by Do you love superhero brawls? Do you enjoy games that are easy to learn but hard to master? Are you also a fan of stunning Marvel miniatures in cinematic poses? Then Marvel Crisis Protocol, the miniatures game produced by Atomic Mass Games, might be just what you’re looking for.
Marvel Crisis Protocol: game overview
Marvel Crisis Protocol (MCP) is a tactical skirmish game for two players set in the Marvel comics universe. After assembling a squad of superheroes (or villains), players battle over multiple shared objectives on a custom battlefield—whether it’s a New York city block, a Wakandan plain, or another iconic setting. While super-powered punches and energy blasts are part of the action, the game also demands strategic thinking. The miniatures may bring raw power, but it’s up to you to use your wits!
Objective of the game
The player with the most points after six rounds wins the game—or immediately upon reaching 16 points, whichever comes first. The way to score points is determined by the mission, which is itself created by combining two Crisis cards:
- A Secure Crisis card, which requires you to control a specific area on the battlefield.
- An Extract Crisis card, which requires you to retrieve and move an objective.
These two opposing objectives lead to key strategic decisions: Who in your squad will focus on securing areas? Who will handle extractions? And who will disrupt your opponent’s plans?
There are about 15 Crisis cards of each type, leading to a total of almost 200 possible mission combinations.
Building your team
A Vast Selection
Before defining the mission, players must assemble a roster of 10 characters from a pool of nearly 200 available heroes and villains. Yes, you read that right—the choices are immense, and Atomic Mass Games releases new characters every year. With 10-character rosters, the number of possible combinations is practically limitless. Exciting, isn’t it? But which characters work well together? That’s for you to figure out through gameplay.
With or Without Affiliation?
(Photo from Marco & Ses potes TV )
Not only does MCP offer a huge selection, but it also gives you the freedom to mix and match heroes and villains—even sworn enemies. Want to pair Doctor Octopus with Spider-Man? Bullseye with Daredevil? Go for it!
However, if the thought of such unlikely alliances makes you cringe, you can opt for one of the 28 existing Affiliations: X-Men, Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Cabal, and many more. Playing within an Affiliation limits your character choices but grants access to special abilities and unique tactic cards.
Which Affiliation do they truly belong to?
What if your favorite character is Captain America, but you don’t like the Avengers Affiliation? Play him under the S.H.I.E.L.D. banner! Throughout their comic book adventures, most Marvel characters have been part of multiple allegiances, meaning you can field them under different Affiliations.
Who Stays on the Bench?
Out of your 10-character roster, only a few will be selected for each mission. It works similarly to a football team: a club may have a squad of 24 players, but only 11 take the field. In MCP, it’s the same principle—you have a Roster of 10 characters, but only a portion (Squad) will be chosen for a specific mission.
Each mission has a Threat Level (as do the characters), which determines the maximum value allowed for Squad composition. To form your squad, you must select characters whose combined threat level does not exceed that of the mission. In other words, threat level works similarly to army points or unit costs in other miniatures games.
The Game System
MCP operates with an alternating activation system, meaning that after you activate a character, your opponent activates one of theirs. Players take turns back and forth until all characters have been activated.
A character’s activation consists of two basic actions. However, characters can also perform special actions by spending Power tokens—a resource primarily gained through combat.
The Combat System
You didn’t gather a team of Avengers to start a poetry club, did you? No—you brought them here to fight! And that’s perfect because combat is at the core of MCP. Fighting serves a dual purpose: it helps you neutralize enemy characters and generates Power, a crucial resource for triggering extra actions.
MCP uses proprietary dice—custom dice with unique symbols instead of numbers. This eliminates the need for complex calculations like determining if a roll of 5 hits on a 3+ check with a -2 penalty (let’s leave that for the 41st millennium). Instead, you simply identify specific symbols. If you ask me, proprietary dice are the way to go in miniatures games—they speed up and simplify decision-making, which is a welcome feature in wargames, known for being long and mentally demanding.
