Dream a dream of ruling over your enemies! Princesses
willmake every wish come true through the power of pure love and happiness. Which can be used, oddly, to order everyone about, and even destroy your enemies. Don’t be fooled: these innocent-looking beauties are few in number, but royal, strong and determined!
- - Pretty Pretty Smash Up rulebook (updated in The Bigger Geekier Box rulebook)
The Princesses are one of the 4 factions from the Pretty Pretty Smash Up set.
Rule the bases with a small number of regal minions.
Other factions from the same set: Fairies, Kitty Cats, Mythic Horses.
Cards[]
The Princesses have only 6 minions and 14 actions compared to the usual 10 and 10. Every minion is power 5, which makes the total minion base power (not counting any abilities) still equal to the usual 30. However, the average power per minion is much higher: 5 compared to the usual 3.
Among their actions, there are:
- 3 play-on-minion actions: Heirloom (3x),
- 2 play-on-base actions: Happily Ever After, Woodland Helpers,
- 9 standard actions (7 that affect one or more minions, in bold): Direct to DVD Sequel (2x), Fairy Godmother, Skillet (2x), Some Day My Prince Will Come, Tale as Old as Time, True Love’s Kiss (2x),
- 4 actions that directly increase a minion's power: Fairy Godmother, Heirloom (3x).
Minions[]
1x Apricot - power 5 - Talent: Destroy another player’s minion of power 2 or less here. FAQ
1x Eliza - power 5 - Ongoing: Other players cannot play more than one extra card per turn. FAQ
1x Griselda - power 5 - Talent: Place an Heirloom card from your discard pile into your hand. FAQ
1x Marie DeGraw - power 5 - Talent: Reveal the top card of your deck. If it is a minion, draw it. Otherwise, place it on the bottom of your deck. FAQ
1x Sleeping Beauty - power 5 - Ongoing: If this minion would go to the discard pile, shuffle it into your deck instead. FAQ
1x Snow White - power 5 - Talent: Move a minion from another base to here. FAQ
Actions[]
2x Direct to DVD Sequel - Shuffle a minion from your discard pile into your deck and draw a card. FAQ
1x Fairy Godmother - Draw a card, OR one minion gets +2 power until the end of the turn. FAQ
1x Happily Ever After - Play on a base. Ongoing: If you are the winner here when this base scores, gain 1 VP. FAQ
3x Heirloom - Play on a minion. Ongoing: This card gives this minion +1 power for each Heirloom on it. This card cannot be destroyed. FAQ
2x Skillet - Destroy a minion of power 2 or less and draw a card. FAQ
1x Some Day My Prince Will Come - Special: Before a base scores, move a minion from there to another base. FAQ
1x Tale as Old as Time - Choose a base. Move all of your minions to it. FAQ
2x True Love’s Kiss - Move a minion to another base. FAQ
1x Woodland Helpers - Play on a base. Ongoing: After you play an action, you may place it on the bottom of your deck instead of in your discard pile. FAQ
Bases[]
Clarifications[]
Here are the official clarifications as they appear in The Bigger Geekier Box rulebook:
Eliza: Any minions or actions played out of turn, or outside the Play Cards phase of your turn, count as extra cards.
Family Heirloom (sic, the card is actually called "Heirloom"): One of these on a minion gives it +1 power. Two of them on a minion give it +2 each, for +4 power total. All three on the same minion give it +3 each, for +9 power total.
Mechanics[]
In every kingdom, there are many commoners and few royalty, just as true for the Princesses. Each of these six ladies is born to rule her lands with power and dignity, and compromise to no lower standard in Smash Up. Each has 5 power and an impressive ability totally different from the others.
The actions that make up the rest of the faction mirror the abilities of the six Princesses, extending their influence even when they are not present. To break it down:
- Apricot - destroy power-2 minions: Skillet
- Eliza - generally a lack of extra card plays; there is only one: Some Day My Prince Will Come
- Griselda - bonus power: Heirloom, Fairy Godmother
- Marie DeGraw - draw cards: Direct to DVD Sequel, Fairy Godmother, Skillet
- Sleeping Beauty - shuffle select cards into the deck: Direct to DVD Sequel, Woodland Helpers
- Snow White - move minions: True Love's Kiss, Tale as Old as Time, Some Day My Prince Will Come
with a few overlaps. The only action left out is Happily Ever After.
