Dave's Game Rant Transformers 3D Battle-Card Game (Constructible Strategy Game) Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Artifacts/CSG1 Just picked up ten boosters at the friendly local gaming store (FLGS), so here's a first pass. Expect an update if I actually get a chance to play against a person. It strikes me, though, that this can be played online pretty easily for two-player so long as people are honest (or have a third party to send orders to). Update 6/5/07: Comments on all 19 units that I got. No game-play comments yet. Update 6/6/07: A reader has been putting up good pictures of the ones he has, http://staff.harrisonburg.k12.va.us/%7Emwampole/pix/TF-3D-card-game.html (These are better than the ones on the official webpage). Thanks also to Mike "Legobot" Wampole for the stats on Optimus Prime and Smokescreen. Update 6/9/07: Got to play a few games. Notes on this at the bottom. Update 1/28/08: Got a few trades in the mail, fleshed out my entries. CAPSULE TFCSG: Simple but not TOO simple system, but doesn't really need the figures to play...more of a CCG with toys included. Reasonably sized initial set, good "one pack tryout" potential. $3.99 a pack, which includes an Autobot, a Decepticon, counters and rules. RANT http://www.wizards.com/Transformers/links/RulesSheet.pdf has the PDF of the rules, but I'll summarize here anyway, in case that goes away someday. :) The cards come in foil packs, silver with robot mode of either Megatron, Barricade, Bumblebee or Optimus Prime on the front. They're labeled as 2-player battle packs. For those not into gaming, here's what a CSG is: you get little plastic punch-out models you can build for your units, and generally use another card with the control info for the unit. The models move around the table in some fashion and do battle. At the more complex end you have things like Pirates of the Spanish Main or Rocketmen, which are essentially miniatures games. At the simpler end are Star Wars and Transformers, where movement is more symbolic and the units are more like board game tokens than miniatures. As far as I can recall, Transformers is the first CSG to come out from Wizards of the Coast, which is owned by Hasbro. WizKids is the main pioneer of CSGs, with Pirates, Rocketmen and the upcoming Star Wars, but there's also been Racer Knights of Falconus (a fantasy car wars sort of game at the high end of the complexity scale). However, Wizards apparently has the patent on CSGs, despite their late entry to actually producing a game, but WizKids is challenging this. Anyway. Each unit in TFCSG can be built as either a vehicle or a robot with the same set of pieces, although the robot mode often looks kinda weird. The stat cards have two sides as well, for each mode. Each mode has its own Hit Points, and three attack actions to choose from, coded red, blue and green. The model is only necessary for showing whether two units are at Close or Long Range from each other...they make actual transformation of the model optional, which is wise, given how it can take several minutes to do in some cases. You win when you reduce the face-up mode of your opponent to zero HP (or all opposing units in multi-unit games). Each round, you secretly pick a colored token representing your desired attack, and your opponent does the same. Each attack has a different color under it, and if your opponent picked that color you hit. Your action may also do something regardless of whether you hit, like changing range or transforming. If both players pick the same color, it's a tie and no effects work, you try again. If it's a tie on the do-over, then whoever has the lowest HP total scores a Critical Hit...nice built-in comeback mechanic. Clips are included to run down the damage tracks on the sides of the cards, so you can easily keep track of your robot and vehicle mode damages at the same time. Or, if you don't feel like playing with clips, bring two of the 10/20/30/etc ten-sided dice along for each unit, with one color being robot and the other being vehicle. :) The clips, by the way, look nice, but are too flimsy to stand up to real play. Heck, they don't always even stand up to being punched out, and end up too bent to stay on. You might want to get a cheap