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For those of you not familiar with the topics at hand, Button Men is a wonderful little dice game with a remarkable strategic depth. You can get the rules and pretty much every character ever made at Beat People Up. This review assumes at least passing familiarity with the rules.

Sailor Moon is a magical girl anime series I have a nodding acquaintance with. Sailor Moon Universe is a good place to read up on it. Familiarity is not required for the review, or to play the actual game.

There are two sets of Sailor Moon Button Men. Like other Button Men, they are sold in twin packs. The pairings are:

Set 1

Sailor Moon -- Queen Beryl Sailor Mercury -- Zoycite Sailor Mars -- Jedite Sailor Jupiter -- Nephlite Sailor Venus -- Malachite Tuxedo Mask -- Shadow Warriors

Set 2

Luna & Artemis -- Wicked Lady Queen Serenity -- Rubeus Princess Serena -- Sapphire Rini -- Wiseman Neo-Queen Serenity -- Prince Diamond King Endymion -- Emerald

The artwork for the Sailor Moon Button Men all appears to be taken from the series, or perhaps manga or posters. It's good by anime standards, but not spectacular, and it looks cheesy when set next to the stellar Brom set. (That's hardly surprising, though. Brom's work is light-years ahead of the rest, even my fanboy favorite Sluggy Freelance buttons.)

Each set of Button Men typically introduces a new type of die to the game. The Sailor Moon Button Men (two sets of 12 buttons each) have reserve dice, a pool of dice you can draw from only when you lose a round. This represents the tendency of the Sailor Moon characters to lose at first, then become strong enough to defeat the villain in the final confrontation. To balance this out, none of them have the per-round variable swing dice.

Now, Button Men normally keeps score by the size of the dice you capture from your opponent, plus the size of your own dice you keep. The winner is the person with the highest score after three rounds. This adds a layer of strategy in the selection of swing dice, since larger dice allow better attacks, but give your opponent the chance to score more points. With some characters, it's possible to lose all your dice and still win the round.

Adding reserve dice throws that scoring method out of balance quickly. You can lose two rounds by large margins, add a large die from your reserve after each loss, and end up with a huge pile of dice on the third and final round.

Obviously the standard scoring method isn't quite fair for these characters, especially when matched against Button Men that don't have reserve dice. Instead, Sailor Moon Button Men score a match by best three out of five rounds. Point totals only matter to decide the winner of a round.

Each Sailor Moon Button Men character also has a special power, usable a set number Tuxedo Mask once. This allows them to make two attacks back to back, because Tuxedo Mask throws his rose and distracts the opponent. (Tuxedo Mask himself is invulnerable to this ability, and almost all other special abilities from these sets.) The Negaverse characters have varying abilities. They can remove dice from the game, reroll some dice or force their opponents to do the same, or even call on additional dice in the middle of an attack.

At first glance, limiting the Sailor Scouts to one use of Tuxedo Mask seems unfair. The Negaverse characters can use their abilities up to four times, depending on which button it is. But the ability to attack twice in a row turns out to be extremely powerful. Its best use lies in short-circuiting attacks that would otherwise cripple the Scout. Allowing them to do this more than once would make them almost unstoppable.

In the second set, the special abilities vary more, though they still have a limited number of uses. Some characters can call on reserve dice in the middle of a battle, instead of waiting until they lose. The reroll abilities turn up again, and the Wise Man can steal reserve dice from his opponent. He has none of his own, though.

The special abilities are entertaining, I'll grant. The two sets are well balanced, both internally and against each other. The Sailor Scouts' Tuxedo Mask ability gives them an edge, but smart play can overcome that. But I didn't find the Sailor Moon Button Men compelling, no more so than any other set.

Except for one character, that is -- the Shadow Warriors from the first set. (It's one badge for several characters from the show.) They start with d1 and d2, with d4 through d12 in reserve. Each die represents one of the Shadow Warriors. The first two can call on any one of the other dice at its maximum value to make a skill attack. This gives the Shadow Warriors a great amount of flexibility, and since low opening roll goes first, they almost always win the start. After all, their starting roll is always either 1-1 or 1-2.

(Herein lies a peculiarity. Again, the Shadow Warriors start with just the d1 and d2. Low roll goes first. If they roll 1-2, and their opponent rolls 1-2-anything, who goes first? The rules pamphlet in the Tuxedo Mask-Shadow Warriors set says that they don't go first if their opponent rolls 1-1-anything, but mentions no other case. I decided that meant the Shadow Warriors go first in every other case.)

