Category Archives: Marvel Champions

How I play Marvel Champions (and LoTR lcg)

LCG, Marvel Champions

After plans to get Marvel Champions to the table fell through earlier in the day. I spent the afternoon instead organising the collection instead.

For starters I had four character packs to “file away” along with The Hood Scenario pack. Plus the latest campaign box Next Evolution.

Whilst organising the new cards my mind wondered and made me think how I’m currently (the couple of times I’ve played it) and plan to use the game. It’s a bit like how I also use the Lord of the Rings lcg too.

A lot of the content creators out there on the various media platforms out there build their own character decks. They get a lot of enjoyment out of doing that. And to be fair I would too. After all it’s a side of MtG, Dice Masters, and Vampire the Masquerade Rivals.

However there is only so much spare time in my life. Unfortunately I don’t have any spare to dedicate to this side of playing these two lcgs.

Also I only get to play both games with other players who do not own a copy of the game, and are not into building their own decks.

So using the pre-constructed hero decks as you buy them allows me to play with others who enjoy the game but haven’t committed to it financially.

During setup I can say “which hero is your favourite?” or ‘who do you fancy playing?” Grab the decks and away we go.

Obviously before hand I can decide on the villian we are going to go up against and which modular scenarios (if not using the recommended) we are using. However I can also repeat the hero selection for the villian to and let the other player chose their favourite.

I like this grab and go, no thought needed approach too.

How do I thematically justify it?

Well Marvel used to print two comics that would cover this mix and match approach.

The first was Marvel Team-up. This would see two heroes come together to defeat a common villian. Usually these two heroes would be polar opposites.

The other comic they did and also ended up as an animated series on Disney+ is What if…? Which explores major moments in the Marvel universe and what would happen if they happened differently.

Both could explain why the heroes were together and why they were facing off against a villian they had never gone up against before.

Another factor in the not deck building is I only want to play the games with others. I don’t play solo, or only play solo. If I was playing solo I’d be more tempted to build my own decks. I don’t get much enjoyment out of playing games solo. It’s the social side I enjoy.

Anyway sorry to have bored you with that thought!

How I’m choosing expansions for the two lcgs in my life

Champions, expansions, LCG, Lord of the Rings, LoTR, Marvel Champions

Yesterday DHL delivered the Lord of the Rings the Card Game Revised Edition (that’s a bit of a mouthful so let’s shorten it to LoTR the card game) along with the two starter decks and scenario pack for it. Plus the final scenario pack I was missing for Marvel Champions and two more hero packs.

So how did I decide what I was going to order for LoTR the card game for my initial dive into it?

Unlike the majority of content creators that are really into these games my advice will differ. Where as they usually go with how they rate each expansion, and recommend based on that and/or difficulty. My decision process is slightly different.

Let’s face it LoTR the card game has been around for a long time now. There are a lot of expansions for it.

Luckily FFG simplified things for new players or those wanting to get into the game a couple of years back when they updated the core set with a revised edition. Plus they announced their plans going forward for the game.

A lot of the expansion packs were hard to get (mainly as they were out of print), miss one in a series for whatever reason and that buggers up that series.

So in this iteration of LoTR the card game they were going to gather the expansions that make up a series into two boxes. One with just the hero decks, and the other just the campaign cards. Players could then just buy the part they were interested in.

But even with the reprints and new way of getting them you still have to decide what to buy.

Obviously a big impact on the decisions I made were decided by budget. In an ideal world where money is no problem you’d just buy everything there is. But we don’t live in that world sadly. And last time I looked at my bank account I hadn’t had a big lottery win either.

So I was trying to maximise my bang per buck that fitted within my budget.

The first thing you have to buy obviously is the revised core set.

I went with the mini expansion The Dark of Mirkwood. Which apparently follows on from the campaign in the core set. This mini expansion is the two adventures The Oath and The Caves of Nibindûm from the deluxe box set that FFG did. This is the first time they have been available since the out of print deluxe box came out.

This seemed a natural choice to make because it did follow on from the campaign I would initially be playing in the core set.

After that my budget dictated that the saga and campaign box sets were not an option. However looking at the starter decks also available I could possibly get all four. But in reality I could only justify two. But which two? I went with theme as the decider. I like dwarves and elves. So those are the two I went with. The remaining two I can pick up in the future sometime.

