It is possible that this particular box in the Unmatched: Battle of Legends game series was designed solely for me:

• I competed in Shakespeare performance competitions throughout high school.
• One of my favorite live theater experiences was seeing Anthony Hopkins in The Tempest at the Mark Taper Forum (Los Angeles).
• My bachelors degree was in English literature.
• My senior year at Baylor, I took an advanced acting tutorial focusing on the character of Prospero from The Tempest.
• I’ve played some form of board games since I was a small child.
• I’ve been an unabashed fan of the Unmatched system since its release in 2019.
• My sons & I have been playtesters for Restoration Games (yes, including this box).

So it will be no surprise to any of my faithful readers that I am about to rave about the newest release for Unmatched – Slings & Arrows.

I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it.

The Play

I’m well aware that some of you have not had the opportunity to play the wonderful goodness that is Unmatched – so, a short primer on how the game works is in order. (Yes, I know, some of you have played before. A lot. You can skip to the next heading.)

Unmatched is a skirmish battle game, driven by card play and fought on a variety of boards. On your turn, you get two actions (and you can do the same action twice):

• Maneuver – draw a card from your personal deck & optionally move your fighter(s)
• Attack – play a card face-down to initiate a melee or ranged attack 
• Scheme – play a Scheme card from your hand for its effect

You win by reducing your opponent’s hero to zero hit points.

If this sounds a lot like Star Wars: Epic Duels, you’re not wrong. That 2002 mass-market game is the forefather of this amazing combat system. (If you want more detail, I did a deep-dive into the differences in my original Unmatched review.)

Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it without a prompter. 

The Cast

As you can probably guess from the plethora of Shakespeare quotes, this entire box has characters related to the life & plays of William Shakespeare. That includes the various hero decks & figures:

• Shakespeare
  • The Bard himself heads the list… using his three Actor sidekicks along with a power reminiscent of Little Red. Each of his cards has a syllable count – 2, 4, or 6 – and when played, is set in front of the player. When the player plays a card that “finishes” a 10 syllable line, a special power on the card is activated.
  • We’ve found him to be relatively easy to play and somewhat trickier to play well – again, not dissimilar to Little Red.
• Hamlet
  • With a single sidekick token representing Rosencrantz & Guildenstern, Hamlet’s key power is a status choice each turn – To Be (which helps him draw more cards) or Not To Be (which increases his attacks but also drains his health).
  • Hamlet is the easiest of the four heroes to play in this box… but the choice between speeding through your deck or draining your health is tricky.
• Titania
  • Alongside her husband/sidekick Oberon, the Fairy Queen has six Glamours (cards) that provide ongoing effects. Titania is also the only ranged character in the box.
  • The arrangement of the Glamour cards (which is random) can change your tactics with this pair. Oberon is a relatively powerful sidekick and using him simply as a shield for Titania is not recommended.
• The Wayward Sisters
  • The sisters have three figures (with 6 health each) and the ability to use the ingredient icons on their cards cast spells after one of them makes an attack.
  • There are no wasted cards in this set (as often happens when you lose a sidekick) – each card can be used by any of the sisters. I think the sisters benefit from setting up spells and forcing their opponents to chase them.

All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players…

The Set

The Globe Theatre is the setting for these epic battles. The map is uses the accepted layout of the original Globe with the arena for the “groundlings” and the stadium-style seating around it. The “stage” spaces have visibility to large parts of the theater… a particularly important point for ranged characters. There are no special features (doors, hidden passages, etc.) on this map.

This leads us to my only gripe with this box (and many of the recent Unmatched boxes): I wish Restoration would go back to creating two different maps for each box. The pictures you see above are photos of the same section of the board from opposite sides – one with the original Unmatched design for spaces and the other with the more art-friendly graphic design based on the Tannhauser system. I find the art-friendly design much more difficult to interpret during play – especially spaces like the stage which sits in multiple zones.

That said, The Globe is a very good map and highly thematic.

This wide and universal theatre presents more woeful pageants than the scene wherein we play…

The Wisdom of The Groundlings

The difficulty rankings above for the universe of Unmatched heroes are presented to you, dear readers, courtesy of Mark Jackson (me!) and my sons (Braeden & Collin) – and Owen, Collin’s friend who has developed a major obsession with Unmatched: Battle of Legends. In total, the four of us have easily played Unmatched 600-700 times.

This does not include Brains & Brawn (which I’ve only playtested but never played with a final copy) or Deadpool (which I have never played). The new characters (from Slings & Arrows, Sun’s Origin, and Tales to Amaze!) are in red.

Thou didst well; for wisdom cries out in the streets, and no man regards it.

Final Thoughts

First & foremost – this is an excellent box in the Unmatched game system… there are no weak characters, the artwork is spot on, and the map is great.

Second, while there have been changes from the playtest of the box (which Collin & I participated in), it has been one of our most anticipated releases from the Restoration team. It was in great shape when we playtested the characters… and it’s even more polished in final form.

Third, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this as an introductory box (I’d go with Robin Hood vs Bigfoot, Tales to Amaze!, or Battle of Legends Volume I), this is not as difficult a box as Cobble & Fog (one of my other favorites). As always, if you’ve got a Shakespeare fan/former English that’s willing to try the game, don’t let me stop you!

Note: I asked my sons which boxes they would suggest to introduce Unmatched to new players. Their answers:

• Braeden: Tales to Amaze! (because you essentially get two games – cooperative & PVP)
  • Collin noted that the large maps in Tales to Amaze! may make it tougher as an introduction to competitive Unmatched
• Collin: Robin Hood vs. Bigfoot, Battle of Legends Volume I
  • Collin also likes Slings & Arrows or Cobble & Fog as potential second choices

All’s well that ends well…

I have received review copies of Unmatched: Buffy, For King & Country, Teen Spirit, and this box – Slings & Arrows… the rest of my Unmatched collection was purchased with my hard-earned cash. For those wondering, I did finally manage to sell my copy of Epic Duels.

Quotes above are all from Shakespeare’s plays (in order):

• The valiant never taste of death but once. (Julius Caesar)
• I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it. (As You Like It)
• Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it without a prompter. (Othello)
• All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players… (As You Like It)
• This wide and universal theatre presents more woeful pageants than the scene wherein we play… (As You Like It)
• Thou didst well; for wisdom cries out in the streets, and no man regards it. (Henry IV, Part I)
• All’s well that ends well… (All’s Well That Ends Well)