Playing Marvel United

Well I'm way behind on getting to this one, but I finally got a chance to play Marvel United, a board game series that I probably would have collected pretty hard if I hadn't found Unmatched. Thankfully, I have a gaming friend with poor impulse control who works for a rival FLGS, and he seems to have plenty for us to mess around with. For those that don't know, Marvel United is a cooperative board game featuring almost every Marvel superhero you can probably think of. The minis are "SD" or chibi style and different enemies change up how the game flows.

So, of course, for the first game, I picked the best Avenger, Hawkeye (Clint Barton) as Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) wasn't available and there isn't a heroic version of Doctor Doom currently available.

See, they're pretty cute, right? I'm not sure I'd want to paint an entire set in that cartoony style, and some look better than others, but that's definitely Clint Barton. I probably would have liked a more Fraction/Aja version in tracksuit pants and a bandaged face, but I won't be mistaking him for anyone else.

Our first game was against Ultron, who kicked our butts, but that may have been my fault, as I didn't know how the game worked and kept saying "this looks bad" and calling everyone "bro". But the great thing about games like Marvel United though, is that we can reset and get going again quickly.

This time, I decided to play Jessica Jones, who looks pretty naff really, but I guess that'll happen when you don't really have a costume. We did better that game, against Onslaught of all people, narrowly losing on the last couple of card flips, which tends to happen with these kind of games.

For the final round, against Loki, I played as Blade, with the rest of the team being Squirrel Girl, Howard the Duck and Shadowcat, which turned out to be a pretty brutal combination, except poor Kitty, and we mopped up the God of Mischief in short order. Marvel United is a lot of fun, though I probably prefer other co-op games like the D&D series, Sentinels of the Multiverse or Pandemic. The minis are cute, but not really usable for other games, unlike my Unmatched characters. If you wanted a fun collection and a game to play with friends that scratches your obscure Marvel character itch (there's Alpha Flight!), then this is probably the game for you.

Miniatures Finished: Unmatched - Hell's Kitchen

I was a little iffy on picking up the Marvel Unmatched sets at first, not that they didn't look fun, but I already have so many games where I can play Marvel characters, you know? However, Hell's Kitchen is kind of perfect. Not only are these three characters kind of a match for each other, they have a reason to fight each other and the entire set evokes a classic Frank Miller Daredevil comic. If I was just going to get one Marvel Unmatched box, it was going to be Hell's Kitchen, for sure.

Daredevil, Elektra and Bullseye, unlike the regular Unmatched sets, the Marvel ones have sculpted detail on the bases.

Miniatures Finished: Unmatched - Cobble & Fog

Cobble & Fog was the first Unmatched set I bought, as it was available at work and the characters looked like a fun combination of Victorian Literary figures. All of them play quite well too, which means the box is a fun stand-alone as well as good to mix with the others. As discussed before, I'd be very happy to have another in this series from Unmatched.

The Invisible Man, Doctor Jekyll, Dracula and Sherlock Holmes.

Miniatures Finished: Unmatched - 2-character boxes

Been painting my Unmatched figures as a little break from other projects, they're nice for board game figures, but not quite as nice as some others on the market.

Little Red and Beowulf, both strong characters with interesting play styles, Little Red is the first time I can recall having to paint wicker.

Robin Hood and Bigfoot. I'm a big fan of playing Bigfoot, he's powerful and pretty damn mobile for a character that strong.

Unmatched - Characters and Concepts I'd like to see

A little while back, I spoke about the Unmatched board games and my enjoyment of them. Since then, I've invested in even more and do my best to play the game more often than I buy expansions, though I don't always succeed. Unmatched has expanded since I wrote my last entry to include a couple of ideas that I had thought to write here,to include PvE expansions in the "Adventures" series. Of course, there is still room for improvement, I am not fond of the way all the Marvel expansions are entirely heroes and not villains, for example, but I'll discuss that more below. So that this whole exercise doesn't have too much of an air of wish listing, I'll endevour to give examples of how I feel a character should run, or at least what an idea would be bringing to the game that isn't there already. As I tend to go with these articles, I'll begin with what I feel to be more reasonable and within the realm of possibility, and then move on to more fantastic and fanciful ideas.


More Villains

Whilst this feels the most prevalent with the Marvel expansions, Unmatched always seems to focus more on heroic characters, and I feel a bit of variety in this regard would make for a better ludonarrative experience. With the whole "crossover" nature of Unmatched, the Battle of Legends boxes are fine, and Cobble & Fog only has the one heroic character in Sherlock Holmes, but a mix of "baddies" in there would be great. The Marvel boxes are especially baffling, with three heroes all fighting one another for no real reason; makes me wonder why there wasn't a "Secret War" or "Contest of Champions" overlay to the line. "Hells Kitchen" did it correctly as far as I'm concerned, with a "Hero", "Antihero" and "Villain" in Daredevil, Elektra and Bullseye. Of course, Marvel is done in Unmatched for now, and The Witcher sets did this better, but the upcoming Hellboy release could easily fall into this trap again.  


