I was delighted to see that Gabe was still cranked up enough about the Gundam Card Game, whatever it may be called, to do an actual review for the site. Now: we may have to consider that he is just trying to get more cards by being naturally influent. I hope so. I won't be able to have any of those cards, no fucking way, but I might be able to seize the little shreds of booster foil and make an attractive nest.
It's a tiny bit rough, but they put out a Teaching App you can use to learn how to play GCG, earn the different starters in the app, and figure out if this is the kind of person you are. You might be; Kiko and I play primarily Japanese TCGs, and many of them share some of the characteristics Mork goes into in his Gundam Card Game review. They have a much greater emphasis on comeback mechanics usually which gives them a unique texture.
It took all four days of Gen Con, but I was finally able to get Gabe one of the special "starter sets" for the Gundam Assemble Start Set, which you might imagine included one or two decks, but actually includes a few tiny Gunpla models for the upcoming wargame, which - and this may shock you - is called GUNDAM ASSSEMBLE.
I thought building Gunpla was cool, but that's a form of labor I only undertake if it is a prerequisite to a game - you can tell how much I like it because I called a hobby that hundreds of thousands of people enjoy on its own "work." In the card game, you can use these little models - a couple inches or so tall - as markers, but their true destiny is to war against one another on a little hex board.
I've heard rumors that Bandai Namco getting into the hobby wargame space is the only opponent Games Workshop actually fears, and I can see it. One Warhammer hero model costs about forty bucks. Obviously, it was a special set, but with that Assemble kit I got a fifty card starter plus three mech models for like thirty-five bucks. Bandai Namco's mastery of the sprue is total, and their pricing would be alien to anybody who plays wargames. We turn gold into plastic at ratios that can only be called Reverse Alchemy.
(CW)TB out.
