Why should you play the affiliation
Avengers are rather popular characters I'd say from their movies and comics. 😅
On the table they have a gigantic pool of affiliated models, four different leaderships and a wide variety of available play styles.
How to start the affiliation
If you own either core set you already have a good starting point. I like the old one (or the Avengers affiliation pack if you can't find the old core set anymore) better, but the new one is fine too.
The first pack I'd always get for Avengers is War Machine and Captain America Sam Wilson. Sam has a very high potential of being your most played model in Avengers, regardless of if he's your leader or not. Beware that his leadership hat several erratas that aren't printed on an official card yet. Use Jarvis for an updated version.
Next up I'd get Luke Cage and Iron Fist and afterwards Hulk. Luke and Hulk will be in basically every list and Danny Rand is a fine model to own too.
After those it's really down to taste. I love both Vision and Cable (updated stat card) in Avengers but both come with unaffiliated box partners (Winter Soldier, updated twice, and Domino respectively). Ant-Man and Wasp are two tonnes of fun to play but are the rare exceptions of not being particularly great under Steve 1.
What leaderships are available and what is the typical game plan?
A Day Unlike Any Other is basically an insane leadership. It makes almost every character in the game better which is why "everyone is good under Steve" (which you'll hear a lot in MCP content). It is especially great with characters that have active and reactive superpowers and even better with those that can use them to assist their allies. A typical great combi is having Steve Bodyguard an attack and Cable giving him the Shields for it as both only pay one power here. Because the leadership calls out that it works for each character. It's one of the two oldest leaderships in the game but still one of the very best.
A Steve 1 list can be tuned to play basically every game plan which Pat Dunforts Attrition Death ball 19 threat squad of Steve, Shang-Chi, Hulk and Cable maybe being the most competitively strong option at the moment.
All New All Different might not look super amazing at first sight. It is kind of bonkers goof in reality though. You simply get a tonne of good stuff whenever one of your models dazes or KOs which absolutely will happen during the course of any games.
Sam teams are traditionally more of a type 2 team but they can be built to type 3 as well.
Hulkbusters is a cool idea for a leadership but it is super matchup dependent. Against Asgard, Spider-Foes or other Avengers who all have a lot of affiliated throws it can be decent but the opportunity cost of loosing either Steve's or Sam's leadership is extremely high and probably not worth the trade off.
The most aggressive Avengers leadership comes with First Avenger in Earth Mightiest Heroes. It works particularly well with characters that have strong triggers on their attacks like Thor, Prince of Asgards Throw. Mighty Steve teams will mostly play a type 3 game plan using the leadership to punch damage through or get the aforementioned triggers. Having a lot of displacement from triggers is also good.
(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?
Wonder Man would be my pick for most likely added character in the future but he's not going to be a leader. He does appear on two separate TTCs already so he must at least be on AMGs mind.
Hercules also shows up on a TTC now and has been an Avenger but that didn't matter for Jane Foster so no guarantees here.
Other historical leaders of the Avengers are all in the game already with multiple versions: Carol Danvers, Tony Stark and T'Challa, and we're not supposed to get more duplicates in the near future.
Rating every affiliated TTC and Character
Team Tactics (4)
Anger Management
D. It's expensive but at least the effect is also undesirable...
Avengers Assemble
A+. You'll play this card in absolutely every Avengers game you'll ever play.
Reserve Members
B+. If you have a good 3 threat splash (it's going to be Zemo, isn't it?) and some leaders in your squad the card is pretty cool. Remember that it doesn't have to be an Avengers leadership so Cable, Black Panther, King T, Invincible Iron Man etc. can all trigger the effect, too.
Second Wind
B+. Getting rid of Stun and healing a critical Wound can be quite good even if it's not an every game card.
Characters (38)
Ant-Man (3)
B-. Ant-Man zooms around the board at incredible speed and is decent at punching out other small threat characters but not being able to take extracts with him in tiny form is a big downside.
