The Crossover Game

I will judge this one tomorrow. Any last minute entries are free to join!

TONIGHT

1) James designs a card based on Top Gear!



"And now, for a bit of British motoring history..."

2) Richard designs a card based on Girls Und Panzer!



"Why did I get the cartoons???"

3) And you design a card based on any show or game featuring historical vehicles!



"Iron Man's defected from the petrolheads...eugh."

Honestly I made 3) intentionally broad as an escape clause because I wasn't sure if the prompt was too narrow and I hate shooting myself in the foot with prompts no one can relate to, especially in this game. I'd vastly prefer it if you focused on motoring shows like Top Gear or similar detailed oriented shows about something with an engine used within the last 100 years in some shape or form, like Girls und Panzer. (And will probably award extra points to anyone who sticks closely to that intention - basically, the closer your card is to 1 or 2, the better. If you can actually do a Top Gear/The Grand Tour or Girls Und Panzer card, strongly suggest you do that.)

Re:Battlements - If you mean battlements in the definition I got from Googling (castle walls and whatnot) - no, it has to at least be able to move. If you mean things like Siege Towers/Engines that can move (and thus would allow certain Total War games as one possible 'escape clause' entry) - yes.

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Longer explanation that includes some things I didn't put in the prompt just to keep the focus on the Top Gear-themed intro:
1) I'm intentionally focusing on shows that struck a very good balance between doing their research and showcasing it in a somewhat crazy but viewer-friendly way. The more you can capture this spirit, the better - stuff like Top Gear showcasing the Toyota Hilux's durability by doing increasingly ridiculous demolition challenges with it or 'simulating' a car getting hit by lightning using an electrics lab or any real life history or tank mechanics Girls Und Panzer referenced during their battles come to mind.

I'll even give crazier things like the Reliant Robin being turned into a rocketship, or the car made of meat a pass so long as you showcase some understanding of the technical details of what was done and why it was a good/bad idea. Same deal if you just want to make a card about your favorite tank/warship/airplane/etc... waifu - try and pick something about them that references their actual technical design or historical performance.

2) Alternatives to the Top Gear/ The Grand Tour side like Downey's Dream Cars, Jay Leno's Garage, etc... are things I was thinking of providing as examples of car shows because I figured people might be more likely to recognize the celebrity aspect and I would prefer you keep the craziness of the Hammond/Clarkson/May trio in somehow. (E.g. Downey's gimmick is that he's taking cars known for being gas guzzlers and trying to make them fully electric) I won't particularly complain if you want to go full Fifth Gear or World of Tanks and get even more technical, but I would prefer an explanation if you do.

3) The Girls und Panzer side is mostly made in mind with anime and games like Azur Lane and Kantai Collection where a lot of effort has been put into referencing the actual vehicles used as source material but has been 'compacted' down into well, anime characters (I tried to find an example featuring guys but that was a bit harder than expected...likewise, you might notice it's a little easier to find popular Western motoring shows hosted by men). I specifically picked Girls Und Panzer because the emphasis is on showing actual research into tank mechanics and historical battles - the writers and artists of this show have gone on to make similar shows like High School Fleet and The Magnificient Kotobuki for sea and air vehicles, though I'm pretty sure GuP is the most recognizable of the three.

4) tl;dr The Clarkson/Hammond/May trio and the tankery girls were both excellent at presenting highly technical motor vehicle knowledge in a fun accessible manner to people not familiar with the medium. I want to see that more than anything else.

The way Azur Lane tries to capture this ship's historical is difficult to fully capture because it's expressed in part through an in-game event and in part through her character. Graf Spee worries about ambushes, is lonely because she was abandoned for a scuttle and tries to seize victory to make up for her past failure to fulfill her mission. Nonetheless, the essential parts of her story - being a raid ship sent after merchant and supply ships, eventually ambushed by the British / Royal Navy, making it out but being scuttled due to false reports planted through a compromised channel - are depicted there in both the event, the personality/dialogue, and I also tried to capture them in the card. They also mix well with the characteristics as a ship, which were more reflected in her in-game characteristics: High firepower, but vulnerable by battleship standards (to my understanding. I'm not exactly an expert...)

I tried making the card a powerful damage dealing raider and combined her eventual self-inflicted defeat with her vulnerability mechanically.

Don't worry, I'm not that much of a stickler for something like that. Thanks for putting the effort in.

Judging this weekend.

I don't want to delay this game any longer, so I'll try and do my best to judge now.

Idea - Raid or Scuttle is an excellent variation on the Viashino Sandstalker effects and tells me a lot about what this card is supposed to represent, IMHO, almost more than the rest of it. There's a lot going on with the card, but I think it's okay powerwise? You communicate the idea of being built to punch down on weaker boats well. Exists in that weird spot of being too strong for Standard but too weak for Modern and has a not so Commander friendly effect to boot. I guess that means it likely finds its home in Pioneer/Historic/Timeless.

melono - "A deck can have any number of the same Wagon cards." is a neat way to emulate the boardgame and just how trains work in general. I feel like this would end up being a very popular niche Commander deck. I think the only thing I'm mixed on as a whole is that I wonder how well this would slot into other train-themed decks that don't use this Ticket to Ride setup, and this is just detailed enough to make my brain wonder how destinations would be represented. But they're definitely ready to be played and would make for an interesting deck.

Sanfonier of the Night - I think you've represented The Ben Collins fairly well at a quick glance, and this fits the prompt on the surface, but it clashes with the more detailed explanation of the prompt I replied to melono about in that I was looking for some display of technical knowledge on vehicles.

Some other complaints at a deeper look:

I feel like Haste is weird because Crew doesn't check for that. Yes, he's a racing driver, and yes, it works for W/R mechanically, but I actually don't see how Haste or Vigilance flavorfully represent the Stig in this case. Props to you for giving the vehicle haste but I feel like it should be getting Haste and Vigilance, not Stig himself - that sounds more fitting for something like Attack Stig or one of his many variants from the show.

Nonbasic Landwalk - Stig's done a lot, but isn't he primarily a racetrack driver? Again offroading tends to be handled by variants and I remember Ben Collins even straight up lost a race against an offroad biker until he was given a better car. Might be nitpicking here (especially since I know you could argue this card is about non Ben Collins-Stig, but he's the incarnation of the character I think of first as a Top Gear watcher), like, it might make sense in the context of a set where the nonbasics are racetracks, but in a vacuum I'm not convinced.

This cards really should've had 1-2 lines of explanation to accompany it, if nothing else.

elchetibo - In hindsight, I should've made the prompt stricter and not kept the full explanation to a reply post. I think it's easy to make the connection that black creatures would be the Nazi faction here. I guess the convoke-like effect is meant to represent recruiting Soldiers? But it feels like a resistance movement should be directly turning those creatures into Soldiers.... The mechanics are sound, but there's a bit of a flavor disconnect here.

Daij_Djan - Yes, this is the kind of thing I wanted to see. I want to say making it a Treasure is actually surprisingly appropriate given how increasingly concerned people are about preserving unique cars these days as opposed to being able to recklessly trash them for cheap like you could in the old Top Gear days. I think you describe the show pretty well and coincidentally manage to capture a real life cultural change in how cars are treated.

1st: Idea
2nd: Daij_Djan / melono

Are books and games allowed?

bump

melono


Jartis


Winner

 
Sorry

Updated, thanks! I guess I didn't think it would fit at first but missed it. =)