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How to start Marvel: Crisis Protocol

 

Hello and welcome to SG Protocol, the leading Blog on everything MCP. 

Today we look at different routes to start playing MCP. 

Before buying anything you should download the free Jarvis Protocol app. If you like it (and you will) you can always think about joining the Patreon for it and give something back to the fantastic developer drakhaine. 

You can always find any card updates and crisis packs free to print on the AMG website. 

Now for spending your money:

Possible first purchases:

1. (Original) Core Set: 

Still useable: 
- 10 characters
- terrain for about half a board
- old style movement tools
- range tools
- 10 dice
- old style tokens
- some TTCs (more on that later) 
- some old style stat cards

Not anymore useable: 
- Crisis Cards
- some TTCs
- some character stat cards
- rule book

What you still need: 
- a 3x3 game mat (essential)
- some more terrain (recommended)
- 10 additional dice (recommended)

All 10 characters here in the original core Set (that's out of print but you can often still find it being sold for a decent price) are absolutely still useable, with some being absolute competitive staples to this day. All you need to do is get the current character stat cards for: Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man and Ultron (from AMGs website or Jarvis Protocol). 

The old style tokens are absolutely fine, too. I personally much prefer them to the newer ones. Only the crisis tokens that here still have a picture connected to a specific crisis aren't ideal but you can manage with them. 

Old style movement tools are still useable as well. The only difference is that they have rounded edges on both sides whereas the new ones have one flat side. It's a minimal difference. 

You can immediately throw out the rule book and the crisis cards. Both can simply be downloaded on AMGs website. 

To check which of the Team Tactics Cards you can still use and if they have changed best check the Jarvis Protocol app for the current legal set. 

Overall the original Core Set offers a cheap way into the game and is an especially good entry point when you are interested in playing Avengers. 

2. Earth's Mightiest Core Set 

EMCS is the current core set of the game and almost everything inside is still useable. The only exception is the rule book which has gotten an update you can download from AMGs website. No rules were changed in that update only some added to the end of the book. So to learn the core rules you can absolutely still use it. 

It comes with 11 characters including a character with Grunts in Ultron, Metal Tyrant and a character that transforms in Captain Marvel, Cosmic Avenger. The terrain in the box also covers about 3/4s of a table. You can make do with it but that would be a rather sparse table. 

The characters inside this set are all different from the ones in the OG Core Set. You can mix and match them. What you can't do is having Spider-Man and Spectacular Spider-Man both on the field in the same game as they are both Peter Parker but both can be in your roster. More on that here

What you still need: 
- a 3x3 game mat (essential)
- some more terrain (recommended)
- 10 additional dice (recommended)

EMCS is the perfect entry point into this game as it already gives you an option for a full roster and teaches the unique mechanics of Grunts and Transformation characters. I would especially recommend it if you're interested in playing Cabal. 


3. Getting both OG Core Set and EMCS, is it worth it? 

If you can and want to handle the combined price point I'd say yes it is. Combining the sets gives you more than enough terrain to cover a table and have some options for different set ups. You also have enough dice then. It's very very rare that you'd ever need more than 20 dice, even between two players. 

Having two sets of range and movement tools also means you can play comfortably with two players. Each could even have a full roster of Avengers/ SHIELD or Cabal/Hydra. They wouldn't be ideal but still good starting points. Or could you mix and match between the two players. 

4. Getting into the game without a Core Set 

If none of the characters or the terrain in the Core Sets interests you, you can start the game without a Core Set. What you need to purchase then is a dice set, movement and range tool set and get some tokens from somewhere. As always a game mat is essential and some terrain should also be had. In a pinch you can just use random stuff from your house. 

For tips on how to start each affiliation in the game check out my Affiliation Overviews


5. Single Person starter sets (coming soon)

In October AMG will release the first two single person starter sets: 


These will contain ten models, ten dice and the measuring tools each at a very fair price point of 89,99$ from Asmodee (so you'll be able to find them even cheaper through local games stores most likely). 
Importantly Will Shick said, that the X-Men starter pack (which doubles as a Brotherhood of Mutants starter pack) will be in the line up permanently while the Spider-Foes starter will be on sale for a limited time (no information as to how long) until the models will get split up into smaller boxes again. 
Asgard and Guardians of the Galaxy were mentioned in getting a starter pack somewhere down the line too. 

What you still need here is: 
- enough terrain to fill a board 
- a 3x3 game mat 


I hope this is useful for people interested in starting this awesome game. 

Cheers from Germany 🍻 


 

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