Unmatched: "Buffy vs. Dracula"

In much the same way that Queens Gambit was one of the better things to come out of the otherwise-dreadful Phantom Men-Ass, StarWars: Epic Duels was a rare silver lining when Attack of the Clowns was released in 2002.  

Epic Duels sees twelve different iconic Star Wars characters battle against each other on four possible battlefields, including Bespin, Kamino, Geonosis or the Emperor’s Throne Room. Every character (and their allies) are brought to life by a unique deck of cards which are used for attack and defense. 

They also showcase special powers that really make the characters distinct from one another. For example, Boba Fett actually plays surprisingly different form his pappy, Jango. Add in different match types, like one-on-one death matches, team battles or even a six-player free-for-all, and you had a quick-n'-easy Star Wars game that was actually surprisingly good. 

Sadly, with so many fans already dust-binning their prequel merch to a landfill, the game quickly went out of print. But, in the intervening years, game geeks in the know referenced Epic Duels with the same sort of hushed reverence that Indiana Jones used when talking about the Lost Ark.

After a very long wait, Restoration Games got the rights to republish the game. around 2018. Unfortunately, it would be devoid of that sweet-ass (not to mention expensive!) Star Wars license. Hoping that gamers would still gravitate to the fast n’ furious, card-driven miniatures combat, Restoration decided to task Mondo Games with building new sets around open source IP’s, starting with King Arthur, Alice in Wonderland, Medusa and Sinbad.

I won’t lie to you, when that first set released, I was super curious. But, since I already owned Epic Duels, I couldn’t justify buying it, even when Restoration piled on new characters like Bruce Lee, Robin Hood, Bigfoot, Little Red Riding Hood and Beowulf. Regardless of this growing awesomeness, I still managed to resist.

But then, they went and announced a Buffy the Vampire Slayer set and I crumbled like a bloodsucker perforated by Mr. Pointy. I’d been a die-hard fan of the show ever since Charisma Carpenter’s Cordelia told Alyson Hannigan’s Willow:  “Willow...nice dress! Good to know you've seen the softer side of Sears.”

Yeah, did I mention that I actually worked for Sears at that time?       

Not that I needed any more incentive, but here’s the games sales pitch, presumably right from the Watcher's Council (I.E. Mondo Games) itself:

Unmatched: Buffy the Vampire Slayer features four heroes. Buffy will hit you with Mr. Pointy or summon her Slayer's strength for a cartwheel kick. When it's time for backup, she'll take her pick between insightful Giles or reliable Xander. Spike, a relentless hunter, seeks the shadows and calls on Drusilla's Sight to let him know just where and when to strike. Willow, a peerless witch, dabbles in black magic and risks her darker self, potent but dangerous. At times, only Tara can bring her back from the brink of the abyss. Angel, once the Scourge of Europe, is cursed with a soul, conflicted by his victories and taking solace in his losses. Faith is there to make sure things stay "Five by Five".

Unmatched is a highly asymmetrical miniature fighting game for two or four players. Each hero is represented by a unique deck designed to evoke their style and legend. Tactical movement and no-luck combat resolution create a unique play experience that rewards expertise, but just when you've mastered one set, new heroes arrive to provide all new match-ups.

Looking for more eldritch lore on the subject? Then crack open the Slayer’s Handbook (you know, that big, leather-bound tome with “VAMPYR” embossed on the front) to learn all the deets right here.  

So, needless to say, I snapped this one up just as soon as I could get my claws into it. Fast forward to now and I really wanted to do a review for this one during the Halloween season, but who would I pit the titular hero against? I'll always see Angel as more of a brooding detective than the murderous Angelus, so that was out. Willow and Buffy are best buds, so I couldn’t bring myself to see those two tangle, even if it was Dark Willow. And then there’s poor Spike, who I just see as the undead version of a punching bag. 

So, I did the only logical thing I could do: I picked up the Cobble & Fog set just to make this clash thematically perfect!

So, for completion’s sake, here’s the penny dreadful on this one:

Unmatched: Cobble & Fog features four new heroes for the Unmatched system. Invisible Man uses fog to dart around the board and strike without warning. Sherlock, with the trusty Watson by his side, schemes and calculates to ensure victory. Dracula and the sisters slowly drain you of your power. Jekyll & Hyde uses the former's cunning and the latter's brute strength to win the day.

And here’s the full Victorian novel (I.E. the rulebook), guv’nah!  

***

And, so, without further ado, I present to you:

BUFFY VS. DRACULA

Drac takes the Maneuver Action, first drawing a card and then moving one of his Sisters two spaces towards the secret passage. He then turfs a “Feint” card for a two-point movement boost, so now she’s standing adjacent to Giles! Another Sister uses the secret passage to follow right behind and then Drac and his final companion form up close by.

