Marvel Champions: Agents of SHIELD has been lauded as one of the very best standalone campaigns for this game. Campaigns tend to sell out very fast and it's incredibly unusual for them to get a second wave of prints - so we were thrilled to get our hands on it.
EYES IN THE SKY
In this set, you are playing (out of the box, at least) with Nick Fury (Justice precon) and Maria Hill (Leadership precon but with some splashy out of aspect access), and it has a unique, Clue(do) mechanic as you collect clues as to which member of the SHIELD board has been compromised by AIM. A single combination of Motive, Means and Opprtunity is placed blind in one envelope at the start, and all others in a another: by winning each scenario AND having at least one member of the 3-member oversight board without a Secret token allows you to eliminate such suspicions as Finances, Medical Records, Locations etc. It's simple, but really clever and adds another level to the campaign. Each piece of evidence collected allows plays to supplement their decks with another from your wider collection - so for instance I added in White Widow (Protection Ally from Winter Soldier Hero pack) and had her in play from the outset. The traitor changes every play through, also, for further replayability. Also, the narrative feels strong here: you genuinely find yourselves discussing who is the likely traitor throughout!
I'VE ALWAYS GOT MY EYE ON YOU
Fury and Hill are interesting but tough to play. Each of them will - very deliberately - separately struggle in one of the missions, so teamwork is key. This is a campaign that rewards working together, but also means true solo is incredibly hard. I can see both of them getting play outside of their campaign - it seems the lessons of X-Force have been learned.
Fury is about staying in his Stealth mode as much as possible, building a tableau of Preparation- trait cards, and using Thwart / Threat as a resource in its own right. His assault mode is good, but more of a complementary skill set to his potent ability to take threat onto himself from Thwarting and spend it as resources, damage reduction etc. If, like me, you like engine/tableau building, Fury will be a go-to. His lack of double resources can feel punishing in the early game though; managing resources across your team as a whole is vital.
Hill has incredibly expensive cards - 6 costs are unheard of previously - but can store resources across turns, as well as playing SHIELD supports from any aspect. This is great but she can feel a bit lacking in punch. This means that the penultimate scenario (again, limiting spoilers) requires ruthless planning. Again, very on theme, quite a lot of challenge.
BLITHERING IMBECILES!
I've not gone into masses of detail about the campaign so far because spoilers, sweetie... but you can keep reading if you want to know more, or skip to the end for my final thoughts. What I will say is we loved that in the campaign book there are large REDACTED blocks to prevent spoilers for later missions, which is a little bit genius.
You start out against Black Widow Yelena who is fairly straightforward and helps you learn the decks but AIM interference can rapidly escalate if you're not careful. Batroc is next, with a swarm of returning elite mercenary minions, as you try to break into AIM and not trigger alarms. I really like the story here - it feels logical and thematic. Once complete, you then need to battle MODOK to unlock and release Inhumans, whilst battling constantly evolving Adaptoids. Fair warning - this scenario is specifically designed to tax Maria Hill (though it's tough regardless) - whilst the next, vs Thunderbolts, likewise is a struggle for the Nick Fury player. Honestly, in true solo, I don't know how you're winning this one... but then, that's the challenge, isn't it? Also, I like that you can add other T-bolts if you wish; so, we added Blizzard's Encounter set (from Winter Solider) for an extra challenge. Finally, you face off against Zemo in a dramatic showdown... and hope to reveal the traitor in your midst!
This is one of the very best, up there with Sinister Motives and does a multi-villain scenario exceptionally well (take note, Wrecking Crew). We played with Std3 from AoA but any Standard set would work - I imagine Std2 (from The Hood) would be extremely tough. Adding on Winter Soldier for your 3rd character, to true solo or to lower the overall difficulty is not a bad shout, and he synergises well but be aware he'll stumble out of the gate. Nevertheless, first rate, highly replayable - an absolute must for fans old and new.
About the Author
Sam blogs @big_geekingout and as part of bigcomicpage.com with an emphasis on dad-gaming and IP content. Recovering competitive card gamer, infrequent skirmish wargamer, and average boardgamer. Decent Modeller with a fondness for terrain. Enthusiastic if not especially capable miniature Painter. Media and English Teacher, which is a cover for being a movie nerd. Reasonable cook. Occasional Parent.
