Honestly, I’ve been waiting for this Unmatched box for three long years. My younger son and I were playtesters for these characters in 2023 and fell head over heels in love with them. It’s a treat to get to write about them now.

And why now? Well, the good folks at Restoration Games understand marketing as well as game design – so it makes perfect sense to release a box with classic U.S.A.-connected heroes and iconic locations the same summer as we here in America celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 

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 minutes for four player battles) and over the past seven 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. 

Stars & Stripes: The Heroes

There have been other “American” heroes in the Unmatched universe: 

• Annie Christmas (Battle of Legends Volume III) is an African-American folktale hero.
• Bigfoot (Robin Hood vs. Bigfoot) is – among other things – a cultural icon from the Pacific Northwest
• Harry Houdini (Houdini vs. the Genie) is the famed Hungarian-American escape artist
• Both Muhammed Ali and Bruce Lee (Lee vs. Ali) are distinctly American heroes of boxing and martial arts (respectively)

And, yes, I’m just going to gloss over the very U.S.A. flavors of the Jurassic Park and Marvel IP boxes (seven in total).

With Star & Stripes, Restoration Games has added one relatively straightforward ranged duo and three heroes with new design ideas that offer some clever ways to take out your opponents. They’ve also added cards to each of these decks that give a free action to attack – providing, of course, you have a card to attack with. 

Wyatt Earp

With his sidekick (Doc Holliday) at his side, Wyatt Earp can be an intimidating character to face. Both he and his well-armed friend are ranged characters, meaning they can hit anyone in the same “zone” as their figure without the need for adjacency. 

The “Showdown” power means that either member of the duo who attacks and wins a combat can choose from one of three special effects:

• Draw a card
• Gain 1 free action to attack
• Move your fighter up to one space

Each special effect can only be triggered once per turn.

In practice, we’ve found that this is the easiest of the four heroes in this box for new players to play – and the encouragement of the “Showdown” power to attack pairs nicely with the ranged nature of their attacks.

Tactics tip: When playing against teams with a single sidekick, it’s important to assess how important that sidekick is to the particular deck. Some you can essentially ignore (Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are particularly weak in Hamlet’s deck) while others punish you for leaving them in play (Giles or Xander make excellent companions for Buffy) and a few actually change the calculus of how you play the main character (Merlin is vital to good King Arthur play – take him out ASAP!)

How does that apply to Wyatt Earp & Doc Holliday? Doc has a decent number of cards that only he can play (7, which is generally the top number of any single sidekick) and they are all worth playing. If you’ve got easy shots at Wyatt, take ‘em – but anything that puts Doc out of the game is worth doing as well.

Suggested viewing: Tombstone (Val Kilmer is fantastic as Doc Holliday)

Suggested walkout music for your heroes: the theme from The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (it’s iconic, people!)

John Henry

Solo heroes can be tricky to play – particularly when they’re forced to take on groups of opponents. (I am reminded at this point of Fezzik the Giant from The Princess Bride: “I just figured why you give me so much trouble… Well, I haven’t fought just one person… for so long. I’ve been specializing in groups, battling gangs for local charities, that kind of thing. Well, you see… you use different moves when you’re fighting… half a dozen… people… than when you only… have to be worried… about… one!”)

John Henry has some powerful cards – but the most important thing you can do when you’re playing him is to build your railroad network. His special power allows him to place a railroad tile (he has 10) in his space or an adjacent space at the beginning of each of his turns. When he moves, he does not count spaces with railway tiles.

Because I know that the OG readership is sharp as a tack, I know you’ve already figured out why this is key to success with John Henry. It makes it more difficult for opponents to run away from you – and just as easy for you to retreat when necessary.

Tactics tip: when playing a solo character, be careful not to reduce your hand size to nothing (or close to nothing). There isn’t another character on the board to distract attackers while you build back up. You have to resist the temptation to go for a quick series of killing attacks (well, unless you’re playing Bruce Lee, then all bets are off.)

Suggested viewing: the excellent Disney short from 2000 (part of the American Heroes set of animated shorts)

Suggested walkout music for your hero: John Henry (recorded by Harry Belafonte)

Rosie the Riveter

The iconic “We Can Do It” poster is the most immediately recognizable symbol that represents the women of the U.S. who took over “men’s work” during World War II and helped our country be “the arsenal of democracy”. (There’s also another great image from Norman Rockwell of Rosie the Riveter – one of his Saturday Evening Post covers.)

The Rosie in Unmatched has been reimagined as an Ironheart-like character with a mech suit… and teamed with Wendy the Welder, they are a difficult duo to fight. Her “Mech Suit” uses 4 upgrade tokens, which activate one per turn. (When all four are activated at the end of her turn, the suit powers down and all four become inactive.) Wendy can help activate or deactivate the suit, which makes her a valuable companion. (See my tactics tip on Wyatt Earp – Wendy is worth taking out early before her cards let Rosie power up or maintain power.)

Tactics tip: when playing a character with special activations (the Wayward Sisters, Pandora, Rosie, Little Red, etc.), those special powers can be a huge boon to your attacking and defending power. They can also be a distraction from solid play.

Suggested viewing: The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter (documentary from the early 1980s)

Suggested walkout music for your heroes: Rosie the Riveter (Kay Kyser and his Orchestra)

George Washington

Among the many accomplishments of our first president, one of the more unusual was the establishment during the Revolutionary War of the Culper Spy Ring. It’s a fascinating bit of history that wasn’t a part of any school curriculum I encountered – but the team at Restoration leaned into it to make a hero deck with a bluffing mechanic that can be wildly effective.

Washington and his three spies (each one a single hit point) can play one of four Ruse tokens next to their card when attacking. Nine of the thirty cards in the deck have a special Ruse power that is activated by a Ruse token. The defender can discard a random card from their hand to force the token to be discarded as used. Yes, there are cards in the Washington deck that will allow you to regain a used Ruse token

Tactics tip: you can play Ruse tokens next to cards without a Ruse power – to try & entice your opponent into discarding a card to avoid a non-existent extra effect. (It’s quite satisfying when it works.)

I’ve been most successful with George out of these four decks – I don’t think I’ve lost while playing him. Evidently, I possess some of that “spymaster” mentality.

Suggested viewing: Hamilton (the recording of the original Broadway production – Christopher Jackson is amazing as Washington)

Suggested walkout music for your heroes: Right Hand Man (from Hamilton, of course!)

The Maps of Stars & Stripes

There are two new maps in Star & Stripes (thank you once again to the kind Restoration developers for listening to my plea about single maps). 

The Alamo is a relatively standard map that focuses on the main building of the Alamo complex. That means that there are “indoor” zones that can’t be targeted easily as well as a lesser number of multi-zone spaces. 

The second map is the White House (and a tiny bit of the surrounding grounds). Centered around the Oval Office, the map has very distinct zones as well as multiple secret passages. (Yes, secret passages – see: White House Down, Dave, etc. for evidence of those passages. Very historical.)

I really like both of the maps – they have a slightly different flavor than what we’ve seen before but don’t add major new rules to the system, making them solid introductory battle spaces. It’s also fun to fight in places I’ve actually visited.

Final Thoughts

I know I sound like a broken record, but this is yet 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.

Next up: can John Henry defeat Shredder? Will Wyatt Earp & Doc Holliday prevail against the invaders from Mars? Only time (and playing the Unmatched Adventures boxes) will tell.

Currently, Unmatched: Stars & Stripes  is available directly from Restoration Games and will find its way to your local store in June 2026.

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

First picture provided by Restoration Games