Despite its ability description, the Dinosaurs’ Augmentation action may only be used on a minion in play. The abilities in Smash Up are usually specific about when, where, and how you may play a card; they will normally say “on a base” or “in play” when specifying exactly how you may use that particular ability. However, the Dinosaur Augmentation Action has a confusingly vague ability:

“One minion gains +4 power until the end of your turn.”

The argument here is that because the card does not specify a minion “in play” or “on a base”, it means that the ability is global (as defined in the Smash Up rulebook) and any minion may be chosen. In other words, I can apply the augmentation to a War Raptor (Power 2, below) in my hand before it is played, thereby making it a power 6 when it is played on a base*. This would allow me to play the War Raptor on a base with an action or minion restricting minions of a lower power (e.g. a Leprechaun, which destroys any played minions with a power less than 5).

After consulting Alderac, we have found that this is not the case. The Augmentation action must be used on a minion that is already in play. Using this example above, this means that we would first have to play the War Raptor and then the Augmentation’s ability could add +4 after it is already on a base. When the minion is played, it only has the power shown on the card.

Dwitt

*The War Raptor later becomes a power 7 after resolving its ability