For their second Action, the Sister closest to Giles Attacks by playing a face-down Action Card. The Watcher quickly replies with a card of his own. They’re revealed to be “Ambush” and “Feint”, the latter of which cancels out the Sister’s “During Combat” text. Since it’s a tie, the exchange is a push.

Buffy starts her turn with a Maneuver Action and draws a new card. She then jogs three spaces and gets within staking distance of the Sister that’s threatening Giles.

She Attacks for her second Action, tabling an Action combat card and the Sister plays a card too. They're then flipped simultaneously, revealing a three-point “Swift Strike” versus the Sister’s four-point “Exploit.” The Attack is defended, and Buffy decides to use her After Combat ability to move four spaces into the mansion and get all up in Drac’s grill. The Sister’s After Combat ability also kicks in, and she draws a new card.

Dracula signals his intent to Attack Buffy* by placing an Action Card down on the table and she counters with one of her own. Dracula’s card is revealed as a three-point “Dash” and Buffy flips a three-point “Rapid Recovery.” Once again, this tie results in a wash, but then the After Combat abilities kick in. Buffy would normally recover one Health, but she’s already at her maximum. Dracula opts to back off, imposing one of his Sisters in the way!

For his second Action, Dracula Schemes with the “Ravening Seduction” card. After one of the Sisters moves two spaces south, Giles loses one Health because she's adjacent to him.

Buffy responds with a Maneuver Action, drawing a new card and then rushing two spaces outdoors to aid Giles. 

For her second Action, she Attacks the Sister that’s trying to pounce on Giles, who, upon closer inspection, looks like he's kind of enjoying being "attacked." She plays an Action Card, and the Sister has no response. Buffy’s card is revealed as a “Rapid Recovery”, which does three points of damage and dusts her quarry! Giles reacts to this by shedding a lone tear. 

Dracula decides to be conservative, declaring a Maneuver as his first Action. After he draws a new card, the Sister that was trying to flank Giles retreats two spaces back inside the mansion. The second Sister takes point at the top of the staircase while the Count himself lurks at the bottom. 

They perform the Maneuver Action again, drawing another new card, but this time the trio hold in place, clearly in a defensive posture.  

Sensing an opportunity, Buffy decides to advance. First, she performs a Maneuver Action and draws a new card. She then charges two spaces into the mansion, intent on tackling   the closest Sister, while Giles sneaks in the back entrance.

Buffy then drops an Action Card, but the Sister can’t defend herself! The Slayer’s card is revealed to be a two-point “Feint”, which stakes the second Sister. Another one bites the dust!

Snarling with rage, Dracula starts off with a Maneuver Action and draws a new card. Both ghouls pivot two spaces to confront Giles.

Their second Action is an Attack. Dracula tables an Action Card but Giles responds with his own. They’re revealed to be a “Regroup” from Giles and a “Feeding Frenzy” from Dracula. The During Combat ability of Dracula‘s card kicks in, giving it a +1 bump for each Sister in the same zone as Giles. This results in a three point Attack versus “Regroup's” defense of one. As a result, Giles loses two Health points! Post combat, the “Regroup” special ability kicks in and Giles draws a new card for his team!

Acting selflessly, Giles bolsters his Slayer with a powerful “Training” card, letting Buffy  draw three (!) cards to add to her roster. He decides to Scheme again, this time playing “Insight.” Giles looks at Dracula’s hand and forces him to throw out a “Do My Bidding” card.

For Dracula‘s first Action, he decides to play a “Ravening Seduction” card. Giles takes one point of damage from the Sister standing adjacent to him. For his second Action, Drac performs a Maneuver and draws one Action Card, but neither he nor his Sister decide to move.

Buffy performs her own Maneuver, first drawing a new card and then moving three spaces adjacent to both Dracula and the lone remaining Sister. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, Giles flees three spaces. 

For her second Action, she signals an Attack by playing an Action Card face down and Dracula decides to defend himself by following suit. Buffy flashes “Mr. Pointy” and Dracula counters with “Do My Bidding." The Immediate nature of Dracula's card kicks in, so he peeks at Buffy’s hand, looking to swap out this powerful Attack card for something lame. Unfortunately, the vampire lord quickly realizes that all of Buffy's cards are pretty durned good, so he keeps things as-are and takes two points of damage.

On Dracula‘s turn, he decides to play a “Prey Upon” Scheme card. This deals one damage to Buffy and Dracula heals a point*. 

