Where does one even begin? Ministravaganza has concluded for 2022 and has left in it’s wake at least a year of upcoming releases. The event ran on twitch from Thursday July 14th through Saturday July 16th and featured an awesome opening ceremony, painting, live play and release streams across Marvel Crisis Protocol, X-Wing, Star Wars Legion and Armada. It would have been hard to find something not to get hyped about on this schedule:
Speaking of leaving things in their wake, Thursday kicked things off with a panel to play for what was easily one of the most impressive looking models we’ve seen thus far Malekith the Accursed, who will no doubt be carving Asgardians as well as anything else within range 3 as soon as he hits tables later this year:
We covered this pretty soon after release on Wait! Did I Roll a Wild? over on the Youtube, little did Dan and I know that this was only the start of a massive weekend of releases. We’ll be getting into all of those on the show, so we’ll only touch on the massive amount of releases from the weekend for now. We also took a look at the Ursa Major cards that we’re dropped in the days leading up to Ministravaganza.
Overall a pretty good start to the week and event. As always as well, if you want to preorder any of these or the other upcoming models a great place to do that is https://www.beardeddragongames.online/shop where you’ll get 15% off retail on any preorders or 10% off everything else with code “PCME10” at check out. Bearded Dragon Games lets us stream “Oh Yea! The Power Phase” every Monday night at 7pm EST on Twitch, and we couldn’t be happier to have their support as our LGS.
Plugs out of the way though, we have a slew of new announcements for new and existing players:
First up: New Affiliation Boxes for X-Men and Brotherhood
First off we love seeing easy and cost effective ways to get into this game and I love the fact that AMG continues to put out these boxes to help new players get a jump on playing their favorite characters. We found out later in the weekend that there were some major X-Men announcements yet to come so starting out with new affiliation boxes simply makes a lot of sense. Speaking of we have some new teases with a couple long awaited Brotherhood Members with Pyro and Blob.
Personally I couldn’t be happier that Blob is coming to the game, I know with Pyro on the way as well we could be looking at a counter box with Iceman and maybe another long awaited X-Favorite to be released along side of Pyro/Blob, but that’s purely speculation at this point. Either way, potentially seeing some 3 threats as well as some energy attacks with Pyro would be a very welcome addition to The Brotherhood of Mutants.
Continuing with X-Men releases, we got a massive one (in both size and scope) with the new Sentinels Affiliation:
This may have been the showstopper for a lot of people, and for me personally. The hype train was really rolling for this one and watching Dallas throw his mic accidently out of pure excitement to reveal this one was incredible to witness. What we know so far is that these 3 models will make up their own affiliation with a Prime Sentinel and then 2 Mk4 Sentinels as well, Cassandra Nova (hype) will also be included in this affiliation which will include a number of their own tactics card and customizable poses and battle damage. Some of the customization that was eluded to but not confirmed were Wolverine claw marks, blasts and holes and other battle damage, along with a number of other options. We also know that the Prime Sentinel is Larger than both Malekith and Dormammu. I wouldn’t be shocked if these also came along with a “Night of the Sentinels” Ultimate Encounter or Organized Play Kit as well. Continuing on with X-Men releases though:
An incredible looking new rivals set for Wolverine and Sabertooth. Two of the best looking Brothers in the X-Universe (ex: humor), this one seems like it will be different than the Spidey/Doc Ock set as we will be getting new Character Cards, Tactics Cards and more with this release. They didn’t touch heavily about the details to this one, but I would be surprised if they didn’t offer another way to get these cards. The terrain piece looks incredible and it’s inspired by the quintessential Wolverine #10.
Moving away from X-Men we also got a bunch of SHIELD releases as well starting with the models and cards for Steve Rogers, Captain America:
A number of fun things with this reveal first off we have Stars and Stripes!
This is a Bully America (and he apparently doesn’t even like those), with a Flurry on his builder, a throw on his spender (and a medium throw at that) as well as an extra movement with “On Your Left” I’m very excited to see how the Non-Leader Cap rounds out the Shield and potentially Avengers affiliation. I’m also overjoyed that AMG wasted nothing with added little nods like “On Your Left”, “Stars and Stripes”, “Language!” and “I’ve Knocked Out Tyrants Over 200 Times”. Well done. Continuing with the War Era Avengers we also got the model and cards for Nick Fury Sr, and The Howling Commandos:
Another stellar drop for War Era SHIELD, a really solid 3 threat (AND IT HAS DUM DUM DUGAN). This adds a bunch of neat mechanics and movement shenanigans. Another instance of Got Your Back is going to be fun, tagging this in with the beefy and updated Winter Soldier is probably going to see a lot of synergy and be fun to boot. This Nick Fury doesn’t lead shield, but it was mentioned that there will be another one later on who does! We also got a new tactics card for them as well:
I love this at an effect, almost having a secret deployment to figure out later. Maybe Wakanda Herbs got restricted for a lost more reason than just Nick Fury Jr. (like Father like Son). This is a really need Tactics Card that tells a story really well, fits with the theme and just shows AMG love the property as much as the fans do.
