Review of the Marvel Crisis Protocol
Review of the Marvel Crisis Protocol
The Marvel Crisis Protocol takes on Marvel heroes and villains and puts them in combat on the table with interactive terrain. The game combines Miniature painting , collecting heroes, creating teams and of course board games in one amazing package!
A brief overview of the Marvel Crisis Protocol
Marvel Crisis Protocol is a miniature board game that makes it more of a hobby than a board game.
The basic game offers 10 heroes from which you can make a team, but the team-building aspect of the game will encourage you to expand the list with more heroes. When your team is ready, it’s time to paint the miniatures and parts of the terrain you will use on the table.
When everything is ready and you have found an opponent, it's time to play. Played exclusively as a 2-player compared to the game, the Marvel Crisis Protocol is moderately complex and takes up to 45 minutes to complete.
Financial investment and dedication to this game is important and it is not a game you can fully experience without having a club or a group of friends.
Variations and extensions
Unpacking Marvel Crisis Protocol
The basic kit includes the following components:
- 10 miniature hard plastic characters
- 10 Basics
- 9 pieces of terrain
- 170 tokens
- 20 team tactical cards
- 3 Map maps
- 2 associated cards
- 10 statistical card characters
- 6 crisis cards
- 3 Movement tools
- 4 volume tools
- 10 Cubes
- 1 Guide to learning to play
The Marvel Crisis Protocol may not seem like many components, but it has everything you need to get started. The hero cards are too big and easy to read, which is important for a game that deals with statistics and abilities.
The tokens are made of cut cardboard and vibrant colors to match the theme. The game learning guide is fully illustrated and in color, and much of it is taken up by the assembly guides because plastic pieces need to be assembled.
Plastic components are where the Marvel Crisis Protocol turns into a real hobby board game. Prepare your plastic shearing tool as you will need to separate the terrain, bases and parts of the heroes from the water bows.
Cutting, gluing and then painting all the pieces will take hours and can easily occupy you for a few days or a week, depending on how fast you work. At this point, you can see that the Marvel Crisis Protocol is not a regular license to raise money, but a game for real enthusiasts.
Considering all the things you get in the box and the quality of the plastic components, I would say that this game is worth the asking price and the places when it is on sale.
How to play Marvel Crisis Protocol
There’s also a lot going on in the Marvel Crisis Protocol in terms of tactics or strategy, so I’m going to have to break this section down into smaller parts to explain the overall premise of the game.
Game setup
Before you start the game, you must first place the terrain and obstacles on the table and draw crisis cards to determine the scenario. Marvel Crisis Protocol is a goal game where players compete to finish first and score more points.
Signs
Both games must bring to the table 10 card characters and characters , miniatures, crises and card tactics - all available in a basic set, but for one player. There is no loyalty in this game, so villains and heroes from tradition can participate. The game has 10 characters:
- black Widow
- Captain America
- Captain Marvel
- The Iron Man
- Spider-Man
- Baron Zemo
- Bones
- Octopus doctor
- Red skull
- Ultron
With multiple characters available through expansion packs. You won’t be using all the heroes, as each scenario has a threat limit that cannot be exceeded by the sum of the character’s threat values.
Character Stats
The core of the game is the statistics of the heroes, which indicate their strengths and weaknesses. Character cards have two sides: healthy and damaged. Each character starts with their own cards showing the healthy side.
The cards show the character's name, alter ego, types of attacks and superpower exercises, their defense statistics, threat level, size, speed, leadership and endurance. Think of them as a statistic a DnD character or something like a MOBA-type hero.
Round breakdown
Marvel Crisis Protocol is played in 6 rounds or until one player scores enough winning points. The circles are divided into three phases:
- Power Phase - characters gain 1 power.
- Activation phase - the characters can move, attack, use super power or shake off the negative effect.
- Cleaning phase - used for scoring and resolving special effects.
Movement and range
The game has a set of rulers and joysticks that you can use to assess how far your character can go and what his effective range is. The movement bars have a pivot point in the middle so the characters can turn into an angle and cross obstacles more easily.
Attacks
To attack, the player selects one of the abilities from his character's card and checks to see if the enemy character is within range and in sight. Fighting is a simple roll attacker against a cube defender , but there are modifiers and special conditions that brighten things up.
Throwing ground
In Marvel Crisis Protocol, terrain is invincible and can be destroyed or thrown into characters to damage them. It is available in five size classes - from benches and crates to buildings and monoliths. It's an interesting mechanic that allows for a deeper strategy and less reliance on the ground than cover.
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Your first Marvel Crisis Protocol game
The board game, despite being somewhat complex, is very intuitive and easy to understand. Once you read your character’s stats, the goal of the game, and get an idea of how movement and positioning work, all that’s left is a fine-tuning.
