Peace Was Never an Option

  Powerscaling: Captain America, First Avenger Steve Rogers has three incarnations (to date) in Marvel Crisis Protocol, with Sam Wilson meaning that there are three different ways you can have Captain America lead your squad of Avengers! That’s a lot of Steve and a lot of Captain America, and I have to be honest, the thought of painting up yet another Captain America in the year 2025 was… exhausting. But of all the models in the second core set for the game, Violent Steve – or especially his leadership – was the one that stood out to me the most. I’ve now played a lot of games with Steve3, and whilst I’ve lost about as many as I’ve won, Captain America, First Avenger (Third Steve) remains, I think, the most interesting of all the different ways you can field the man who can, famously, do this all day. Whilst the man himself remains fairly generic, his leadership has proven to be a tool that just feels more useful the more I learn to use it So I’d like to talk about him! Which...

  Powerscaling: Elsa Bloodstone In this installation of Powerscaling, we’re going to be looking at one of the characters who was a huge draw in bringing me back to the game: Elsa Bloodstone. When I first read Elsa’s card my eyes lit up. The leadership just stood out as such an incredibly interesting choice. Root is a powerful condition and I have historically considered taking characters like Minister Sinister purely because they can throw out Root and combo it with the original Loki to create a horrific bubble where characters have to spend two power before they can play any non-innate superpowers at all. That kind of tax can really hurt characters who rely on their cheap reactive powers to reduce damage. If a 1 point increase is a handful of sand in the gears of a team’s power engine, 2 points is a pocket full of gravel. Not every team cares, but for the ones that do it can make the game a painful uphill battle. Elsa remains my personal favourite way to play Midnight So...

  Powerscaling: Squirrel Girl Welcome to the first in a series I’ll do… as and when I feel like I have something interesting to honk about, looking at characters in Marvel Crisis Protocol that I find personally interesting. Where better to start than everyone’s favourite and least controversial character in the Marvel Universe, the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl! I was a little concerned when I heard that Squirrel Girl was coming to Marvel Crisis Protocol. How could you possibly represent a character who has defeated both Thanos and Doctor Doom effortlessly within the comics, without making her seem underwhelming on the table? I’m happy to say that Doreen absolutely lives up to the hype in MCP, and delivers a character that ticks every box I look for in a character I love playing: thematic, interesting, and with an excellent sculpt to boot. At first glance, Squirrel Girl might seem a little underwhelming for a 4 threat. She’s only got a medium move (albeit, wallcrawler means that s...

I’ve been playing a little Tabletop Marvel when I’ve had free time in the evenings, trying to brush the rust off before the UK Grand Tournament at the end of May. I’ve had pretty good results with my Team Pink Midnight squad, and it felt like a good idea to put them down in a more competitive environment – so, back into the world of the TTS League! After playing a lot of Vassal Malifaux over the past few years, it was interesting to return to a 3D online world (especially given that, theoretically, the actual physical height of things matters much less in Marvel Crisis Protocol than it does in Malifaux, especially Malifaux 4 th Edition). The game was Alien Ship and Deadline to Destruction, which suited me perfectly. I had priority and my opponent chose 17 which let me pick my favourite squad – Elsa, Space Loki, Werewolf by Night and N’Kantu. Loki doubling down on the Root that I often put out with Elsa’s leadership is very impactful, and there has not been a single game yet whe...

  The Dreaded… She-Hulk Please note that this article was originally written in 2022 From The Dread Dormammu to the Dreaded Baron Zemo, there’s no character in Marvel Crisis Protocol which can be taken lightly. Sometimes you just need to understand why it is someone might be worried about seeing that particular thing across the table from them. Today let’s look at The Dreaded… She-Hulk. Jennifer Walters was just a simple big city lawyer before she received an infusion of blood from her cousin to save her life following a terrible accident. That’s not normally a big deal, but when your cousin is THE INCREDIBLE HULK, side effects might include becoming big, green and occasionally very, very angry! She-Hulk is an interesting character and one that Marvel Crisis Protocol presents in a fascinating light. Whilst she and her cousin share certain similarities, there’s far more that separates them whilst ensuring that both are very much worth their considerable six threat price tag....

The Dreaded… Hulkbuster Please note that this article was originally written in 2022 Whether it is The Dread Dormammu or The Dreaded Stark, there’s no character in the Marvel Crisis Protocol Universe which fails to send a shiver down the spine of their enemies… at least some of the time. Today let’s look at The Dreaded… Hulkbuster! Hulkbuster bucks the trend of these articles a little in being a character that is really quite popular – and it is easy to see why. Although he’s expensive at six threat, Hulkbuster brings a lot of elements that make him a great problem-solving piece for many affiliations. With 13 health, a power to reduce damage from attacks by 1, and a respectable 4/3/3 defensive statline, Hulkbuster can take a lot of punishment when he hits the field. His medium move on an enormous base makes him very fast, with his Heavy Repulsor Blast moving any model in the game regardless of whether it deals damage or not – and ensuring he builds a minimum of 1 power, pot...

  The Dreaded… Captain Marvel Please note that this article was originally written in 2022 Whether it is The Dread Dormammu or The Dreaded Stark, there’s no character in the Marvel Crisis Protocol Universe which fails to send a shiver down the spine of their enemies… at least some of the time. Today let’s look at The Dreaded… Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel is a character that most exemplifies the classic blaster archetype in Marvel Crisis Protocol. When only core set characters were available, her Binary Form gave her the attack with the highest amount of dice in her Rocket Punch, and whilst there are now a lot of scarier attacks out there, Captain Marvel remains one of – if not the – most consistent sources of ranged energy damage in the game, a role which is increasingly relevant as we see more characters where energy is their big weakness.   Carol benefitted from a little fine-tuning in the recent card updates, though the difference is relatively minor compare...