Strategy[]
Princesses end up with steady, stately, and slow gameplay with decent adaptability and control. Despite their very high average minion power, they are bad at playing bursts above 5 power, so your best bet is to take advantage of your mobility to target the best bases. Undermine your opponents' Big Drops by bopping their power-2 minions and restricting extra cards.
An interesting feature is the stark contrast between extra card draws and plays. Normally factions closely match these two abilities. Marie DeGraw's talent makes it obvious that the intent is to push card draws in an effort to locate the rare Princesses. Stack your deck with the best cards to raise your chances! You will always have actions to play, but usually have to work with just one or two Princesses at a time unless your partner faction lets you play extra minions/actions and push even harder on the drawing. Eliza helps mitigate this weakness by imposing the same problem on your opponents. Teach them some manners!
Synergy[]
The Princesses' high power tends to keep them safe, but pay attention to opponent factions that can dispose of the royals anyway, and select for defense appropriately, since Princesses have none. Making up for Princesses' exaggerated weaknesses helps their exaggerated strengths shine all the more.
- Robots: Balance out your minion/action ratio, and roll through the deck very fast to play extra minions.
- Wizards: Card draw and extra action plays help thin out the deck, making it faster and easier to draw, play, and replay the Princesses.
- Bear Cavalry: Snow White's talent makes an incredibly powerful combo with High Ground; she can move any minion to her base, and High Ground destroys any other players' minions moving to the base it's on if you have a minion there.
- Shapeshifters: Mimics love having lots of power 5 minions around, as their ability will copy that power. Doppelganger can fetch any of your Princesses. Cellular Bonding can copy an Heirloom, giving you an additional potential +3 on top of the +9 a full set of Heirlooms already provides.
- Super Spies: Sabotage your opponents to slow them down, and sort out your deck to find your best cards. Princesses have several actions like True Love's Kiss and Heirloom that Mole can utilize to swing broken bases your way.
- Dragons: Dragons help stall other players and provide you with card draw through Imperial Dragon. Bring Down the Walls lets you sneak a surprise minion onto a base, particularly effective with Sleeping Beauty.
- Superheroes: Mild-Mannered Citizens can search for the Princesses, making it much more likely that you get, say, Eliza out to slow down swarm and burst decks. Sleeping Beauty shuffles herself back into your deck, ensuring the Citizens always have a valid target.
- Sheep: Little Bo Peep and Snow White make a good team for moving around your flock.
- Grimms' Fairy Tales: The Frog Prince lets you replay one of your powerful Princesses. Rumpelstiltzkin and Fairy Godmother's Blessing can fetch the Princess you need to the top of your deck.
- Knights of the Round Table: Knights and Princesses offer each other more movement options, and Knights provide rewards for moving minions. Noble Steed allows you to move Snow White to any base you wish, then pull another minion to her base in turn.
- Mermaids: Snow White can help Mermaids gain power by moving other players' minions to their bases.
External Strategy Guides[]
- The Smash Up Faction Series: #5, Princesses
- KOTH #8: Princesses
- Smash Up Action Awareness #43: Woodland Helpers
FAQ[]
Questions on Apricot[]
Q:
A:
Rule:
Questions on Eliza[]
Q: Do special cards played out of turn count as extra cards for Eliza’s ability?
A: Yes. You can only play one of them per turn if she’s in play.[1]
Rule: Cards played outside the Play Cards phase of your turns are counted as extra cards.
Q: So Eliza can block titans from coming into play, right? For example, if a player already played an extra card on their turn, they won't be able to play their titan as it would be a second extra card.
A: No, playing a titan doesn't count as playing an extra card so Eliza ignores them.
Rule: Titans are not played as, and do not count as, extra cards.
Q: If Eliza is in play, what happens if a player plays a monster when they have already played an extra card?
A: Nothing, the monster is played normally. Playing a monster doesn't count as playing an extra card so Eliza ignores it.
Q: With Hidden Ninja or Bring Down the Walls, I can play a minion before the base scores and it doesn't count as an extra minion for Eliza's ability because it doesn't say "extra", is that correct?
A: No. While they don't say "extra", those minions still count as extra minions, so Eliza can block it. In particular, if you play Hidden Ninja and then a minion, it counts as two extra cards and Eliza will block you.[1]
Rule: Cards played outside the Play Cards phase of your turns are counted as extra cards.
Questions on Griselda[]
Q: What is an Heirloom card?