The Shadow Warriors' weakness, though, is characters with small dice. Their special ability is much less useful then, especially when half their reserve dice aren't even useful. For example, Rini from the second set doesn't have anything bigger than a d8 to start. She's quite a tough fight for them.

The Shadow Warriors were the button that really got me thinking about the other Button Men sets. They are lightning fast in game terms, almost always going first, and very dangerous. Their special ability also applies against any Button Men. Most of the special abilities can only be used against other Sailor Moon Button Men. (The other exception is Neo-Queen Serenity, who can bring in one or two reserve dice when she loses a round, instead of just one.)

I have a particular fondness for Stark with d4s for her swing dice. Pitting her against the Shadow Warriors made for a pretty even match. But the bigger Stark's swing dice get, the more she loses. So I started looking for a character who was a Shadow Warrior killer. I found her in the Lunch Money girls.

The trip dice created for Lunch Money Button Men are already known as being deceptively powerful, so much so that speed dice were introduced in the Brawl set specifically to offset trip dice. Some of the Lunch Money Button Men also have the Y swing die, which can be any number of sides from 1 to 20.

Here's where the fun comes in. Hope has a d1 trip die, and a Y swing die. Give her a d1 for the swing, and she always goes first against the Shadow Warriors. She also has no dice higher than a d6 in that case, which eliminates all but the d4 from the Shadow Warrior reserve. Hope pulverized the Shadow Warriors in straight sets.

Feeling cocky, I pitted Hope against Tuxedo Mask. She fought valiantly, but just didn't have the raw power needed to take him out.

I finally played through the rest of the Button Men I have, though not every character in them. Except for that Hope-Shadow Warriors battle, I didn't find any clear advantages. As far as I can tell, Sailor Moon Button Men is a well-balanced set.

I doubt I'll play them much, though. Even though they all have different powers and mixes of dice, they all start to feel the same after a while. If you're a Sailor Moon or Button Men collector, by all means buy these. Other than that, I can't really recommend them.

