Go get him, Danvers!
A-Force vs Cabal
Looking great in a costume isn't going to be enough to win me over.
Sure, the A-Force ladies are easy enough on the eye. Those shapely curves and slender cheekbones might trick many into overlooking their destructive tendencies. But the females of the masked species may be deadlier than the males.
Don't get in a twist, fellas, these statuesque sirens will leave you busted. And you'll never even know who they really were under all that luscious lycra - a sad ending to a tale we men know all too well.
Do I speak from the heart? Well, have you ever heard me do anything else?
I almost hate to stick a pin in this pin-up discussion, but there's the elephant in the room to mention. Thanos, Red Skull and Ultron. Is that the ultimate list of the Avengers worst screw-ups, or is anybody missing? Seriously, none of these freaks would be anywhere near New York if we weren't stuck with their main targets hanging out in the middle of Manhattan.
Where would be far enough away for their new base of operations? The moon? Mars? The Small Magellanic Cloud? The further, the better, say I!
J. Jonah Jameson
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A-Force
Stepping up next are A-Force (an Avengers team from a more matriarchal parallel universe) with Wasp, She-Hulk, Captain Marvel and Black Cat.
Tactics are: A-Force Assemble!, Special Delivery, Stalwart Determination, Pym Particles, Smash
Cabal
The baddest of the bad guys are led by Red Skull (although I don't think anyone's taking orders here), along with Thanos and Ultron. It's the smallest team in terms of numbers, but with two infinity gems on his mitt, they'll be packing a punch. The power commanding these (many) thrones will be Rapid.
Tactics are: Cosmic Invigoration, Cosmic Obliteration, Power of the Cosmos, Dark Reign, The Age of Ultron
Deployment
The first crisis is Mayor Fisk Vows To Find Missing Witnesses. I think Mayor Fisk has decided to sit this one out, but there are two witness objectives to be secured - 2VPs for doing so - and in the cleanup phase, the witnesses will move and inflict a point of damage on anyone nearby. Sounds like any game of hide-and-seek with my kids.
The other crisis is Struggle For The Cube Continues. There are five pieces of the Cosmic Cube to collect, as if Red Skull didn't have enough, and no limit on how many you can hold. 1VP for each piece, but it will inflict a point of damage during the power phase (as well as giving a bit of power as recompense)
The three villains deploy behind a truck. Either they're worried about line-of-sight or having a few cheeky roll-ups before battle commences.
Black Cat goes wide, looking at the objectives on the left flank.
She-Hulk and Wasp take the centre, ready to race forward on either side.
Captain Marvel gets the right flank, and dubious honour of facing all three antagonists at once.
The scramble is on! Captain Marvel and Black Cat race forward and pick up a Cube fragment each, with Wasp securing the Witness to the west.
Ultron, Thanos and Red Skull all emerge from hiding and bear down on Danvers, with Ultron grabbing a Cube fragment and Red Skull securing a Witness.
It's a fairly even start, but this seems a scenario when points will stack quickly (as well as damage!).
A-Force 4 : 3 Cabal
Round 2
Thanos wastes no time in teleporting forward and putting the hurt on Captain Marvel.
With one pip of damage left, she decides to do some good with it and flies over to Red Skull, delivering an uppercut and slinging a dumpster at Red Skull, who goes down dazed.
Ultron's having none of that, and blasts the last wound of Captain Marvel, picking up her piece of the Cube as she falls dazed.
On the other side, Black Cat takes over witness protection from Wasp, who flies She-Hulk into fray where she lays down a legal smackdown on Thanos, staggering him.
That leaves no-one controlling the eastern Witness, and with the majority of the Cube fragments in their possession, A-Force take a healthy leap in VPs.
Round 3
The battle of the dumpsters continue, as Red Skull gets back to his feet and unleashes the power of the cube against Captain Marvel and She-Hulk.
In return, the green glamazon unleashes the power of her fists against Red Skull and he is KO.
She-Hulk reserves a punch for Thanos, leaving him on a single point of damage. For his part, Thanos uses Cosmic Blast and Cosmic Portal to send She-Hulk to the far corner of the field, away from the action.
Now unsupported, Captain Marvel gets KO by Ultron, who flies back to secure the Witness.
Wasp is still on the other side of the field, securing the Witness and two Cube fragments. She's going to feel the pinch of this, as the Cube will inflict enough damage to daze her in the next power phase (and she's the only character with the power to voluntarily drop the assets by becoming tiny). But holding onto the fragments means an extra 2VPs and Janet's a team player.
Meanwhile Black Cat creeps closer to Thanos, ready to pick his pocket of a Cube fragment next turn.
And then - a sudden twist of fate. The eastern Witness is moved towards Thanos and inflicts a point of damage, sending him dazed. This is actually the best thing that could happen to him, as it means he'll bounce back up at the start of the next round.
Conversely, Wasp takes her two points of damage and becomes dazed at the start of the next round. So, despite their lead in the points, A-Force have lost their best asset-carrier at the worst time.
Round 4
Back on his feet in record time, Thanos picks up a Cube fragment and demonstrates his zero-tolerance policy for street crime by dazing Black Cat before she can steal it from him.
She-Hulk finds herself too far away from the action, and too burdened with special conditions, to get back into the fight.
Ultron zooms across to other side of the field, finding two dropped Cube fragments and an unsecured Witness - VP bonanza!
And in one swift move, the Cabal secure a whopping 8VP in a single turn. All A-Force can manage is one, and that sends them out of the qualifiers.
Back at the Bullpen
What a turnaround! I thought I had it there, but the unfortunate dazing of Thanos cost me victory (who'd have thought there was a wrong time to hurt your enemy). Well played, Rapid, who had a tough task to manage only three characters (even if they are all the hardest of hard nuts). The final move to scoop up all the points was pure ballet.
For full disclosure, on the day we played this game, we had a replay between B1llyb0b leading A-Force and Rapid leading Cabal. In this version, A-Force absolutely smashed it, and we flipped a coin to decide which result should count as the 'official' one. So Cabal are through, and the deciding factor between winning and losing, clearly, is me.
For myself, I think A-Force did pretty well. She-Hulk and Captain Marvel make for a formidable front row, while Wasp and Black Cat are great at taking objectives (maybe they'll do better in a crisis where the objectives don't bite back). I definitely could have improved my positional play, but they remain a team I'm very fond of.
Although I won't be playing them for a while - their tournament is over, and we have our first two quarter-finals filled!
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When it comes to a showdown, the weaker sex are always going to end up on the back foot. 'Nuff sed.
J. Jonah Jameson
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