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, three 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. And honestly owning both is a very good idea, too.
The first additional pack I'd for Avengers is the "Captain America and the Avengers" 5 pack including: War Machine, Captain America Sam Wilson, Ant-Man, Wasp and She-Hulk. Sam has a very high potential of being your most played model in Avengers, regardless of if he's your leader or not. Ant-Man and Wasp now work great under Steve 1, War Machine is worth a try and She-Hulk is both a decent affiliated 6 threat and a pathway to an A-Force dual.
The next pack I'd get is called Avengers Brains and Brawns and contains Hulkbuster (the star of the pack), Hulk, Winter Soldier and Vision. They are supposed to release later this year but we don't have an exact date yet.
What leaderships are available and what is the typical game plan?
A Day Unlike Any Other is a fantastic leadership. There is a good reason that "everyone is good under Steve" is one of the most common sayings in MCP. That mostly refered to the pre August 26 Updates version of the leadership that worked slightly different but since it's overall better now than it was it's unlikely that the saying will go away anytime soon.
All New All Different might not look super amazing at first sight. It is kind of bonkers good in reality though. You simply get a ton 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.
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
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
A. If you have a good 3 threat splash and some leaders in your squad the card is very good. 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 and he can now finally also hold extracts while tiny which makes him a safe grab in the updated Steve 1 leadership (transform, get the power refunded, hitch a ride, move once, pick up move back). He only has to drop them when he wants to hitch a ride which is a big improvement and combined with his increased health make him a good objective focused 3 threat.
Beast (3)
B+. Fast, comparably tanky (even though he didn't get a health increase) 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 mostly rely on Stealth to stay on his feet. Increased health from the update does help him to stay on his feet longer and have more power for his kit.
Black Widow (2)
B. Fast, through Stealth and Martial Artist not completely trivial to remove, affiliated 2 threat.
Black Widow, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (3)
B. A fine 3 threat but often overlooked because of the other choices on offer here and, as in all her affiliations, has to also fight against her other versions. Parting shot and stealth make her semi safe to grab an extract on the midline as 6 health is seldom going to be one shot.
Blade (4)
B-. Blade is 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. He only gained a point of Stamina on the back so he is still in danger of being spiked on his healthy side but it's a worthwile risk.
Captain America (Steve Rogers) (4)
B. Steve 1 is incredibly boring but good just good at what he does. You'd seldom consider him if he's not leading for squad but he is an incredible bodyguard especially on his injured side.
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)
C. Carol 1 is a model that doesn't like the change to the Steve 1 leadership a lot as it means it takes her even longer to get to her Binary Form. If you can have her use that every activation she is fantastic but that is very hard to achive.
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 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 are a great combination for a back secure sitter.
Hulk (6)
B. Hulk took a pretty significant nerf in the August 26 update. He is not a bad model now, but also not a great one anymore. Not being able to throw characters per superpower is fine and forces people to play him less as a control piece and more as a pure damage dealer but his Gamma Leap costing 4 power now means his first activation will mostly be walk, walk, maybe throw a piece of terrain (which isn't nothing but of course you want your 6 threat to attack as often as possible). Hulk gaining Peerless is not a huge deal here in affiliation.
Hulkbuster (6)
A. Hulkbuster is fantastic. Both his miniature and his stat card now finally as well. his former weaknesses of being displaced and chipped down have both been fixed while his attacks were always fantastic. He importantly did not gain Peerless either.
Invincible Iron Man (4)
A-. Especially under the new Steve 1 leaderhsip Invincible Iron Man really deserves his name. He already was super annoying to get off the board and now at 7/7 and basically free damage reduction (in Steve 1) he's very unlikely to ever leave the table. He doesn't have particular great offensive output himself but makes up for it with his offensive reroll help for his friends.
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)
B+. The cheapest access to the Stark TTCs and a good back point sitter. He doesn't feel like playing Iron Man very much but he is doing his job on the board well.
