Asgard vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. – Marvel: Crisis Protocol Battle Report!

By Jaden Iwaasa

I’m getting back into the swing of things with Marvel: Crisis Protocol after a short break, which means it’s time to start analyzing games! I’ve found the best way to quickly improve at any game is a hard look at every game played to find the mistakes I can find on my own, and the mistakes the internet inevitably points out as well.

Today, we have a new Asgard/Cabal list I’m trying out against JP’s SHIELD list.

I’ll talk about my list in a different article when I’ve had a bit more table time with it, but the plan is to play a lot of Thor + Malekith to help cover Malekith’s innate weakness to Stagger and Incinerate.

I won the roll off for Priority and opted to take Secures. I did not feel like Intrusions was a good Crisis for me, and the Infinity Formula would give him fuel for all of his tactics cards.

On the flip side, I felt good about all three of JPs extracts.

We randomed Struggle for the Cube and Deadly Meteors Mutate Civilians which meant we were locked in for 17 threat.

I chose to bring Thor, Loki with the Mind Gem, and Malekith on these Crisis Cards. I felt like Malekith and Thor could really handle a side each, and Loki could flex to whichever direction he felt most needed.

My tactics cards were chosen for survival (Rainbow Bridge, Odin’s Blessing, Brace for Impact), disruption (Face Me!), and Scenario viability (Mission Objective).

JP came to the fight with many more models than me. Left to right, we have Nick Fury Jr., Nick Fury Sr., The Winter Soldier, Venom, and Iron Man.

His Tactics cards were Sacrifice, Eye in the Sky, Brace for Impact, Battlefield Medicine, and Lethal Protector.

With two redirect cards as well as “Medpack”, I knew I would have to make judicious use of the Mind Stone and/or Face Me to get his models in vulnerable positions.

The table was a pre-generated TTS table, with a good smattering of size two and three terrain all over the center of the table. The larger shipping containers were size four, and the smaller barrels and shrubs were size one.

I deployed Thor on the left flank to handle that Cube and Meteor, Loki centrally to be annoying, and Malekith on the right to perform a similar role to Thor.

JP set up Nick Fury Jr. on his left most side so that the grunts could nab a Cube easily, Nick Fury Sr. hung out next to him. After the gap, we then have Venom, Winter Soldier, and Iron Man on the far right side.

I’m not going to note exactly when Thor’s leadership was used, but I did not forget about it and the healing was critical a few times during the game. I failed to make note of exactly when that happened, so I will not be speculating randomly during the recap.

Edit: I’ve been informed that SHIELDS leadership only triggers getting an extra VP every round, and I believe we played it incorrectly – thanks for the feedback everyone!

Round 1:

Both players power up during the power phase.

I passed the first activation over to JP, who started things off by moving Venom twice and taking the center Cube. This also contested the central Meteor. I’ll talk more about this move in the post-game, but I think it was a mistake to come into the center of the table.

I passed again as I had no particular need to do anything yet, so Nick Fury Jr. moved himself on top of a crate, and his Grunt moved, took the Cube, and stayed safe.

For my first activation, Loki took a first move action towards the center. He spent two power to use the Mind Gem on Venom and advanced him forward short. Loki then spent his second action moving forward, and spent his last power interacting with the central objective.

I’m reasonably confident that this was also a mistake – I should have activated Thor first and not exposed Loki to his entire list.

Nick Fury Sr. activated next and took a move action forward to get in range of Loki. JP considered moving him up to the right side Meteor, and then decided with some measuring that Malekith could 100% get to him and make things complicated quickly.

Instead, Nick Sr. took a shot at Loki, which did no damage.

Malekith used Ferocity to get into Venom’s face and do a ton of damage with his first attack. He picked up the Cube next to him before bopping Venom on the head for the rest of his health pool, dazing the Lethal Protector. Malekith then spent another power to pick up Venom’s Cube and passed the turn over.

The Winter Soldier moved up and took a shot at Loki, doing quite a bit of damage. His Rapid Fire trigger popped a second shot into the God of Mischief, and enough damage snuck through to daze Loki.

Edit: I didn’t bother using Trickster here because I couldn’t get out of range of the attacks and I couldn’t get out of Line of Sight either.

Thor activated and used a move action to get next to the Cube on his side of the table. He picked it up for a power, and then I made a terrible mistake by moving him to the far left side of the Meteor to claim it.

Interesting point – it is more than a medium move and Range 2 to get from the far side of the left Meteor to the combat that would inevitably occur around the middle Meteor.

Iron Man moved up and picked up the last Cube on the table. He then moved over to within range 2 of The Winter Soldier for potential Sacrifice plays on the next turn.

At the end of the round, I was happily securing 3 Cubes to JPs 2 and had taken control of 2 Meteors to JPs none, giving me a 6 – 2 lead on points.

Round 2:

Malekith kicks things off with a regular attack into Venom. It instantly Knocks Out the unfortunate Symbiote. JP scores a point from Nick Fury Jr’s. leadership, which makes the score 6 – 3 for Asgard.

