Marvel Heroes Strategy Board Game

Re: Marvel Heroes

I ordered a set of this the other day at my comic shop. The owner of the shop told me it would probably be in within the next 2-3 weeks, so I'll post once I get a chance to check it out for myself.


ourchair said:
Well like I said, it's the point of the thing, so I can't fault that. :)
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True.

I guess its all relative. Heroclix sets are released usually two, maybe three per year. I get off easy in the sense I only collect Marvel Heroclix (ignoring DC and Indy), thereby only have to worry about collecting one, maybe two sets per year. I also make it easy on myself because while I like to play, I'm mainly collecting Heroclix for the character selection. This means instead of trying to obtain ALL the multiple versions, I obtain one version of each character (I have one Wolverine, despite the fact they've made a number of variants like Logan, Patch, Weapon X, etc...the same goes for all my pieces). So when I say I have hundreds of figures in my collection, that means I have hundreds of individual characters in it, not the same one repeated several times over between versions (R, E, V, U, etc).

This helps save a lot of money in itself, but also kind of defeats the purpose for those who are hardcore gamers and need the different versions to build different teams around, etc. It still bites into the wallet a bit when I have to buy a bunch of uniques due to them being new characters, but I can live with it.

Plus, on the rare occasions I do get to play clix, I always have a lot of fun.

I love the damn things, what can I say?

I'm sure I'll enjoy Marvel Heroes almost as much.

;)
 
Re: Marvel Heroes

Marvel Clix sets come out at least 2-to-1 versus DC sets, don't they? You ain't saving yourself TOO much stress. :)

I buy sets of Rookies and then I have an extensive set of proxy sheets I use. Well, at least when I was playing it. Now I just have a giant case my wife bought me where I display roughly 170 of my fave clix and the rest are stuck away in a box if they're ever needed.

FFG finally got a good Marvel Heroes FAQ up on their site. Definitely a good idea to check it out to resolve some nebulous questions.
 
Re: Marvel Heroes

Jack of Hearts said:
Marvel Clix sets come out at least 2-to-1 versus DC sets, don't they? You ain't saving yourself TOO much stress. :)
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Sure I am. Didn't you read what I posted? I only collect one version of non-remade characters. This means that when Heroclix has an average set out, it has 40 different characters (28 REVs and 12 Uniques). Out of those 40, I might end up collecting 25-30, due to the other 10-15 just being variants of characters I already have. Since I only collect one version (usually which I decide is the most efficient and worth its price in points), I'm literally only picking up that amount (25-30 Clix) per set.

This can still add up, but I usually buy a case or a couple of ClixBricks when a new set comes out. I'll usually get 75% of the pieces I want from that, then by trading or buying online, I can easily complete my collection. Then I can turn around and sell all the extra REV's or Uniques I don't want (as singles or lots on Ebay) and make around 75% of my money back.

When all is said and done, I probably spend around $50 dollars per set. If there's two sets per year, that totals to around $100. I don't think thats a ridiculous amount to spend on a hobby per year ($8.33 per month). I guarantee most other people spend at least that on their respective hobbies each year.

FFG finally got a good Marvel Heroes FAQ up on their site. Definitely a good idea to check it out to resolve some nebulous questions.
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Sweet, thanks.
 
Re: Marvel Heroes

DIrishB said:
True.

I guess its all relative. Heroclix sets are released usually two, maybe three per year. I get off easy in the sense I only collect Marvel Heroclix (ignoring DC and Indy), thereby only have to worry about collecting one, maybe two sets per year. I also make it easy on myself because while I like to play, I'm mainly collecting Heroclix for the character selection. This means instead of trying to obtain ALL the multiple versions, I obtain one version of each character (I have one Wolverine, despite the fact they've made a number of variants like Logan, Patch, Weapon X, etc...the same goes for all my pieces). So when I say I have hundreds of figures in my collection, that means I have hundreds of individual characters in it, not the same one repeated several times over between versions (R, E, V, U, etc).
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Are you saying you collect them for aesthetic appeal primarily, with the functional (i.e. play) value being secondary? Or rather, that playing is a nice treat, but you're happy enough with the collectibility?

