Why should you play the affiliation?
Guardians are a fan favourite from their movies (Guardians 1 and 3 being among my favourite MCU movies, too) and they are a cool team of space randos that are out to somehow do the right thing, which is great.
On the table Guardians are a long range, high damage output team, that has a few additional tricks on board their spaceship, including a bunch of awesome TTCs.
How to start the affiliation
Your first purchase for any Guardians team has to be Star-Lord, who comes in a single box and is your only available leader (he has an updated Stat card you can get from the AMG website, the 22 card pack or Jarvis Protocol). Next up you'll want to grab Rocket and Groot (also both updated, available at the same places as Star-Lord). Gamora and Nebula is another pack with two Guardians inside so that is probably your purchase after them.
You should now consider the newest Guardians pack in Nova and Yondu and afterwards think about Cosmic Ghost Rider. CGR comes with the excellent Galaxy's Greatest TTC which is honestly the main reason to get him. Be sure to print his errata'ed stat card from Jarvis Protocol as he received a much needed nerf in February of 2024 but hasn't got an updated stat card from AMG yet. He is still good and his play style does fit into a Guardians team so it's not like you buy the pack just for the TTC.
Finally Ronan (who has an updated stat card on the AMG website or Jarvis) and Drax is the last pack where both members are affiliated. Neither will be your main star but both are solid enough at their job.
And now there are some Guardians left in dual packs, where only one of them is affiliated:
To me the most important of these is Agent Venom (who also comes with a great affiliated TTC in Foreign Assignment) and Spider-Woman (unaffiliated). Beta Ray Bill and Ulik (unaffiliated) is another good pick up.
Angela and Enchantress (unaffiliated) is more to taste here.
If you do pick up, Bill, Angela and Enchantress you could think about adding the newer four model Asgard box with Jane Foster (The Mighty Thor), Loki, Prince of Lies, Lady Sif and Thor, Hero of Midgard (Thor 2 for short). Especially Thor 2 works very well in Guardians and you also now have a very good Asgard team already. (That lacks an affiliated 3 threat so maybe you'd need Heimdall and Skurge here too).
What leaderships are available and what is the typical game plan
Winging It is an interesting leadership that rewards playing tall (fewer high threat models) instead of wide (more low threat models) which feels counter intuitive to the cheap core you can field with the affiliation. This absolutely is the place to make any high threat model you like shine. I've mentioned Thor 2 but also Hulk and (affiliated) CGR are great 6s to run here and easy to get into the squads as you are so flexible with so many low threat options.
Traditionally Guardians were a type 4 team that tried to murder you as fast as they could while they brought Crisis cards that scored as few VP as possible to not have the opponent score out before they could murder them. Nowadays they are often more of a type 3 where they bring some more control and scenario play with the likes of Beta Ray Bill, Agent Venom and now Nova, who offer control on top of damage output.
(Type 1: Pure Scenario team, as many VPs on the table as possible and try to win by scoring out as early as possible and with as little engagement
Type 2: Midrange Scenario team. Similar to Type 1 but can fight and chase if necessary
Type 3: Midrange Attrition team. Wants to be the beatdown but can shift to scenario play if the other side is clearly the beatdown.
Type 4: Pure Attrition team. Wants to murder you as quick as possible. Tabling is a possible and achievable goal here, but not the only way to win (they mostly score their points and deny yours by virtue of your models being dazed or KO'ed).)
Who could be added to the affiliation in the future, especially as leaders? With the most obvious candidate for a new leadership in Nova now being out and him not having one the next characters that come to mind for that are Cosmo the Space Dog and Adam Warlock. Moondragon and Phyla-Vell are the other missing Guardians and already appeared on TTCs so there is a high chance they'll be in the game at some point, but neither strikes me as a potential leader.
Rating every affiliated TTC and Character
Team Tactics (3+5)
Foreign Assignment
A. If you bring Agent Venom in your squad you should very strongly consider using the card in your 5. Every effect here is great and worth the two power but it's especially great if you can pay four to trigger both Star-Lord and Rocket which results in two free attacks and two free moves without costing a single action.
Galaxy‘s Greatest
A. While having your models dazed isn't exactly something you're planing to do it will happen regardless and them coming back with an additional dice for every attack and defense roll is very potent. The most difficult decision here is when to play the card.
Lovable Misfits
B+. An underloved card for the randomness of the effects but 7/8 effects here are good and even the AoE Stun can be OK if it gets Stun on some enemy models as well. It is also basically pure upside with Agent Venom who can just remove the Stun from himself with a power.
Unaffiliated cards that will be important to note here regardless:
Call for Backup
A-. You might have trouble fitting the card in the 5 but it is a great scenario control card for Nova.
Daughters of Thanos (updated TTC found on Jarvis or AMGs website)
B. You are never more likely to have both Sisters on the table than here and them now only paying one power each makes this more interesting.
Deadly Duo
A. Three actionless attacks are three actionless attacks.
Plundered Goods
B. Yondus card is pretty good with the problem being that he'd have to be in range 3 multiple enemy characters which he kind of never wants to be.