box of plastic paperclips instead. [Later clarification: each attack has two colors attached to it. So, for instance, you pick your green attack, and it has red as the opponent color. If your opponent picks red, you hit. If they pick green, you tie. If they pick blue, you miss.] Now, what makes this a little bit more complicated than simple Rock Paper Scissors (RPS) mechanics is that your opponent's card is out in front of you, and you can see what each of their colors will do. Will they try for their best move? Or their weakest in order to fake you out? Will they pick their color based more on avoiding your strongest attack? And so forth. Another layer is added as some successful hits give you a bonus for using specific colors on your next turn, increasing the temptation to pick the most obvious attack. Also, each unit has slightly different special powers, some are specialists at long or short range, others can prevent their targets from transforming, etc. Megatron has a nifty power that lets him transform any unit he likes if he succeeds...and if someone transformed because their current mode was close to defeat, that's very useful. Scorponok (and one or two others) can do damage to the unrevealed mode, too. Now, if you reduce the unrevealed mode to zero you don't win, but your opponent can't transform without losing. One thing that caps the complexity is that even when there's multiple units on the table, each combat is a pure duel. So, no need to worry about several hits coming in at once. There's no rule against mixing factions, or having internecine war. In fact, some units have attacks that are explicitly better against the opposing faction. I haven't seen any that specialize in infighting, though, but I don't have Starscream yet. ;) The basic game just has you play one on one, presumably out of a single pack. Of course, if Swerve ends up matched with Megatron, you could be boned. The advanced game lets you play 100 points of figures, and multiplayer scrums are also possible. Collation seems pretty good. Out of 10 packs (20 units), I only got three doubles. There's three rarity levels: Rare, Uncommon and Common. All of the Rares are movie characters, all of the Commons are non-movie characters. Since there's more Decepticons in the movie than Autobots, the Uncommon Decepticons are all movie characters, while most of the Uncommon Autobots are non-movie. The non-movie characters are a weird mix of Cybertron, Alternators, Classic and what are either purely new for the game or videogame characters. Also, while there's 26 units, there's only 12 "molds". Some are only used once, others are aggressively re-used. 01: Megatron 02: Bonecrusher, Longarm (Longarm builds differently with the same pieces, not shown in the instructions) 03: Ratchet, Payload 04: Blackout, Evac 05: Thundercracker, Jetfire, Starscream, Dreadwing 06: Barricade, Bumblebee, Mirage, Swerve 07: Protoform Starscream, Protoform Bumblebee 08: Optimus Prime 09: Scorponok (yeah, like this could be reused by anyone) 10: Brawl, Wreckage (who gets an inappropriate cannon) 11: Jazz, Cliffjumper, Smokescreen 12: Ironhide, Dropkick Here's the rarities and how many I got of each in 14 packs (bought 4 more a couple days later): Autobots: Bumblebee (Rare): 0 Cliffjumper (Common): 3 Evac (Uncommon): 2, oddly Ironhide (Rare): 0 Jazz (Rare): 0 Jetfire (Uncommon): 1 Longarm (Common): 2 Mirage (Common): 2 Optimus Prime (Rare): 0 Protoform Bumblebee (Uncommon): 1 Ratchet (Rare): 0 Smokescreen (Uncommon): 0 Swerve (Common): 3 DECEPTICONS: Barricade (Rare): 1 Blackout (Uncommon): 1 Bonecrusher (Uncommon): 1 Brawl (Rare): 1 Dreadwing (Common): 1 Dropkick (Common): 0 Megatron (Rare): 1 Payload (Common): 1 Protoform Starscream (Uncommon): 2 Scorponok (Rare): 1 Starscream (Rare): 1 Thundercracker (Common): 1 Wreckage (Uncommon): 1 Also got a second Jetfire in the promo pack that came with Game Trade Magazine. Each card is labeled A or B, with the robot mode sides being A1 and B1, the vehicle mode sides being A2 and B2. Well, usually. Some of the cards don't split that easily, like the helicopters. Still, this makes it easier to put them back in the cards without having to guess based on border colors...I've found over the years that most of