If so, I can't disagree with that. I don't have the money to support a toy habit, but I have always liked the tangible/material joy that comes from a figurine... and I was once tempted to buy HeroClix for the sole purpose of using them to supplement my VS games with compound. I mean, it's one thing to have a Spider-Friends/Fantastic Four deck, but it'd be greater still to have the visual treat of seeing tiny 3-D plastic representations of their likenesses as they lay the smackdown on compound's annoying League of Assassins/Brotherhood of Mutants deck.
 
Re: Marvel Heroes

I thought about using my Clix during VS too, but the thought faded away. :) VS just doesn't provide a superhero feeling to me and the addition of minis doesn't help any. I also thought of using the Clix for Marvel Heroes, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I did look through the character list and I think all but 2-4 characters can be represented by existing Clix.

Hey, how do you imbed a pic in your message here? All I saw was an option that required an HTTP address and I have the pic on my computer. I had a Heroclix pic I was going to share. Thanks!
 
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Re: Marvel Heroes

ourchair said:
Are you saying you collect them for aesthetic appeal primarily, with the functional (i.e. play) value being secondary? Or rather, that playing is a nice treat, but you're happy enough with the collectibility?
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The former. I definitly started collecting not for any interest in the game really, but due to the neat sculpts, large character selection, size (they're really small, so easy to display in large groups without taking up much shelf space), already being a big comic fan who buys primarily Marvel books, etc. It wasn't until the second set came out (Clobberin' Time) that I actually attempted to learn to play with a friend. We played a few games, had a good time, but never got around to playing again (mainly due to me moving away not long after). I still collected every Marvel set, but I didn't have the opportunity to play. Then about a year and a half ago I got a somewhat regular game going with a buddy of mine from work. Again, I enjoyed myself a great deal, and we played for about 5 or 6 months until he moved away. So, in conclusion, moving has been the bane of my Heroclix playing experiences. But I still collect 'em!

If so, I can't disagree with that. I don't have the money to support a toy habit, but I have always liked the tangible/material joy that comes from a figurine... and I was once tempted to buy HeroClix for the sole purpose of using them to supplement my VS games with compound. I mean, it's one thing to have a Spider-Friends/Fantastic Four deck, but it'd be greater still to have the visual treat of seeing tiny 3-D plastic representations of their likenesses as they lay the smackdown on compound's annoying League of Assassins/Brotherhood of Mutants deck.
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Exactly how I look at it. Like I said, I do enjoy the game itself, but my number one priority really comes down to the collecting.
 
A Session Report

What a great game last night! We always have fun playing, but things were really happening in this game. We randomly chose Born Again as the scenario so I wasn't expecting much, but I was so wrong. Story cards were getting snatched up at an incredible pace, so much so that we had to reshuffle what was left over in the last round, something I've never had to do before. Masterminds were also working overtime although none of them made it to their Conclusions.

The tone of the game was set by the first Troubleshooting action as the Absorbing Man arrived on the scene and smashed the Invisible Woman. He then went on to smash EVERY hero who attempted a Troubleshooting action that game round! He was eventually brought down, but all of those wounded heroes really put some pressure on the players. The heroes went on to defeat Mysterio, Kraven, Titania, and the Abomination, and then the arrogant Hulk came up against Ultron. It was a titanic battle, with the adamantium nightmare eventually wounding the green goliath. That was it for the Avengers. They'd never catch the rest of the teams in time for the win.

The Marvel Knights were leaders throughout the game, but then Spider-Man was defeated by the Kingpin and he Crushed his Adversary to increase Dr Strange's level to four. The MK opted to spend their other remaining action gathering more resources since they already knew they'd be buying a power-up and they were counting on a single strong Troubleshooting action for the win. Next round, Strange entered the Infernal Dimensions, readied, had Elektra support him, and added two allies, Luke Cage and Black Bolt. As luck would have it, there was ONE very valuable headline. Only the X-Men could get there before the Marvel Knights, so they sent Cyclops, knowing that he was likely to get his head handed to him, but everyone was out to stop the MK now. The MK had to go for a different headline… and it was a Crime! Not good for Dr Strange, especially against the Kingpin! The Trouble Level was predictably high and that's when Molecule Man showed up with AIM Operatives in tow. Yikes! Strange had to defeat him AND then stop the Kingpin who was going to become the Crime Lord. If Strange made it, the game would go to the MK. If not, it was a toss up between the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.

