Hello, all! I grew up an avid fan of Warhammer 40,000, but I’ve explored a handful of skirmish games over the years. The allure of having to paint only a few models while immersing myself in the story/campaign aspects of a game is very attractive after batch painting twenty Necron Warriors.
Guest Writer: JP
Recently, I stumbled into Marvel Crisis Protocol, a game that has been in my peripheral vision since its launch a few years ago. Published by Atomic Mass Games, Marvel Crisis Protocol (MCP) is a skirmish game in which opponents get to pit their favorite Marvel heroes and villains against one another using a tight but deep ruleset. The mechanics are fairly simple (the free rules are only 30ish pages total), but they offer a lot of different play styles and interesting interactions. With the rising acceptance of tabletop gaming as a hobby outlet (thank you, Mr. Cavill) and the immense popularity of the Marvel IP thanks to the MCU movies and TV shows, the mash up of the two is a great opportunity to introduce those curious about tabletop gaming to the fold.
I achieved just that when one of my best friends, a comic junkie with zero interest in the 40K/AOS universe, picked up the starter box, and we took off running from there. The core set is an awesome launching point for the game because it offers a significant quantity of terrain and all the dice, widgets, and tokens one needs to get on their own two feet. Rather than relying on traditional measuring tapes, MCP uses a clever system of movement gauges and range sticks. Every model either moves short, medium, or long, and abilities and attacks have either a 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 distance. This seems absurdly simple, and in many ways it is, but the various permutations on how these can interact make for a surprisingly complex play experience. The movement, however, is perfectly crisp and effortless, removing some of the “slop” that comes with physically measuring distances on a tabletop battlefield.
The Core Set and Battles
The starter box offers a clash between several Avengers (Captain America, Ironman, Captain Marvel, Spiderman, and Black Widow) and their hated rivals, The Cabal (Red Skull, Crossbones, Ultron, Doctor Octopus, and Baron Zemo). They’re fairly evenly matched, so the intro games were fun, close affairs that helped us wrap our heads around the rules. As we grew into the ruleset, however, we both decided that it’s time to explore the range outside of the battlebox and embrace new rosters.
The starter box’s factions are very straightforward in their playstyle. The Avengers tend towards a tanky playstyle and rely on some movement/placement shenanigans to play the objective game. The Cabal is sort of a “brute force” faction with Red Skull sitting back and doling out power to his peers so that they can punch, punch, and punch some more. He and I decided that the logical next step is to purchase our own squads and build from there.
With 50+ models already in their catalogue, though, how does one narrow it down?
I knew I wanted something a tad more complex than what the starter box squads offer. MCP offers a lot of interesting game elements such as hurling terrain pieces or even opponents and snatching objectives before fleeing from the opposition. I want to embrace some of these and get away from armies that simply want to mix it up in the midboard. I read a ton of articles and watched more videos than I care to share and ultimately decided…to pick entirely based on my millennial love of the 90s X-Men Animated Series. I decided to throw a few episodes on Disney+ to embrace the nostalgia (and lock the theme song into my brain…) and start planning out some purchases.
The Animated Series
Because the character packs offer some crossover between the Uncanny X-Men and the Brotherhood (Mystique/Beast and Wolverine/Sabertooth), it’s easy to rapidly collect both rosters. A few quick purchases later, and I now have a pretty solid roster of mutants awaiting painting and play. Next article I’ll break down how I built my first roster and share my thoughts on how to expand.
Thanks for reading this one. I hope it offered some insight into Marvel Crisis Protocol and what makes it a very attractive gaming experience to both casual and dedicated tabletop gamers alike.