Why should you play the affiliation?
Despite her rather bad D+ show She-Hulk is a cool character and the original (and much funnier) 4th wall breaker. And here she is the main star supported by a bunch of awesome strong women that will punch out anyone who dares stand in their way (in theory).
On the table A-Force are often focused around a bodyguard puzzle you create for your opponent.
How to start the affiliation
Owning either core set is a good thing here. The first purchase specifically for A-Force has to be She-Hulk herself as she's your only available leader. Next up I'd recommend the Wakanda affiliation pack. It comes with Okoye who is basically an every game model here, Shuri as an interesting affiliated 3 threat and useful splashes Killmonger and Black Panther. The dual with Wakanda is also easily done. From here on out you have a lot of choices:
Gwenpool and Squirrel Girl is a pack with two affiliated models. Every pack after those will come with one unaffiliated model. I would prioritise Black Cat (+ Amazing Spider-Man), Domino (+ Cable), Medusa (+Black Bolt) and Wasp (+Ant-Man) here personally. You'd end up with three universally good 5 threats (all updated in 2023, you find the updated stat cards on AMGs website or Jarvis Protocol) and a super fun to play characters in Ant-Man along with your affiliated models.
To get an affiliated 5 threat my pick would be the Mighty Thor (Jane Foster) who does come with Lady Sif (unaffiliated but fitting the theme and play style here), Loki, Prince of Lies and Thor, Hero of Midgard. It's a great start to Asgard, too if you want to branch out that way.
What leaderships are available and what is the typical game plan?
Defenders of Arcadia might very well be my favourite leadership in the game. As long as you can force your opponent to interact with you (which can be hard to do against type 1 teams) you'll gain a massive amount of extra power over the course of a game and that simply makes every character better at what they do, which in turn makes them more fun to play.
As for game plan A-Force are probably a type 2 most of the time but can, and sometimes have to, pivot to type 1 and play a super wide game without even bringing She-Hulk to the table.
If they bring her your typical style will be: go grab extracts early and then bunker up and force your opponent to come into your death zone.
The affiliated models do allow for a type 3 plan in focusing on murder first but you'll have to be prepared to loose your leadership rather quickly that way.
Who could be added to the affiliation in the future, especially as leaders?
Otherwise there isn't a clear pattern of who gets in or not here. Every new releasing female character has a chance to end up here. But A-Force doesn't struggle for good affiliated models. It does for tactical flexibility.
Rating every affiliated TTC and Character
Team Tactics (3)
A-Force Assemble!
A. A great card that you'll use in almost all of your A-Force games. Essential for playing a super wide squad that forgoes She-Hulk (and thus a leadership), which can sometimes be the best route to take.
Special Delivery
A. Out of action and even activation movement and an attack for She-Hulk is always worth it. Just be sure not to drop her into her certain doom. Despite it's super good effect not an every game card. Be sure to have an affiliated flyer when you pick it for your 5!
Stalwart Determination
A. This turns off a tonne of control for an entire round. Maybe my personal favourite TTC in the game.
Characters (22)
Angela (5)
B-. Angela is super fast and has decent damage output against smaller targets. Her biggest issue is being rather trivial to take off the board. She is a natural safe grab though, which can sometimes be good to have and she's a Special Delivery target (one of several at 5 threat). Angela isn't bad per sé but she struggles to make a list against the in and out of affiliation competition.
Black Cat (3)
A+. She's straight up too good.
Black Widow (2)
A. She's a fast affiliated 2 threat with Stealth and Martial Artist.
Black Widow, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (3)
B. Maybe the best model you'll absolutely never play. Widow 2 is honestly pretty good with automatic rapid fire, stealth, a sizeless push on her spender, Interrogate and Parting Shot. Her biggest issue is being a Natasha Romanov of which you have two more in affiliation, who are both better at their jobs than Widow 2 is at hers.
Captain Marvel (4)
B. Classic Carol has a bit of a bad reputation but she's very good here where you can funnel her the power to use her great abilities. The biggest knack I hav against her is that she feels nothing like the Carol you know from the comics and movies. Luckily there's a solution for that:
Captain Marvel, Cosmic Avenger (5)
B. Cosmic Carol might not be the defacto better Carol but she feels very much like the one you know and love and she works never better than here where you can all but guarantee she'll transform round 2. And using Special Delivery with her Charge is a tonne of fun.
Crystal (3)
B. Crystal is a fast affiliated flyer, so good for Special Delivery, she has decent attacks but falls over dead pretty quickly.