We also got some art for one of the OG Human Torch Tactics Cards inspired by Marvel Comics #1
Never to be outdone or outclassed one of the big and overwhelming series of reveals was Hydra. Now it’s own fully fledged affiliation, Ministravaganza treated the bad guys with class. Starting out with 2 different leaders Red Skull, Master of Hydra and Baron Strucker. Two very different leadership styles and threats all ready show Hydra as a variable force that can be played a lot of ways.
Starting out with Red Skull, Master of Hydra, his grunts and tactics cards:
A lot to unpack here, first off Leviathan Armor is a neat way to go for Red Skull, giving him a very Vision style defense variation. This is a big beefy Red Skull who is bend on domination and board control. His builder can trigger pushes and additional movement, his spender has a throw (a size 4 throw at that), bad luck protection with Empower Gauntlets, additional power generation and grunts. There’s a lot going on with this Red Skull and he’s all about dominating the field (and potentially The World). I love the thematic take on him in his prime, coming along and commanding some of these bad boys:
Actually not to bad for a Grunt. Range 4 energy attack is another to scoff at, and they can interact with your pay to flips for free. Not to shabby, for a Non-Bob Hydraling. We also got to look at a couple Red Skullian Tactics Cards as well.
So continuing with the Domination feel we have Occult Research, not only an AoE Tactical Stagger as Red Skull pulls down the power in a torrent of overwhelming showmanship, but it permanently gives him an extra action on his turn. This is so in tune with the vibe their going for and makes Red Skull truly the master of Hydra, played during the Power Phase as well, it doesn’t matter who has priority, if Red Skull, Master of Hydra ended the last round in position, he’s going to pop off. We also have Victory Assured, a nice desperate measure for Red Skull, being able to pay Stamina Damage to get up to an 11 dice Beam, that stuns himself if he Dazes or KOs and enemy. Once again, AMG nailing Red Skull.
Balancing out the overwhelming power of Red Skull, Master of Hydra, we also have Baron Strucker as the other leader, giving a lower threat and more corrosive take on the affiliation that really put them in a neat spot. This side of Hydra is all about crippling your opponent with special conditions and poisoning the world (friend and foes) around you. The leadership ability is fun as heck, and retroactively makes characters like Viper (no, really) a lot more valuable. I love the give and take with poisoning everyone within Range 3, but also giving rerolls within Range 2. Omega Red loves his leader, as do most Inhumans, Crystal seems like regular going forward with her ability to benefit from her special condition tool kit. This is a very fun leader, and I can’t wait to get it on the table. If Red Skull is a game of domination, Baron is game of attrition. Arrogance is an incredibly thematic power, that I personally will use every time, letting your ego double down to show off just how smart (or naïve) you are is just as spot on as it gets.
All right, so one of the surprising and to me at least incredibly exciting models to be teased and revealed was Arnim Zola. A Hydra 3 threat that plays very well with either of the Hydra leaders but seems to excel under Baron, Arnim Zola’s card hit spot on. Immune to Poison, adding Bleed, Shock, Slow or Stun on Wilds with his builder and Slow on his spender, Baron loves Zola, and Zola loves him right back. I also love both super powers which give Zola more dice or allies rerolls with a little downside if you roll a skull (unless your immune to bleed as well like Zola just so happens to be). Scientific Method as well, is an awesome card that fits Baron’s Hydra very well, dealing out some damage to the ally for a Mystic melee attack and a Mysterio/Ebony Maw style defensive mechanic. Lots of synergy here between the heads of Hydra, and AMG couldn’t have done a better job with it. We’re not done with Hydra yet either!
We also got some beautiful new Hydra Terrain AND A TANK! Not only is it rad as all get out, it also comes with a Red Skull in a Tank based Ultimate Encounter. They did say Sarah Rowan had a big part in this Ultimate Encounter and after her absolute homerun with Renewal of Vows (which we covered a couple times on the show), I couldn’t be more excited to see what she has in store for it.
You can also see us play Renewal of Vows here:
That’s somehow not all either, here are some other confirmations that were stated that we are still fathoming ourselves:
- New Hulk Model and Character is on it’s way
- New MODOK Model and Character is on it’s way
- Teases of new Web Warriors (Agent Venom anyone?), Asgardians (Sif? Mighty Thor? Warriors Three?), LOTS of Mutants, and more Spider-Foes (Shocker? Vulture? Rhino?)
This is just a summary for the most part and we’ll be diving into all of these on Wait! Did I Roll a Wild? which we stream every Thursday at 7pm EST at http://twitch.tv/professionalcasualnetwork , but man oh man is there a lot coming down the line for Marvel Crises Protocol. We are looking at months if not years with just the current reveal, and can’t wait for more. This was an incredible ministravaganza and we can’t wait to get these models and kits in our hands and on the tables. Well done Atomic Mass Games, well done.
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