Marvel Crisis Protocol: Black Dwarf and Ebony Maw

Marvel Crisis Protocol: Black Dwarf and Ebony Maw

Marvel: Crisis Protocol takes the Marvel Universe into the skirmish mini game realm. Unlike other Marvel games Crisis Protocol pits itself as a proper tabletop game and opening the box presents you with a wedge of plastic sprues that you must snip the character minis out of and then glue them together. The advantage of this style of miniature is an increased level of detail that is possible. However do be warned that some assembly is required!

The work is worth it though as these minis look amazing and paint up a treat! Also included in the set is scenery which is not just window dressing. Cars and other scenery can be used as weapons by the super powered combatants, picked up, thrown and of course destroyed.

Games can be played in a few ways. When learning the game you can leave out some of the tactic cards and just slug it out. Each character plays differently and how you would expect. Hulk is a physical beast but a big target. Spiderman can utilise his webs to pick up and hurl scenery and so on. This means your strategy comes down to learning your opponents strengths and weaknesses as well as your own.

You can play on any 3ft by 3ft surface, though a playmat and extra scenery (official or home brewed) can help with immersion. Set up involves choosing your characters for your squad, and setting up the map and selecting missions. There is no deck building involved, rather you are choosing characters based on their unique powers. Tactic cards add another layer of depth here too. Gameplay revolves around measuring sticks and dice. The measuring sticks are plastic and some of them pivot too for ease of use around corners and so on. The included dice have the exploding dice mechanic where a critical hit not only hits but also allows you a reroll.

Power is very interesting as getting attacked builds your power level which you can then use to drive your retaliation. This encourages players to get stuck in and take a few hits in order to build up some power.

Members of Thanos’ Black Order, Black Dwarf and Ebony Maw bring some serious threat to the play area. Black Dwarf is a hulk like being with thick near invulnerable skin. Ebony Maw has a more hands off approach relying on his psychic powers to control the battle.

Player count: 2
Time: 45 minutes
Age rating: 14+