Sailor Moon Button Men
Sailor Moon Button Men Playtest Review by Patrick Clark on 29/04/02 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average) Good for collectors of either Button Men or Sailor Moon, but otherwise not compelling. Product: Sailor Moon Button Men Author: none listed Category: Dice Game Company/Publisher: Guardians of Order Line: Sailor Moon Cost: $5.95 US Page count: n/a Year published: ISBN: SKU: Comp copy?: yes Playtest Review by Patrick Clark on 29/04/02 Genre tags: Science Fiction Anime	For those of you not familiar with the topics at hand, Button Men is a wonderful little dice game with a remarkable strategic depth. You can get the rules and pretty much every character ever made at Beat People Up. This review assumes at least passing familiarity with the rules. Sailor Moon is a magical girl anime series I have a nodding acquaintance with. Sailor Moon Universe is a good place to read up on it. Familiarity is not required for the review, or to play the actual game. There are two sets of Sailor Moon Button Men. Like other Button Men, they are sold in twin packs. The pairings are: Set 1 Sailor Moon -- Queen Beryl Sailor Mercury -- Zoycite Sailor Mars -- Jedite Sailor Jupiter -- Nephlite Sailor Venus -- Malachite Tuxedo Mask -- Shadow Warriors Set 2 Luna & Artemis -- Wicked Lady Queen Serenity -- Rubeus Princess Serena -- Sapphire Rini -- Wiseman Neo-Queen Serenity -- Prince Diamond King Endymion -- Emerald The artwork for the Sailor Moon Button Men all appears to be taken from the series, or perhaps manga or posters. It's good by anime standards, but not spectacular, and it looks cheesy when set next to the stellar Brom set. (That's hardly surprising, though. Brom's work is light-years ahead of the rest, even my fanboy favorite Sluggy Freelance buttons.) Each set of Button Men typically introduces a new type of die to the game. The Sailor Moon Button Men (two sets of 12 buttons each) have reserve dice, a pool of dice you can draw from only when you lose a round. This represents the tendency of the Sailor Moon characters to lose at first, then become strong enough to defeat the villain in the final confrontation. To balance this out, none of them have the per-round variable swing dice. Now, Button Men normally keeps score by the size of the dice you capture from your opponent, plus the size of your own dice you keep. The winner is the person with the highest score after three rounds. This adds a layer of strategy in the selection of swing dice, since larger dice allow better attacks, but give your opponent the chance to score more points. With some characters, it's possible to lose all your dice and still win the round. Adding reserve dice throws that scoring method out of balance quickly. You can lose two rounds by large margins, add a large die from your reserve after each loss, and end up with a huge pile of dice on the third and final round. Obviously the standard scoring method isn't quite fair for these characters, especially when matched against Button Men that don't have reserve dice. Instead, Sailor Moon Button Men score a match by best three out of five rounds. Point totals only matter to decide the winner of a round. Each Sailor Moon Button Men character also has a special power, usable a set number Tuxedo Mask once. This allows them to make two attacks back to back, because Tuxedo Mask throws his rose and distracts the opponent. (Tuxedo Mask himself is invulnerable to this ability, and almost all other special abilities from these sets.) The Negaverse characters have varying abilities. They can remove dice from the game, reroll some dice or force their opponents to do the same, or even call on additional dice in the middle of an attack. At first glance, limiting the Sailor Scouts to one use of Tuxedo Mask seems unfair. The Negaverse characters can use their abilities up to four times, depending on which button it is. But the ability to attack twice in a row turns out to be extremely powerful. Its best use lies in short-circuiting attacks that would otherwise cripple the Scout. Allowing them to do this more than once would make them almost unstoppable. In the second set, the special abilities vary more, though they still have a limited number of uses. Some characters can call on reserve dice in the middle of a battle, instead of waiting until they lose. The reroll abilities turn up again, and the Wise Man can steal reserve dice from his opponent. He has none of his own, though. The special abilities are entertaining, I'll grant. The two sets are well balanced, both internally and against each other. The Sailor Scouts' Tuxedo Mask ability gives them an edge, but smart play can overcome that. But I didn't find the Sailor Moon Button Men compelling, no more so than any other set. Except for one character, that is -- the Shadow Warriors from the first set. (It's one badge for several characters from the show.) They start with d1 and d2, with d4 through d12 in reserve. Each die represents one of the Shadow Warriors. The first two can call on any one of the other dice at its maximum value to make a skill attack. This gives the Shadow Warriors a great amount of flexibility, and since low opening roll goes first, they almost always win the start. After all, their starting roll is always either 1-1 or 1-2. (Herein lies a peculiarity. Again, the Shadow Warriors start with just the d1 and d2. Low roll goes first. If they roll 1-2, and their opponent rolls 1-2-anything, who goes first? The rules pamphlet in the Tuxedo Mask-Shadow Warriors set says that they don't go first if their opponent rolls 1-1-anything, but mentions no other case. I decided that meant the Shadow Warriors go first in every other case.) The Shadow Warriors' weakness, though, is characters with small dice. Their special ability is much less useful then, especially when half their reserve dice aren't even useful. For example, Rini from the second set doesn't have anything bigger than a d8 to start. She's quite a tough fight for them. The Shadow Warriors were the button that really got me thinking about the other Button Men sets. They are lightning fast in game terms, almost always going first, and very dangerous. Their special ability also applies against any Button Men. Most of the special abilities can only be used against other Sailor Moon Button Men. (The other exception is Neo-Queen Serenity, who can bring in one or two reserve dice when she loses a round, instead of just one.) I have a particular fondness for Stark with d4s for her swing dice. Pitting her against the Shadow Warriors made for a pretty even match. But the bigger Stark's swing dice get, the more she loses. So I started looking for a character who was a Shadow Warrior killer. I found her in the Lunch Money girls. The trip dice created for Lunch Money Button Men are already known as being deceptively powerful, so much so that speed dice were introduced in the Brawl set specifically to offset trip dice. Some of the Lunch Money Button Men also have the Y swing die, which can be any number of sides from 1 to 20. Here's where the fun comes in. Hope has a d1 trip die, and a Y swing die. Give her a d1 for the swing, and she always goes first against the Shadow Warriors. She also has no dice higher than a d6 in that case, which eliminates all but the d4 from the Shadow Warrior reserve. Hope pulverized the Shadow Warriors in straight sets. Feeling cocky, I pitted Hope against Tuxedo Mask. She fought valiantly, but just didn't have the raw power needed to take him out. I finally played through the rest of the Button Men I have, though not every character in them. Except for that Hope-Shadow Warriors battle, I didn't find any clear advantages. As far as I can tell, Sailor Moon Button Men is a well-balanced set. I doubt I'll play them much, though. Even though they all have different powers and mixes of dice, they all start to feel the same after a while. If you're a Sailor Moon or Button Men collector, by all means buy these. Other than that, I can't really recommend them.