In this cycle of Marvel Champions there was added to the game the first campaign expansion, Rise of the Red Skull, four additional Hero packs, and the scenario pack The Once and Future Kang!
The Rise of the Red Skull expansion first has two hero packs included: Spider-Woman and Hawkeye. Spider-Woman has been a little tricky to get the hang of as she gets more powerful for each aspect you play during your turn but has middling abilities otherwise. Hawkeye is much more variable and has more abilities to thwart schemes and attack both the villain and their minions. The expansion also has five villains to fight against standalone or in a progressive campaign. The villains are Crossbones, Absorbing Man, Taskmaster, Zola, and Red Skull himself. I played some villains individually but the first full playthrough of the campaign was with none other than Captain America and that was the perfect hero to go through it. A very fun expansion.
The four hero packs I tried out were:
Ant-Man: This hero needs to change between giant and tiny sizes every turn for increased effect but needs some help from teammates from time to time..
Wasp: Not great against tough independent villains but very good thwarting and against minions. A good teamup with Ant-Man..
Quicksilver: Could not beat Rhino with Bomb Scare after four tries but does well when teamed up with other heroes. Needs time to develop upgrades.
Scarlet Witch: Very good solo but because of her powerful abilities flipping encounter cards, needs to finish the game before the encounter decks is refreshed too many times or they are swamped with scheme markers to reduce.
Team Ups: In my last Marvel Champions post I spoke briefly about the ability to do solo play team-ups. Since the heroes in this cycle are very suitable for it I tried Scarlet Witch/Quicksilver and Ant-Man/Wasp team-ups against Rhino, Klaw, Ultron, and the Rise of the Red Skull initial villains.
The Once and Future Kang: For this interesting scenario pack, after Kang is defeated the first time, he splits the heroes he is against into independent play areas. After the level two villain is defeated by a hero, they can choose which hero join until all level two Kangs are defeated. The final Kang will be increased in side schemes depending on how well the heroes did. This plus his ability to give heroes debilitating or annoying obligations means he can be tough to face but not impossible. I decided to use Doctor Strange and it was a good choice as the game was challenging but always had a way to keep going forward.
Next it is onto phase three with the Guardians of the Galaxy!
