Tabletop_Gaming__April_2019

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and become more expensive to perform

as damage is taken, so there’s no

feeling of spamming the same powerful

move to mow down row after row of

opponents – although the mastermind

player will certainly feel the might of

their superpowered foes, especially

with fewer players.

With such dependable and fun

gameplay at its centre, it’s a shame that

Marvel Strike Teams’ outer layers don’t

quite live up to the promise of its colourful

superhero brawling. Missions consist of a

random map (one of six, plus the tutorial)

and three random ‘stages’, each consisting

of a generic objective that typically

lasts for around four game rounds and

presents a way for either side to score

points: rescue a prisoner, attack a given

object and so on. While the randomised

nature provides a good dose of

replayability, it lacks any real throughline

to hang a full campaign on and feels

quite bland – especially as winning or

losing comes down to points, rather than

a specic epic moment for the goodies

or baddies. e lack of personality

outside of the heroes themselves is

made worse by the map tiles, which can

be arranged into a variety of plain grey

warehouses (one side is technically the

Hydra base, which is also grey) with only

a few sentry turrets, crates or barrels in

xed locations to really set them apart.

e uninspired mission structure

and dull presentation – outside of the

miniatures themselves, which do bring

the world to life – undersells what is

otherwise a thoroughly competent and

enjoyable dungeon-crawler. e robust

gameplay excels at making its stars feel

superpowered, with the exibility of

selecting how your hero will tackle each

scenario giving plenty of reason to come

back and experiment with dierent

loadouts and styles. If it could only

borrow a little more of the colour of its

comic-book inspirations, Strike Teams

could be a truly super experience.

MATT JARVIS

M

arvel Strike Teams is a

spin-o from the HeroClix

series, turning the collectible

miniatures game into a dungeon-

crawling board game that pits one

villainous ‘mastermind’ against some of

the best heroes the comic-book world of

the Avengers has to oer.

In place of HeroClix’s busy bases,

which rotate as characters take damage

and display all of their relevant stats, from

speed to range, the bases of Strike Teams’

miniatures simply state their current level

and available build points. ese points

can be spent to outt each character with

a dierent array of equipment and skill

cards during each mission, providing a

straightforward but incredibly satisfying

level of customisability and shifting

group dynamic. You might decide to

make Iron Man a ranged ghter in one

scenario, only to have him ght up close

when you need to hunker down and

protect something the next. Levelling-up

• achieved during a campaign – is just as
  simple, with characters spending points
  amassed by completed objectives to
  expand their potential pool of abilities.
  On the battleeld, the action is as
  smooth and solid as Captain America’s
  vibranium shield. A combination of
  individual character action points and
  shared command points that can be

spent by any member of the group

power a diceless system similar to

Monolith’s slick Conan. Actions cost

points for set amounts of movement and

damage, but carry over from turn to turn

and can also be spent to defend, dodge

or otherwise react to the enemies’ turn,

making it a pleasing challenge of careful

resource management and strategy

rather than luck. (e only die in the

box presents an optional push-your-

luck chance to gain or lose additional

points, which feels a bit tacked-on if

ultimately inoensive.)

e combination of customisable

powers and quick, tactical combat feels

as good as being a superhero should.

Cap can deect incoming re and

bounce his shield o multiple goons,

while Iron Man can zoom around on

his jets before ring lasers and missiles

at unfortunate baddies, Quake can

cause tremors and Agent May provides

covering re. Scenery on the map

provides cover but, in a nice interactive

touch, can be destroyed or even

chucked across the stage with the right

skill. Abilities have a cooldown period

Clix bait

Marvel Strike Teams

Designer: Andrew Parks | Artist: Errick Dadisman, WizKids team 1-2h 2-5 14+ £58

WHAT’S IN

THE BOX?

◗ Four hero figures

◗ Mastermind figure

◗ Two villain figures

◗ Six henchman figures

◗ Eight character cards

◗ 64 action cards

◗ Seven map cards

◗ 19 scenario cards

◗ Victory card

◗ 30 map tiles

◗ 20 character tokens

◗ 16 objective tokens

◗ 18 objective point

(OP) tokens

◗ 22 status tokens

◗ 12 round tracker tokens

◗ 25 duration tokens

◗ 20 spawn point tokens

◗ 12 large rubble tokens

◗ Four small

rubble tokens

◗ Four door rokens

◗ 20 yellow action tokens

◗ 60 red wound tokens

◗ Two command dials

◗ Custom action die

TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED... CONAN

Powered by a similar conservation of action points and with an all-on-

one setup, Marvel Strike Teams’ superhero theme may make it a more

approachable brawler than the fantasy adventure.

PLAY IT? PROBABLY

It doesn’t look nearly as good as

it plays, but the action is strong

enough to make this an extremely

solid superhero dungeon-crawler.