Marvel Crisis Protocol

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Marvel Crisis Protocol is a miniatures game set in the Marvel universe. A normal game always has two Crises: Secure (Stand on an objective) and Extraction (Carry an objective). In addition to featuring iconic heroes and villains, there is a large emphasis on terrain: Scenery affects traversal and can be used for cover or thrown. Characters like Spider-Man are almost completely unimpeded by scenery, but Hulk can throw damn near anything, including dump trucks, which is always great for a laugh. Despite the aforementioned emphasis on terrain, vertical distance is not measured for attacks, meaning a character on the ground can punch a character on the roof of an adjacent building.

Another interesting facet is unrestricted roster building. There is nothing stopping you from having sworn enemies on the same team, like Captain America and Red Skull. The reasoning is thematic: Comics are subject to strange team-ups all the time (for example, alternate universe versions, mind control, etc.). There are no factional restrictions, but there are affiliations which can provide bonuses if at least half your team shares an affiliation like Avengers or Cabal. Some characters have multiple factions they can belong to, like Black Panther, who has Avengers and Wakanda. Some characters have Leadership abilities that are activated when you fulfill an affiliation, and some Tactic Cards can only be used on characters that belong to specific affiliations, like Odin's Blessing with Asgardian characters.

Is This Game For Me?

Pros

• Very high quality miniatures that do justice to the characters.
• Each character feels unique and true to the source material.
• Team building is simple. You'll usually have about 4 or 5 characters on the field with the only additional prep-work being Tactics Cards.
• Terrain is fun as hell to throw around.
• The game has a raid mode which a group of players go with teams against one player controlling a maxed out character (Hulk, Ultron and Thanos for now).

Cons

• The pricing is on par with Games Workshop. Because every single expansion has unique characters, they can't exactly count on repeat purchases.
• Assembly is a pain in the ass.
• Static poses. No room to get creative there without a knife and the willingness to take a risk on your expensive model.

Factions

Avengers

The first half of the Core Set, the Avengers have a LOT of heroes, giving them access to a lot of variety.

Cabal

The other half of the Core Set, the Cabal are the evil team with their leader the Red Skull, with strong pieces like MODOK and Ultron.

Wakanda

A really small faction with four characters, all of the characters are excellent and even if not affiliated are very useful in different lists. Their Affiliation ability allow a re-roll for power, being quite useful and making them good for more secure re-rolls. Having two push powers with their units make them quite good at controlling the game.

• Black Panther: King of Wakanda and the team leader, he is VERY resilient because his armor allows him to add blanks to his defense rolls. He is fast, with a large move, and really good attacks with one push.

• Killmonger: A highly offensive character, he is capable of taking out two or three enemies by himself and becoming more and more dangerous as he drops people. His tactic card "Usurp the Throne" gets him 2 VP by dazing or KOing enemies, which he can very much do in a single turn.

• Okoye: For 2 points she is cheap, hits really well with a ranged attack and a dangerous attack that allow for a second hit. Bodyguard is probably one of her best traits, protecting other heroes and doing the sacrificial play.

• Shuri: Really REALLY powerful character, useful even outside of affiliated list. She can keep pushing enemies away with a long range attack, upgrade allows more stable gameplay with re-rolls for allies.

Asgard

The second kingdom released for the game, the Asgardians as a whole get another power every turn, with Team Affiliation allowing to remove a single damage or special conditions. They have a lot of staying power being able to heal themselves, high defense and tactics that reduce damage.

• Thor: Prince of Asgard. A powerhouse that can fly, hits really well, and his Affiliation ability allows his allies to heal themselves. Worth his five points.

• Valkryie: Similar to Killmonger, she is an agressive character that can cause a LOT of damage by herself. Dragon Fang allows another basic attack (if a Wild die is rolled, which should be easy if you spend power to use her superpower that can change her dice), charge gives her movement without losing her hard hitting status.

• Hela: A mild choice, she has a few abilities tied to Capture Soul tokens where she can improve her attack die and cause bleed on her enemies.

• Loki:Skillful at controlling the battlefield. His God of Mischief ability forces enemies to spend power to use super powers, being able to disrput plans and power plays in a turn. Choosing a Crisis like Origin Bombs where enemies are forced to spend power to get the objective can make him even more of a problem for his enemies.