Prepare for Battle

Welcome to the first preview for Guardians! We’re very excited to give you another glimpse into this world of mighty heroes and tactical battles! Today we’ll be exploring heroes, their power decks and ultimate cards, along with how you combine these cards to form your team. One of the most unique aspects of Guardians is how players combine the power decks of their heroes to form their draw deck for the game. While each hero has the same number of power cards, their abilities and effects are completely unique, so players will never play the same game twice! Here’s an example of a hero card up close:

Join the Fight

Hero cards are the at the core of Guardians, depicting each of the heroes a player has chosen to make up her team. Near the center of a hero card you’ll find the hero’s name and ability. Each ability is specific to that hero, so finding the right synergy between these will be crucial to your strategy. Near the top of the card you’ll see the attack and life value, respectively. The attack value indicates how much damage that hero deals to enemies when attacking, whereas the life value shows how much damage a hero can withstand before they are knocked out. Each hero also has their own unique power deck and ultimate card which players use to construct their draw pile for the game. Power decks are an important part of each hero’s distinct identity, so let’s take a look at how they work.

Tools of the Trade

Each hero’s power deck contains 6 cards (three copies of one card, two copies of another, and one utility card) that players will shuffle together along with one basic power deck (2 x Barrier, Intel, and Reposition) to form a 24-card draw pile to use during play. Additionally, each hero also has a corresponding ultimate card that players will set aside at the start of the game. Ultimate cards are powerful, game-changing abilities that change the course of battle. Each ultimate card has a charge cost in the upper left corner of the card indicating how many charge tokens must be placed on the card in order for it to be used. Each time you play a card from your hand with a charge point, you may place a charge token on any ultimate card you control. As the game continues, players will need to strategically assign their charge tokens to the right ultimate card for their team.

You can count on ultimate cards to disrupt your opponent’s strategy and deal some serious damage to enemy heroes! Now that you’ve assembled your team of heroes, it’s time to take the fight to your enemy. We’ll be exploring the battle for location cards in next week’s preview, so be sure to check back. Remember, Guardians is available for preorder here and will be hitting retailers and our own webstore later on this year! Also, be sure to stop by Booth #1537 at GenCon for a special preview sale!

‘Til next time!

- Callin