Ten Little Soldier Boys

## Overview

*Ten Little Soldier Boys Smashing Up just fine, one was discarded and then there were nine.*

Straight out of Agatha Christie's classic murder mystery *And Then There Were None*, these ten individuals with dubious pasts fight to survive as they are discarded one after another. As the game progresses, those who remain will become more powerful, drawing on the strength of other minions in the discard pile. Who is the mastermind behind the machinations? And will any of them live long enough to finish a game of Smash Up?

**WARNING: This faction contains spoiler elements for *And Then There Were None*. If you aren't familiar with the plot, proceed with caution!**

### Details

#### General

* Name: Ten Little Soldier Boys
* Author: AndIQuote
* Base Designer: Ludichrisness
* Complexity: 3.5/5
* Version: 2
* Last updated: January 7, 2024

## Cards

Download full-sized cards in .png format here!

#### Breakdown

Ten Little Soldiers Boys consist of the typical 10 minions and 10 actions, although all their minions are unique and they have five minions of power 2 instead of the usual four. Their total minion power is 29 with an average of 2.9 per minion. Among their actions, there are:

* 0 play-on-minion actions
* 0 play-on-base actions
* 10 standard actions (2 that affect one or more minions, **in bold**): And Then There Were None, Appointment With Death (2x), Cards On The Table, **The Missing Revolver**, **Moment of Truth**, Plot Twist, Red Herring, and Ten Little Soldier Boys (2x)
* 2 actions that directly increase a minion's power: The Missing Revolver, Moment of Truth

#### Minions

* **1x Justice Wargrave (5):** Ongoing: Once during your turn, after one of your minion cards goes to the discard pile, you may place +1 power counters on this minion equal to that minion's printed power. Talent: Discard a minion from your hand.
* **1x Vera Claythorne (4):** Look at the top six cards of your deck. You may discard any number of minions from those cards. Draw one of the remaining cards for each card you discard. Return the rest in any order.
* **1x Philip Lombard (4):** Ongoing: At the start of your turn, this minion has +1 power for every two minions in your discard pile until the end of your turn.
* **1x William Blore (3):** Ongoing: Once per turn, when this minion would be affected by another player's card, you may either discard a minion from your hand or destroy another one of your minions here to cancel that effect on this minion until the end of the turn.
* **1x Doctor Armstrong (3):** Place a minion of power 4 or less from your discard pile into your hand. Special: After this card is discarded from your hand, choose a base and give your minions there +1 power until the end of the turn.
* **1x Emily Brent (2):** Talent: Give another minion here -1 power for every two minions in your discard pile until the start of your next turn. Special: After this card goes to the discard pile, look at the top card of your deck. Draw it or shuffle it into your deck.
* **1x General McKenzie (2):** Place two +1 power counters on another one of your minions here. Special: After this card goes to the discard pile, give one of your minions +2 power until the end of the turn.
* **1x Thomas Rodgers (2):** Draw a card. Special: After this card goes to the discard pile, you may destroy an action on a minion or on a base.
* **1x Ethel Rodgers (2):** You may return one of your other minions here that was not played this turn to your hand. Special: After this card goes to the discard pile, draw two cards and discard a card.
* **1x Anthony Marston (2):** Move one of your minions to or from here.

#### Actions

* **1x And Then There Were None:** Special: Play after a base scores where you have a minion. When that base leaves play, if you have no minions in play, gain 1 VP for every five minions with different names in your discard pile.
* **2x Appointment With Death:** Search your deck for up to two minions of power 2 or less. If their total printed power is greater than 3, discard them. Otherwise, place any number of them into your hand and discard the rest.
* **1x Cards On The Table:** Resolve the ability that corresponds with your current VP:
	+ 0-3 VP: Play an extra minion and an extra action.
	+ 4-9 VP: Draw two cards; play an extra minion of power 2 or less.
	+ 10+ VP: Reveal the top five cards of your deck, draw all minions revealed, return the rest in any order, and play an extra action.
* **1x The Missing Revolver:** Destroy one of your minions to draw cards equal to its power OR discard two minions from your hand to give one of your minions +4 power until the end of the turn.
* **1x Moment of Truth:** Reveal your hand and discard all minions in it. Choose one of your minions to gain +1 power for every three minions in your discard pile, then shuffle all minions from your discard pile into your deck.
* **1x Plot Twist:** Special: Play after a base scores. Choose a minion in your discard pile and play it as an extra minion on the base that replace the scored base.
* **1x Red Herring:** Shuffle up to three cards from your discard pile into your deck. Draw a card.
* **2x Ten Little Soldier Boys:** Draw three cards, then shuffle a card from your hand into your deck.

#### Bases

* **(18) Dining Room (4 3 2):** Before this base scores, the player with the most power here must have one of their minions here duel another player's minion here. Minions used as dueling cards in this duel add their printed power to the dueling minion until the end of the turn, then are discarded. Destroy the losing minion.
* **(21) Indian Island (4 2 1):** Before this base scores, the current player must say "minion" or "action". All players with a minion here reveal their hands, and the player with the most cards of that type revealed must destroy a minion here.

