Kart Racers

## Overview

*Here we go! The Kart Racers, frankly, couldn't be bothered with all that fighting for territorial control - they're just here to race go karts. They race around the various locales of Smash Up (only driving in the correct direction, of course) and care about little else besides zooming around and throwing the occasional turtle shell at their opponents.*

The kart racers utilize the concept of base directionality, with much of their movement being forced in a single direction. This makes them harder to control than many other movement-based factions, but also makes them more unpredictable.

### Details

#### General

* **Name:** Kart Racers
* **Author:** GammaMania
* **Complexity:** 1.5/5
* **Version:** 2.0
* **Last Updated:** 07/30/23

#### Mechanics

* Power counters
* Base directionality

### Breakdown

Kart Racers have 11 minions and 9 actions, compared to the standard 10 minions and 10 actions. They have a total minion power of 31, or an average of 2.8. Among their actions, they have:

* 0 play-on-minion actions
* 2 play-on-base actions: Banana Peel, Finish Line
* 7 standard actions, 5 of which directly affect one or more minions (in **bold**): **x2 Boost Shroom**, **x2 Coins**, **Blue Shell**, Turtle Rescue, Squid Ink
* 2 actions that directly increase a minion's power: x2 Coins

### Minions (11)

* **1x Mark (5):** Special: Before this base scores, move any number of your minions one base to the right OR After this base scores, move up to two of your other minions here one base to the right.
* **1x Baby Mark (1):** Search your deck for an action that can move a minion and place it into your hand. Ongoing: After this minion moves, place a +1 power counter on it.
* **1x Princess Plum (4):** Talent: Move this minion to a base that another one of your minions has moved to this turn.
* **1x Princess Daffodil (4):** Talent: If another minion has moved to here this turn, move this minion to another base.
* **3x Yisho (3):** Talent: Place a +1 power counter on one of your other minions here to move this minion one base to the right.
* **4x Toadstool (2):** Ongoing: At the start of your turn, move this minion one base to the right.

### Actions (9)

* **2x Boost Shroom:** Move up to two of your minions one base to the right. You may play an extra action.
* **2x Coins:** Place up to three +1 power counters total on minions that have moved this turn.
* **1x Banana Peel:** Play on a base. Ongoing: After another player plays a minion here, you may move it to another base and destroy this card.
* **1x Finish Line:** Play on a base. Ongoing: After one of your minions moves to this base, if this is the third base that minion has been on this turn, gain 1 VP.
* **1x Turtle Rescue:** Play an extra minion of power 3 or less from your discard pile on a base where you have no minions.
* **1x Blue Shell:** The player with the most VP must destroy one of their minions and discard a random card.
* **1x Squid Ink:** Choose another player. That player separates their hand into minions and actions, flips their hand face down, then shuffles the minions and actions separately. Until the end of that player's next turn, they cannot look at their hand. If that player would attempt to play a card that is not legal for them to play, it is discarded and they lose that play.

## Clarifications

**Boost Shroom:** You cannot move the same minion twice; you must choose up to two separate minions to move one base to the right each.

**Blue Shell:** If there is a tie for most VP, then all players tied for first must destroy one of their minions and discard a random card.

The player must destroy one of their minions if possible; they cannot select an indestructible minion if they have other destroyable minions in play.

**Squid Ink:** Any abilities that would allow another player to look at the chosen player's hand still function; but make sure you keep the minions and actions separate.

A card that is "not legal to play" is one that can only be played under specific circumstances (such as minion modifiers, if there are no minions in play), has a cost to play which cannot be paid, or can only be used at a specific time (such as before or after-scoring Specials, during the main phase of the turn). A card's abilities being useless in the current situation does not constitute being unplayable. For example, if, while under the effects of Squid Ink, you attempted to play Turtle Rescue with no minions in your discard pile, that would not be considered an illegal play - it would simply be a wasted card.

## Strategy

### General

The Kart Racers utilize heavily restricted, yet very plentiful methods of moving between bases. Much of their movement is directional, meaning their minions can only move from their current base to a specific other base. While this can make them tricky to control, it also makes them hard for your opponent to predict.

The Toadstools move around the bases constantly due to their ability, but that also makes them prime candidates for the Finish Line, since only a single push from another card is needed to get them to three bases in one turn.

### Partner Suggestions

The Kart Racers don't really need a partner that provides more movement, but a faction that benefits from a lot of movement can make a great partner. However, one exception to this is the **Sheep** - your Flocks can follow around your Toadstools to make a massive hoard of minions that's constantly moving.

The **Giant Ants** and similar power counter-centric factions can permanently strengthen your minions with power counters, creating a powerful force that can easily pivot to swarm any base you choose. They can also benefit from the power counters accumulated by Yisho, Baby Mark, and Coins.

The **Polynesian Voyages** have a bittersweet partnership with the Kart Racers - they appreciate the plentiful movement abilities of the Kart Racers, as it makes it very easy to spread out onto several bases, but that same spreading out also makes it more difficult for the Wayfinder to build up power counters.

#### Published

* Giant Ants
* Sheep
* Pirates
* Kung Fu Masters

## Author Notes

If you want PNG files of the individual cards, just shoot me a message on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/GammaMania/

## Reviews

* Leave a review for your faction, or keep this open-ended so others can post reviews.