JP uses Got Your Back on both The Winter Soldier and Nick Fury Sr. and blasts Malekith for around four damage when all is said and done.

Malekith uses Ferocity for his second action, and leaves The Winter Soldier on one health. The throw from the attack sends him into Iron Man, so JP plays Brace for Impact to keep Bucky alive.

The Winter Soldier uses Hydra Tactics to get closer to Malekith, and then between Red Fury and Rapid Fire does a ton of damage to Malekith and Loki. He inflicts bleed on Malekith.

Loki’s God of Mischief rule turning off the extra dice from Critical rolls was massive this activation, as The Winter Soldier would have gotten five to six extra dice across his several attacks otherwise.

Thor’s first action is a move, followed by For Asgard to get into Combat. He fails to wound The Winter Soldier with his attack, but the Wild symbol on the dice allows him to throw the hapless Bucky into Iron Man and daze The Winter Soldier. JP scores another point, and the score is now 6 – 4.

Nick Fury Sr. moves on to the Meteor, claims it for SHIELD, and then shoots at Malekith. Cloak of Shadows keeps the big cat from taking any damage.

Loki takes the opportunity to use Illusions on Iron Man, and then finishes off the Invincible Avenger with a Strike attack. Loki then picks up the Cube dropped by Iron Man.

Nick Fury Jr. and SHIELD Agents move up and take three shots total at Loki. Once again, God of Mischief is massive at keeping the damage rolls low, and I Am a GOD! lets Loki weather the hail of bullets with only a single damage taken. (I forgot to take a screenshot of this activation).

At the conclusion of the round, I now hold Four Cubes to JPs One, and Two Meteors to his One, which scores me an additional Seven Points to JPs One Point, making the score 13 – 6 in Asgard’s favor.

Round 3:

During the Power Phase, Malekith takes two more damage from Cubes which leaves him on one health. The SHIELD Agent gets Knocked Out, scoring JP another point (13 to 7), and the Agents Cube drops close to Nick Fury Sr.

Malekith uses Ferocity on The Winter Soldier and leaves him on two health. The throw drops him to a single health, and does a point to Iron Man. Malekith then uses his beam attack to catch Iron Man, The Winter Soldier, and Nick Fury Jr. Unfortunately for me, JPs defense rolls are excellent, and the big cat cannot finish off either Iron Man or The Winter Soldier. The Bleed on him Dazes him at the end of his activation, and I use Mission Objective to put a Cube onto Thor.

The Winter Soldier activates and throws two sets of Hydra Fury and a total of three Assault Rifle shots into Thor.

Between no extra dice from Criticals thanks to God of Mischief, a well timed Odin’s Blessing, and Thor’s native high physical defense, Thor refuses to go down.

The Winter Soldier uses Battlefield Medicine on himself.

(No picture as nothing moved)

Thor tries to take a swing at The Winter Soldier, however Nick Fury Jr. finally has enough power to use Eye in the Sky and does so. Thor has to walk into range of Iron Man instead, and between the attack and the throw into The Winter Soldier, Iron Man is Knocked Out. This scores JP another point (13 to 8).

Nick Fury Sr. picks up the Cube next to him, moves over and picks up the Cube dropped by Malekith, and then shoots Loki. Once again, God of Mischief and I am a GOD! combine to keep the trickster alive and well.

Loki aims a beam down the line of both Nick Fury Sr. and Nick Fury Jr. On the second attack, he dazes Nick Fury Jr., and as that would have been JPs final activation, the turn ends.

I hold three Cubes and two Meteors to JPs two and one, which puts the final score at 19 to 10 (I think we were both too tired to notice that JP should have had one more point here).

Post-Game Thoughts:

This list plays a lot like Black Order, dragging in enemy models and blitzing down multiple pieces per turn. I really enjoyed playing on the pay to flip secure here, as my entire team is excellent at generating power and has high enough mobility to bounce around the table as needed.

I think that the first turn saw the most missed plays on both sides. Exposing Venom and then Loki both felt like mistakes – although Loki being injured for most of the game really messed with the dice on JPs attack and defense rolls.

I’m sure there were more – please be sure to let me know in the comments!

Malekith Thoughts:

Malekith is a premium bruiser, and he can dish out whacky amounts of damage and take a reasonable amount of punishment in response. Cloak of Shadows is, I think, by far the strongest rule on his card when combined with Conquerer of the Realms. He’s extremely consistent, which is something unusual in Marvel: Crisis Protocol where so many characters swing wildly between doing nothing and ending the world. He reminds me a bit of Corvus Glaive with a Reality Stone, albeit faster and a bit tougher.

Overall, I need more games both with and against him, but I’m hesitant to cry “broken” at this stage. He feels a lot like other high powered threats with a touch extra, and his threat level matches up with that impression.

As always, if you want to read more content about Conquest, Marvel: Crisis Protocol, or Warhammer: 40,000, there are many articles to be found on this very website! Consider subscribing to the Line of Sight Youtube Channel, and joining the discord! Finally, if you want to support this content directly, check out the Line of Sight Patreon where you can help influence the very course of the podcasts! Thanks for reading, we’ll see you next time!