A: It's a card, more precisely an action, that's named Heirloom. Princesses have three copies of that card.
Rule: N/A
Q: I already have ten cards in hand. What happens if I decide to use this talent? Do I place a Heirloom card in my hand and immediately discard a card?
A: It is placed in your hand and you don't discard any card until your upcoming Draw 2 Cards phase. At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards.
Questions on Marie DeGraw[]
Q: If I reveal a card I don't own, what happens?
A: There are two different paths for the revealed card:
- If it's a minion, it goes to its owner's hand, that's because the other players can see who owns the card and the card changes location.
- If it's an action, it goes to the top of its owner's deck, that's because the other players can see who owns the card and the card changes location.
Q: I already have ten cards in hand. What happens if I decide to use this talent and reveal a minion? Do I place it in my hand and immediately discard a card?
A: It is placed in your hand and you don't discard any card until your upcoming Draw 2 Cards phase. At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards.
Questions on Sleeping Beauty[]
Q: An ability makes me discard Sleeping Beauty from my hand. Is it shuffled into my deck instead?
A: No. Sleeping Beauty's ability is an Ongoing, so it only becomes active when Sleeping Beauty is in play.
Rule: An Ongoing ability only becomes active when the card is in play.
Q: If I take control of another player's Sleeping Beauty, does it go into my deck when it's about to go to the discard pile?
A: No, it's shuffled into its owner's deck.
Questions on Snow White[]
Q: Can I only move one of my minions? Or can I move another player's minion as well?
A: You can move any minion in play, either yours, or another player's
Questions on Direct to DVD Sequel[]
Q: How is this handled if I have no minions in the discard pile? Will I shuffle my deck before drawing a card or not?
A: If you have no minions to shuffle into your deck, you still shuffle your deck, then draw a card.
Q: After playing this card, I (somehow) have more than 10 cards in hand, do I immediately discard down to 10?
A: You don't discard any card until your next Draw 2 Cards phase (so not any Draw 2 Cards phase!). At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: It doesn't interact with them at all, because it doesn't affect any minions in play and so its effect can't be copied.
Questions on Fairy Godmother[]
Q: After playing this card and choosing to draw a card, I (somehow) have more than 10 cards in hand, do I immediately discard down to 10?
A: You don't discard any card until your next Draw 2 Cards phase (so not any Draw 2 Cards phase!). At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards.
Q: Can you give the +2 power to a minion in stasis?
A: No, cards in stasis cannot be affected by cards that do not explicitly state they work on cards in stasis.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: - If Diva copies it, Diva is considered as indirectly affected by the action and gets +2 power.
- If Dancing King copies it onto a minion (it can be itself), that minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and gets +2 power.
- If We are Family copies it, the minion it is on is considered as indirectly affected by the action and gets +2 power.
- With Funky Town, you can only copy it if you're the one who played the action and if it affects one of your minions, but if Funky Town does copy it, the minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and gets +2 power.
Questions on Happily Ever After[]
Q: Wait, if I win the base, I gain only 1 VP instead of the base reward? Am I interpreting this right?
A: It doesn't say "instead". So, if you win the base where you have Happily Ever After, you gain the VP reward from the base as usual, and you gain an extra 1 VP thanks to Happily Ever After.
Q: An opponent plays this card on a base, so if I win this base, I gain an extra 1 VP, right?
A: No. Your opponent played the action, so they control it, and therefore the action only addresses them and the ability must be interpreted from their point of view. So "you" means "they" (i.e. your opponent) and "(you) gain" means "they gain".
Rule: A play-on-base action doesn't give an ability to the base that any player can use.
Rule: "You" on a minion, action or titan means the controller of the card.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: It doesn't interact with them at all, because it says "Play on a base", which means that it is not a standard action.
Questions on Heirloom[]
Q: What is an Heirloom?
A: You're looking at one. More precisely, it's an action that's named Heirloom, e.g. this very card. Princesses have three copies of this card.
Rule: N/A
Q: How much power do 1, 2 and 3 Heirlooms give to the minion they're attached to?
A: If there's only one Heirloom, it gives +1 power. If there are two Heirlooms, each one gives +2 power, so +4 power in total. If there are three Heirlooms, each one gives +3 power, so +9 power in total.
Q: What happens to an heirloom card when the minion it's attached to is destroyed if the heirloom card says it cannot be destroyed? We can't agree if the Heirloom card just cannot be destroyed while it's on an active minion, or if it can't be destroyed at all.