King T‘Challa (5)
A. An absolute killing machine. He was toned down a little bit offensively and Peerless makes it a bit harder to include him in some squads but thats really not an issue in Avengers.
Luke Cage (3)
A-. Some people are pretty upset, that Luke didn't get a Stamina increase in the Updates but he is still super tanky and brings Hereos for Hire.
Moondragon (3)
A. Moondragon is mostly played as a 4 threat with the Mind Gem in Avengers.
Ms. Marvel (3)
B. 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. He gained the flexibility to drop his extract if you need him to use speedster which is nice.
Rescue (3)
B. Rescue is hard to evaluate. She can absoluty ruin your opponents day with key heals to basically undo their turn but can sometimes also fail to do anything of importance for an entire game.
Ronin (4)
B+. 6/7 Stamina is good for a Stealth, Martial Artist killer. Doesn't do a whole lot else though.
Scarlet Witch (5)
B-. I love Wanda but she is just too slow to make use of her high damage potential, without outside help. Sam can help her (during his activation but also with his leadership) and Avengers Assemble is another way for her to move without having to waste an action to walk.
Shang-Chi (4)
A-. Shang-Chi caught a couple of necesarry nerfs but is still a very good brawler with some control. He just doesn't fill three different roles at the same time anymore.
She-Hulk (6)
B. You are probably better off playing A-Force but if you want to try her in Avengers she isn't unuseable here either.
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)
B+. 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. Underloved and underappreciated Thor 1 is a fantastic 5 threat. He is super flexible in offering offense, control and durability.
Tigra (4)
B+. Tigra is pretty fast (though being a Wallcrawler would have been nice...), has a great builder with range 3, Pierce and Hex triggers, a decent Spender that has a Stagger trigger and is the only character currently that can cause a 4 damage collision (but it is not that easy to set that up).
Vision (4)
A-. Vision is unexciting but good.
War Machine (3)
B-. War Machine finally got his desperately needed update and is now a bit better. I'm not sold on whether or not he is good now.
Wasp (3)
B+. Wasp is fast, hits deceptively hard and has a size 3 terrain which will catch people off guard. Since she can now hold extracts in tiny form with the update to the Steve 1 leadership she has become a safe grab (transform, get the power refunded, use the long move to reach the midline which is possible through the range 1 place of the transform, move back).
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. At 7/7 Stamina and shooting out of Stealth should mean he should very seldom ever KO or even daze in your game though.
Wolverine (4)
B+. While Wolverine kept his limited scenario impact on his imjured side getting him there with 8 Stamina and Healing Factor 2 is not going to be an easy task except for the very biggest mystic dice pool attackers.
Popular Splash Characters for the affiliation
With 42 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.
Gambit (3)
A. The ability to trigger the hit into a wild twice with his own ability and the Mighty Steve leadership turn up his damage potential to insane levels for a 3 threat.
Example Roster
Characters (10)* Captain America (4)
* Captain America (Sam Wilson) (3)
Ant-Man (3)
Wasp (3)
* Invincible Iron Man (4)
* Cable (5)
Moondragon (Mind) (4)
Hulkbuster (6)
Hawkeye (3)
Spider-Woman (4)
Team Tactics (10)
Avengers Assemble
Battle Plan
Bird of Prey
Sacrifice (R)
Patch Up (R)
Double Agent
Helios Laser Bombardment
Stark Armory
Pym Particles
Second Wind
Secure Crisis
Super-Powered Scoundrels Form Sinister Syndicate (F, 20)
Survivors Search for Safe Shelters (Z, 20)
Infinity Formula Goes Missing! (B, 17)
Strike Team Secures Shield Relay! (D, 17)
Power Overload! Factory Goes Up in Flames (Y, 19)
Extract Crisis
Alien Ship Crashes In Downtown! (C, 17)
Inhumans Deploy Advanced Weaponry (O, 18)
Skrulls Infiltrate World Leadership (J, 20)
Scientific Samples Found in Discovered Universe (D, 17)
Surprise Assault! Mutant Homes Destroyed (U, 16)
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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