Unmatched

Unmatched is a series of games, each box using the same battle system but giving players new characters to try out. The only one we have played at time of writing is Cobble & Fog, which contains Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Jekyll & Hyde and The Invisible Man. That’s the game we describe here.

To play each side chooses their ‘hero’ which comes with a bespoke deck of cards and either a sidekick of some kind (Dracula and the Sisters; Holmes and Watson, The Invisible Man and his ‘fog’ and Jekyll & Hyde, who is the same hero but in different forms). Players place their heroes and sidekicks on the board, set their health to maximum and play until one hero has been defeated (ie: health at zero).

Each turn you choose two of three actions: they can be two different or the same, the only caveat being the card you play must apply to the piece you’re playing it for: Sherlock Holmes’ deck for instance has Holmes cards, Watson cards, and Any cards which can apply to either.

The actions, then: Manoeuvre allows you to draw a card and then move all of your pieces up to your hero’s movement allowance around the board: you can pass by friendly pieces but not enemies, and must end movement on an open space. You can scheme, which simply means playing a Scheme card and doing what the card says: usually, something fairly dastardly. And finally you can attack, which means playing an attack card face-down. The attacked player can optionally play a defence card as well, before both are revealed and the attacked player takes damage equal to the difference in the power of the cards: for example, Watson attacks with a pistol with a value of 5, Dracula defends with a 3 and so takes 2 damage.

Crucially though almost every attack and defence card has a power of some kind that applies before, during, or after combat, and it’s utilising these at the critical moments that are key to success – which is the moment your opponent’s health hits zero.