A: When the minion it's attached to is destroyed (or more generally, leaves play), any action attached to it is "discarded", it's not considered as a destruction.
Q: Can you play it on a minion in stasis?
A: No, cards in stasis cannot be affected by cards that do not explicitly state they work on cards in stasis.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: It doesn't interact with them at all, because it says "Play on a minion", which means that it is not a standard action.
Questions on Skillet[]
Q: If there is no minion of power 2 or less in play, do I still draw a card?
A: Yes.
Q: If the only minion of power 2 or less is indestructible, do I still draw a card?
A: Yes.
Q: If there are several minions of power 2 or less, including one that's indestructible. Do I have to choose a destructible minion or can I choose the indestructible one? If I can choose the indestructible one, do I still draw a card?
A: You can choose any minion of power 2 or less in play and you can even choose an indestructible one despite there being ones that are not immune, that's perfectly valid. And no matter which minion you choose, you will still draw a card because it's independent from you destroying a minion.
Q: If there is only one minion of power 2 or less in play, including on my side, would I have to destroy it?
A: Yes.
Q: Can you destroy a minion in stasis?
A: No, cards in stasis cannot be affected by cards that do not explicitly state they work on cards in stasis.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: - If Diva copies it (and it can copy it even if its power is more than 2), Diva is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is destroyed. Note that you don't draw an additional card for destroying an additional minion; the rest of the ability must be resolved as written and it simply says "draw a card", so just do that, draw one card. That's because that part doesn't depend on the number of destroyed minion. In fact, if there were no minions to destroy or if you target an indestructible minion, you would still draw a card.
- If Dancing King copies it onto a minion (it can be itself and it can copy it even if the power of the minion that gets the copy is more than 2), that minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is destroyed. Note that you don't draw an additional card for destroying an additional minion; the rest of the ability must be resolved as written and it simply says "draw a card", so just do that, draw one card. That's because that part doesn't depend on the number of destroyed minion. In fact, if there were no minions to destroy or if you target an indestructible minion, you would still draw a card.
- If We are Family copies it (and it can copy it even if the power of the minion it is on is more than 2), the minion it is on is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is destroyed. Note that you don't draw an additional card for destroying an additional minion; the rest of the ability must be resolved as written and it simply says "draw a card", so just do that, draw one card. That's because that part doesn't depend on the number of destroyed minion. In fact, if there were no minions to destroy or if you target an indestructible minion, you would still draw a card.
- With Funky Town, you can only copy it if you're the one who played the action and if it destroys one of your minions, but if Funky Town does copy it (and it can copy it even if the power of the minion that gets the copy is more than 2), the minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is destroyed. Note that you don't draw an additional card for destroying an additional minion; the rest of the ability must be resolved as written and it simply says "draw a card", so just do that, draw one card. That's because that part doesn't depend on the number of destroyed minion. In fact, if there were no minions to destroy or if you target an indestructible minion, you would still draw a card.
Questions on Some Day My Prince Will Come[]
Q: Can I only move one of my minions? Or can I move another player's minion as well?
A: You can move any minion in play, either yours, or another player's
Q: Does moving a minion away before a base scores change anything at all? Don't we only get VPs based on the power we had at the start of scoring?
A: Actually, the amount of VPs each player gets is determined by the power each player currently has when you are handing out VPs, so any before-scoring abilities (including this one) that affect how much power you have on the base will affect the amount of VPs you'll eventually get.
Rule: VPs are awarded according to the current power totals.
Q: Before a base scores, if I move a minion away from the scoring base, reducing the total power there below the breakpoint, does this end the scoring?
A: No. Once a base has been chosen to score, you keep scoring it even if the total power on it drops below its breakpoint because of before-scoring abilities. (Only a couple of things can really prevent a base from scoring, but this isn't one of them.)
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: - If Diva copies it, Diva is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
- If Dancing King copies it onto a minion (it can be itself), that minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
- If We are Family copies it, the minion it is on is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
- With Funky Town, you can only copy it if you're the one who played the action and if it moves one of your minions away from Funky Town, but if Funky Town does copy it, the minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
Questions on Tale as Old as Time[]
Q: It tells me to move "all of my minions". Do I also move minions I own that I don't control? I don't control it but I "own" it, so it's "my" minion, right?
A: No. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.