these are cut on a slight bias, so there's an easy side to insert from and a hard one, and trying to put one in while flipped over works poorly. Also, I've noticed that the printing doesn't always line up the same way on every card, so if you pop open two Evacs, for instance, putting the first one back in the second one's cards will often be noticeable. In general, the plastic used for these cards feels more flexible and less brittle than that used in Pirates or in Z-Cardz. A trick I've picked up for putting the pieces back into the cards: use a regular-sized six-sided die to smooth pieces in. CARD BY CARD When listing attacks, here's the notation I'll use. Name (Color/Target Color: Automatic effect and damage : effect if successful). R is red, G is green, B is blue. TF means you may transform, CR means change range, SR means short range, LR means long range. CR(S) is just change to short, CR(L) is just change to long. A "-" means that the attack has no automatic effect. So, "Spin Turn (R/G : TF : 20)" means that Spin Turn is a red attack, hits if the opponent is green, lets you transform regardless of whether it hits, and does 20 damage if it hits. 01/26: Bumblebee Rarity: Rare Points: 20 Vehicle Mode: HP: 60 Attacks: Pedal to the Metal (R/G : If tie, do 10 to any figure : 20) Take Cover (G/B : TF : 10, CR) Weave & Swerve (B/R : - : 20, pick color, next round opponent fights it can't choose that color) Critical: 30, +20 if this figure is at 30 HP or less, TF Robot Mode: HP: 60 Attacks: Air Rifle (R/G : If tie, do 10 to any figure : 20, +20 at LR) Lucky Shot (G/B : - : 10, choose any figure, it may not TF for the rest of the game) Slip & Slam (B/R : TF : 20, CR) Critical: 50, +20 if this figure is at 20 HP or less Comments: See Mirage for construction notes. Update: A bit of a jack of all trades. Some denial, some sniping, and a goodly chunk of underdogging. 02/26: Cliffjumper Rarity: Common Points: 31 Vehicle Mode: HP: 80 Attacks: Spin Turn (R/G : TF : 20) Speed Fever (G/B : - : 30) High Gear (B/R : - : 20, CR) Critical: 30, CR Robot Mode: HP: 70 Attacks: Glass Gas Rifle (R/G : - : 20, +10 at SR) Backflip (G/B : TF : 30, +10 at SR) Let Me At 'Em (B/R : If you miss take 10 : 50) Critical: 50, +20 if chose B Comments: Very aggro, melee specialist in robot mode. Totally non-Bumblebee head. Assembling the car mode of this mold (also used for Bumblebee, Mirage and Swerve) is a pain in the butt. It has several panels where the tabs have to be pressed down into shallow notches, and inevitably one of the two notches will slide out of the way. It's pretty solid when you're done, though. But it's a build style that annoys me in Racer Knights too. The instructions for robot mode are close to those for Bumblebee, but with a few significant differences. The legs are farther apart, and he gets a rifle and a shoulder cannon instead of two handguns. The roof piece is very hard to get in place if you put the arms on first. The roof and hood pieces are just sort of stuck on back to hide 'em, but they have nice seat cushion detailing to blend together. The robot mode is poseable at the shoulders, but this is the sort of "tab in a round hole" thing that snaps pretty easily, so be careful. The best way to take the arms back off is to put finger and thumb right up against the arm from behind and pinch forward to ease it off. 03/26: Evac Rarity: Uncommon Points: 29 Vehicle Mode: HP: 80 Attacks: Dual Cannon (R/G : - : 10, +10 at LR) Bladewhirl (G/B : - : 20, CR) Spindrop (B/R : TF : 20, CR up to two figures) Critical: 20, TF, +20 damage next round you fight if you hit. Robot Mode: HP: 70 Attacks: Rescue Raid (R/G : TF : 10, Repair 20 any figure, TF any figure) Energy Spear (G/B : - : 20, +20 LR, +10 vs Robot) Body Slam (B/R : take 10 : 50) Critical: 30, +20 damage next round you fight if you hit. Comments: No, it doesn't say you can't TF an enemy figure with Rescue Raid, heh heh heh. And Energy Spear does do 50 against robots at long range. The props don't have a purely vehicle mode side, so when you assemble it two blades will be robot legs. The robot mode holds together a bit weakly, and getting the props on in vehicle mode can potentially result in broken pieces. Generally not too hard to put together in