Another Cobble & Fog

Cobble & Fog was the first Unmatched I purchased, and I think it is a great little box, even if Sherlock is very strong compared to some other characters. I would think that "Cobble & Fog 2" would be an easy sell, especially as the four-character boxes always feel like better value. This would be a pretty straightforward box to get together as well, using the original as a basis. Throw in Abraham Van Hellsing to deal with Dracula (probably with some kind of open hand mechanic to represent his knowledge of foes) and James Moriarty to menace Holmes. I see Moriarty being a character that plays a lot of schemes and relies on their Sidekick, Colonel Moran, to do the actual damage. Then there's plenty of other ideas that would work, like Spring-Heeled Jack as a hit-and-run type and maybe even Fagin with a horde or urchin Sidekicks that pinch your cards.


Unmatched Adventures

The "Adventures" line offers a lot of opportunity for Unmatched, even without branching out too much further from ideas they have already executed. Obvious ideas include a "Cobble & Fog" version with Captain Nemo as the antagonist, Hellboy featuring the Old Ones and even Battle of Legends with a Hydra or Titan of some kind. I have one idea, however, and it is a very 'me' idea, using Superheroes of the Golden Age; it would fit with the Pulp idea of the first "Adventures" set and require no licensing whatsoever. Taking inspiration from things like "Super Wizard Returns" and "The Next Issue Project", I think the enemy being an all-powerful Stardust and the heroes being pulp standards like The Shadow, Lady in Red and The Spider would be a fun little box that adds some variety without being too far off the mark for the series.


Battle of Legends

If I had a favourite series of Unmatched, it would have to be "Battle of Legends". A crossover fighting game of mytho-historical and literary heroes is right down my alley and I'm a little shocked there aren't more of these than the Marvel versions, as they almost write themselves. There is a line of taste to consider, to be sure, like I'd avoid figures that are still broadly worshiped or are historically rather iffy, so probably no Shiva or Baron Samedi and certainly no Torquemada Corteaz or Davey Crokett (George Washington getting a character still baffles me). Still, that leaves a massive list of possible characters, just off the top of my head; M. Zenith, Herakles, Guan-Yu, Jack the Ripper, Hua Mulan, Quetzalcoatl, Maui, Brunhilde, Raffles, The Phantom of the Opera, Scarlet Pimpernel, John Carter, Raymond Carter, Carmilla, the possibilities are endless. We see this in many of the two-character boxes as well, so there's no limit to this theme except weird rights and good taste.


Fighting Games

So this is where I get a tad wish-list-y, Unmatched is basically a fighting game on a board right? So why not try for a fighting game license? Sure, there's huge problems with this idea and it's pretty unrealistic, but if it could be pulled off, it's tailor-made for Unmatched. Obvious ideas include Street Fighter (for that "Marvel Vs Capcom" vibe) or Mortal Kombat, but they're the big boys and will probably cost a packet to license. So how about some also-rans like Killer Instinct, Primal Rage or Rise of the Robots? Surely they're not asking the same money as Marvel, you know? I feel like I barely need to justify this one, as the ideas would translate almost straight across; big slow brawlers play the same, strike and fade works just fine and most of the moves already have elaborate names for the cards. Add in some retro pixel art for the fans and the whole package would be pretty neat.

Unmatched - In battle, there are no equals...

I've recently become quite enamored with the board game series Unmatched, a 1v1 miniatures combat board game from Restoration Games and Mondo Games. The game first came to my attention because of a set entitled "Hell's Kitchen", containing Marvel's Daredevil, Bullseye and Electra, enabling the players to recreate one of the most iconic fights in the history of Marvel Comics. Now owning every expansion bar one, with plans to purchase more as they become available at work, it's pretty safe to say that I'm hooked, even if I don't get to play the games all that often. The game borrows heavily from previous board games like Tanhauser and Star Wars: Epic Duels, but mixes those mechanics together into something unique and very playable. Each character comes with a health dial and a deck of cards that enable them to fight and act during the game, some come with tokens for sidekicks or special abilities, but none are "balanced" in the way games tend to be; they are, in fact, unmatched.

Despite being interested most in the Hell's Kitchen set, the first Unmatched box I bought was "Cobble & Fog", because it what was available at work. This box contains The Invisible Man, Dracula, Doctor Jekyll and Sherlock Holmes, so hit my Literature Graduate heart full-on straight away. What immediately enamored me with Unmatched was the quality of the product, not only in terms of how it plays, but how it is packed. Each game comes with a vac-formed tray that fits all the components, divided by character, allowing enough space for each deck to be properly sleeved and still stored. The miniatures are nice enough and take paint well (I'm hoping to have some done up to show before too long) and the range of characters is amazing; in addition to those mentioned above, I also have Robin Hood, Bigfoot, Medusa, Beowulf, Little Red Riding Hood, Sinbad, King Arthur and Alice, with a final total that will be somewhere over 100 with just what's slated currently. 

For me, Unmatched is a great little game to play between larger games that scratches the miniature combat itch without requiring an elaborate set-up, that is still nicely presented and visually pleasing. Plus, as each new character is different in their own way, replay value is excellent, I still own several characters that have never seen use, let alone played with myself. I certainly will be painting mine, of course, but I think the models look alright as they are, even if things like facial detail can be a little soft. Initially, I didn't play to collect the entire series, but when selecting between the Marvel sets, I realised that I was getting all but one, so I bit the bullet and got that two. With luck and generous friends I was able to get the Jurrasic Park, Bruce Lee and Deadpool sets, so now I'm just waiting on Lee Vs Ali to hit Australian distributors. Sure, I'm not as keen on The Witcher or Buffy, but having more characters is fun to add to the mix. The system is ripe for a certain kind of character and there's plenty of gas left in the tank, as far as I'm concerned.