3D Battle-Card Game

Any chance you can fold the cardboard packaging into an Action Master vehicle?

The Transformers: 3D Battle-Card Game is a "constructible card game" from Wizards of the Coast (who are, of course, owned by Hasbro). The game involves punching out pieces from little plastic trading cards and assembling them as either a Transformer or its vehicle mode, then battling another player with a similar punch-out figure. It was released on June 2, 2007.

The game was officially and very quietly placed 'on hiatus' by Wizards of the Coast in October 2008. While the flash interactive site remains on the Wizards official web site (see the direct link below), the forums and all links within the company's site itself have been removed.

In April of 2009, 'gift packs' of these cards were made available through the Target chain of stores. Energon Wars boosters were available for $1.99, while a larger $6.99 gift pack included random assortments of Energon Wars, Battle-Cards, and trading cards for the first live action movie. Both were made available through the reseller "The Fairfield Company".

Game play

Game play is largely based on Rock Paper Scissors. Players choose one of 3 colored attacks secretly, then both players reveal their choices at the same time. If the opposing player's color matches the target color of the attack, damage is recorded and any special effects occur. Special effects include extra damage, transformation, and changing distance from an opponent. If both players pull the same colors twice, the player with a lower health scores a "critical" attack, which does extra damage and sometimes includes a powerful special effect.

Cards

WotC included 26 Characters in the premier set featuring characters from the live-action film, with additional characters being drawn from other Transformers series past, somewhat redesigned to match the 2007 movie's aesthetic.

Each pack retails for $3.99 and includes everything needed to play: two punch-out Transformers figures (each made up of two "trading cards" worth of pieces), a character stat card for each of those figures, a token card (for determining attacks and keeping track of hit points), and a rules pamphlet. Packaging for each 'player's pack' is modeled after the 2007 movie's aesthetic, and includes a cover picture of either Bumblebee, Barricade, Optimus Prime, or Megatron.

As usual with WotC's card games, individual cards are marked with a 'rarity', which determines how likely a card can appear in any particular two pack. Cards can be 'common' (marked by a circle on the card), 'uncommon' (marked by a diamond), or 'rare' (marked by a star).

Autobots

Number	Character	Card model	Points	Rarity
1	Bumblebee	Yellow 'muscle car'	20	Rare
2	Cliffjumper	Red 'sports car'	31	Common
3	Evac	Yellow 'helicopter'	29	Uncommon
4	Ironhide	Black 'pickup'	41	Rare
5	Jazz	Gray 'sports car'	37	Rare
6	Jetfire	White and red 'jet'	38	Uncommon
7	Longarm	Blue 'construction truck'	35	Common
8	Mirage	Blue and white 'muscle car'	26	Common
9	Optimus Prime	Blue and red 'semi'	54	Rare
10	Protoform Bumblebee	Yellow 'fireball'	27	Uncommon
11	Ratchet	Yellow 'truck'	28	Rare
12	Smokescreen	Blue 'sports car'	29	Uncommon
13	Swerve	Rusty 'muscle car'	23	Common

Decepticons

Number	Character	Card model	Points	Rarity
14	Barricade	Black and white police 'muscle car'	33	Rare
15	Blackout	Steel blue 'helicopter'	37	Uncommon
16	Bonecrusher	Tan 'construction truck'	34	Uncommon
17	Brawl	Green 'tank'	41	Rare
18	Dreadwing	Steel gray 'jet'	24	Common
19	Dropkick	Light green 'pickup'	30	Common
20	Megatron	Gray 'Cybertron jet'	53	Rare
21	Payload	Steel blue 'truck'	25	Common
22	Protoform Starscream	Yellow 'fireball'	24	Uncommon
23	Scorponok	Rusty 'scorpion'	29	Rare
24	Starscream	Steel green 'jet'	43	Rare
25	Thundercracker	Blue 'jet'	24	Common
26	Wreckage	Light green 'tank'	35	Uncommon

Energon Wars expansion

The first expansion to this game arrived in October 2007, exclusive to Target stores and hobby specialty shops. The set brings in characters based on Generation 1, Beast Wars and Unicron Trilogy figures. According to the game's official site, Optimus Primal and Megatron are the faction leaders for the set. The set also relies heavily on redecos of the designs used in the original set, with the new set adding the 'Sports Coupe', 'T-Rex', and 'Beast' designs to the mix. The 'Beast' model can be constructed to resemble a cat or an ape, but uses the same parts regardless.

Other than by just checking over the card list, "Energon Wars" cards can be determined by the use of a more 'G1 styled' faction symbol on the cards. The original set uses faction symbols based on the 2007 movie's promotional art. Unlike other WotC card games, "Energon Wars" does not otherwise have a unique symbol which designates its cards as part of an expansion.