Veterans of the Annihilation War
B+. You are also never more likely to have both Nova and Gamora on the table than here. The effect is very strong for Gamora and decent for Nova and it costs them nothing to play the card.
Characters (13)
Agent Venom (4)
A. One of the most fun models to play in the game and here might be his best home, too.
Angela (5)
B-. Angela is a natural safe midline extract grabber and a small character hunter. She is very fast but her damage output is sometimes a bit lackluster for a 5 threat.
Beta Ray Bill (4)
A-. Bill is your surviver and control 4. His damage output isn't especially great but that is also simply not his job. He helps you keep up with the VPs before your attrition takes over the game.
Cosmic Ghost Rider (6)
B. CGR got toned down a lot with his nerf and is now fine. He has good, mobility, damage output and control in exchange for often not being able to play the scenario game at all.
Drax the Destroyer (3)
B-. Drax' biggest problem is his lacking mobility. He has a great throw and decent attacks while being rather survivable.
Gamora (4)
B+. Gamora is the most glass cannon 4 available here but she has very high damage potential and is pretty fast.
Groot (3)
B+. Groot has the single best spender in the game with really no competition at all. He'll usually won't get to use it much is the problem. He's rather slow but had good reach on his builder and can heal himself. Your main 3 threat to use.
Nebula (2)
B+. Nebula can't play the scenario herself but is excellent at chasing an extract carrier.
Nova (5)
A. Richard Ryder is a great damage output affiliated 5 that brings good control on top of the damage.
Rocket Raccoon (2)
A. Range 5, 5 dice Energy attacks from a 2 threat. Don't feel locked into always bringing Groot with him. Both are good individually, too.
Ronan the Accuser (4)
B. Ronan is a great tech piece when size 4 characters terrorise you as he controls them very good. But Bill does that too while being more survivable. Ronan has much higher damage output though. With Eyes on the Prize out of the game giving him the power stone has lost it's appeal for me.
* Star-Lord (3)
A. Peter is excellent under his own leadership which is great because you're playing him every game. Never think about giving him the power stone. It's a waste of threat.
Yondu (4)
B-. Yondus kit is interesting but he's the least survivable 4 on offer here and his job is kind of the same as Rockets and Star-Lords making it hard to justify spending another 4 threat for it.
Popular Splash Characters for the affiliation
Hulk (6)
A. Hulk was part of the way overtuned 15 of Star-Lord, pre-nerf CGR and Hulk, that won LVO 24 in a straight up mirror. Gregory Shadt, who is a super nice guy I had the pleasure of meeting at WTC (where he also finished 6:0 and his team, Canada Alpha Flight got 4th overall) took that down. CGR got his very deserved nerf making the 15 team less unfair but Hulk remains a very good fit here if you want to have a bit more scenario play rather than just pure damage output (which Hulk is contributing to, too).
Space, Reality Thanos (8)
F. (A to A+ in reality) In the one place Thanos does somewhat fit thematically as a splash he was a main staple for a long time until he basically took over Cabal. He's still very strong (or you might say incredibly overtuned and bad for the game in his current state) here though. Downside: if you put him and Drax on the table, the latter will want to attack your own model (no not really).
Thor, Hero of Midgard (6)
A. Thor 2 is also pretty pushed and probably the highest damage output average model in the game. Giving him Winging It tokens will just make him better at what he already does. If you want to spent the restricted slot on it Brothers in Arms is a possibility here, too. Not having Odin's Blessing available does make him a bit more fair here as opposed to in Asgard.
Crimson Dynamo (4)
A. Dynamo is excellent at his job which is contributing to the Guardians game plan, the struggle is more to find room for another 4 threat.
Example Roster
Characters (10)
Agent Venom (4)
Beta Ray Bill (4)
Gamora (4)
Groot (3)
Nebula (2)
Nova (5)
Rocket Raccoon (2)
* Star-Lord (3)
Thor, Hero of Midgard (6)
Drax the Destroyer (3)
Team Tactics (10)
Brace for Impact (R)
Call for Backup
Daughters of Thanos
Deadly Duo
Foreign Assignment
Galaxy‘s Greatest
Lovable Misfits
Sacrifice (R)
Veterans of the Annihilation War
We Are Groot
Secure Crisis
Gamma Wave Sweeps Across Midwest (E, 15)
Infinity Formula Goes Missing! (B, 17)
Demons Downtown! Has Our Comeuppance Come Due? (E, 19)
Extract Crisis
Alien Ship Crashes In Downtown! (C, 17)
Deadly Legacy Virus Cured? (C, 19)
Fear Grips World As “Worthy“ Terrorize Cities (D, 18)
In typical Guardians fashion this roster favours shooting the enemy up over scoring a lot.
Comic recommendations:
Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest are fantastic and see the original formation of the modern Guardians.
That's it for today.
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Thank you for reading and Cheers from Germany 🍻
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