The other players had already conspired to bring Molecule Man and AIM out since Kingpin was caught low on villain cards, and they continued to work together to thwart the MK as they paid for MM's Energy Deflection during the fight. Strange took a KO, but he defeated MM. Now he had to battle Kingpin, with every other player willing to fuel his Incredible Stamina. Unfortunately, Kingpin's henchmen were only so-so and, most importantly, Black Bolt and Luke Cage were able to act now. It went down to the wire (EVERY ally was used up!), but Strange was triumphant.

Once again, the losers had as much fun as the winner, and everyone was pumped to play again soon.
 
Anyone else played this?

I just played it today, and it's pretty sweet actually. It says it's meant for 2-4 players, but it's evident some of the major mechanics of the game were designed for 3-4 players, and not 2. For example, there is a marker for the person going first each turn (the person with the least victory points) and the person who gets to be archnemesis for the turn (the direct opponent of the player with the most victory points). In a 2-man game, the same player will have both tokens. Also, playing villains doesn't work too well in a one-on-one game, while multiple players will definately spice that up.

That said, from one game, it seemed pretty cool.

The way it works is the board is Manhattan, broken up into six areas. You put a scenario card in play, and that says what you need to do to win. Generally, it's the first player to 15 Victory points to win.

The game works like this - each area has a 'headline', that you can try to troubleshoot. It has a threat level which, if high enough, means you have to fight villains. If you beat all the villains, you score victory points equal to the headline and it's replaced with a new headline.

What's cool is there are four teams - Fantastic 4 (Thing, Torch, Invisible Woman, and Mr Fantastic), Avengers (Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man), Marvel Knights (Spider-Man, Dr Strange, Daredevil, Elektra), and X-Men (Cyclops, Wolverine, Phoenix, and Storm). Each player gets to pick a team, and the cool thing is, the player on your right gets your team's archnemesis: Dr Doom (Fantastic 4), Red Skull (Avengers), Kingpin (Marvel Knights), or Magneto (X-Men). All the heroes and archnemeses have their own cool plastic model.

What's cool is other villains, Green Goblin, Rhino, Ultron, Dormammu and what not, are villain cards, not models, and they show up to fight the heroes trying to troubleshoot headlines. Some headlines however, can involve a mastermind. If that's the case, the mastermind themselves can try to activate their master plan (each mastermind has one) and fight the heroes.

The teams seem to be quite balanced - The Avengers have the best stats but have a real problem lowering threat levels, while the Marvel Knights have crappy stats but are good at lowering threat levels. I like this because it makes sense from a flavour perspective - The Avengers are always taking on the world conquerors, so lowering threat makes little sense for them, while Spidey and Daredevil have problems taking on three guys with guns. The villains are also flavoured appropriately - Red Skull has tons of Henchmen at his disposal, but crappy stats, while Dr Doom has great stats but is so overconfident he can't have any henchmen and he can't "cheat" by boosting the dice of villains. (Some dice results have a "+" symbol, meaning if you have a dice boost, you re-roll - Doom won't let you boost. It's not honorable. The dice fall as they may!)

The game captures the flavour of the characters quite well. Each hero and villain has three stats - Attack, Defend, and Outwit. And they have three powers, Red, Orange, and Yellow. The Attack, Defend, and Outwit numbers are different depending on what power you pick. Red is the power you pick if you want high Attack, Orange for Defend, and Yellow for Outwit. The names of them are pretty cool. For example, Storm has "Lightning", "Wind Control", and "Flying Combat", while say, Red Skull has "Cloned Body" as one of his powers. You roll dice and count the hits you score. It's pretty simple, and there's lots of stuff to geek out about. Allies are cool as they let other characters take part in the game despite not having a model (Nightcrawler for example, helps you Outwit villains, and She-Hulk helps you kick the crap out of them, while Black Cat lets you reroll their dice).

All in all, from one game, it seems pretty cool, and I'm anxious to try it again with more players. Something else - the game only lasts 5 turns, so it's not that long.

But yeah, I felt it had a good grasp on being a "Marvel Super Heroes" game and not a cool board game with the Marvel brand, if you get my meaning.

Here's the 4.
 
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Your post is very long, and I'm not going to read all of it. However, by reading the first few sentences, I have decided that this is awesome. If I had friends to play it with, I'd totally buy it.
 
