 The card back to Guardians CCG | |
| Designers | Keith Parkinson and Luke Peterschmidt |
|---|---|
| Publishers | Friedlander Publishing Group |
| Players | 2-4 |
| Playing time | Approx 45 min |
| Chance | Some |
| Skills | Card playing |
Guardians is a fantasy-themed collectible card game (CCG) published by Friedlander Publishing Group (FPG) in 1995. The initial set was sold in 60-card starter decks and 14-card booster packs. [1]
Each player assembles a 55-card deck from the starter deck and booster packs; it must include at least one Guardian and three Strongholds. Other types of cards needed include Terrains, Shields, Magic Items, Bribes (Beer and Babe cards), and Creatures. [2] Unlike other CCGs, Guardian also features a rectangular battlefield with a 4 x 3 grid placed between the players. Each player places their three Stronghold cards in the row closest to them. The two rows that lie in between are a no man's land called the "disputed territories".
A game represents two armies contesting a battle, each protected by a Guardian. [1]
A player wins by fulfilling any one of three victory conditions:
Guardians was designed by Keith Parkinson and Luke Peterschmidt, with initial artwork by Parkinson, Brom, Don Maitz, Mike Ploog, and James Warhola. [2] It was published by Friedlander Publishing Group (FPG) in 1995. [4]
As new booster packs were released, the list of contributing artists grew to include:
Artwork and marketing sometimes featured scantily clad women and used suggestive sexual themes, especially the class of cards called "Babes." [5] In an article/advertisement by designer Luke Peterschmidt in Inquest , an illustration of three buxom women has the caption "Six of the... uh, three of the best things about Guardians." [3]
The Dagger Isle expansion set, consisting of 120 cards, was released in mid-1996 and sold in 14-card booster packs. [8] : 16–17 The 120-card expansion set Drifter's Nexus was released in April 1996 and sold in 8-card booster packs. [9] : 16
In the April 1996 edition of Dragon (Issue 228), Rick Swan called Guardians "an impressive little weirdo," but warned that the "Babe" cards were "the most blatant display of sexism the industry's seen." He called the combat system "the game's best feature," and complimented its "several ingenious twists." Swan concluded by giving the game an average rating of 4 out of 6, saying, "Guardians is not without its problems. For a premise this goofy [...] it's way too complicated [...] Still, the plusses outweigh the minuses, making it a must for collectible card freaks with an eye for good art." [2]
In the September 1996 issue of The Duelist (Issue 12), Allen Varney reported that the game had a strong following in Philadelphia, Ohio, England and France. [7]
In a review in the September 1996 issue of InQuest , Jason Schneiderman stated that the expansion set Drifter's Nexus is "an all-out comedy". [10]
Illuminati: New World Order (INWO) is an out-of-print collectible card game (CCG) that was released in 1994 by Steve Jackson Games, based on their original boxed game Illuminati, which in turn was inspired by the 1975 book The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. An OMNI sealed-deck league patterned after the Atlas Games model was also developed.
Star Wars: Customizable Card Game (SW:CCG) is an out-of-print customizable card game based on the Star Wars fictional universe. It was created by Decipher, Inc., which also produced the Star Trek Customizable Card Game and The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game. The game was produced from December 1995 until December 2001. Since 2002, the game has been maintained by the Star Wars CCG Players Committee, with new virtual cards being released every few months and the capability to play both in person and online.
Spellfire: Master the Magic is an out-of-print collectible card game (CCG) created by TSR, Inc. and based on their popular Dungeons & Dragons role playing game. The game appeared first in April 1994, shortly after the introduction of Magic: The Gathering, in the wake of the success enjoyed by trading card games. It was the second CCG to be released, preceding Wizards of the Coast's second CCG Jyhad by two months. More than one dozen expansions for the game were released, and the final expansion was released in October 1997.