Instead of teaching you some tips for the desktop board, I’ll talk more about the hobby side of the game, as I’ve seen a lot of people get into this unprepared and overwhelmed.
To cut plastic attachments, you need small cutters , preferably made for a hobby. I’ve ruined cheaper wire cutters on hard plastic, so it’s better to spend a few bucks on more powerful tools. Gluing the pieces together is a delicate task, so wear a pair of latex gloves to keep them from sticking to your fingers.
As for the painting aspect, you will need fine hobby brushes , a glass of water, a plastic palette cap and some paint. You don’t have to invest in sophisticated equipment, that’s all you need to get started.
I’ve been using Vallejo colors for a while now and I really like them. They are very affordable, they are available in large quantities and the quality of the pigment is excellent. As for the primer, I use an Army Painter’s can of primer and it can really last a long time.
You can search online guides to see color recommendations for different characters, or buy a basic 10-15 colors and move on from there.
Don’t be scared or discouraged if you’ve never painted a miniature before. We all start somewhere, and because I know you will be careful and sensitive, your models will turn out much better than you would expect. There are many miniature painting guides that will show you different techniques, but for starters, just learn to dilute colors and work in layers.
- An easy guide to basic miniature painting skills with ...
Advantages disadvantages
Advantages:
- Excellent table mechanics
- Mini at reasonable prices
It is not uncommon for hobby board games to lag behind in the actual gaming segment. People who do this are generally more concerned with composing and painting than playing - it allows them to capture the passion they feel for the character by creating their own version.
Marvel Crisis Protocol lives or dies with its expansion packs. You will want them and you will need them if you plan to play the game competitively. They are mostly available in two sets, but there is a rich flea market and people who would halve the boxes to get the characters they want.
Given the Marvel license this game has to pay for, miniatures aren’t that expensive. My basis for this is the Warhammer 40k mini, which is famous for its high price.
Weaknesses:
- It's a dear hobby
- It requires a lot of dedication
You may be wondering why I said mini minis are affordable, but now I say this is an expensive game? Marvel Crisis Protocol is not your average board game where you get a box and maybe later get some extensions to extend its lifespan.
Marvel Crisis Protocol is a hobby game - that means you need $ 50 in paints, brushes and a few tools before you even get a basic kit. After that, you need to buy extensions to create your dream team, which further raises the price.
It’s perfectly okay to give up a hobby you don’t enjoy, but I don’t want you to get into it without knowing what’s expected of you. Like I said, it can be played with some friends or family members, but you really need a group of people to get some games. Consider finding the right people for the DnD group rather than the classic board game.
After all, it’s not the end of the world if you don’t even play on the desktop - the Marvel Crisis Protocol offers a lot of content for hobby enthusiasts, and for many people, including me, this aspect is more than enough.
Marvel Crisis Protocol Review (TL; DR)
Marvel Crisis Protocol is a surprisingly good board game that makes the most of your license without sacrificing gaming. Whether you’re a Marvel fan interested in the desktop hobby, or a veteran player looking for a new set of miniatures, the Core Set has a lot to offer.
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- BUILD YOUR MARVEL HERO DREAM TEAM: Take command of the legendary ...
- STRATEGIC GAME WITH SUPER POWER: As strong as any character is, ...
Conclusion: a verdict?
Before this section, I will say that I am not a fan of the Marvel universe. I understand why people enjoy Movies and are invested in certain characters, but that never appealed to me. Like I said, I know a lot about the characters and the story that helped me invest in miniature painting.
In board hobby games, this investment is the most important part. If you care about a character, you’ll want to put it together and paint it to the best of your ability. It’s hard to explain, but the best I can do is compare it to the experience you get from a new movie or book .
Although I’m not crazy about Marvel, I know how I feel about getting new 40k miniatures. It may be difficult at first, with all the colors you need, but they are very hard to consume and expansion packs are very affordable. Every few months you can take a new package and make two characters.
As for the gameplay itself, my experience was basically a model battle with a friend. I didn’t have anyone in my circle who would also play the game, so we split the base set and played a few games to see how it was.
I love games that are easy to learn but hard to master, and the Marvel Crisis Protocol seems to be geared in that direction. You can enter your first game very quickly and it seems that with each game you will learn something new and improve your strategy.
But even without the gameplay aspect, I enjoyed assembling and painting so much that I can recommend the Marvel Crisis Protocol to anyone who is well aware of what they are getting into!
- MARVEL MINIATURES GAME: Save the world or conquer it with Crisis ...
- BUILD YOUR MARVEL HERO DREAM TEAM: Take command of the legendary ...
- STRATEGIC GAME WITH SUPER POWER: As strong as any character is, ...
We hope you enjoyed our review of the Marvel Crisis Protocol! Have you tried this miniature board game yet? What do you think about the process or the gameplay? Drop a comment below. We would love to hear from you!
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