Spiderman vs. Venom, Wolverine vs. Sabertooth, The Avengers vs. Ultron. If you can think of a combination of heroes and villains from the Marvel Universe, they can face each other in battle on the streets of New York in Fantasy Flight’s latest European import, the Marvel Heroes board game. Replay these classic battles or see how other heroes might fare against your favorite villains.


This game at its most basic is about the heroes and villains and their interaction. There is another way to earn points towards victory but eventually you’ll have to face down your enemies in single combat.


The game play is a little touchy, and I’ll detail it briefly. Each player controls one team of four heroes. They are The Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and the Hulk), The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, the Thing, the Human Torch, and the Invisible Woman), The X Men (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, and Wolverine), and the Marvel Knights (Dr. Strange, Elektra, Daredevil, and Spiderman). Each team has their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as a nemesis (the Red Skull, Doctor Doom, Magneto, and the Kingpin respectively) who has their own schemes and plots to advance. The players each also control one nemesis as well. The other heroes and villains are represented through different resource and villain cards.


After the players have each selected their teams, and handed the corresponding nemeses to their opponents, a scenario is decided upon. The basic scenario requires that players only achieve a certain number of victory points, others modify the rules of the game, making it more difficult for players to defeat villains, or harder for them to power up their team.


Players each start on equal footing with a certain number of plot points. These represent the investments in their team and the heroes who can take on the headlines, the threats happening all across New York. If you want to prepare the Hulk, his power level requires a greater investment than Daredevil. Headlines are rated on their difficulty level as well as their type and subtype. If you want someone to take on danger there is no on better than Spiderman, but if you have a mystery that requires solving, it might be better to make Jean Grey ready to troubleshoot, determining the precise amount of trouble being caused in the area.


The heroes also have different skill sets that represent their areas of expertise. Mr. Fantastic is skilled in science and mystical problems, while Cap specializes in rescue and protection. The Hulk’s skill is in fighting, and the sixth one is investigation, something that is the pervue of Daredevil. The hero’s rating in the primary headline type reduces the overall threat level (determined randomly) while the secondary ability modifies just how powerful those dice can be.


Once you’ve decided which heroes to make ready to fight and which ones to provide support for those ready heroes, you may have some points left over. Now it’s time to recruit allies! A helping hand from another hero at an opportune time can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat many times over. The cost to play these allies is in the points you invest in them at the start of the round, but they don’t leave your side unless a villain’s power makes them.


Once you’ve set up your team for the round its time to get those heroes out on the streets of New York where they can beat up the bad guys. Movement is often the first action you’ll undertake in a round since you have to go to an area to troubleshoot it, determining exactly what is causing the problems. It is during the troubleshooting phase that the other players are against you. Once they’ve determined how much trouble is in the area they can they work together to play the villain card from their hands that is most likely to defeat your team, preventing you from earning your points and advancing toward victory. However, the players must be careful. Some villains are ‘most wanted’ and if they defeat their current opponent they can stick around to wreck havoc on the other teams as well, including the player who initially played them.


Combat is done in secret, with the active player and the player controlling the villain choosing which super power, with its appropriate ratings, they want to fight with for that round. Each power contains a rating for a fighting skill, a body defense, and an outwit contest. If Cyclops uses his optic blast, he has an incredible fighting rating, but he risks all for this attack, as his is overextended and doesn’t defend well. He is also effectively off balance and doesn’t have his wits about him either. In contrast, if he uses a more controlled area blast he doesn’t do as much damage, but he is better able to defend himself as well as plan his next move, if there is one. Heroes always start with the initiative, and the attacker wins ties in physical combat, a change from most games. Some heroes and villains can only lose one aspect of combat before being knocked out (Elektra, Invisible Woman, Captain America among others) while others can take up to three (Thing, Hulk, Thor).


