Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Z-G is a combination miniatures wargame/collectible card game. The miniatures, which represent arena combat robots, are actually 5" action figures with 14 points of articulation and 8 pieces of removable armor.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Action Points
Spend a limited allowance of points across several possible actions each turn.
Action Queue
Place actions into an ordered queue that resolves now or on later turns.
Simultaneous Action Selection
Choose actions secretly or concurrently before revealing them together.
Area-Impulse
Players alternate short actions within contested areas until everyone passes.
Modular Board
Build the play area from interchangeable sections that vary between games.
Variable Player Powers
Each player has different abilities, restrictions, or strategic advantages.
Read the full game description
Z-G is a combination miniatures wargame/collectible card game. The miniatures, which represent arena combat robots, are actually 5" action figures with 14 points of articulation and 8 pieces of removable armor. Each piece of armor has a corresponding collectible card giving its statistics and special powers. Each basic set includes a fixed 10 card set (1 card per piece of equipment, including the figure itself, plus a character card) The game is played in rounds, which start with all players choosing which 3 pieces of equipment to use this round. Each piece of equipment also has an impulse rating, and whoever has the highest impulse goes first. Players then use their cards to move their figure a number of card lengths and/or use attacks based on a color-matching system on the ends of each card. If your attack is successful, a piece of your opponent's armor is destroyed (and so is its corresponding card). One of the more innovative parts in all this is that the actual figure poses have bearing on gameplay. Movement points must be used to enter a stance, and each stance has certain advantages and disadvantages (Except lying down, which is universally bad) Z-G was first shown publicly for sale and demonstration at Origins 2001 in Columbus, Ohio, with the subtitle "Citizen." Although planned as the first set in a series of sets, "Citizen Z-G" was ultimately the only published set.