Marvel Crisis Protocol - WIP
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Marvel Crisis Protocol – A few years back skirmish games were popping up all over the place and I fell into chasing each new game hoping to find a replacement for my main game of Warhammer 40,000. Back then 40K was in a weird place and I just wasn’t enjoying it. Which seemed to be the case for many gamers as skirmish games were taking off with Malifaux, MERCS, Helldorado, Relic Knights Guildball, Deadzone, Batman The Miniatures game and a bunch of others snagging huge chunks of disenfranchised players. Of course Games Workshop course corrected with new editions of their core games and bringing back old favorites like Necromunda and Warhammer Quest, which seemed to the downfall of many of those start up skirmish games. I’ve noticed that skirmish games are coming back for a variety of reasons.
The most notable reason for the rise in skirmish games is the pandemic. Right now it’s not really safe to spend several hours in close contact with someone else in a cramped game store. In some states like Michigan it’s not even a viable option because most stores have their gaming areas closed off. Of course basement gaming is an option but there again spending hours in an enclosed space, even masked up increases your risk of possible exposure. Which means for many players getting a game of 40K isn’t happening.
In my group we were able to play variations of Necromunda over video conference for a while. With a skirmish game it works to a degree but it’d not ideal. So over the last year my primary gaming group consists of my wife and sons. The challenge there 40K, Necromunda and Killteam have to much information having to cross reference multiple books and investing a significant amount of time on the lore before you can really enjoy the games. (Because lets be honest, people love the 40K universe for the depth of story and modeling opportunities not the quality of gameplay).
So that’s a long way to go to get to the point. In order to enjoy a miniatures game with my young sons and wife I needed to find something that was already something they liked, that has concise consolidated rules that they don’t need to study ahead of time and is playable in under an hour or two. Which lead me to Marvel Crisis Protocol.
I had painted a few of the models for a client and knew that the game was pretty solid so I felt pretty safe in investing in it. Worst case scenario I’d have some nice minis to display from one of the family’s favorite universes. After receiving the core set for Christmas I had what I needed to get started. Of course other projects required my attention first but once I got to it I was hooked.
Atomic Mass has created a unique game that has all the flavor of the Marvel Universe as well as pretty balanced gameplay with all the rules you need to know printed on the cards or a quick reference sheet. (yea the full rulebook is online and way more extensive for competitive play but you don’t need to reference it much for fun games).
I have a few modern terrain board I had put together for Batman and MERCS so revisiting those projects to actually finish something is an exciting proposition. After a few games with my older son he’s caught on quick and really enjoys the game. I think this will be the gateway to other mini games or could possibly become my go to game. It plays quick and is tons of fun.
