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Spiders vs Robots

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  Whilst the Sentinels were designed to destroy mutants, it is probably fair to say that in Marvel Crisis Protocol they also have an unnerving habit of taking out Web Warriors as collateral damage. Your standard Sentinels are size 5 and cannot be moved by superpowers, and with the new reveals by AMG, it looks like the Sentinels affiliation is going to be increasingly defined by root and power taxing shenanigans, two things that really hurt our friendly neighbourhood spider-people. Despite this, all is not lost! Whilst the Sentinels definitely force you to play differently, I think a well-constructed Web Warriors roster can still hold its own. It just needs to lean on some different tools to the standard gameplan. Lets talk about a few options here. Amazing Spider-Man has been a classical answer to the size 5 problem as his leadership ability allows anyone on the team to spend a power and place the target within 1 so long as they are slow, which can nudge them off points.  As w...
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Goose of the Living Dead

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  Alongside Marvel Crisis Protocol, I've spent a lot of this year so far playing Malifaux 4th edition. I am currently in three different online tournaments for it. This is a great way to learn a new game and you should try it. You certainly won't regret signing up to three games per week with a fourth of Marvel Crisis Protocol. That is a sane and managable level of gaming, probably. I've already talked a little about Malifaux in general terms in other posts but I'd like to reiterate up top that 4th edition has really reinvigorated my love for the game. It plays faster, the way schemes have been reworked is great, and terrain now feels dynamic and interesting. Wyrd has struggled a lot to get product into the world since launch, which is a great shame, but what they have created is fantastic and I cannot recommend it highly enough. I own quite a lot of Malifaux crews and the hard part of starting any new edition is trying to decide where to put focus. I started learning 4...
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Roster Review: We Are Gwenom

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I've now had quite a few games with my current Web Warriors roster so I thought I'd do a bit of an update. I played around with some splash choices and I was having a good time with that, but I felt like I wanted to get to grips with what the Web Warriors pieces can do as a team - originally the intent here was to learn them and then go back with a core of solid options to build around. The trouble is that I've been having so much fun with all the spiders that I don't currently want to try out splashes; in fact, if I were to replace any of them, there are more spiders waiting in the wings I want to test! This is going to be a briefer look into the characters than a full Powerscaling dive, mostly discussing their role in the team. Characters Spider-Man 2099: The big man himself. Miguel is the least used member of the squad just because, at 5 threat, he's the biggest investment. When he does hit the table, though, it is a sign things are going to get brawly. Weirdly m...
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Powerscaling: Venom

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Venom is one of those interesting miniatures who has been in the game for a very long time and who hasn't really changed much.  The game has shifted around him, but at no point has Venom truly been a dominant character in the meta.  His weaknesses are obvious: energy attacks really hurt, and with no ways to move himself around on his card he can feel slow. Often, the best way for the opponent to deal with Venom is to either burn him down with some of the strong energy attack characters that are quite common right now or push and throw him away from the action and force him to spend time walking back into relevance. However, the potential upside for Venom is huge. As the first 'clapback' character, once per activation when Venom is attacked he can spend two power and then make an attack back at the opponent. Note that this does not have to be Symbiote Tendrils (though it can be and if it is the opponent will get bleed during their own turn, which can be huge) it can also be ...
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Powerscaling: Gwenom

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  I love Gwenom. Just in terms of the miniature itself I think it is one of the most dynamic and fun in Marvel Crisis Protocol. The character's lore is fun and I live in hope that one day we'll get Carnage Queen so that all the many Peter Parkers can be utterly horrified at having to beat up Mary Jane. She's just a delight. But in Crisis Protocol she's always been a bit overshadowed by Ghost Spider, who is a very potent three threat and a pillar of the Web Warriors. Since you can't take both, is there really a case to be made to include Gwenom? Time to make my case!       Gwenom has a very similar core attack to that of her counterpart; if she advanced or placed she gets to advance again, if she is attacking the same target she gets full rerolls. This is a little worse in terms of average damage than the +3 dice that Ghost Spider gets, however if she is running under Miles leadership and can reroll skulls and she's hitting on an All Webbed Up turn it starts to l...
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Powerscaling: Emma Frost

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    Wowee. Where to begin with Emma Frost? I feel a little bad even covering her in some ways to be honest. The point of this series is to highlight characters that I feel get overlooked, and I don't think anyone is going to be overlooking Emma any point in the near future. I think she's quite possibly the best four threat in the game, up there with an unerrated Shang Chi, and if you're not seeing her all over the place in your local meta already... give it time. When people understand just how much this character can do, the question becomes why aren't you bringing the model with solid offense, great displacement and reliable defenses in your squad? There are reasons, but if you need a generalist all-rounder who happens to bring great tricks along for the ride, Emma is your girl. And what a glow up! Emma has spent years being underwhelming and mostly a tool for enabling the Hellfire Club. Now, she stands strong on her own and she alone might be a solid argument for giv...
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Entering the Spider-Verse

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  Who doesn't love Spider-Man? Ever since day one, Peter Parker has had a place in Marvel Crisis Protocol, and as of the writing of this article he currently has four places across Amazing Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, Spider-Man, and Spider-Man Noir. That's a lot of Spider-Men! Some might say... too many Spider-Men? As the game has gone on, he's become only a small part of an entire affiliation of Spider People in the Web Warriors, which have sometimes been seen as extremely strong and rarely out of the meta entirely. Once upon a time, there was a perception in the community that the Web Warriors were 'solved' as a faction.  I don't think that was ever actually as true as people thought, but now that we have had two new boxes with five new Web Warriors and a raft of new tactics cards bringing them up to 20 characters and 23 character restricted or Web Warriors affiliated tactics cards, the number of ways you can play the affiliation has exploded in possib...
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