Gundam War Collectible Card Game

Infobox Game | subject_name= Gundam War
image_link=
designer= Kentaro Kawashima
publisher= Bandai
players= 2 (may be adjusted to multiplayer play)
ages= 12 and up
setup_time= < 3 minutes
playing_time= ~ 15 minutes
complexity= Medium
strategy= Medium-High
random_chance= Some
skills= Card playing
Arithmetic
Simple text reading skills
bggid=4005

"Gundam War: Mobile Suit Gundam the Card Game" also known simply as "Gundam War" is a collectible card game based on the Gundam anime series produced by Bandai. Players can simulate battles in the anime series. The game is designed for 2 players, though there may be different fan-created multiplayer rules. This game is sometimes confused with the Gundam M.S. War Trading Card Game, since both are published by Bandai and are based on the Gundam series.

History

Gundam War is a collectible card game based on the Gundam anime series. It was first released in Japan in February 1999, and later a Traditional Chinese version and an English version was released in early 2005. The English version of the game was discontinued after three sets. The Japanese version of the game still continues to be released, with over 45 sets to date.

Gameplay

Each player starts with a deck, called the "Nation Pile", which has exactly 50 cards. Players take turns drawing from their Nation Pile at the beginning of their turn, except the very first turn of the game. They battle against each other with Unit cards that they control, with excess damage sending proportionate numbers of cards, along with any discarded cards, to the "Discard Pile". When a player has depleted his/her Nation, s/he has lost the game. There are six different colors of cards, representing different factions of various series, and five different types of cards.

Colors and Factions

In the Japanese card game, the following are the six colors and their related factions.

Blue:This color is generally effective at quick production, defense, and recovery. (Similar to White in ) This color includes many of the protagonists and their respective factions from Universal Century, which includes:
*Earth Federation, and its related force(excluding forces related to Titans)
*AEUG of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ
*Londo Bell of
*League Militaire of Mobile Suit Victory Gundam

Green:This color is known for damaging effects from Command cards, and low-cost Units. (Similar to Red in ) The factions included in this color include, but are not limited to:
*Principality of Zeon of Mobile Suit Gundam
*Delaz Fleet of
*Oldsmobile of Mobile Suit Gundam F90
*All cards from Mobile Suit Gundam 00 aside from Celestial Being

Black:This color is known for effects that affect all cards on the field, direct removal of cards, and large-scale effects at a cost. (Similar to Black in ) The factions include in this color include:
*Titans of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
*New Decides of Gundam Sentinel
*Zanscare Empire of Mobile Suit Victory Gundam
*Celestial Being of Mobile Suit Gundam 00P

Red:Particularly specializing in negation of the opponent's card effects, (Similar to Blue in ) the factions included in this color are:
*Axis/Neo Zeon of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, and
*Crossbone Vanguard of Gundam F91 and Crossbone Gundam
*Jupiter Empire from Crossbone Gundam
*Mafty of

Brown:This color is previously known for effects that affect the Discard Pile and Junkyard. After the participation of G Gundam. also its unique attacking style of the Mobile Fighters. The factions include in this color include:
*All cards from Turn A Gundam
*All cards from After War Gundam X
*All cards from Mobile Fighter G Gundam

White:This color is known for their high-cost-high-powered Unit cards and the variations of Command cards. The factions include in this color include:
*All cards from Gundam Wing series
*All cards from Gundam SEED series

Purple: This color is used for all the cards that have no specific factions. This type of card can be played, regardless of current color generation. Some of the most powerful cards in the game belong to this color. Purple cards are similar to Artifact cards in . Some non-timelined mobile suit also belongs to purple, like Perfect Gundam and Musha Gundam.

Also, there is a new card called "Dual Cards". This type of card has two specific colors as its cost. They represent moves involving more than one force in the animations. But cards related to Celestial Being in Mobile Suit Gundam 00 series are special cases, they are all in dual, but they can be paid as long as having costs from any two different colors (one must be black, for cases in 00P), They are usually treated as purple in normal conditions.

Unit cards

Unit cards are the representations of the Mobile Suits, Mobile Armors, Cruisers, and Colonies in the anime series. They are the main ways to battle and deal damage to the opponent's Nation, as they are the only type of cards that can enter into the Battle Area. Only one Unit card can be played per turn.

Character cards

Character cards are the representations of the characters in the anime series. They are set onto a Unit and bring extra effects and battle modifications to the Set-On Unit, through there are characters that can be set onto other types of cards. Only one Character card can be played per turn, and no two characters with the same name can be in play by either player at any one time.

Command cards

Command cards are cards that carry out effects, usually depicting scenes in the anime series. Commands go to the Junkyard after their resolution. There is no limit to the Command cards that can be played per turn, providing the text on the card permits it.

This type of card is similar to Instant and Sorcery cards in the game.

Operation cards

Operation cards remain in play, usually affecting the game state, or capable of activating an effect at any time. They also depict their respective event or battle in the anime series. Only one Operation card can be played per turn. Some operation card are needed to set on the other designated cards rather than on the play area.

This type of card is similar to Enchantment in the game.

Generation cards

This type of card produces a "Nation Power" (similar to Mana in many other card games) that one can use to play other cards. There are two types of this card: "Basic G" cards and "Special G" cards. Generation cards usually depict resources, soldiers, and supporters in the anime series.

Basic Generation cards usually have effects of "Producing a NP for certain color", and one can have any amount of it in a deck, while Special Generation cards have diverse effects and a maximum of 6 special Generation of the same name can be put into a deck.

This is similar to Land cards in .

Balance Controls

Unlike the Yu-Gi-Oh or Magic: The Gathering, Gundam War perform a little effect on after-market balance controls. No limits are placed for the types of booster packs that can be used in most general games (Including all games in Grand Tournments). The method they mainly used is to making new cards that the ability that supress older powerful decks, old cards are not common to see in game now, other that cards with draw-search purpose.

In early stages Gundam War nearly do not enforce any card restrictions other than some minor erratas. The first major adjustments involved banned cards occurs after the Grand Tournment in 2005, when founding the variation of decks reduced too much due to the appearance of a few type overpowered decks which greatly reduce the game time. Until August, 2008. There are 17 limited cards and 15 offical banned cards.

The most commonly banned combos in Gundam War history is summoning a large number (3 or more) of untapped strong units in a single turn in early stages (eariler than the time unit that can be normally paid) and strike to the opponent before s/he can make defenses. Whenever such combo appears in many places in tournments, usually one or a few key cards will be banned/limited afterwards, for more serious cases, the ability of the cards/skills will be changed to outlaw the combo decks.The "quick" ability (especially with untap ability) was another type of cards that is the main target of target control, as "quick" originally did not count as a limit of cards that can be paid in a single turn. The "quick lands" were banned in early 2008, and the "quick" rule was amended in August, 2008. Cards with quick ability are also counted as card-paying limits, they can no longer played all at once in a single turn. The remaining type of limited card related to destroying lands, which will give a great disadvantage to multi-color decks, especially decks having Celestial Being's unit.

References

Links

* [http://www.carddas.com/cdmasters/gundamwar Official Japanese Bandai Gundam War Page]
* [http://www.dmcomet.net/gwcomet Baron's Gundam War Comet, a known English GW fan-site with Japanese cards translation]
* [http://www11.atwiki.jp/gundamwar/ Japanese Gundam War Wiki]
* [http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AC%E3%83%B3%E3%83%80%E3%83%A0%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A9%E3%83%BC Japanese Wikipedia page on Gundam War]