And theme is something I’ll becoming back to. As that’s an important factor in deciding my purchases with LoTR the card game and also Marvel Champions.

Being a fan of the books/movies/radio play my next purchase for the game to play with Nathan (assuming he enjoys his experience of it next week when he tries it) will be the start of the sagas that cover them, The Fellowship of the Ring. But I’ll get that just before my next visit to him.

In the meantime I’m hoping I can get a regular session set up with interested friends at Fenland Gamers both for LoTR and Marvel Champions. For that I’m going to go down the campaign path starting with Angmar Awakened once we have done the core set campaign and The Dark of Mirkwood. Budget at the time will decide if I get both the campaign and hero boxes. However the priority will be the campaign first followed by the hero box when budget allows.

For me this approach ticks all the boxes. With Nathan I get to experience the source material events that we both love. Then with my friends I get to explore more of the lore and Middle Earth with the campaigns.

But that’s the crux of the decision you have to make after the core set. Do I want to follow the books or explore more of the lore/Middle Earth?

When it comes to Marvel Champions and what to purchase after you get a core set my decisions are a bit easier.

Although my initial buy in to the game was purchasing my friend Gavin’s collection. Which was the core game, two or three of the campaigns, a few heroes, and a couple of the scenario packs.

My decisions are based on theme. Who do I want to play or go up against?

So when it came to filling the gaps in the collection I’ve bought based on my personal preferences. If I’ve been a big fan of a particular hero then obviously they are top of the list. With heroes I’m not fussed about dropping to the back of the queue. Or if I know a particular hero I don’t have is a favourite of Nathan’s then they also get priority.

How many gaps I fill at a time are just like LoTR determined by budget. I think at the moment I have six heroes from the current hero waves that I don’t have. However shopping around does allow that budget go a little further.

Eventually I’ll have everything.

But I want to be able with Champions to grab one of my favourite heroes, choose a villain I like and have them go head to head against each other.

My thematic root allows me to do that. Whether it’s a good match up or not is almost secondary. Which seems at odds with the advice all the more experienced content creators who live and breathe these games go with.

It’s like when they do their videos on which FFG lcg to buy. There is only one way to choose and that’s which theme do you like the most. No point buying one of the others, even if the game may be mechanically slightly better, if you don’t like the theme.

Now all I have to do is decide how my limited budget for this area of gaming gets split between these two lcgs in future.

X-Men vs The Snap!

expansions, first look, LCG, Marvel Champions

We all know that eventually I will have all the expansions for Marvel Champions.

The plan is to pick up a couple of heroes a month and a campaign/scenario.

That plan started this month with the arrival of Nebula, Phoenix, and Wolverine, along with The Mad Titans Shadow campaign.

Obviously this is a first look/impressions of these new arrivals so they haven’t been to the table yet.

I think you should also bare in mind that I only play Marvel Champions multiplayer, and currently only use the prebuilt decks. So no solo play, and currently no deckbuilding.

It should also be noted that I don’t have everything. Hence the opening couple of sentences to this post.

Also that I’ve picked these heroes and the campaign not based on any rankings, that these are the best to get, etc. But because these are heroes that I think are cool, and enjoy in the comics. The campaign was chosen because I thought it would be cool to go toe to toe with the main villain.

That should be enough ammunition to dismiss anything I write in the rest of the post. So let’s get on with it…

Wolverine

If this Wolverine deck wasn’t an aggression deck then I think myself and others would be complaining it’s not thematic and true to the character.

Wolverine is all about dealing damage and lots of it in one go by the looks of it. But in doing so Wolverine also takes a bit of damage. Luckily he is able to heal not only in his alter ego form but also in his hero form. This is very on the nose theme wise.

Phoenix

Phoenix as it comes out of the box is a justice deck. Justice decks are usually about dealing with the villians scheme by removing the threat tokens.

I’m not sure why they took Phoenix in the justice direction. The fifteen Phoenix cards don’t scream justice, unlike the Wolverine cards that scream clobberin’ time (I know its a Thing thing!)

If I was into the deckbuilding side of the game (which I’ll get into further down the line in my journey with Marvel Champions) then I’d definitely be trying Phoenix as an aggression deck.