Beast (3)
B+. Fast, comparably tanky and has a cheap throw. Beast is a staple in most of his affiliated places like X-Men, Inhumans and Servants of the Apocalypse. He's probably underplayed in Avengers as there's more competition for the slot here but he's a very good option to have.
Black Panther (4)
A. Original T'Challa is fast, durable and has great damage and control. Just be aware that he is significantly worse on his back side and his push isn't optional.
Black Panther, Chosen of Bast (3)
B. Bast Panther is a fine 3 threat. He has good attacks, is very fast with a medium base, pounce and Wall Crawler but he has to absolutely rely on Stealth to not just die. He also struggles to find his kit a lot of the time.
Black Widow (2)
A. Fast, durable, affiliated 2 threat.
Black Widow, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (3)
B-. A fine 3 threat but overwhelmed by the other choices on offer here and, as in all her affiliations, has to also fight against her other versions.
Blade (4)
B-. Blade is far better than his reputation but not good enough to choose him over some of the other 4s on offer here.
Cable (5)
A+. One of the best and most reliable 5 threats in the game and with great synergy with the leaderships.
Captain America (Sam Wilson) (3)
A+. Sam is basically an every game model in Avengers regardless of if he's the leader or not. Not featured in the 19 threat death ball but that's really the exception to the rule.
Captain America (Steve Rogers) (4)
B-. Steve 1 is incredibly boring but good just good at what he does. You'd never play him outside his own leadership though.
Captain America, First Avenger (4)
B. While I think his leadership is weaker (and his model terrible), Mighty Steve does do more on the table himself and it's not completely out of the question to play him under Sam instead of in his leadership.
Captain Marvel (4)
B- under Steve 1; C under the other leaders. Carol needs a lot of power to use her cool abilities and Steve 1 obviously help with that.
Captain Marvel, Cosmic Avenger (5)
C. Cosmic Carol does not work here because Steve can't help her get to her threshold to transform and none of the other leaderships help her either. She's not worth the 5 threat if she isn't transformed for the majority of the game.
Deadpool (3)
A. Deadpool is a super reliable and mobile 3 threat.
Doctor Voodoo (4)
A. While not as good as in Midnight Sons, Doctor Voodoo (updated stat card) is just extremely good at what he does (which is denying scoring, through his throw trigger on the builder and of course Possession).
Gwenpool (4)
A-. An even worse character than Deadpool in the comics but a fantastic ball of stats on the table. She's fighting with a lot of competition for the slot here but she's probably the most tanky affiliated 4 threat after Steve 1 himself.
Hawkeye (3)
A. I love Hawkeye. Range 5 fire power and what's basically a Web Swing make his 4 health on the front pretty insignificant and while he scores points and hands out conditions.
Hulk (6)
A+. For the longest time Hulk (updated stat card) was by far and large the best model in the game. There may be even better models out there now but Hulk is still beyond incredible (😉).
Hulkbuster (6)
B+. Hulkbuster would be fantastic, if Hulk wouldn't exist. If you like him, play him! His model is awesome and he's a tonne of fun on the table. He just dies very quickly (which is his main weakness). He is also by far the best user of Stark Armory (due to his 65mm base) and brings access to Helios Laser Bombardment.
Invincible Iron Man (4)
B. iTony also gives access to the Stark TTCs, has an offensive reroll bubble and is very hard to kill. His own offensive output isn't super great though.
Iron Fist (3)
A-. Danny is fast, rather tanky, can use Heroes for Hire and has an unique threat with his spender that activates the target.
Iron Man (3)
A. The cheapest access to the TTCs and a premier back point sitter. He doesn't feel like playing Iron Man very much but he is doing his job on the board very well.
King T‘Challa (5)
A-. An absolute killing machine. He can die rather quickly himself though and comes in a laughably expensive pack.
Luke Cage (3)
A+. The best bodyguard in the game and also has Heroes for Hire on top of it. Luke will basically be in all your Avengers lists.
Ms. Marvel (3)
A under Steve 1, B under the others. Kamala needs to transform as fast as possible to be worth her threat. She very much is if she can manage it.