either mode. 04/26: Ironhide Rarity: Rare Points: 41 Vehicle Mode: HP: 90 Attacks: Jam & Slam (R/G : TF : 30, target can't TF this round) Ramming Assault (G/B : - : 20, CR) Wheelspin (B/R : target can't TF this round : 20) Critical: 30, target can't TF this round Robot Mode: HP: 90 Attacks: Doublesmash (R/G : - : 20, +20 vs Vehicle, +10 vs Decepticon) Radial Launcher (G/B : TF : +10 vs. Robot, +10 at SR) Chem Cannon (B/R : target can't TF this round : 40) Critical: 50, target can't TF this round Comments: See Dropkick for construction notes. Update: He's all about the modelocking, although his bag of tricks is more diverse in robot mode. Definitely a guy to use against anyone with a wimpy vehicle mode, though, like Protoforms. Important in the late game too, to keep a damaged unit from TFing to a less injured mode. 05/26: Jazz Rarity: Rare Points: Vehicle Mode: HP: Attacks: Critical: Robot Mode: HP: Attacks: Critical: Comments: Don't have this yet. See Cliffjumper for assembly comments. 06/26: Jetfire Rarity: Uncommon Points: 38 Vehicle Mode: HP: 90 Attacks: Heatseeker (R/G : - : 10, +10 at LR, +20 vs Robot) Quadcannon (G/B : TF : 20, next round you fight, if your figure takes damage, opposing figure takes same damage) Back Burner (B/R : - : 30, CR) Critical: 10, +20 at LR Robot Mode: HP: 80 Attacks: Laser Razor (R/G : - : 20, +10 at LR, +20 vs Robot) Quadcannon (G/B : - : 10, +10 at LR, +10 vs. Robot) Magnetic Wave (B/R : TF : 20, special as Robot Mode Quadcannon) Critical: 20, +30 at Long Range Comments: Sniper! I'll note that getting this model together in either mode can be a pain in the skidplate. Mainly getting the fuselage/torso bits on. One is easy, the second requires fingers 2mm wide. The other pieces are all simple, it's just those two fuselage pieces. If your store has the nice point of purchase display with assembled units in a blister at the front, that's Starscream, and shows how this mold works. 07/26: Longarm Rarity: Common Points: 35 Vehicle Mode: HP: 80 Attacks: Precision Collision (R/G : TF : 10, opponent may not TF this round or the next round he fights) Towcable (G/B : - : 20, opponent may not TF this round or the next round he fights) Heat Laser (B/R : - : 30) Critical: 20, Repair 20 any figure Robot Mode: HP: 80 Attacks: Wild Swing (R/G : - : 20) Laser Blade (G/B : TF : 20, +20 vs vehicle, CR) Tangle (B/R : Opponent cannot TF this round : +20 at LR) Critical: 40, Repair 20 any Comments: Man, he has some sweet robot mode attacks. The vehicle mode is pretty much ALL the sort of tab-in-depression thing I complained about on Cliffjumper, but the more open construction style makes this less tricky. Takes the roof piece from Bonecrusher and swaps it front to back so that the front claw becomes a rear repo-man tow rig. The instructions don't show this, but it's pretty easy to figure out from the picture on the stat card. Very sturdy and generally easy to assemble robot mode. Putting the feet into the insides of the legs can require a little work. Has a "camera head" like Shockwave. 08/26: Mirage Rarity: Common Points: 26 Vehicle Mode: HP: 80 Attacks: Double Assault (R/G : - : 10) Ooookay. Slide Swipe (G/B : TF : 20, CR) Hologram (B/R : +10 damage if you hit next time you fight : 30) Critical: 30, CR Robot Mode: HP: 60 Attacks: Dart Rifle (R/G : CR : 20, +20 at SR) Power Throw (G/B : - : 10, +20 vs Robot) Electro Disruptor (B/R : +30 if you hit next time you fight : 30) Critical: 40, CR Comments: The vehicle mode is definitely the Alternators one, but he has an all new movie-style robot mode drawn by Gonzalo Flores. Yeah, the stat cards all have artist credits. It's all Flores or Lucio Parillo, though. Construction in both modes is very similar to the Cliffjumper mold, but the shoulder cannon is replaced by a second rifle. At least, I think it's a rifle in this case...it's very organic looking. The instructions incorrectly show the legs closer together than on Cliffjumper, but they should still be on the outer set of slots. The instructions also don't show the left arm rifle, but I suppose we're meant to take it as the same as the right. The car mode has a rear bumper rather than a spoiler, and there's subtle differences that lead to a better-looking car mode. 09/26: Optimus Prime Rarity: Rare Points: 54 Vehicle Mode: HP: 100 Attacks: Particle Cannon (R/G : - : 20, next round opponent attacks his figure takes 30 if choose R or G) Grapple Arm (G/B : TF : 10, next round you may choose opponent's attack color) Repair (B/R : - : 20, CR, repair 10 to any figure) Critical: 30, for the rest of the game, each Autobot does +10 damage whenever it hits. Robot Mode: HP: 100 Attacks: Ultimate Punch (R/G : - : 20, +20 vs. Decepticon, CR) Laser Rifle (G/B : TF : 20, +20 at SR) Energy Axe (B/R : - : 30, +30 if this figure was hit last round you fought) Critical: 50, special as in vehicle mode. Comments: Don't have this one yet to comment on construction problems. MAN, Grapple Arm is nasty. In fact, it's a game-breaker in 2-player if Prime is your only figure. Why? Because, so long as opponents have to attack Prime, you can keep picking Grapple Arm and making your opponent pick Blue (unless you're fighting Brawl, who can't use Turret Shot twice in a row). Thus, if you ever hit with Grapple Arm, you win in a duel. Period. It's not as nasty in multiplayer, or if you have other figures an opponent can choose to attack, but it basically means you never attack Prime with Blue. Period. Update: Vehicle mode is easily one of the largest in the game, at 4" (10cm) long. Of course, they really have to do some gymnastics to fit all the pieces on two cards, and the truck mode is pretty open (no front windshield, no backplate, big gap on the rear, etc). When assembling, you need to make sure you put the smokestacks on after connecting the rear side pieces, and even then it's a little tricky threading the needle. Wow, but the robot mode is tricky. The instructions are very unclear, and there's a lot of interlocking bits. The way the hands are printed onto the card is very awkward, trying to get them into the shape of card required for the vehicle mode, and the general proportions are pretty twisted. Still, once assembled, it's very solid, and quite tall at 3.5" (9cm). 10/26: Protoform Bumblebee Rarity: Uncommon Points: 26 Vehicle Mode: HP: 80 Attacks: Armor Stance (R/G : Prevent 10 to this figure this round : 10, +10 at LR) Power Pulse (G/B : TF : 10, +10 at LR) Energybind (B/R : TF : 20, Repair 10 to either form of this figure) Critical: 20 Robot Mode: HP: 60 Attacks: Laser Pistol (R/G : - : 30, CR(S)) Called Shot (G/B : - : 10, +10 at LR, next round you fight Called Shot does +40 damage if it hits) Glancing Blow (B/R : Prevent 10 to this figure this round : 10, +10 vs Decepticon, CR(L)) Critical: 40 Comments: Heh, most of the pieces are the same on both sides, but the vehicle sides are on fire from re-entry. Vehicle mode basically looks like a fireball, although the robot legs dangle way out the back. Trivial to assemble. Robot mode isn't too hard, but wait and put the head pieces on after the arms, as it can be hard to get the "tab in hole" style joints together otherwise, especially with the slit right inside each shoulder on the torso card. Similarly, take the arms off last. Robot mode is very top-heavy with broad shoulders. Update: I didn't notice this until I actually tried playing, but the Protoforms cannot transform back into vehicle mode! So, try to soak up as much as possible in vehicle form before transforming, since you don't get to go back. 11/26: Ratchet (not "Autobot Ratchet" due to different TM domain) Rarity: Rare Points: Vehicle Mode: HP: Attacks: Critical: Robot Mode: HP: Attacks: Critical: Comments: Don't have this one yet. See Payload for construction notes. 12/26: Smokescreen Rarity: Uncommon Points: 29 Vehicle Mode: HP: 70 Attacks: Smoke Cloud (R/G : TF : 10, next round opponent can't choose B) Rev It Up (G/B : - : 30) Circle Around (B/R : - : 20, CR) Critical: 20, next round opponent can't choose G. Robot Mode: HP: 70 Attacks: Disruptor Rifle (R/G : - : 20, next round opponent can't choose R) Jamming Missiles (G/B : - : 30, +10 at LR, next round opponent can't choose G) Punch Out (B/R : TF : 10, TF one opponent's figure) Critical: 40, next round opponent can't choose G Comments: See Mirage for construction notes. Has the Alternators color scheme minus rally decals. He's all about the denial game, preventing color choices, forcing transformation, etc. More dangerous in robot mode, though. 