Domino (3)
A. A fantastic single target damage dealer who is deceptively tanky herself. She struggle to keep up with the rest of the team but that isn't a super big issue.
Gamora (4)
B. Gamora is fast and deadly. She will not be able to handle any kind of clap back though.
Gwenpool (4)
A. A terrible character in the comics but an incredible ball of stats in the game. She also comes with an amazing TTC in They Say Keep Your Enemies Close (also useable by Squirrel Girl).
Medusa (4)
A. Strong offensively, offers control, is tankier than you'd think herself and has a way of moving allies which is especially nice for She-Hulk.
Okoye (2)
A. Is basically stapled to She-Hulk. You'll never play Jen without her if you have any way to make it work.
Scarlet Witch (5)
B-. I love Wanda but she struggles to fill a role here. She's showing her age a bit. She has big damage potential but so little action economy that it can be hard to reach that potential.
She-Hulk (6)
B-. Sadly your main focus here is more often than not a liability rather than a strength. While her offensive output is great she will be withered down much faster than you'd like. Having 3 physical defense and no defensive abilities whatsoever with the added downside of having no injured side where dazing would stop the enemy from focusing you down and you loosing status conditions (incinerate on Jen is a nightmare), is very rough for a 6 threat leader.
Shuri (3)
A-. A great back point sitter that offers secure control and a reroll bubble. She won't contribute to any attrition herself though.
Spider-Woman (4)
A. Jess is fast, strong, durable and brings an objective steal on her spender.
Squirrel Girl (4)
B. Squirrel Girl is an interesting and very unique character. She is fighting with a lot of good 4s here but I'd not fault anyone for including her. She has good attacks with her rerolls and has a built in "I don't die" mechanic which can be clutch late in the game. Her spender is great too.
Storm (3)
B+. Often overlooked when she's not leading the X-Men, Storm is a good 3 threat in her own right. And here you can funnel her the power to more often throw and Eye of the Storm.
The Black Widow (4)
A. One of the best characters in the game to run onto the midline and grab an extract and simply not die or at least not having the opponent take it.
The Mighty Thor (5)
A. Jane and Jen are a new dream team. No other affiliated Flyer will be able to charge earlier in the game. A top of round 2 For Midgard Charge that has a She-Hulk Special Delivery'ed into the enemy face sounds rather nice.
Valkyrie (3)
B+. Valkyrie is fast and has a high damage potential and some control. She will die rather quickly though.
Wasp (3)
B+. A super fast, cheap flyer with more damage output than you'd think between her awesome spender that doesn't give power and the size 3 terrain throw.
Popular splash characters for the affiliation
Basically every character that is designed around not having enough power to use it's full kit loves this leadership. Some of my favourite here are:
Sabretooth, Apex Predator (4)
A+. Apex has a fantastic kit including a pounce, a throw and great attacks. And here is able to use it constantly.
Frankenstein's Monster (4)
B+. I love Frank but he really struggles to pay for his abilities. This leadership turns him on a lot more.
Abomination (5)
A+. ABomb is fantastic on his stat card alone. He's based around having Gainers so once again the leadership increases his ability to use his full kit.
Spectacular Spider-Man (3)
A+. Notice a trend here? Spectacular is based around having awesome superpowers and Gainers making him super reliable but usually unable to use everything on his card.
Example Roster
Characters (10)
She-Hulk (6)
The Mighty Thor (5)
Spider-Woman (4)
Gwenpool (4)
Medusa (4)
Wasp (3)
Black Cat (3)
Domino (3)
Shuri (3)
Okoye (2)
Team Tactics (10)
A-Force Assemble!
Special Delivery
Stalwart Determination
Double Agent
Pym Particles
They Say Keep Your Enemies Close...
Brace for Impact (R)
Patch Up (R)
Recalibration Matrix
Survival
Secure Crisis
Gamma Wave Sweeps Across Midwest (E, 15)
Deadly Meteors Mutate Civilians (I, 17)
Intrusions Open Across City As Seals Collapse (C, 19)
Extract Crisis
Alien Ship Crashes In Downtown! (C, 17)
Deadly Legacy Virus Cured? (C, 19)
Skrulls Infiltrate World Leadership (J, 20)
The roster is based around central fighting mostly and simply try and kill them before they kill you. Which quite frankly, can be hard to do with A-Force.
That's it for today. Next Up: Asgard
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