Marvel United: X-Men – Gold Team Expansion

The sibling to Marvel United – X Men Blue Team is oh so similar to this set. Just one small difference other than the villain and heroes included. The Gold Team expansion sees the introduction of team play into the Marvel United Universe which is incredible. You do need a core box set of either Marvel United or Marvel United X men to make this expansion work. This expansion is a set worth going after, not only do you have the threat of the Villain to contend with, but also a rival group of heroes that may make things easy for you, or a lot harder. Marvel United is a cooperative, until this expansion was introduced and now we have player opposition which, as someone who loves competition, I think is brilliant.

Here’s what the Gold Team Expansion brings to Marvel United.

Additional X Men

Colossus – One of my favourite X Men but that may be due to his cameo in the Deadpool films… What is surprising though for all his lectures to Deadpool, Colossus is not much of a hero with minimal heroic actions. That makes him a fighter, he’s fairly mobile and packs a punch.

Bishop – Now here is your hero as he is carrying heroic actions in abundance. Also, a bit of a tactician and can absorb some villain attacks, which is handy.

Archangel – Fast and highly mobile. He will keep your squad of heroes moving.

Iceman – A very strong hero that is well balanced with all their actions. He can also stun a villain (probably freeze) preventing a BAM which will be useful against Sebastian Shaw.

Sebastian Shaw

I think this villain is one of the best I’ve seen anywhere. It is brilliant to see his inclusion in the Marvel United Universe. Unsurprisingly though, he is incredibly hard to defeat.

What jumps out initially is all his threats come in the form of Henchmen. You have the White Queen, White King, White Rook, Black Queen, Black King and Black Rook (you might recognise some of them) and they all BAM with different effects making every location a risk.

Then game management is critical. If your locations overflow, this villain plays another master plan card face down. If you have heroes in the same location as Sebastian Shaw and he BAM’s, he places another master plan card face down. This game could be over in a blink if you are not careful. Oh, and when you do get to striking him, the absolute maximum damage you can do to him in a hero turn is 1. No matter how big your attack is. So be careful and plan.

As I said, a hard villain.

Team Play

This is where the expansion really comes into its own. The set is equipped with Gold and Blue discs that clip to the hero bases. There are 3 discs in each colour allowing for 2 on 2 team play or 3 on 3 team play. So, you could have up to 6 players around the table now.

To start, set up is a little different. Flip the initiative token and the winning player decides whether they start 2 locations to the left of the villain, or 2 locations to the right. The other team set up in the unpicked location. Flip the initiative token over to the other team colour and take the first villain master plan card. Once the villain has had their turn the team who didn’t pick the location starts and the initiative token should have been turned to reflect this. They take the action with one of their heroes, then the opposing team takes an action with one of theirs, and it goes back and forth until each team have completed 3 actions. The villain then gets their next turn.

Each team has their respective 3 mission cards to complete, in a similar manner to usual Marvel United play, however, there are team mission cards so check those out. When the first mission has been completed, by either side, that ups the Villains intensity allowing only two hero actions. Then when a team takes the second mission, that team, and that team alone can start striking the villain. The other team has to catch up and complete two missions before they are allowed to strike the villain.

The winning team is the team that deals the most damage to the villain in that final phase of play (and defeats them). In the event of a tie, it is the side that dealt the final blow.

The villain will still win if they complete their master plan.

Some of the novel additional inclusions are that the heroes on opposing teams can attack each other. You can deal damage to your opponents with an attack action if in the same location, but you cannot deal a KO strike, that’s just for the villain. A clever addition and something to seriously consider in the game play.

What’s great is that a lot of additional game challenges are compatible. All those rules and challenges that came before with Season 1 can be used in team play. It is worth checking the rule set

in this expansion as there are a few things that are not compatible with team play. It is minor though.

Final thoughts

Anyone who has been following my blogs on Marvel United will know I am a big fan of the game series. This set and the Blue Team expansion really take the game to new levels for me with a hugely different dynamic and I love it. The heroes all to often work in teams in the movies so this set was needed. I’m looking forward to having the Guardians of the Galaxy taking on the Avengers, or the Marvel Defenders taking on the X Men, or any other team battle I can think of. It is brilliant and allows more people around the table. It is definitely worth picking this expansion set up to add to your core game.

Editors note: This post was originally published on 2nd August 2023. Updated on 3rd May 2024 to improve the information available.