Attacks and Status Effects
Where there’s combat, there are attacks! In MCP, attacks come in three types:
- Physical
- Energy
- Mystic
Each character has strengths and weaknesses in both attack and defense. For instance, Jean Grey excels at Mystic attacks, Cyclops favors Energy-based ones, and Wolverine is best at Physical attacks. When building your roster, it’s important to balance these attack types to maximize your chances of breaking through enemy defenses. If you’re planning to take down Professor X, for example, you might want to rely on Physical attacks rather than Mystic ones.
To spice things up, characters can also suffer from various status effects, such as Incinerated, Hexed, or Poisoned, among others. These conditions act as debuffs, reducing stats or abilities and making your path to victory more challenging.
Tactic Cards
To add another layer of strategy, MCP includes Tactic Cards. These grant additional effects during the game and can be played when their conditions are met. There are two types:
- Generic Tactic Cards, available to any roster.
- Affiliation Tactic Cards, exclusive to specific factions.
Playing within an Affiliation grants access to unique and often stronger effects than those found on generic cards. Tactic Cards add consistency to your strategy and inject dynamism into the game—some can even be played during your opponent’s turn.
You can’t hide, Parker…
Tactic Cards are public knowledge—there are no hidden surprises in MCP. In fact, very little hidden information exists in the game. Even your opponent’s roster is revealed before the match, giving you additional information to help select your squad. The only unknown is which characters your opponent will field for the mission, as both squads are revealed simultaneously. This transparency sets MCP apart from other games like Star Wars: Legion, where you have no opportunity to adjust your list based on your opponent’s choices.
What makes MCP stand out?
Interaction with Terrain
We all love those epic comic book moments where a character gets smashed through a building, crashes through three walls, and emerges from the rubble, slightly ruffled but ready for more.
In a brilliant nod to the source material, Atomic Mass Games has made terrain a core part of MCP. Most terrain pieces are destructible and can even be used as weapons. Is there a taxi cab within Magneto’s reach? Throw it at Ultron! Colossus can even hurl Wolverine to deal devastating damage!
Destroyed terrain is removed from play, meaning that the battlefield evolves dynamically as the game progresses. This adds a layer of strategy that’s both clever and incredibly fun.
Unique Battlefields
Few miniatures games are set in the modern era. Infinity, Malifaux, Flames of War, A Song of Ice and Fire, Star Wars: Legion—these all take place in the distant past or future. But how often do we get to play on a battlefield representing a contemporary city block? A shipyard? A school?
And we’re not talking about some post-apocalyptic ruin—we’re talking about a setting in peacetime. By grounding itself in the present, MCP sets itself apart and delights hobbyists who enjoy creating unique terrain. It allows for the construction of seemingly ordinary—but surprisingly rare—wargaming tables.
Moreover, thanks to Marvel’s vast universe, you can craft some truly unusual battlefields. Remember the fight scene in Ant-Man that takes place in a child’s bedroom? Why not recreate that table? If you’re a parent, you probably already have all the terrain you need lying around!
Who is this game for?
MCP falls into the category of “easy to learn, hard to master.” With core rules spanning only 16 pages, proprietary dice, and movement templates, the game is accessible and easy to pick up. However, mastering the game and outplaying opponents—especially in a competitive setting—is no small feat.
The massive roster of available characters can make competitive play challenging for casual players. Without keeping up with the meta, newcomers may struggle to anticipate threats and could easily fall into traps set by experienced opponents. Of course, this is a reality shared by many miniatures games, and MCP is no exception.
If you enjoy painting miniatures, MCP will not disappoint. The models are beautifully sculpted, and unlike other skirmish games, each character feels larger than life. That’s because these heroes and villains have been fleshed out through decades of storytelling across thousands of pages. Some players know these backstories by heart, and the nostalgia and excitement of bringing their favorite characters to life on the tabletop is part of what makes MCP so special.