13/26: Swerve Rarity: Common Points: 23 Vehicle Mode: HP: 70 Attacks: Reflexes (R/G : TF : 20, +10 at LR, +20 vs Vehicle) Jet Blast (G/B : - : 20, +10 vs Vehicle) Spinout (B/R : - : 10, CR) Critical: 30 Robot Mode: HP: 60 Attacks: Haymaker (R/G : Next round you fight Sharpshot does +40 if it hits : 20) Rocketfire (G/B : see Haymaker : 20) Sharpshot (B/R : TF : 10, +10 at LR) Critical: 40 Comments: It's red, of course. All Swerves are red recolors. It looks kinda like a Bumblebee remold in the face, and of course it's a Bumblebee mold in this game. See Mirage for construction notes. His arm weapons are clearly ranged weapons. Using Swerve is all about trying to force your opponent to pick red while you're in robot mode. :) 14/26: Barricade Rarity: Rare Points: 33 Vehicle Mode: HP: 80 Attacks: Hit & Run (R/G : - : 10, CR, +10 vs Robot) Autorockets (G/B : If opponent TF this round, new form takes 20 : 30, +10 vs Robot) Head Shot (B/R : TF : 20, +10 vs Robot) Critical: 30 Robot Mode: HP: 80 Attacks: Stun Gun (R/G : - : 30, +10 vs Vehicle) Moving Violation (G/B : see Autorockets : 10, +20 at SR, +20 vs Vehicle) Aggravated Assault (B/R : TF : 20, +10 vs Vehicle, CR(S)) Critical: 40 Comments: I love his attack names. See Mirage for construction notes. His arm weapons are the pointy claw things. 15/26: Blackout Rarity: Uncommon Points: 37 Vehicle Mode: HP: 100 Attacks: Vampire Cannon (R/G : TF : 20) Missile Launcher (G/B : If you tie this round, take 10 : 20, +20 vs. Robot, +20 at SR) Transport (B/R : - : 10, CR any number of figures) Critical: 30 Robot Mode: HP: 90 Attacks: Rocketpack (R/G : TF : 30, CR(S)) Ultra Smash (G/B : see Missile Launcher : 20, +20 vs. Vehicle, +20 at SR) Electromagnetic Pulse (B/R : - : 10, next round the opponent fights, his figure takes 20 if he chooses R or G) Critical: 30, +30 if you chose R this round Comments: See Evac for construction notes. Pairs well with Brawl, since his Turret Blast is blue.... 16/26: Bonecrusher Rarity: Uncommon Points: 34 Vehicle Mode: HP: 90 Attacks: Get Over Here! (R/G : TF : 10, CR(S)) T-Bone (G/B : - : 30) Rollover (B/R : - : 20, CR) Critical: 30, CR(S) Robot Mode: HP: 80 Attacks: Cyclo Rush (R/G : If opposing figure moves this round it takes 20 : 20, +20 at SR, +10 vs Robot) Backbreaker (G/B : See Cyclo Rush : 10, +30 at SR) Berserk (B/R : TF : 20, +30 for each enemy figure that's at SR) Critical: 30, +20 at SR Comments: Wow, he's a guy to have in multifigure play. See Towline for construction notes, although this one is what the instructions are meant for. Also, since this is the mold's intended design, it looks better in vehicle mode than Towline does. Sigh. In trying to put him together, I had a piece fly off into some random part of my living room and ten minutes of searching didn't turn it up. At least it's only a toe in robot mode. 17/26: Brawl Rarity: Rare Points: 41 Vehicle Mode: HP: 100 Attacks: Flank (R/G : next round the opponent fights, his attacking figure takes 20 if he chooses green : 20) Sonic Cannons (G/B : TF : 20, CR) Turret Blast (B/R : next round you attack, you can't use Turret Blast : 50, opponent can't TF this round) Critical: 50, opponent chooses which form takes this damage Robot Mode: HP: 80 Attacks: Electron Missiles (R/G : - : 30, +10 at LR) Gatling Cannon (G/B : - : 20, TF, next round you fight, Turret Blast does +20 if it hits) Rip Claw (B/R : TF : 20, next round the opponent fights, his attacking figure takes 40 if chooses green) Critical: 50, opponent chooses which form takes this damage Comments: Turret does not actually turn, aww. Easiest to build if you put the turret sides into the deckplate first, then build around that. Trying to build the entire turret and then slot it in is the hard way by far. Looks very good and is quite sturdy in vehicle mode. The robot mode instructions seem to swap the legs, putting the robot details on the inside rather than outside. One of the tallest and, ironically, spindliest of the robot modes. It also barely stays standing, the hell spurs are just a touch too short. You need to ease them out of the slot by a little bit. 18/26: Dreadwing Rarity: Common Points: 24 Vehicle Mode: HP: 70 Attacks: Dreadslash (R/G : Name a color. Next round