The good folks at Restoration Games keep churning out new boxes of Unmatched: Battle of Legends heroes – and continue to try new and interesting ways to echo the myths & stories that inspire the various characters. Whether it’s the trickster god of Norse mythology or an infamous 17th century pirate, the heroes in Volume III are well-differentiated from previous heroes and make this box an essential part of any serious Unmatched collection.

What is Unmatched?

For the uninitiated, the Unmatched system is a card-based combat game that pits heroes from across time, genres, and varying levels of historical validity in combat to the death. Similar to the John Wick films, “Why are we fighting?” is not really a question anyone is asking.  It’s because we can. 

Based on the Star Wars: Epic Duels game (released back in 2002), the team at Restoration Games “dreamed up a complete overhaul of the game… like you took your ’72 Ford Pinto into the shop and they sent back a Porsche 911. Both of them run on internal combustion engines, granted… but one has an annoying tendency to explode when it gets rear-ended while the other is one of the finest pieces of automotive machinery ever designed.” (The previous quote is from my original review of the system – in which I go into much more detail about how they fixed the game.)

Games are relatively short (15-25 minutes for two player battles, 30-45 for four player battles) and over the past six years has managed to incorporate characters not only from the public domain but also IPs like Jurassic Park, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Marvel Comics, and The Witcher. (And Bruce Lee – in full “Enter the Dragon” mode.) Even if you’re not normally a “combat game” type of gamer, I’d recommend giving it a try before you dismiss it. 

The Heroes of Battle of Legends: Volume III

My younger son & I were playtesters for the Volume III box – so it was a special treat to open it up and see the finished game. One of the things you learn while playtesting for Restoration is that they work incredibly hard to make sure that the mechanics of the game are working… and are fun to play. The artwork and graphic design – always topnotch – is there to reinforce the underlying strength of the system and character design.

While the Marvel Comics and Witcher boxes have had three heroes per box, the Volume III box returns to the initial four hero format. (And, as I’ll say again in a minute, to a double-sided gameboard with two different maps – thank you, Restoration.)

Blackbeard

This is a first – a character with his own economy. Really. 

Blackbeard starts with 2 doubloons – while his opponent is given a single doubloon. Each time he takes combat damage, Blackbeard gives his opponent a doubloon. Additionally, he can give his opponent a doubloon at the start of his turn to have an extra action.

Seventeen of the thirty cards in his deck have extra effects that trigger – unless his opponent spends some amount of doubloons. We’ve found that starving your opponent of doubloons can be an effective strategy – using his Sea Dog sidekicks to protect him from combat damage means that all of your card triggers. (Of course, an effective counter against this kind of behavior is a careful use of the Feint card found in most Unmatched decks.)

No one in our group has tried it yet… but I’m wondering if you could run a “pedal to the metal” strategy with Blackbeard – spending a doubloon each turn for three actions and chasing down your opponent. It could work.

Chupacabra

This “urban legend” is the most straightforward of the heroes in the Volume III box – and the one I’d strongly suggest giving to a newbie for their first play. 

His innate power is the ability to draw a card after he attacks. While that threaten to spin through his deck too quickly, it can also allow him launch multiple attacks without reducing his hand to zero. 

There are a some very powerful cards in his deck: The More You Struggle, which does damage equal to double the defense card played against it, Feeding & Wounded Beast, which both get stronger is his health is 7 or below, and Blood in the Air, which takes advantage of his card-drawing power.

Loki

This is NOT the Loki of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (though props to Tom Hiddleston for his portrayal on film & screen)… this is the Loki of Norse mythology: the god of mischief.

And tricks are his specialty – there are nine “Trick” cards in Loki’s deck that are placed in your opponent’s hand after they’ve been played. Each card has a different effect if it is played by Loki or by his opponent. Trick cards discarded by an opponent can go back to Loki’s hand or to the top of his deck. (The only way to permanently get rid of them is play them yourself, even though it hurts.)

Loki also moves more quickly based on the number of Tricks in opponent’s hands – and has a devastating attack card that gets value from the number of Trick cards the opponent is holding.

Loki is the most irritating character to fight in the Volume III box – his Tricks will eat up your actions. We’re still working on counter-strategies – so far, “beat the heck out of him” has been the most effective.

Pandora

The final new hero in the Volume III box is Pandora… who has a box of her own. Each turn, Pandora opens the box of misery (a seven card deck of smaller cards) that have a variety of effects. They also have zero to two feathers on them – and if Pandora ever reveals a third feather, she takes as much damage as the number of cards she revealed.

So, yes, it’s a tiny push-your-luck mini-game embedded in the middle of your battle royale. 

Pandora also can summon a couple of Kakodaemon sidekicks who can run interference for her as she plays blackjack with the world’s miseries. 

So far, the best strategy with Pandora has been to let the enemy come to you rather than chase them around the board. The miseries can slowly turn the tide of the game if you are patient enough. Of course, that means that concentrating your firepower on Pandora can make her desperate – and willing to take chances on her box of doom.

The Maps of Battle of Legends: Volume III

There are two new maps in Volume III (thank you, kind Restoration developers, for listening to my plea about single maps). The first is a pretty standard map themed around the city of Venice – there are, as always, some tricky overlap points between different zones and canal artwork that channels some of the action around it, but it’s a good solid map that won’t be confusing for new players.

And then there’s the flipside – Santa’s Workshop. Not only do we have a whimsical theme for a battle to the death location… we’ve got a conveyor belt that moves each hero on it at the end of each player’s turn. At the end of the belt, the hero is dumped into the gift bin. (This is not actually a bad thing, as you choose which space in this zone your hero lands in.) Not for nothing, there are also some one-way arrow connections that impede movement (but not combat). As you can probably guess, this would not be a map I’d suggest with first-time players.

Final Thoughts

Another excellent Unmatched box from Restoration Games – the production is top-notch, the decks are well-themed and balanced, and we’re having a lot of fun with it. Keep ‘em coming!

Currently, Volume III is available direct from Restoration Games and will find its way to your local store in early August.

I have received review copies of Unmatched: Buffy, For King & Country, Teen Spirit, Slings & Arrows, the two Witcher boxes, and Volume III… 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.