Marvel Crisis Protocol: Monsters Unleashed Box Review

[[{“value”:”

The first time I read a Marvel comic with Dracula in it, I was surprised. My Marvel exposure up until that point had been solid 90s X-Men, Spiderman, and Spider-Man 2099 books, so I was surprised to see literally Dracula. 

If you’re wondering like me, how, let’s take a slight trip down memory lane. Marvel’s Dracula first appeared in 1972’s The Tomb of Dracula, due to the Comics Code Authority allowing comics to use characters and beings from established literary works. This is also why we have Morbius, from the well-received and critically acclaimed movie, Morbius. Jokes aside, Dracula was a part of Marvel that focused on horror books, which also included The Living Mummy, Frankenstein’s Monster, and Werewolf-by-Night.  

Eventually, all of these characters from a different publishing venture ended up in books like Giant-Sized X-Men, Doctor Strange, and the Avengers, because honestly, who doesn’t want to see Captain America tear it up with Frankenstein’s Monster? And it’s with that last point that I think Atomic Mass Games were thinking about when they produced the “Monsters Unleashed” box, which dips into the rich horror lore of Marvel, producing some excellent models and exciting thematic powers, a one-shot event, and some beautiful artwork. Let’s dig in.

The finished models are dynamic and are full of character.

In this set, you’ll notice it’s a larger box – this is because the sprues are bigger due to the inclusion of custom bases, which is a nice touch from the generic “city street” basing you normally see with Marvel Crisis Protocol. Once again, these sprues are wonderfully designed, but there is just one customization option, an alternative Dracula head, which unfortunately has a pretty wild mold line running through it.

Please give us more themed bases, AMG!

Assembly of the models is smooth. Barely any mold lines, however both N’Kantu (Living Mummy) and Dracula have some thin parts, so be careful when assembling them. Werewolf and Frankenstein are some of the easiest models I’ve ever assembled, so look forward to a fast build. (Also, stay tuned to Gaming Trend for a Painting Tutorial on some of these models in April!)

These also look awesome on the Tomb of Dracula Terrain

Now, let’s get to the gameplay. You’re dealing with a pretty tough team. First off, the entire team can reduce damage which makes it very hard for your opponent to try to win via KOs. Dracula can take this a step further with Blood Feast, which allows for healing after the attack, and putting a bleed counter on the target. Secondly, they can hit hard. Dracula has Ancestral Blade, which allows him to roll 7 dice. Frank and the Wolf can hit 6 die, and The Mummy is a 4/2/4 (power/energy/mystic) for only 3 threat, which is cheap when building your force. Oh, and because it’s a Mummy, it’s immune to bleeding (no blood), hexes (it’s mystical), and poison (it’s a mummy?).

Powerful cards do a good job of evoking their comic-book pasts

You have a variety of effects you can lay out on your opponents as well. Thick Skull means damage dealt by Frankenstein means he’s also staggering the target. The Wolf scares a target with Unearthly Howl, causing them to lose power points, and The Mummy can collect souls, which can be used to gain life, power, or remove any other special conditions. 

But Vlad takes the blood in this pack. By spending 1 power, the vampire can shapeshift into a variety of forms, which give him flight, a faster movement, or the ability to vanish into mist, healing 2 damage.  Check out the cards for more info.

Affiliation cards add complexity to the team

Next is their ability cards, also wonderfully themed, and the back art makes a beautiful panel. As a Leader, Dracula takes over, and can bleed any opponent within 2 of any ally, which is more useful when applied to an already bleeding enemy, because now an ally can heal. The Wolf chooses what phase of the moon is happening, gaining a reroll ability, either depending on the special conditions on the target, or if it’s holding or contesting an extraction token.  The Mummy gets to leverage the captured souls by adding them to an attack roll, which results in the target gaining Hex. Finally, Frank takes on the role of a monstrous shield, dealing damage back at the enemy based on the damage he has (similar to the story of Frankenstein, whereas he became more enraged the more hurt he was). 

Lastly, this pack comes with a One-Shot event, which pulls in Thrall tokens (also included) to serve as defenders of a size 5 terrain feature. If a character ends up within 2 spaces of a Thrall, they take damage, a power, and the bleed condition. This can really make extraction dangerous. However, I do wish I had actual Thrall models vs tokens, but a spooky man can dream.

At the end of the day, this is an awesome pack. I’ll probably run them on their own, or definitely build a spooky Cabal based faction.  If you’re into the horror side of Marvel, give these ones a shot (with a silver bullet).

Affiliate Links

“}]] [[{“value”:”The first time I read a Marvel comic with Dracula in it, I was surprised. My Marvel exposure up until that point had been solid 90s X-Men, Spiderman, and Spider-Man 2099 books, so I was surprised to see literally Dracula. 

If you’re wondering like me, how, let’s take”}]]  Read More