TabletopWars.com | Board Games, Card Games, Dice Games, Miniature Games, RPG, and More in the Philippines

Several years ago, I found a starter deck for the G.I. Joe TCG, published by WoTC. My first reaction, "what?? I didn't know there was a G.I. Joe game!" and I promptly bought the starter. It was mostly to satisfy my childhood memories of the classic cartoon.

The Cards

The artwork on the cards is classic cartoon, but done by the artists at Devil's Due comics, the current licensed comic book company. The cards are standard sized TCG cards, with the same feel. The info for game play is well laid out and easy to find on each card. Several foils were included in random booster packs.

The Game Play

The game is quick and easy to learn, yet difficult to master, actually.

The set up: The first play gets 15 points and deploys his cards in two rows. The cards have pips in the upper left corner to tell you how many points the card is worth. No duplicates can be laid out in the set up.

The second player gets 17 points to deploy his cards in two rows. The reason for the 17 points, is because during a match, whoever deployed last, will always go last in each of the combat phases.

The combat: The first phase of combat is a one on one fight. Each player draws 2 cards from their deck, and looks at the bottom. There are "boosts" there to help in one on one fights. The first player can select a character from the front row to attack any front row character in his opponent's ranks. Some cards allow a back row character to attack a front or back row enemy. Then each player plays one of the two cards he has drawn, and adds the boost number to the strength of the card in combat. The higher total wins, the loser discards. then the second player makes his one on one attack using the last of the two cards drawn.

The second phase is the firefight phase. Each player counts the number of soldiers left in their ranks, and draws that number of cards from their decks. Looking at the side of the cards are bullet hole pips. These pips can range from 1 to 3. Starting with the first player, he assigns firefight pips to opponents characters, meeting or beating their strength. Anything less does nothing. Example: if I have 5 firefight pips, and my opponent has two characters, strengths 4 and 3, and can eliminate one character, but don't have enough pips to get them both.

Then the next round starts over, with the first player to deploy still going first.

Final thoughts:

The game is actually a lot of fun to play. It's also quick. And it is utterly enjoyable creating themed decks. The second set brought in vehicles which added a new dimension to the game.

While hard core Magic players would probably say that there is no strategy, I would beg to differ. The strategy is truly in deck building, as you have 3 sets of numbers to keep track of. You can go all out strength for one on ones, but be limited in your firefight ability, or vice versa. It's finding that right blend of cards that can be the real challenge.

I enjoy this game and rank it up there as one of my fave games. Simply because of it's ease of play and ability to be learned quickly. But again, hard core ccg players will probably laugh at it. My suggestion, learn the game... 'cause knowing is half the battle.....

Yo, JOE!!

Cheers,
Zhen