Hi TCG players.

Before I start, I know this group is supposed to be a Pokémon TCG group, but I don't think there is a general card games group and besides this is the crowd I'm 'targeting'. So there.

Some of you have already heard me going on and on about Fight Klub (yeah don't mind the ü), how great and well-designed and out-of-the-ordinary it is, etc. This thread is supposed to make a list of the advantages of that game over other typical card games, provide a short summary of the rules and a quick start guide. If you want to play or have a question, don't hesitate to ask me on IRC.


What is Fight Klub?

It's a card game made by Decipher (who made Star Trek and LotR among other highly praised games).
It's themed around violent movies in general - the premise of the game is to make characters such as the Terminator, Jason, Hannibal Lecter, Mr. Blonde, Rambo, etc. fight to see who would win.

A deck is built around one character - the game is structured around a series of 'fights' between the two characters. Much like Pokémon TCG, a match takes around 15 minutes.


Why is Fight Klub so much better than any other TCG?

First of all, I'll say that I'm not gonna elaborate on the things related to the material game (card collecting, the price, the site membership etc) since we're not concerned, but it is pretty revolutionary. Let's just say that Fight Klub can only be ordered online on decipher's website, that it can bring you money, and that to complete a FULL PLAYING SET you would need to spend only around 100$ (playing set means you can build any deck you want, so you have enough copies of each card). For more info go to the official site.

• The impact of luck in Fight Klub is negligible compared to other card games. Anything luck-related is heavily influenceable.
• The deck building isn't as important - a deck is made of 40 cards, and only 26 of them will be in your Draw Stack.
• The in-game decisions are how games are won, the level of strategy involved in each turn is unprecedented. In addition, the game is extremely dynamic and encourages fast action (you discard your hand after each turn, so no stalling).
• Some mechanics are just plain revolutionary; for example, the actual physicality of cards is used, they aren't just abstract representations of creatures or something. This game wouldn't exist if it wasn't played with cards.
• One deck can be used tens of times, you can still find new scenarios.
• Same thing for sets. In one set there are 6 characters, and 3 sets have been released so far, so that makes 18 characters (all of them are very different and the balance is almost perfect).

I think these are the main points.


So how is it played?

Basically, each player starts by putting down his character, which will define how many cards they can have in their hands, how many they can keep when the turn ends, and how much life they have. Obviously a player loses when his character has no more life; characters lose a life point when they lose a fight and three fights happen per turn.

Each turn goes like this:

1. the setup phase, during which players use powers and cards to prepare for the upcoming fights;
2. the three fights, each divided into three sub-phases (enhance, fight, score - you play instants that will increase your chances, you see who wins, you apply the effects);
3. the cooldown phase, during which additional effects are played and the following turn is prepared.

Note that during a turn, both players play; you almost NEVER wait for your opponent to finish his turn, since you also have things to do. A special card called The Drop is passed on between players and has various advantages, so basically when you have The Drop it's 'your turn', but your opponent plays as well.

As you can see, the whole game is centered around the fights - everything around is just there to improve your chances of winning them. A fight is actually a face-off between two Fight cards (one belonging to you, the other to your opponent). Here is what Fight cards look like:

(the last one is called a Signature Fight Card and can only be used by the corresponding character, here Chuck Nor- I mean, Major Scott McCoy)

So when you place one Fight card on the table just below your opponent's, the three numbers at the top of yours against the three at the top of his form three skirmishes. The player who wins the majority of skirmishes wins the fight, and deals a blow to the opposing character.

Obviously these number are increasable thanks to various other cards that you have in hand or on the table in front of you, but here is the catch: remember how there are 3 fights per turn? So that makes three Fight Cards on the table at the same time, six if counting your opponent. Each Fight Card has 3 skirmishes and its own specificities, but they will all happen in one turn. That's where the strategy kicks in: should you allow your opponent to win the first fight, so you can keep your cards for the next one? should you go all out in the one you have less chances to win, hoping that it will be enough and that you'll be able to win the other two without any help? Yeah, this is more difficult than choosing between Scratch and Ember.

Here are the complete rules. They're short and easy to understand. (PDF)


Fine, how do I start?

Go on Decipher's website and order three decks!
Oh you want to play online first. Okay.

First, download LackeyCCG. It's a software used to play any card game thanks to plugins - yes, even Pokémon (the pokémon plugin is fully up-to-date). I find it better than RedShark by the way since it has card images, but hey, no one can be bothered to switch, so I'm not gonna force you. It doesn't need Hamachi or anything else (although it might help).
(if you decide to play Pokémon on this, tell me, I'll give you a slightly modified plugin file that will make it better)
Here is the Tutorial for LackeyCCG.

Then, download the Fight Klub plugin I put online. Extract it inside the Lackey installation folder, so that it looks like LackeyCCG/plugins/fightklub/ and in there all the stuff.

You're set. You only need to find me or someone else who will play on IRC.

Thanks for reading, feel free to post any question/comment regarding either Fight Klub or Lackey.

.
The list of films covered in sets One and Two:

• Army of Darkness (Evil Dead 3)
• Crank
• Friday the 13th
• Rambo
• Reservoir Dogs
• Saw 2
• Species
• Tank Girl
• Terminator 2
• The Delta Force
• The Devil's Rejects
• The Lost Boys
• The Silence of the Lambs

i haven't seen any of those films =[

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Only Reservoir Dogs and The Silence of the Lambs are very good and really deserve to be watched.






But tbh I know the setting of the game isn't very appealing, even if it fits the gameplay... If I could choose I would fight with pokémons :( This should give you an idea of how well designed it is though since it's so easy to forget the pictures on the cards!