the opponent fights, his attacking figure takes 30 if choosing that color : 20, TF) Gatling Launcher (G/B : - : 30) Melt Ray (B/R : TF : 10, CR) Critical: 20, +10 at LR Robot Mode: HP: 60 Attacks: Machine Guns (R/G : - : 10, +10 at LR) Dreadslash (G/B : see Dreadslash Vehicle : 20) Heat Seekers (B/R : TF : 20, +30 at LR) Critical: 40, +10 at LR Comments: Rather nasty in multiplayer, if you want to set up your opponent to have a harder time to block, say a Turret Blast from Brawl. See Jetfire for construction notes. Oddly, this one has almost all robot stuff on the 2 sides of the cards. Also, unlike the other three of this mold, the face is not in profile on the reverse of the cockpit pieces, it's a camerahead in between them. It's mostly covered by the fuselage parts, though. 19/26: Dropkick Rarity: Common Points: 30 Vehicle Mode: HP: 80 Attacks: Bumper to Bumper (R/G : - : 20) Override (G/B : TF : 10, CR) Jaws of Death (B/R: - : 40, next round you fight you can't attack with Jaws of Death if this round was at LR) Critical: 30 Robot Mode: HP: 70 Attacks: Destructor Beam (R/G : TF : 10, +20 at LR, +10 vs Autobot) Jump Kick (G/B : - : 20) Jaws of Death (B/R : - : 40, opponent can't TF this round) Critical: 40, +10 vs Vehicle Comments: Something tells me he launches the Jaws of Death if at LR in vehicle mode. Vehicle mode is pretty compact and stows a lot of stuff inside. Nice, evil and beat-up pickup. The robot head is a bit out-sized and the cannon arms held a tad awkwardly, but it's a decent mode. It does do a little of the Cliffjumper and Bumblebee molds' "hide the roof on back" stuff, though. 20/26: Megatron Rarity: Rare Points: 53 Vehicle Mode: HP: 100 Attacks: Fireburn (R/G : +10 to target's face-down side : 10, CR) Shredders (G/B : - : 20, +30 at SR) Dread Missile (B/R : TF : 30, +10 vs Autobot, CR) Critical: 30, +20 to opponent's face-down Robot Mode: HP: 100 Attacks: Energy Flail (R/G : TF : 30, +30 to face down at SR) Fusion Cannon (G/B : - : 70, +10 to face down of all opponent's figures) Storm Spin (B/R : - : 10, TF any number of figures) Critical: 100 Comments: Dayam. Do NOT tie with him if he's beaten up. Despite the simplicity of assembly, you still need the instructions on this one, due to Megatron not really looking like anything recognizable. :) Pretty dull robot mode. And the face is blurred, as if it were too late to touch up to match changes in the official model. In short, this is a figure to get for the gameplay, not for the figure itself. 21/26: Payload Rarity: Common Points: 25 Vehicle Mode: HP: 80 Attacks: Battering Ram (R/G : TF : 10, +20 at LR) Machine Guns (G/B : - : 20) Armored Strike (B/R : - : 10, CR) Critical: 20 Robot Mode: HP: 70 Attacks: Destructor Beam (R/G : - : 10, +20 at LR) Pneumatic Talons (G/B : - : 20, opponent can't TF this round) Payback (B/R : TF : 20, +10 vs Vehicle, +20 at LR) Critical: 40, +10 vs Vehicle Comments: Wow. A lot of more or less featureless pieces, or hard to parse ones at least, meant I couldn't even really get started on this without the instructions. Payload is a fuel oil truck or something similar, a 6-wheel converted pickup truck with a tank in the bed. Or maybe he's an armored delivery car. Hard to tell. Another "camera head" robot, I wonder if he'll be a drone in the video game. The legs are actually warped to the sides, using a thinner piece to pull them together in the back, so the toes point away from each other rather than parallel. As such, I wouldn't advise leaving this assembled in robot mode for extended periods. 22/26: Protoform Starscream Rarity: Uncommon Points: 24 Vehicle Mode: HP: 80 Attacks: Armor Stance (R/G : Prevent 10 to this figure this round : 10) Front Shield (G/B : Prevent 10 to this figure this round : 20) Energy Bind (B/R : TF : 20, Repair 10 to this figure) Critical: 30 Robot Mode: HP: 60 Attacks: Sky Slam (R/G : - : 20, CR(L)) Sucker Punch (G/B : - : 20, CR(S)) Null Ray (B/R : - : 40, +10 at LR) Critical: 40 Comments: Same trick as Protoform Bumblebee, with the flaming bits. Protoform modes are all about being damage sponges. 