It is pretty sweet. And it seems that it's totally ripe for an expansion or two. There are six different areas, each with their own colour. There are four teams, each with a corresponding colour. It strikes me they could easily release another two teams (each with their own archnemesis) to back it up.

It was the best board game I've played since Arkham Horror which I enjoyed due to its cooperative bent. I liked the idea all the players team up to defeat the board game itself. That's cool.
 
This sounds like great fun.
 
Just clicked the Amazon link. It's not working for whatever reason.

I am helpless. I have no idea of what to do next.

This is very upsetting. Honestly, Bass; for 3 months all I hear about is how you're some sort of Messiah, and you can't even get a link to work?? I'm very disappointed.

A part of me has died today, and It's all Cameron Diaz's fault.
 
It's working now, I hit backslash at the end and it screwed it up or something.

It seems expensive - $55. I don't know how much the one I played cost as it was someone else's and they got it for Christmas. I've only played it once, but it was fun. Don't know how long the fun would last though...
 
I dunno. I play Risk with my friends pretty much every friday night, because we're um...too cool to be invited to parties.

Too bad that I'm the only comic fan who goes to my school. This seriously looks to roxxor.
 
Board game's a board game. They may like it. It's surprising, but it actually requires a good amount of strategy to play.

For example, at the start of the turn, you have a certain number of plot points to spend on allies and on your heroes. Your heroes can be ready or supporting. If they're ready, they can troubleshoot headlines, beat up villains, and get victory points. If they're supporting they can do an action (like Spidey can be Peter Parker and get some photos or Phoenix can use Cerebro or Wolverine can go looking for Weapon X) and help your ready heroes beat up villains. The thing is, you have to decide who's ready, who's supporting, and who isn't, before you take any actions. You get 5 actions a turn, and there are 5 turns. So you have to work out what you're going to do on your turn very early on and then adapt. So there's some forward-thinking required.

Risk guys might like it - maybe not, I dunno. Read the previews and stuff, tell them about it and see what they think.

Also - regarding your being "too cool to be invited to parties" - yesterday, I'm ashamed to say, I spent the Friday night in an AIM chat and my iPod shuffled onto Star Trek soundtracks.

Friday night. Alone. Chatting on the internet. Listening to Star Trek.

Oh god.

Just realised... this is my Saturday night too.

Oh god oh god.
 
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You guys are losers.

*goes back to reading downloaded comics*
 
Bass said:
Board game's a board game. They may like it. It's surprising, but it actually requires a good amount of strategy to play.

For example, at the start of the turn, you have a certain number of plot points to spend on allies and on your heroes. Your heroes can be ready or supporting. If they're ready, they can troubleshoot headlines, beat up villains, and get victory points. If they're supporting they can do an action (like Spidey can be Peter Parker and get some photos or Phoenix can use Cerebro or Wolverine can go looking for Weapon X) and help your ready heroes beat up villains. The thing is, you have to decide who's ready, who's supporting, and who isn't, before you take any actions. You get 5 actions a turn, and there are 5 turns. So you have to work out what you're going to do on your turn very early on and then adapt. So there's some forward-thinking required.

Risk guys might like it - maybe not, I dunno. Read the previews and stuff, tell them about it and see what they think.

Also - regarding your being "too cool to be invited to parties" - yesterday, I'm ashamed to say, I spent the Friday night in an AIM chat and my iPod shuffled onto Star Trek soundtracks.

Friday night. Alone. Chatting on the internet. Listening to Star Trek.

Oh god.

Just realised... this is my Saturday night too.

Oh god oh god.
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My friends are pretty comic-phobic if you know what I mean...they refuse to touch anything that has anything to do with a Superhero. They're all Manga-freak Otakus (or whatever). As much as I enjoy Death Note and GTO, I really don't see the appeal of most Manga...but that's another discussion entirely. I'll probably end up buying this and playing with my brother (who's also into comics...and probably my best friend. Sad, I know).

Seriously; My friday nights consist of going on IRC, reading comics, playing Risk and watching old seasons of 24 and Supernatural. I'm so popular that no one even knows that they like me.
 
As I said, I think the game probably works a lot better with 3 or 4 players than with just two.

Watching old seasons of 24 is wrong. Get your Risk friends together and watch Babylon 5 or the Sopranos or Fiefly. Those are damn fine tv shows. :D
 
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