Gundam Assemble Pre Order Guide - Products, Pricing & Release Dates

Bandai officially launched Gundam Assemble in October 2026 as a competitive tabletop miniatures game built around Gunpla-style mobile suits. The company has committed to a release cadence closer to a trading card game than a typical model line, with more than 30 products planned worldwide within the first year. Five items released simultaneously in October 2026, with monthly follow-ups planned afterward.

Gundam Assemble Product Line Overview

The Gundam Assemble launch wave includes several product tiers designed to accommodate different experience levels and budgets. Reporting from mid-2026 detailed six products landing across January, February, and March 2027 alone, including four $40 expansion packs, a $170 deluxe set 03, and the format’s first-ever $55 scenario pack.

Starter Set 01 - Entry Point

Starter Set 01 (ST01) launched at a $35 MSRP and serves as the format’s complete on-ramp. The box includes everything two players need to learn the game in one sitting: six miniatures, six matching unit cards, 18 tactics cards, a set of 10-sided dice, a game map, a set of game tokens, cardboard terrain pieces, a handbook, and a quick reference sheet.

The six suits deliberately span eras rather than sticking to one series:

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

The set ships with two teaching scenarios to walk new players through the rules before they branch into building a custom squad. Its low buy-in price relative to the line’s $40 expansion packs and $100 deluxe set makes it the mass market entry point.

Expansion Packs - $40 Price Tier

Expansion Pack 01 (EX01) released around October 31, 2026, at a $40 price point. The pack pulls mobile suits from Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn and includes three miniatures: the Unicorn Gundam, the Delta Plus, and a third unit. Like every other release in the line, the three miniatures arrive unpainted and unassembled. The box includes three matching unit cards, nine tactics cards, and a set of game tokens sized for exactly those three units, with no board, dice, or terrain of its own.

Expansion Pack 02 released in the same October to November 2026 window, pulling its roster from Mobile Suit Gundam The Witch from Mercury. It brings in Gundam Aerial, Gundam Pharact, and Gundam Darilbalde at the same $40 price point and the same three miniature, nine tactics card structure. This pack is explicitly built around suits specializing in long-range engagement and introduces new token-based strategic options that weren’t present in the base starter set 01 rules.

Both expansion packs are built entirely to plug into a starter set a player already owns. Rather than buying a whole new starter box to get new suits, a player who already owns starter set 01 can drop three new, fully game-ready units straight into an existing squad pool.

Deluxe Sets and Premium Products

Deluxe Set 01 (DX01) represents the premium entry in the launch lineup at a $100 price point. Originally slated alongside the October 2026 wave, several retailers pushed its release to November 2026. The set is easily the most content-dense release at launch, containing 13 miniatures in total, a full set of unit cards, a full set of tactics cards, a set of game tokens, two scenario objective cards, two separate game maps, a set of cardboard terrain objects, a dedicated set of 10-sided dice, a handbook, and two quick reference rule sheets.

The headline five-on-five scenario centers on two battleship-class units squaring off against each other, giving deluxe set 01 a scale and strategic depth the smaller boxes cannot match. The set reuses the Witch from Mercury cast but drops them into a scenario themed on the battle of A Baoa Qu, a Universal Century engagement from an entirely different era of the timeline.

2027 Release Schedule

Bandai announced a $170 deluxe set 03 for early 2027 as part of the same wave carrying four new expansion packs. A dedicated scenario pack 01 is also planned for early 2027 at a $55 price point. Treating scenarios as their own standalone products sold apart from any new miniatures suggests Bandai sees the storytelling layer of Gundam Assemble as valuable on its own, independent of whichever suits happen to be in a player’s collection.

Product Availability and Events

Ahead of the product release, applications for “Learn to Play” events opened on September 14, 2026. These hands-on events allow players to learn the rules while actually playing Gundam Assemble. The events rolled out sequentially starting September 26, 2026, at authorized stores nationwide, Bandai Tabletop Games exhibition events, and other locations.

Registration required advance lottery application via the Bandai Tabletop Games platform. Lottery results could be checked up to three days before each event. Players who attended received a limited design unit card as a participation prize. Events ran through November 30, 2026, with free admission.

Official Resources and Documentation

Bandai released the official core rulebook version 1.0 as a free PDF on the Bandai Hobby site on August 28, 2026, ahead of the wave of in-store learn-to-play demo events. The rulebook describes the overall feel as closer to Warhammer Underworlds than a mainline Warhammer army game, with every miniature being a fixed character with a set loadout rather than a customizable one.

The company also released several supporting documents for players and stores:

• Event Format Document
• Detailed Event Guide
• Quick Demo Script
• Demo Scenario

These materials circulated among hobby content creators months before launch, generating organic buzz well ahead of stores having stock to sell.

Miniature Quality and Assembly

Every unit in Gundam Assemble finishes at about 5 cm or roughly 2 inches tall. The kits ship unpainted and unassembled exactly like standard Gunpla, so players are expected to snap or glue the parts together and paint them before playing a match. There’s no pre-built option anywhere in the line at any price tier.

Bandai sells a dedicated paint pack, Nero 1 accessory bundle, alongside the minis for players starting from zero hobby experience. Early hands-on coverage from Goonhammer with a batch of card game pack-in miniatures covering roughly a dozen models singled out the Tallgeese as the standout sculpt of the whole range.

A later review of the TP07B Zaku II release found the plastic itself heavy-duty with chunky runners, noticeably cheaper than comparable Games Workshop miniatures, though not quite as crisp in the finer sculpted detail. That same Zaku splits into six pieces during assembly. The consistent thread across nearly every piece of early coverage is that clean-up and painting is genuinely rewarding hobby work in its own right.

Organized Play Platform

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 in one place. 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 its retail debut.

Japanese hobby press framed 2026 as a turning point for Gundam’s competitive tabletop scene as a whole, pointing to new trademark filings, tighter organizational integration between Bandai’s game lines, and higher stakes tournament prize pools as signs the ecosystem around Assemble and its sibling card game was maturing in real time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the minimum purchase to start playing Gundam Assemble? Starter Set 01 at $35 MSRP provides everything needed for two players to learn and play the game, including six miniatures, all necessary cards, dice, a game map, and terrain.

Do Gundam Assemble miniatures come pre-painted? No. All miniatures ship unpainted and unassembled. Players must build and paint them before playing, following the traditional Gunpla hobby model.

What is the difference between expansion packs and deluxe sets? Expansion packs cost $40 and include three miniatures with matching cards and tokens but no board or dice. Deluxe sets are standalone products with significantly more content, including multiple maps, complete dice sets, and enough miniatures for larger battles.

When are 2027 products releasing? Six products are scheduled for January, February, and March 2027, including four expansion packs at $40 each, a $170 deluxe set 03, and a $55 scenario pack 01.

Where can I find official Gundam Assemble events? Events are listed on the Bandai Tabletop Games platform at https://www.bandai-tabletop-games.com/user/, which handles registration, event discovery, and match tracking.

Are multiple copies of the same unit allowed in a squad? Only units marked as Mass Produced allow multiple copies of the same unit card number in a squad, up to the number specified by the scenario.