23/26: Scorponok Rarity: Rare Points: 29 Vehicle Mode: HP: 70 Attacks: Pulse Klaw (R/G : - : 10, Next round you fight, if either Blast Klaw or Pulse Klaw hits at SR, it does +30) Blast Klaw (G/B : - : 20, special as Pulse Klaw) Energon Stinger (B/R : TF : 40, CR) Critical: 30, +30 to opponent's face-down. Robot Mode: HP: 70 Attacks: Skull Krush (R/G : Opponent can't move this round : 10, +30 at SR) Anti-Grav Cannon (G/B : - : 30, CR(S)) Pulse Blasters (B/R : TF : 30, +20 vs Robot) Critical: 30, +30 to opponent's face-down. Comments: Robot mode is more or less just the beast mode rearing up, but it's not exactly a transforming character in the movie. The beast mode (called "vehicle form" for consistency on the statcard) is one of the largest figures in the set, oddly (since he's one of the smaller characters in the movie). Despite the visual simplicity of the transform, you actually have to remove and reposition almost every piece, only two sets of legs can remain as-is. Mind you, every other mold requires that all pieces be repositioned, so it's still the least involved transform of the lot. :) 24/26: Starscream Rarity: Rare Points: 43 Vehicle Mode: HP: 90 Attacks: Mach 3 (R/G : *, TF : 30, CR) Screamwinder Missiles (G/B : * : 30, +20 at LR) Sonic Scream (B/R : * : 10, +10 to each enemy figure) Critical: 30 Robot Mode: HP: 90 Attacks: Power Fist (R/G : *, TF : 40) Cluster Bomb (G/B : * : 30, +10 to each enemy figure) Null Ray (B/R : * : 20, next round this opponent fights, his attacking figure takes double damage) Critical: 40, next round the opponent fights, his attacking figure takes 30 if he chooses R. Comments: * If you tie this round, take 10 damage. See Jetfire for construction notes. Sonic Scream and Cluster Bomb are nasty in multiplayer. Starscream doesn't deal well with frustration, though. 25/26: Thundercracker Rarity: Common Points: 24 Vehicle Mode: HP: 70 Attacks: Cruise Missile (R/G : - : 30, +20 at SR to both this figure and opponent) Owie! Sonic Boom (G/B : - : 20) Over & Under (B/R : TF : 10, CR) Critical: 20 Robot Mode: HP: 60 Attacks: Thunder Punch (R/G : TF : 10, next round you fight Thunder Punch does +20 if it hits) Terror Slash (G/B : - : 20, next round you fight Terror Slash does +20 if it hits) Bulletstorm (B/R : - : 40) Critical: 30, next round opponent fights, his attacking figure takes 30 if he chooses green Comments: I love Cruise Missile. :) See Jetfire for construction details. 26/26: Wreckage Rarity: Uncommon Points: 35 Vehicle Mode: HP: 90 Attacks: Ramcharge (R/G : TF : 10, +10 vs. Vehicle) Wreckrockets (G/B : If you tie this round, opponent takes 10 : 20, CR) Monstergun (B/R : - : 30, +20 vs. Robot) Critical: 20, next round the opponent fights, he can't choose G. Robot Mode: HP: 80 Attacks: Autocannons (R/G : TF : 20, CR) Suplex (G/B : see Wreckrockets : 20, +20 at SR) Energy Swords (B/R : - : 40 Critical: 40, next round the opponent fights, he can't choose G. Comments: See Brawl for construction details. Really doesn't look like the toy in either mode, and it goes beyond the unavoidable turret issue. It's like the card artists were told Wreckage was an 8-wheeled APC and no other information or control art. PLAY NOTES Managed to get someone to play me a few games while he was waiting for his Yu-Gi-Oh opponents to arrive. Swerve and Mirage versus Dreadwing and Protoform Starscream, we each played both sides once. Mechanically speaking, the little clips that come with the game for keeping track of HP don't work well. They fall off too easily. I got some plastic paperclips instead. Using the color chips did work well, though. You simply hold the three like a tiny hand of cards, pick the one you want to use and put the others down. Both games were pretty close, and it went back and forth as we started to get a feel for what the other would pick in a given situation. There was some confusion because we decided not to rebuild the figures when transforming. I don't think we ever moved to close range, but that's partly the fault of the force mix I chose for the game...several characters got bonuses at long range, no one benefitted from short. And the few times I tried to close the range, it failed. All things considered, and based on an admittedly small sample, I think the game works pretty well. It could certainly get messy in multiplayer 100 point army play, though. Dave Van Domelen, wonders if anyone wants to trade online?