Quicksilver (3)
B+. As you'd expect Pietro is your man if you need a fast objective runner.
Scarlet Witch (5)
B-. I love Wanda but she is just too slow to make use of her high damage potential.
Shang-Chi (4)
A++. Remember when I said, that some models might have taken Hulks crown? Shang is definitely that in the 4 threat department. Every competitive roster needs an answer to him and also has to face the question of why they play character X over him even as a splash. In affiliation there's really no valid argument outside of "I just don't want to".
She-Hulk (6)
C+. Without her leadership She-Hulk sadly just isn't worth her threat...
Spider-Woman (4)
A. Fast, durable, has a steal etc. Jessica Drew does everything you need her to do.
Squirrel Girl (4)
B. Squirrel Girl is especially interesting in Mighty Steve where her mandatory place on wild on her builder becomes a much more manageable thing. You can use the leadership to reliably trigger it or, in an emergency, even turn your wild into a hit to avoid the place if it would be disadvantageous.
The Black Widow (4)
A. One of the best characters in the game to grab a midline extract and hold on to it. She does have some offensive output, too.
Thor, Prince of Asgard (5)
A/ A+ under Mighty Steve. Underloved and underappreciated Thor 1 is a fantastic 5 threat and the single best character in the game on Major Fisk (for which you can build a great squad here with Hulk). He loves both Steve's leaderships to either reliably charge each round or get his throw trigger more often.
Vision (4)
A-. Vision is one of the oldest characters in the game and never has been touched but also absolutely doesn't need it.
War Machine (3)
C. Where Vision is old but absolutely fine, War Machine needs a card update desperately to be a relevant option here again. He isn't super far off, being a tanky damage dealer but his spender is terrible and he needs a way to spend power. Giving him a taunt would be cool and thematic to his character I think.
Wasp (3)
B. Wasp is fast, hits deceptively hard and has a size 3 terrain which will catch people off guard.
Winter Soldier, Operative (4)
B. Bucky 2 is fine. You have a lot of options for his role though and maybe cost less threat than him.
Wolverine (4)
B. He's fine if you're on a full murder plan and/or want to be especially good at Major Fisk.
Popular Splash Characters for the affiliation
With 38 affiliated characters (the most of any affiliation) there's not really a need to splash anyone in. Here it often is the other way around where you don't splash people in to fill a specific hole but have characters that need one of the leaderships to use their full potential. Two famous examples are:
Heimdall under Steve 1:
B+. Heimdalls cool kit kind of just doesn't work with the power he is building. What if he got a discount on them? He suddenly becomes a very good reroll bubble character that can also teleport his friends on his turn.
Cyclops under Mighty Steve:
A. It drives Cyclops fans nuts but Mighty Steve (with whom Scott has had his differences in the comics) is by far and large Cycs best home. Getting to reliably Speed of Sight makes him a fantastic character in the roster.
Example Roster
Characters (10)
* Captain America (Steve Rogers) (4)
* Captain America (Sam Wilson) (3)
Black Widow (2)
* Cable (5)
Hulk (6)
Doctor Voodoo (4)
Vision (4)
Shang-Chi (4)
Iron Man (3)
Luke Cage (3)
Team Tactics (10)
Avengers Assemble
Second Wind
Battle Plan
Bird of Prey
Chi Mastery
Helios Laser Bombardment
Heroes for Hire
Stark Armory
Brace for Impact (R)
Patch Up (R)
Secure Crisis
Infinity Formula Goes Missing! (B, 17)
Mutant Madman Turns City Into Lethal Amusement Park (B, 18)
Super-Powered Scoundrels Form Sinister Syndicate (F, 20)
Extract Crisis
Struggle For The Cube Continues (F, 17)
Fear Grips World As “Worthy“ Terrorize Cities (D, 18)
Skrulls Infiltrate World Leadership (J, 20)
Comic recommendations:
I do enjoy Jed MacKeys current Avengers run.
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Thank you for reading and Cheers from Germany 🍻
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