Marvel Champions - First Play

After reading Eric B's take on Marvel Champions, I wanted to give it a spin. I mean, here is a new co-op (ie solo for me) LCG with the best license on the planet. After finding an excuse to acquire the game with another purchase (it was free shipping), I found myself with the new game on my porch today. Despite a number of post saying they struggled to learn the game, I felt ready for the challenge. I had watched one how to play video, and mechanically, I was not sure where all the confusion was coming from.

After my first play, I am only confused by reports that people were getting lost learning the game. FFG really could have just included a double sided cheat sheet (half sheet sized) and that would have been enough to get people through their first couple games (and honestly, there isn't enough to have to remember that I think you'd need one after one play, unless you don't play again for months and months.

So, first thing you do after opening the box and punching the counters and assembling the dials, is open two packs of the cards. I was keeping it simple and went with the Spider-man starter set and the Rhino villain set.

Yes, I had to sleeve the cards... It is an LCG. If you are mixing and swapping cards, they won't wear evenly. Leave me alone.

Anyway, the starter sets are basically ready for you to shuffle up and start playing. So I did. Not really knowing what to expect I spent a few minutes looking at my cards, going back and forth to the rules to figure out how I'd use allies and some keywords (you know, first play kinds of things). Then I dove in. I went all out early on and took down the Rhino(I) with a Swinging Leg kick attack card and with some help from Nick Fury himself.

This game is easy! What did I expect? You don't really deck build... See, you pick a hero, then you add a group of aspect cards (Justice, Aggression, Protection, or Leadership) and then you fill it out with some generic basic cards.  As a core set, those aspect cards are set. So "deck building" here was closer to Smash Up! then true deck building. And you know what, I was ok with that and still bought this game. Future card sets will make the experience more customizable, but out of the box, you mash  up and play - easy peasy.

Here's the thing. The game isn't easy. I had no clue what was coming. The Rhino picked himself up and decided to beat the crap out of me - but not by himself. Nope, what happened was, things got Murder Hornet scary really fast. First, I got unlucky and the Vulture came to play. So now, after beating the Rhino for the first time, I suddenly have the main scheme going south quickly and TWO side-schemes to try and stop. Also, Hydra joined the fray and a Hydra bomber decided he'd try to help take me out.

I'm no pushover, so I called in the Black Cat to try and slow down the Rhino's scheme, but then a Hydra guard and The Shocker showed up to beat me up. Bye bye Black Cat. Spider-man had to limp away as poor puny Parker and try to heal up, which gave the Rhino time to nearly complete his scheme.

Nearly I said! I wasn't done yet. With a decent draw and some help from Aunt May, Spider-man was able to heal up and get back into the fight with his buddy Daredevil, who helped to thwart the Rhino's plans and helped me rid myself of the Vulture. With a spider-tracer on the wimpy bomber, I was further able to reduce the schemes. Unfortunately, the great sacrifices meant exposing Spider-man to a brutal beat down and knock out.

Quick initial thoughts.

• This is different enough from Marvel Legendary to hang out in my collection for a bit. I'll need to try the other heroes and see what the other sets of cards are like to find some things that suit me.
• Quality is what you'd expect from FFG (and too many counters like you'd expect from FFG).
• I don't understand the insert. Obviously it was meant to hold the (sleeved) cards, but they didn't give any dividers or things to keep the cards in place. Nothing. The box isn't even standard square for them, so the bazillion of solutions like Broken Token won't fit. It was a much better offering than the normal "no attempt". But come on!
• There is no campaign. It is just scenarios (even the expansions out so far are not campaigns). I'm confused at this. FFG is expert at this by now. Yes, the barrier to entry is lower to make it more appealing, but the whole LCG appeal is also in customizing your deck scenario after scenario in a series of connected content, not in finding an uber deck.

Well, this needs some more plays, but I'm not terribly disappointed with what I found in my first playing. I hope this has some legs and I look forward to what comes about.

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