For his second Action, he Maneuvers, draws a new card and then moves two spaces towards Giles, with his Sister trailing along.

Buffy uses a Maneuver Action to draws a new card and then jog two spaces, catching up to the lone Sister. Meanwhile, Giles moves two spaces back into the mansion via the secret tunnel. 

For her next Action, Buffy Attacks the remaining Sister by placing a face-down Action Card on the table, but she responds with a defensive card. They're flipped to reveal a four-point “Daring Strike” versus a three-point “Dash.” Since the difference is still one in Buffy’s favor, she stakes the final Sister into a cloud of dust! As if that wasn’t good enough, Buffy’s After Combat ability kicks in and she draws two new cards!

Sensing that he’s legitimately in trouble, Dracula performs a Maneuver Action, picks up a brand new card and then rushes at Buffy! 

He Attacks her with his second action, playing a face-down Action Card, and Buffy responds with one of her own. Dracula reveals a nasty, six-point “Beast Form” card and decides to huck out “Look Into My Eyes” to bolster the Attack up to seven. Buffy reveals a “Cartwheel Kick” for two defense. After taking a net five points of damage, she opts not to trigger her own card’s “After Combat” ability, since she has no other target. In retrospect, I suppose she could have looped back to Drac and hit him with a Chun Li-style spinning side kick. Oh, well, she's doin' more than okay without it! 

After noticing that Dracula is completely out of cards, Buffy Attacks. Dracula has no reprieve, so Buffy just reveals her “Mr. Pointy” Action Card and clobbers him for five points of unopposed damage to. Sensing the kill, Buffy performs a display of “Slayer Strength”, which inflicts four more damage. This launches the vampire into the adjacent space, causing an additional point of damage! Dracula’s down to only two points of Health now...yikes!

Dracula takes a Maneuver Action, draws a card and then retreats two spaces towards the secret passage. 

He does this one more time, drawing a second card and leaping out to block Giles as the Watcher stealthily creeps down the hallway of the mansion.

Spooked by Dracula’s sudden appearance, Giles Schemes up an “Insight.” He looks at Dracula’s hand and forces him to throw out his only Defense card: “Exploit.” 

He then Attacks Dracula, playing a face down Action Card. Now defenseless, Dracula can only except the damage, which turns out to be a four-point “Daring Strike"...more than enough to polish off the vampire lord!

FINAL TALLY

Buffy’s Remaining Health: 8

Giles’s Remaining Health: 2

***

POST MATCH COMMENTARY

I can just picture the veteran Unmatched players out there practically tearing their own hair out seeing how poorly I played Dracula. There were at least two occasions (marked above with an *) where good ol' Vlad started his turn next to an adversary but didn’t use his Special Ability, which would have seen him gain back a Health point and draw an Action Card. Je suis le dumbass. 

Having said that, Buffy and Giles are a pretty amazing duo and I’m skeptical that Drac n’ company would have survived much longer against their onslaught. With Giles’s ability to keep Buffy well-stocked with an insanely-powerful spectrum of attack and defense cards, not to mention their overall maneuverability, I’m at a loss as to how the vampire lord could have countered this.

Granted, he did kind of charge at Buffy right out of the gate. In retrospect, he’s probably better suited to a more defensive posture, with the Sisters providing an anti-Buffy buffer and swarming in when they see a weakness. Next time I’ll hold off and try to keep them in a tight-knit Drac pack.

REVIEW

PROS

• Generally speaking, the rules are pretty clear and the game is easy to get into. 
• I love how each deck is radically different and each one does a great job thematically simulating the powers and abilities of the characters. Buffy is a whirlwind of kicks, blows and stakes, Giles keeps the Slayer whip-smart with options and can analyze threats, Drac is super-sneaky and can enthrall targets and the Sisters are dangerous in a pack. 
• The combat cards make you actually feel like you’re in a scrap. There are punches, feints, ducks and kicks. Running out of cards also nicely simulates being winded during the battle.
• The game board is very well-designed and the colored spaces ensure that you never have to worry about determining line of sight ever again! 
• The art design is sort of sketchy, but it’s also strangely atmospheric. The miniatures are also wonderful! 

CONS

• One you start getting slapped around, it might be tough to stop the bleeding and rally for a comeback.
• It’s a damned shame that the Sidekicks are just lame flat plastic chips. 
• I'm thinking that there's a pretty big power disparity between some of these characters. That's not the worst thing in the world, since more experienced players can pick more challenging characters.
• I think it's kinda stupid that Sidekicks have the same movement value as the Heroes. 

Unmatched scores five pips out of six with a big ol' tilt up towards that bat-filled belfry!