Gundam Assemble Beginner Guide - Everything You Need to Start Playing

Gundam Assemble launched in October 2026 as Bandai’s competitive tabletop miniatures game built around Gunpla-style mobile suits. Unlike traditional Gunpla display pieces, these roughly 5 cm miniatures function as tactical game pieces with matching cards that define their combat abilities. This beginner guide covers everything new players need to start playing Gundam Assemble, from choosing your first purchase to understanding core rules and squad building.

What is Gundam Assemble?

Bandai officially released Gundam Assemble through the same Bandai Spirits Hobby Division that manages the decades-old plastic model business. The game combines traditional hobby work—cutting, cleaning, and painting parts—with squad-based tactical combat using mobile suits pulled from across the entire Gundam franchise.

The core concept allows classic Universal Century suits like the Zaku to fight mobile suits from shows that aired decades later. Every miniature finishes at approximately 5 cm (roughly 2 inches) tall, ships unpainted and unassembled, and requires full assembly before gameplay. Bandai even offers a dedicated paint pack called Nero 1 for players starting from zero hobby experience.

Bandai committed to an aggressive release schedule resembling a trading card game more than a typical model line. More than 30 products are planned worldwide within the first year, including expansion packs at $40, deluxe sets reaching $170, and the format’s first $55 scenario pack.

Getting Started with Starter Set 01

Starter Set 01 (ST01) represents the format’s complete on-ramp at a $35 MSRP. This three-on-three skirmish box includes everything two people need to learn the game in one sitting:

• Six miniatures (unpainted and unassembled)
• Six matching unit cards
• 18 tactics cards
• Set of 10-sided dice
• Game map
• Game tokens
• Cardboard terrain pieces
• Handbook
• Quick reference sheet

The Six Mobile Suits in ST01

The starter set deliberately spans multiple Gundam eras rather than focusing on one series:

• RX-78-2: The original Gundam from the Universal Century’s One Year War
• Char’s Zaku: Red Commander Type Zaku II piloted by Char Aznable
• Wing Gundam Zero EW and Gundam Mepphyon: Both from Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
• Gundam Vidar and Barbatos Lupus Rex: Both from Iron-Blooded Orphans

This cross-series approach means beginners immediately experience the game’s signature feature—staging battles between suits that never shared a screen in the original anime.

The set ships with two teaching scenarios that walk new players through the rules before they build custom squads. The low $35 price point makes it the mass market entry point compared to $40 expansion packs and $100 deluxe sets.

Understanding Core Rules and Gameplay

Gundam Assemble runs on a hex-gridded board with gameplay structured around what the rulebook calls the timeline. Bandai released the official core rulebook version 1.0 as a free PDF on bandaihobby.net on August 28, 2026.

The Timeline System

Every unit card lists a starting position on the timeline track. As rounds progress and units get activated, their actions push them further down the track before they become eligible to act again. A simple move called advancing lets a unit shift up to three hexes, while heavier actions cost more timeline and delay that unit’s next turn.

The timeline divides into 10 rounds. Once those 10 rounds finish, the game’s first phase ends and a second phase begins, creating a built-in two-act structure rather than an open-ended match.

Unit Activation

When activating a single unit, that unit can perform a menu of actions labeled A through D, each usable once in whatever order the player chooses. Every activation also requires exactly one primary action per round, drawn from a narrower sublist labeled B1 through B4.

Reviewers who accessed the rulebook early describe the overall feel as closer to Warhammer Underworlds than mainline Warhammer army games. Every miniature is a fixed character with a set loadout rather than a customizable one, so strategic depth comes from sequencing activations correctly and reading the timeline.

Combat and Dice

Fights resolve using 10-sided dice (D10s), which reviewers noted as a pleasant surprise in a hobby scene dominated by six-siders. An attack starts with the unit card itself, which lists a timeline cost, effective range, and strength value. Reading a suit’s card tells a player almost everything about how it fights before rolling dice.

Many abilities are range-restricted, meaning effects only trigger if the target sits within a specified distance measured across the hex grid. Any ability that cares about range also requires line of sight—a player cannot snipe an enemy suit through terrain walls or other mobile suits just because the card numbers would otherwise work.

Win Conditions

Victory conditions vary scenario by scenario. Some scenarios are won by wiping out the opposing squad, while others hinge on holding a specific objective marker for a set number of rounds. Every scenario objective card spells out its own win condition upfront, so two players can read a single card and know exactly what they’re playing toward before the first unit activates.

Squad Building Basics

Once players move past the starter scenarios, most gameplay opens into building custom squads pulled from across available Gundam series and factions. Each side is simply designated red or blue for the match rather than being locked into a single faction identity.