## Clarifications

* **Dining Room:** For the purposes of this base ability, minion cards may be revealed and used to boost the power of dueling minions in addition to actions. Players may only boost the power of their own dueling minions in this way.
* **Doctor Armstrong:** Unlike the five minions of power 2, this card's Special ability only triggers when it is discarded from hand, not when going to the discard pile from play.
* **Moment of Truth:** The card resolves in the order as written: 1) All minions in hand are discarded, 2) one minion gains +1 power for every three minions in the discard pile, 3) *then* all minions in the discard pile are shuffled into the deck.
* **Plot Twist:** Choosing the minion to be played from the discard pile occurs before minions on the current base have been discarded.

## Strategy

### General

Ten Little Soldier Boys want to get as many minions as they can into their discard pile as early as possible. The two copies of Appointment With Death help peel through weaker minions in the deck. Although the minions of power 2 are suited to be discarded straight from the hand or deck to trigger their special abilities, there may be circumstances in which they need to be played, and it should be noted that their special abilities will still trigger when going to the discard pile from play. The only exception to this is Doctor Armstrong, whose special ability specifies that it only triggers when discarded from hand.

Outside of discarding at the end of the turn when hand size exceeds ten cards, this faction has multiple ways to discard from hand. Justice Wargrave can discard a minion using his talent and additionally gain power from the discarded minion with his ongoing ability. Vera Claythorne can discard minions from the top of your deck, potentially drawing up to three other cards in the process. William Blore can discard a minion or even destroy another one of your minions to protect himself from another player's ability. Ethel Rodgers can discard a card after drawing two using her special ability. Finally, Missing Revolver and Moment of Truth can both discard minions in return for power.

Cards on the Table provides different abilities for different stages of the game. In the early to mid-game, it allows for extra plays or card draw. By the end game, there will likely be few minions left (Lombard and Wargrave are solid choices) and the ability shifts to drawing minions to fuel a big play with Moment of Truth.

### VP Rewards via And Then There Were None

And Then There Were None may seem like a powerful card that offers free VP, but it takes effort to achieve. With most partner factions, the VP payout caps at 2, as most factions only feature four different unique minion designs. As such, And Then There Were None usually triggers off having five or more of the Ten Little Soldier Boys minions as they are all unique. The official factions that can potentially provide 3-4 VP with And Then There Were None are listed below in order of their release date.

**3 VP (27 factions currently)**: Robots, Princesses, Mythic Greeks, Superheroes, Star Roamers, Itty Critters, Magical Girls, Mega Troopers, Vigilantes, Musketeers, Penguins, Anansi Tales, Russian Fairy Tales, Avengers, Hydra, Sinister Six, Knights of the Round Table, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Big Hero 6, Frozen, Mulan, Lion King, Nightmare Before Christmas, Wreck-It Ralph, Action Heroes, Teens

**4 VP (4 factions currently)**: Astroknights, All Stars, Grimms' Fairy Tales, World Champs

### Partner Suggestions

Ten Little Soldier Boys flourish when they have a partner that can provide additional draw, discard, or self-destruction to put minions into the discard pile more quickly.

#### Published

* **Beauty and the Beast**
* **Ghosts**
* **Hydra**
* **Mages**
* **Sumo Wrestlers**

#### Custom

* **Engineers:** With the Engineers' ability to increase the value of numbers in card abilities:
	+ Wargrave may gain +1 power counters equal to the combined printed power of two minions after they have gone to the discard pile
	+ Vera looks at the top seven cards of the deck and can draw two cards per discarded minion
	+ Lombard gains +2 power for every three minions in your discard pile
	+ Blore's ability can trigger twice per turn by either discarding a minion from hand or destroying two of your other minions there
	+ Armstrong's on-play ability places a minion of power 5 or less into your hand from the discard pile
	+ Emily Brent's talent gives -2 power for every three minions in your discard pile
	+ McKenzie's on-play ability places three +1 power counters on another two of your minions
	+ Ethel Rodgers' on-play ability can return two of your minions to hand
	+ Marston's on-play ability can move two minions to or from his base
	+ And Then There Were None provides 2 VP for every six minions with different names in your discard pile
	+ Appointment With Death can search for up to three minions of power 3 or less. If their total printed power is greater than 4, they are discarded
	+ Cards On The Table's VP requirements and effects increase as follows:
		- 1-4 VP: (otherwise unchanged)
		- 5-10 VP: Draw three cards; play an extra minion of power 3 or less
		- 11+ VP: Reveal the top six cards of your deck
	+ Missing Revolver destroys two minions to draw cards equal to their combined power OR discards three minions from hand to give another two of your minions +5 power until the end of the turn
	+ Moment of Truth gives two of your minions +2 power for every four minions in your discard pile
	+ Red Herring shuffles up to four cards from your discard pile into your deck and draws two cards
	+ ~~Ten~~ Eleven Little Soldier Boys draws four cards

## Author Notes

* The font used for this faction is Gloucester MT Extra Condensed
* Thanks to Ludichrisness for testing, feedback, designing Dining Room, and providing graphics for the bases!