Nebula

Nebula like Phoenix is a justice deck.

The Nebula deck does feel more justice than the Phoenix deck.

I like the look of the technique upgrade cards, and how they boost Nebula. Very thematic. It does look like cycling through the deck and discard pile to get to and play these cards is key.

The Mad Titans Shadow

This campaign expansion pitches you against Ebony Maw, Proxima Midnight (with Corvus Glaive), Thanos, Hela, and Loki.

The villain and scheme really decide which hero or type of deck you should be playing.

For instance the Ultron game I played with Diego was super tuff for us as we had no way to combat the minion spamming that happened. We needed a hero that could take out the minions. Which neither of us were playing.

I’m avoiding reading anything about the schemes so that when I play them I get the twists and turns.

But as villians selected for this expansion we have the ones you’d expect plus two you wouldn’t.

I can’t wait to see how Loki and Hela are worked into the campaign story. Obviously Thanos and his minions are telling the Infinity Gauntlet story to some degree.

We also get two new heroes to add to the roster to choose from.

Spectrum

Spectrum comes as a leadership deck. I’m not sure why looking at her fifteen cards. I don’t see anything here that supports helping other heroes in the team.

Spectrum is all about swapping between the three energy forms that boost one of the three hero stats when face up.

That alone interests me enough to try the character out, because Spectrum isn’t a hero I’d naturally choose to play.

I see Spectrum as one of those characters that could be any of the four aspects.

Adam Warlock

Adam Warlock although not a hero I’d go for when choosing a hero to play. I have to admit the fact he has all four aspects in his deck and uses this to power his ability does look like an interesting mechanic I’d like to try at least once.

So two very interesting heroes mechanics wise.

I can’t wait to play the following team-up with Nathan when I visit him next week.

Hopefully going up against Thanos will not be another Ultron experience!

Gloomy outlook for Rhino

Game day, LCG, Marvel Champions

Usually a mid week day off means no gaming. It’s rare others are free. Luckily the planets align from time to time that I’m able to do some gaming with Diego.

This morning was one such cosmic event.

Our mornings gaming started off with the latest addition to the collection, Marvel Champions.

Having learnt my lesson from that ass whooping from Ultron on Sunday.

It was time to take on an “easier” villain from the core set.

It was time to face Rhino.

Iron Man was benched, and replaced by She Hulk as a playable character. Mainly because Iron Man (although popular) is a slow build character. He starts off weak and builds up.

Swapping between the two is quick and easy (both decks have the same basic and aggression cards). So if Diego had really wanted to play Iron Man then he could have.

So after Diego had chosen who he wanted to play, I chose a hero that had one of the other aspects. It was hard not to play Doctor Strange (I love the comic book). But I resisted and chose another favourite.

We were using the default, out of the box decks for our heroes, and also the suggested setup for the villain.

I think Thor would be a good match up against Ultron because of his once per phase ability that triggers against minions.

Yes there were a couple of misplays by Diego and myself. But that didn’t get in the way of enjoying ourselves.

I enjoyed playing Cap. He certainly is able to mitigate a fair bit of damage either with his shield boosting his defence or with one or two other cards. Plus he can hit hard, and I like the allies he has in the deck. But you need cards in hand to power his hero ability or for Wonder Man to swing in.

Rhino was much, much easier than Ultron.

I think that our victory was made easier by having characters that matched up well against Rhino. Not sure it would have been as easy with say a character that is slow to build up.

I’m definitely going to go this route of starting off with Rhino when I visit Nathan. Then if he likes the game see if he wants to do either of the campaigns that I have.

Next to the table was Gloomier: A Night At Hemlock Hall. This is the latest addition to the Gloom family.

There is only one family (the Hemlocks) in this version of Gloom. So you are choosing four family members per player from a common pool. The remaining cards (if not a five player game) are then flipped and used to add unwelcome guests and/or stories to the game.

Otherwise this plays just like Gloom.

I’m not entirely sure I should have been the first player. Had I really had the worst day so far out of the two of us?

Sadly my day did get worse because Diego won.

Our final game of the morning was a quick game of Smitten

And what a final game.

We won!

At my fifth attempt and Diego’s first we built both pictures.