Some headlines are special, representing the potential involvement of the mastermind villains. These headlines are generally worth more points for the same threat level because that threat level can be increased by the masterminds. The main villains can also choose to collect more villain cards for the controlling player, giving them more options on who to use as their lackey, or to make that lead villain more threatening by boosting their dice. This decision is left tot the player controlling that villain, but the other players are free to offer their opinions. In addition, the villains all have master plans that they are attempting to advance, and they can choose to do this once per round they are involved. If they do so, they are placing themselves in front of the heroes. If the hero team defeats the lead villain, they then have to decide if they want to face their nemesis immediately afterwards. The risks are great, as they are likely already have their resources depleted and may even be partially wounded., The rewards are also great however, as if they defeat the nemesis, they ear a team power up immediately. This can give them a significant strategic edge over the other players. However, if the heroes fight and lose, or if they don’t fight, the villain’s master plan moves forward. If it reaches fruition the team will lose victory points, so each team must be careful not to allow their villain’s plan to advance too far.


Outside of combat there is the story track. This represents the things that are happening in the lives of the heroes outside of combat and represent significant events along the Marvel timeline. Each team has the option of taking a story action at any point during its turn. That team collects a resource card, very valuable as this is the only way to earn them outside of a special ability or the use of a select few cards they may already have. They can also choose to reorganize the story placing their team’s event at the end, advancing the track and awarding that card to the team represented on the card that falls off, or leaving the track as is. Each team that collects a story card in this fashion receives one victory point, as the player has taken the time to work on the non combat aspects of his team and is rewarded for doing so. Collecting three of these story cards allows a team to earn one of its power ups during the next planning phase.


Each team member has different ready powers, all of which require resource cards to activate. These generally provide a significant boost to the upcoming battle or combat phase. They each also have a different ability when they are in support. Some are played as an action and result in more resource cards or plot points, giving you more options for next round. Each team also has one member whose ability supports combat, allowing them to influence the fight without being totally readied for it. There is also one team member whose abilities come into play during the troubleshooting phase only.


This is a game that involves a lot of timing decisions, a lot of deducing what your opponents are going to do, both with the way they have planned their team as well as with the powers they might be using in combat. If you are going later in the round this is pivotal, as you don’t want to be improperly prepared for a headline lest you be defeated and let your opponents take the lead on you. It is also game of resource management, as you have to decide which heroes to make ready and how many points to invest in that team as well as how many points and cards to invest in allies. Should you play Nightcrawler, using 2 plot points and only have 3 left to make your actual team ready or is he more valuable in your hand, as a resource card that can be discarded to Wolverine’s regeneration power? You are also managing your actions since you get five of them per round, and you don’t want your superhero team to get scooped on their headline. If someone else gets there first, you might not be able to use your team in the manner you best prepared it for. Then again, if you don’t take the time to use the appropriate support abilities of your heroes or advance their back story, you might find yourself in the middle of a fight without any cards to discard to Human Torch’s Nova Blast ability, a mistake that can easily cost you the battle.


The game does have its flaws. There is a lot of dice rolling which can result in a situation you were perfectly prepared for suddenly tuning against you at the last minute. I think this does actually represent the way battles can go in the comics. If someone hits that vital spot or ducks behind a wall at just the right time you can see the tide of battle turn just as easily. It does in fact distract from the strategy aspect of the game knowing that even the best laid plans can be subverted by random chance, but take solace in the fact that eventually the dice will do that to everyone, so all you have to do is continue to make the best decisions and you’ll likely be successful.


The story aspect of the game does feel a bit forced at times, but I think it is a manageable aspect. You don’t see heroes fighting 24/7 in the comics, and it can also be thought of as representing time spent developing your team’s powers.


Whether the teams are balanced or not is an assessment that probably needs to be made after several plays. Most on BGG would say no, but I think that with proper planning, any team can win. Sometimes just the excitement of playing your favorite heroes can take a mediocre team to the next level. Other times players might be too excited to recreate their favorite battles even when that isn’t the best strategic decision.


In summary, Marvel Heroes is a strategy game with several layers. The surface is really cool painted miniature heroes and villains and a lot of different superpowers. A little deeper glance shows the different ways the team interacts and the way the cards help or hinder what you’re trying to do. Deeper still is the interaction between the players and the planning based on what you think everyone else is going to do, just like the heart of any strategy game.


Furthermore, the background subject matter is just plain fun! I’ve enjoyed watching the success of Marvel at the box office recently and I can’t wait for more there. In the meantime I’ll recreate the stories I’ve seen before and want to see in the future any chance I get.