attack, but she and Natasha can frequently switch places. Plus, Maria has a card, Acting Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, that lets her cycle back those Mission cards into the deck.
Black Panther is pretty straightforward, because just like in the movies, he is all about the suit. Black Panther has a vibranium suit that adds to his already formidable strength, but in this build, his deck allows him to “steal” cards from other players that go right onto the suit card. All Black Panther cares about these cards — besides the fact that they are out of the other player’s ability to use — is the boost value.
When Black Panther boosts, he can choose to use one of the cards in his hand, or better yet, one of the cards on the vibranium suit. (Cards from other decks go into the respective player’s discard at that point). I know a lot of Unmatched fans like to surprise the other player with boosts on the attack, and cards like Anti-Metal Claws and Wakanda Forever will please boost fans immensely. And it almost seems unfair to have so many powerful weapons at Black Panther’s disposal, and still have Shuri (a six health ranged sidekick!) at the ready during the battle.
And finally, we have the Winter Soldier. He is the only character I have yet to play, but I have played against him so I have a feel for what he is trying to accomplish. We have all seen how tortured he is during the movies, and that element comes into play in Unmatched. First, Bucky has the ability to play cards whose effects cannot be cancelled (take that, Feint cards!) Plus, the Winter Soldier has powerful gadgets like Bionic Arm in his deck and some of the most powerful attacks in the game like Without Remorse (a six!).
Playing those five and six attacks are fun, but unfortunately, his madness is getting the best of him. Many of the cards in his deck have negative effects to Bucky when the cards are played, and cannot be cancelled except by playing one of the two A Boy Named Bucky cards. Yes, the most intriguing two parts of the Winter Soldier are the fact that he hits so hard (and sometimes gets bonus actions), but he can also manipulate his deck and discard, too.
The Marvel sets are definitely a step up from the base game sets, but they are definitely worth it. Throw in the awesome art from Sanford Greene and Ian O’Toole, and so far, For King & Country has lived up to my anticipation as being my favorite of the Marvel sets so far. I wonder how they would stand up to Spiderman, She Hulk and Dr. Strange? 😉
Until next time, laissez les bon temps rouler!
— BJ from Board Game Gumbo
A complimentary copy of the set was provided by the publisher.
Board Game Gumbo 
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