I had a great morning playing games with Diego. And a big thanks to him for being an amazing host.

Marvel Champions Coverage

LCG, Marvel Champions

In the last week since getting my grubby mitts on Marvel Champions I’ve started consuming media about the game.

Which got me thinking how best should I cover the game on this here ol’ blog of mine.

A lot of the YouTube stuff is reviews (especially from a solo players pov) with some game play. We all know I don’t review.

I like continuing the trend of other games I play of visually showing factions/characters for each player.

So I came up with the following as an example based on Sundays game I played with Jeff. I think I upped my game on this one visually and got a little comic book vibe to it.

It’s going to be a while before I even think of doing any deck building for the game.

I definitely don’t play solo. All my game play will be casual multiplayer with others.

So what can I add to this space that isn’t being done better elsewhere?

Do I stick to just a general game overview as when I play it?

What do folks want to see?

Marvel Champions Assemble!

LCG, Marvel Champions

Last night Gavin dropped off his Marvel Champions stuff that he has decided to part with.

Obviously I’m not going to play this game solo.

However I will hopefully get to play it at club nights. But more importantly on my visits to Nathan.

I know he will love the theme. Plus I think there are at least three or four of the heroes (see the list below) that he would love to play.

The Heroes Assembled

Mind you I think Nathan would also love the LoTR Card Game as well. Which was the lcg I had been close to getting before Gavin presented this opportunity to me.

And so begins the “gotta get ‘em all” madness to the various expansions.

More ramblings

D&D, D&D Grp2, Gloom Chronicles, life, the universe, and everything, Marvel Champions, rambling, RPG, session planning, still alive

Well just like politics a day in my life can be a long time, and things change.

The next session arranged for Saturday has had to be cancelled due to a union work thing that has cropped up.

However it looks like it may go ahead Monday (currently my day off!) evening instead. I’m still on lates next week, so I don’t have to worry about getting up for a damn early start the next morning.

So there is a silver lining to this cloud.

It would appear that soon (next payday) I will be jumping into the lcg from FFG, Marvel Champions.

Hence the new little icon thingy I’ve done.

I did enjoy the game when I did the “try before you buy” game with Gavin. And it is his copy with expansions I’m buying.

I also think this is a game I can play with Nathan that I’m pretty sure he will enjoy. I’m not sure I’ve played a co-op game with Nath. But I know just from the theme alone he will love it. And I’m excited that I will be able to play this with him.

Buying Marvel Champions does boot into the distance any decision I was going to make about getting into another FFG lcg The Lord of the Rings Card Game. Which does also appeal to me on theme alone.

We know I like the idea of solo gaming, and when I see a game can be played solo it does help sell the game to me. But when it comes to actual reality I very rarely play a game solo. I think I can count on one hand the games I’ve played solo. So I’ll never (ok I know never say never) play Marvel Champions solo.

Another given is in the coming months once Marvel Champions has joined my collection I will be catching up with the expansions I don’t have. It’s that whole Pokémon “got to catch ‘em all” thing.

Bugger they also have playmats for the game. And we know how I am about playmats.

I better order in a lot of sleeves. I usually go Mayday Premium with boardgames. But this technically is a card game so I may fall back to my other preferred brand Dragon Shield Matt sleeves. The ones I use for playing MtG.

Before I look for players willing to commit to playing the campaign version of Gloom, The Gloom Chronicles, I need to get the two expansions that I currently do not own.

Obviously The Gloom Chronicles uses the core game. But it also needs Unfortunate Expeditions, Unquiet Dead (need to get), Gloomier: A Night at Hemlock Hall, Unhappy Homes (need to get), and Unwelcome Guests.

It’s a twenty game campaign. It should be possible to play multiple games a session. I don’t see it being much of a commitment, three or four sessions at most.

I’m very intrigued how Gloom plays as a campaign. It’s a story based game. Well technically if players are not into the story side can be played as just a card game. I know other games like Scythe, Pandemic, etc have campaigns that are tied together by an over all story. But that’s a story written by the designer. Gloom is a different animal altogether. The storytelling is part of the game.

I definitely want to get Gloom to the table sooner than later for sure. Especially around the end of the month. I don’t do Halloween but if that isn’t the time to at least play the game once I don’t know when is.