Vampire: The Eternal Struggle is a multiplayer collectible card game published by White Wolf Publishing. It is set in the World of Darkness and is based on the Vampire: The Masquerade roleplaying game.
Middle-earth Collectible Card Game (MECCG) is an out-of-print collectible card game released by Iron Crown Enterprises in late 1995. It is the first CCG based on J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, with added content from ICE's Middle-earth Role Playing Game.
Rage is an out-of-print collectible card game originally published by White Wolf in May 1995 based on the role-playing game Werewolf: The Apocalypse. The game is based around packs of werewolves battling each other and various evil monsters while trying to save the world.
Dune is an out-of-print collectible card game produced by Last Unicorn Games and Five Rings Publishing Group, and later Wizards of the Coast. Set in the Dune universe based on the books written by Frank Herbert, the game pits two or more players against each other, each in control of a minor house vying for entry in the Landsraad.
The X-Files Collectible Card Game is an out-of-print collectible card game based on The X-Files fictional universe. The game was developed by NXT Games and published by the US Playing Card Company (USPCC) in 1996. The game was canceled in early 1998.
Galactic Empires is an out-of-print collectible card game with a science fiction theme. It was published by Companion Games in 1994 until the company's bankruptcy in 1997.
Highlander: The Card Game is an out-of-print collectible card game based on the Highlander franchise of films and television series. It was released in March 1995. The original set had 165 cards sold in 16-card booster packs.
Sim City: The Card Game is an out-of-print collectible card game based on the video game SimCity by Maxis. The goal of the game is to build a city from the ground up. Players take turns playing cards representing city blocks and collect profit.
Blood Wars is an out-of-print collectible card game produced by TSR, based on the Planescape campaign setting from Dungeons & Dragons.
Doomtrooper, also known as Doom Trooper, is an out-of-print collectible card game designed by Bryan Winter and was released in January 1995. It was originally published by Target Games and Heartbreaker Hobbies. It is based on concepts from the Mutant Chronicles franchise. Players use warriors to attack and gain either Promotion Points or Destiny Points. Promotion points can be used to win; Destiny Points are used to purchase more warriors and equipment. There are 13 different card types and over 1100 different cards available.
Arcadia is an out-of-print collectible card game involving combat and terrain, released in August 1996 by White Wolf, Inc. It is based on Changeling: The Dreaming, a tabletop role-playing game published by White Wolf and part of the World of Darkness series. It focuses on the world of the fae, who are changelings that draw on the dreams of humans. Quests, delineated and represented by cards, are completed by cards similarly representing Characters moving from one Terrain card to an adjacent one until the Quest is completed. The base set was called The Wyld Hunt and was sold only in booster packs. There were two types of booster packs, each with 15 cards: character boosters, which contained character and related cards; and story boosters, which contained cards about game settings, quests, requirements, and effects.
Quest for the Grail is an out-of-print collectible card game (CCG) by Horizon Games and Stone Ring in 1995.
Killer Instinct is an out-of-print collectible card game (CCG) by Topps based on the Killer Instinct video game.
Star Quest, also called Star Quest: The Regency Wars is an out-of-print collectible card game.
Dark Age is an out-of-print collectible card game by Friedlander Publishing Group (FPG), originally released in July 1996. The game shared themes with the Mad Max franchise and featured work from artists such as Gerald Brom and Tim Bradstreet.
Top of the Order is an out-of-print collectible card game by Donruss and NXT Games with a baseball theme using images of baseball players.
Red Zone is an out-of-print collectible card game by Donruss and NXT Games. It was first released in October 1995. The game's base set consists of 336 cards sold in 80-card starter decks and 12-card booster packs. An expansion called 1995 Expansion Teams was released in December 1995 and contained 98 cards and focused on the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars. In early 1996, Donruss sold its sports card and card-game properties to Pinnacle. NXT Games also had to renegotiate their licenses for Red Zone and Top of the Order with the NFL and MLB, but new iterations of the game never materialized.