The Three Jobs Framework

Beginner guides distill squad construction down to a simple framework:

1. Threat unit: Creates pressure and forces opponents to react
2. Control unit: Maintains formation and positioning
3. Flex unit: Provides options to cover mistakes or support plays already in motion

Because the format’s baseline is a minimum of three units per side rather than dozens, every single model in a Gundam Assemble squad carries real tactical weight. Losing one unit represents a far bigger swing than losing one model out of 30 in larger-scale war games.

This smaller footprint serves as the format’s core beginner hook. Fewer models to learn, fewer models to paint before a game becomes playable, and a squad that can realistically go from sealed box to finished tabletop army in a single weekend rather than a season-long painting project.

Expanding Your Collection

After mastering Starter Set 01, expansion packs offer the natural next purchase rather than a second starter box.

Expansion Pack 01: Unicorn Suits

Released around October 31, 2026 at a $40 price point, Expansion Pack 01 (EX01) pulls mobile suits from Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. The pack includes three miniatures—Unicorn Gundam, Delta Plus, and a third unit—along with three matching unit cards, nine tactics cards, and game tokens. It contains no board, dice, or terrain, designed entirely to plug into an existing starter set.

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn originally aired as a theatrical OVA series set decades after the original One Year War, so pairing its cast with the starter box’s original series suits demonstrates how Gundam Assemble collapses eras that were never meant to share a battlefield.

Expansion Pack 02: Witch from Mercury Suits

Expansion Pack 02 (EX02) released in the same October to November 2026 window, featuring suits from Mobile Suit Gundam The Witch from Mercury: Gundam Aerial, Gundam Pharact, and Gundam Darilbalde. At the same $40 price point with three miniatures and nine tactics cards, this pack focuses on suits specializing in long-range engagement.

The pack introduces new token-based strategic options absent from base Starter Set 01 rules, meaning the mechanical toolkit genuinely expands with each release rather than just adding more copies of existing options.

Mobile Suit Gundam The Witch from Mercury finished airing in Japan in 2023, making it the most recent source series represented in the October 2026 launch wave. This signals Bandai’s intent to pull suits from newest shows rather than mining nostalgia exclusively.

Deluxe Set 01: Battle of A Baoa Qu

Deluxe Set 01 (DX01) is the premium entry at a $100 price point, built around scaling the base game to a full five-on-five battle. Originally slated for October 2026 but pushed to November at several retailers, the set contains 13 miniatures, full unit and tactics cards, game tokens, two scenario objective cards, two game maps, cardboard terrain, 10-sided dice, handbook, and two quick reference sheets.

The headline five-on-five scenario centers on the Battle of A Baoa Qu, the climactic One Year War engagement fought at Zeon’s heavily fortified space colony fortress from the original 1979 anime. The set reuses the Witch from Mercury cast but drops them into a Universal Century scenario, demonstrating the game’s cross-world scenario philosophy inside a single box.

Community and Organized Play

Bandai launched an official event management platform called Bandai Tabletop Games alongside the brand itself, centralizing event discovery, tournament registration, match record tracking, and organizer support tools. Learn-to-play preview events began rolling out at official retail stores nationwide and at Bandai Tabletop Games exhibition events, with applications opening as early as September 14, 2026—weeks ahead of actual retail launch.

Bandai’s play guide section on bandaihobby.net includes video content, including a dedicated quick play guide walk-through that circulated among hobby content creators months before launch. A recurring YouTube series titled Community Events Beginner’s Guide has documented local play nights and store-level events since mid-2026.

The game secured tournament floor presence at the Las Vegas Open 2026, a major annual tabletop gaming convention, putting Gundam Assemble on the same competitive circuit as established war games within months of retail debut.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to paint the miniatures before playing?

While miniatures ship unpainted, you can play with unpainted models. However, painting is part of the intended hobby experience. Bandai offers a Nero 1 paint pack accessory bundle for beginners.

Can I mix mobile suits from different Gundam series in my squad?

Yes, the game explicitly encourages cross-series squads. Each side is designated red or blue for the match rather than being locked to specific factions.

How many miniatures do I need to play?

The minimum is three units per side. Starter Set 01 provides six miniatures for complete three-on-three matches, while Deluxe Set 01 scales up to five-on-five battles.

Is Starter Set 01 enough to play a full game?

Yes, Starter Set 01 includes everything two players need: six miniatures, cards, dice, maps, terrain, tokens, handbook, and quick reference sheets. No additional purchases are required to start playing.

How long does a typical game take?

The timeline system divides matches into 10 rounds across two phases, creating structured match lengths. Exact duration depends on player familiarity with rules and activation sequencing.

What makes Gundam Assemble different from standard Gunpla?

Unlike traditional Gunpla display pieces, Gundam Assemble miniatures are functional game pieces at roughly 5 cm scale with matching cards defining their tactical abilities. They combine hobby work with competitive tabletop gameplay.