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#88 Trade Federation Tank, Armored Division
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Entry: 20 September 1999
The Unofficial Jedi's Guide to the YJCCG Galaxy.
Compiled by jinnandtonic, September 1999.
Thoughts? You like this? You hate this? Email me!
The Unofficial Jedi's Guide to the YJCCG Galaxy is THE card strategy reference for Decipher's Young Jedi CCG. Starting with the first expansion, 'The Menace of Darth Maul', each individual card will be discussed until it can be discussed no further. Nevertheless, if I have missed something, email me at jinnandtonic@yahoo.com.au, and I will update it accordingly.
jinnandtonic's Grades:
Economy: B+
The Trade Federation Tank / Armored Division is the most *powerful* non-unique character in the game. Deploying for 4, it has a Power of 5, and a location bonus of Power +2 at Naboo/Battle Fields. Not bad, especially considering you can leave these babies all over the place without having to worry about transporting them out of there so much. Unfortunately, the Damage and the Destiny are the points where the economy of this card comes unstuck, with ratings of 4 and 2 respectively. Still quite good though.
Decipher: A
Perfect, on this occasion. The first version of the mighty Trade Federation Tank seems to mesh nicely with the film, and Decipher have managed to avoid any design pitfalls. The location bonuses are just as they should be (restricted to Naboo: Battle Fields) and both the image and the flavor text have been suitably chosen. We haven't had a real design problem since the Podracer Pilot fiasco of '42 (don't remind me), which is a 'good thing'.
Overall Usefulness: B+
Trade Federation Tank / Armored Division is currently the only Dark card prepared to lead the charge on Naboo. Unfortunately, the Dark version of Naboo: Battle Fields is not in the Menace of Darth Maul expansion, so any advantage the tank has on Naboo against all those Gungans is null and void. Still, this card is a very hard-hitting non-unique character that you can't really go past if you want a powerful yet mobile strike force. And there hopefully should be more high-tech hardware of this ilk to come. Glorious.
FLAVOR TEXT: "Each tank carries a crew of four battle droids." -- AAT Standard Operating Procedures
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CARD FACTS:
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RARE, RED-DOT, NON-STACKABLE
Deploy: 4
Power: 5
Destiny: 2
Damage: 4
Power Bonuses:
Naboo/Theed Palace: +0
Naboo/Battle Fields: +2
Naboo/Gungan Swamp: +0
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SPECIFIC INTERACTING CARDS:
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Trade Federation Tank Laser Cannon
[#114, Menace of Darth Maul, Uncommon, Orange-Dot]
This rather large gun gives one of your Trade Federation Tanks a Power bonus of +2 and a Destiny ? draw in battle. It does however have a rather icky Destiny of 1. Which is a little bit of a shame, really. You may as well mount a trusty Blaster Rifle on each of your tanks, if you can stand it.
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IN BRIEF:
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The Trade Federation Tank / Armored Division is an overpowered hunk of metal that will help you in battle but will hurt you while in your deck or after being destroyed. While it is cool to think about a deck containing a mighty Trade Federation invasion force, it is difficult to do successfully when tanks are involved due to both their own (2) and their specialised weapons' poor Destiny (1). It is only a matter of simple math: which is better, using a Blaster Rifle with your tank and drawing another as Destiny, or using a Trade Federation Tank Laser Cannon with your tank and drawing another as Destiny? Shame, yes, but this card is still both cool and useful....
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GENERAL PLAY TIPS:
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* Let's try out that Trade Federation Invasion Force deck, focusing on fun. Red is nice and simple, with 10 copies of the Trade Federation Tank / Armored Division a cool backbone for your deck. If you haven't got enough, substitute a couple of those for Destroyer Droid / Wheel Droids. Blue is ripe for a 50-50 combination of Battle Droids (Infantry / MTT Division) and Destroyer Droid / Defense Droids, and green is the domain of the not too shabby Battle Droid: Infantry / AAT Division. Mix in a liberal amount of Trade Federation Tank Laser Cannons, (say, 2) Battle Droid Blaster Rifles (3-5) and maybe a couple of Multi Troop Transports or Blaster Rifles, In Complete Control, Begin Landing Your Troops and The Invasion is On Schedule (phew) and you have one extremely fun theme deck to tinker with. Enjoy.
* It is true that you don't need to worry so much about transports when you are packing a fistful of transports. Make use of this as much as you can: the last thing your opponent wants after being crushed by a tank on Tatooine is to face a Battle Droid/Trade Federation Tank combo on the first couple of turns on Naboo. Grin.
* Style Tip: Use the above deck to trash Naboo. Do it even without all the Naboo-based droids that will likely come our way shortly!
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ADDITIONS:
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Up to you. Think of anything else cool about his card, or combos that you have used to great effect? What about a particular game in which this card made you win? Send anything like that to jinnandtonic@yahoo.com.au and I'll add it here. Tanks for reading. You knew that was coming, and I make no apologies.
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