Autobots

Number	Character	Continuity	Card model	Points	Rarity
1	Blurr	Armada	Light blue 'sports car'	28	Uncommon
2	Cheetor	Beast Wars	Yellow 'beast'	31	Common
3	Classic Bumblebee	Generation 1	Yellow 'sports coupe'	22	Rare
4	Grimlock	Generation 1	Gray 'T-Rex'	48	Rare
5	Hot Rod	Generation 1	Red and flame-trimmed 'sports car'	28	Uncommon
6	Inferno	Generation 1	Fire engine red 'construction truck'	36	Rare
7	Optimus Primal	Beast Wars	Black 'beast'	52	Rare
8	Prowl	Generation 1	White police 'muscle car'	25	Uncommon
9	Side Swipe	Armada	Blue 'sports coupe'	24	Uncommon
10	Skids	Generation 1	Teal 'pickup'	26	Common
11	Trailbreaker	Generation 1	Rusty 'truck'	26	Common
12	Warpath	Generation 1	Red 'tank'	35	Common
13	Whirl	Generation 1	Sky blue 'helicopter'	30	Rare

Decepticons

Number	Character	Continuity	Card model	Points	Rarity
14	Blackjack	Generation 1	Black and purple 'sports coupe'	24	Common
15	Blitzwing	Unknown	Red and blue 'tank'	30	Uncommon
16	Classic Bonecrusher	Generation 1	Green 'construction truck'	38	Rare
17	Cruellock	Energon	Red 'T-Rex'	32	Common
18	Classic Starscream	Generation 1	White 'jet'	42	Rare
19	Predacon Megatron	Beast Wars	Purple 'T-Rex'	52	Rare
20	Quickstrike	Beast Wars	Yellow 'scorpion'	33	Rare
21	Ramjet	Generation 1	Red and white 'jet'	24	Common
22	Rampage	Generation 1	Red 'beast'	32	Common
23	Ravage	Generation 1	Black 'beast'	23	Uncommon
24	Sky Lynx	Unknown	Red 'Cybertron jet'	30	Rare
25	Skywarp	Generation 1	Black 'jet'	25	Uncommon
26	Vortex	Unknown	Orange 'helicopter'	27	Uncommon

The artwork for Energon Wars has three notably different styles within it. One continues the trend found in the first series, largely using the 2007 movie aesthetic cues, such as Trailbreaker, who resembles a recolored Dropkick from the first set. This art is largely done by Gonzalo Flores.

The second style largely copies the artwork from their toy likenesses. Ramjet, for instance, is clearly based on his 'Classics' figure. This art is generally credited to Lucio Parrillo.

The final style is a very loose and simplistic 'cartoon' view, which seems to be an attempt to somewhat resemble the Generation 1 cartoon. Inferno and Grimlock are the best examples of this. Francis Tsai is responsible for these pieces.

Rules Updates

Two new battle mechanics, "Stun" and "Grapple", were also introduced. Both of these rules make a character more vulnerable to damage until he either transforms (for stun) or changes range (for grapple).

Continuity(?)

The first series clearly takes place in some version of the live-action film series continuity. The primary cast of the film are represented, as are various "offscreen" characters like Evac and Wreckage, other characters seem to only exist in this particular micro-continuity such as "Movie" versions of Jetfire and Mirage.

The Energon Wars expansion seems to be a somewhat stickier case; versions of Optimus Primal and "Predacon Megatron" serve as faction leaders, versions of Unicron Trilogy characters show up (Armada Side Swipe and Cruellock), a few non-Movie characters illustrated in the film's aesthetic, and a couple of totally bizarre cases - a bright pink Decepticon Sky Lynx, a version of Blitzwing that looks exactly like Quake, and someone who may in fact be the Super Link version of Energon Stormcloud. Overall, it almost appears to be a variant of the Universe concept - disparate groups of Transformers from across time, space, and continuity do battle (complete with Optimus Primal being in charge!).

Notes

I REALLY want to see them pull off Scrounge in this format.

• In some cases, even allowing for punch-card construction, the robot and vehicle designs differ significantly from all past versions of the characters. For example, Cliffjumper bears the head of Alternators Swerve. In others, however, there is an almost slavish attempt to recreate a character's trademark look, as is the case with Thundercracker or Ramjet.
• The card writers for the Energon Wars expansion did their homework, as many characters' special attacks are taken directly from their bios: Whirl has his "Paralyzo Box," Skywarp has a "teleport" ability, and so forth.

External links

• Official Game Site
• Alternate Rules of Play, based on WizKids' Pirates of the Spanish Main CCG