Q: Can you move a minion from stasis to that base?
A: No, cards in stasis cannot be affected by cards that do not explicitly state they work on cards in stasis.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: - Diva can't copy it because it would already be directly affected by it.
- If Dancing King copies it onto a minion (it can be itself), that minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base. Note that if several minions were moved from its base, Dancing King only triggers once and allows you to move only one additional minion, not one per affected minion. Also, note that while the action is restricted to a minion controlled by the action player, the effect's copy still works if applied to a minion not controlled by that player.
- If We are Family copies it, the minion it is on is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base. Note that while the action is restricted to a minion controlled by the action player, the effect's copy still works if applied to a minion not controlled by that player.
- Funky Town can't copy it because you need to be the one who played the action and so all your minions are already directly affected by it.
Questions on True Love’s Kiss[]
Q: Can I only move one of my minions? Or can I move another player's minion as well?
A: You can move any minion in play, either yours, or another player's
Q: Can you move a minion from stasis to a base?
A: No, cards in stasis cannot be affected by cards that do not explicitly state they work on cards in stasis.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: - If Diva copies it, Diva is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
- If Dancing King copies it onto a minion (it can be itself), that minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
- If We are Family copies it, the minion it is on is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
- With Funky Town, you can only copy it if you're the one who played the action and if it moves one of your minions away from Funky Town, but if Funky Town does copy it, the minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
Questions on Woodland Helpers[]
Q: Is it only for actions played on its base or all the actions?
A: It's actually for any action you play. After playing it, if it is to be placed in your discard pile, you may instead place it on the bottom of your deck. Since actions played on other cards (minions or bases) remain in play, they won't be immediately be placed in your discard pile. However Woodland Helpers is still in effect for those actions until the end of the turn (Unless otherwise stated, the effects of an ability expire at the end of the turn), so if those actions are to be discarded before the end of the turn that they are played, then you can place them on the bottom of your deck instead.
Q: So if I play an action on a minion or a base while Woodland Helpers is in play, then on that same turn, Woodland Helpers is destroyed, can I still place the action on the bottom of my deck if it leaves play afterwards on that same turn?
A: Yes, the moment you play the action while Woodland Helpers is in play, Woodland Helpers "grants" it the ability to be placed under your deck instead of being discarded for the rest of that turn (similar to how Non-Infinite Loop still works even though it is immediately discarded after play).
Q: What if I play another player's on-play action (e.g. with Mass Enchantment)? Can I choose to place it on the bottom of that player's discard pile?
A: No. Woodland Helpers replaces "placing the action in your discard pile" by "placing the action on the bottom of your deck. If you play another player's action, it will be discarded in their discard pile, so Woodland Helpers can't "reprogram" it.
Q: An opponent plays this card on a base, so if I play an action there, I can place it on the bottom of my deck, right?
A: No. Your opponent played the action, so they control it, and therefore the action only addresses them and the ability must be interpreted from their point of view. So "you" means "they" (i.e. your opponent) and "your" means "their" (i.e. your opponent's).
Rule: A play-on-base action doesn't give an ability to the base that any player can use.
Rule: "You" on a minion, action or titan means the controller of the card.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: It doesn't interact with them at all, because it says "Play on a base", which means that it is not a standard action.
Trivia[]
- The artist is 2Minds Studio, who also designed the art of many other factions, including all the factions of the Pretty Pretty Smash Up set.
- Their divider (updated in The Bigger Geekier Box) features Snow White.
- The font used for the Princesses cards is Gabrielle.
- This faction is themed after well-known fictional princesses, including Disney and Nintendo princesses.
- Eliza is a reference to Elsa from the Disney movie Frozen. Her Ice Castle can be seen in the background.
- Tale as Old as Time is the title of one of the main songs from the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast.
- Skillet is a reference to Rapunzel's frying pan from the Disney movie Tangled.
- Apricot is a reference to Princess Peach from the Super Mario franchise.
- Griselda and her Heirlooms are references to Zelda and the Triforce from The Legend of Zelda franchise.
- It's unclear what exactly Direct to DVD Sequel is refering to (the scene looks like princesses Anna and Elsa), but here and here are possibilities.
In other languages[]
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| Chinese | 公主 |
| French | Princesses |
| German | Prinzessinnen |
| Hebrew | נסיכות |
| Italian | Principesse |
| Russian | Принцессы |
| Spanish | Princesas |
| ||||||