Marvel Knockout Quarter-Final 2: Avengers vs Cabal

One way or another, we're losing a big guy tonight.

Avengers vs Cabal!

On one side, a rampaging, rage-driven monster who can't tell friend from foe. 

On the other, a dogmatic maniac hell-bent on pursuing a deadly agenda come what may. 

America, I'm just glad it's not election season. 

J. Jonah Jameson

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Avengers

Fresh from pummelling the Hydra goons, Monkey moves up a level to take on the cosmic bad guys. Captain America (Sam Wilson) leads Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Hulk (although the Hulk is probably not so much led, as pointed in the right direction).

Tactics are: Anger Management, Avengers Assemble, Gamma Launch, Ricochet Blast, Bird of Prey

Cabal

The last bad guys in the tournament (depending on how you feel about S.H.I.E.L.D.) - Red Skull, Thanos and Ultron. The mad Titan is so confident of victory that he's only bringing the Soul Gem on his gauntlet (the rest are at the cleaners / down the back of the sofa).

I, Stylus, will be stepping into the breach (in the absence of their usual commander, Rapid) and bringing my 33% win record with me.

Tactics are: Cosmic Invigoration, Cosmic Obliteration, Power of the Cosmos, Dark Reign, The Age of Ultron.

Deployment

The first crisis is Gamma Wave Sweeps Across Midwest, which gives us three Gamma Shelters down the midline of the board. These are worth 1VP for securing the nearest and middle shelter, and 2VP for the furthest one. Anyone who is not within Range 2 of a shelter at the end of a round will suffer damage.

Which makes things awkward for the second crisis: Alien Ship Crashes In Downtown! This involves picking up three Power Core tokens, scoring 1 VP for each. But if a character is holding too much power in the Cleanup Phase, they can damage themselves, and everyone around them.

So basically, the plan is run for cover in the Gamma Shelters, but don't forget to bring the radioactive bits with you.

The Avengers spread out to cover all three power cores: Iron Man on the right flank, with Ant-Man and Hulk down main street.

Captain America took the flank out to the far left, behind the dubious cover of a Fisk garbage truck.

The Cabal are slightly more grouped together, with Ultron, Thanos and Red Skull spread out around the centre.

Avengers win priority and we're off!

Round 1

With characteristic enthusiasm, Hulk steams forward and picks up the central power core, securing the central gamma shelter at the same time.

Thanos and Ultron move to secure their home gamma shelter, and throw a speculative Energy Blast that bounces off his green hide.

Red Skull uses the Cosmic Cube to gain more power, at the cost of some of his health (this will become a theme). But he's able to put that power to good use, as he teleports onto the left power core and picks it up, with enough movement left to reach the central gamma shelter.

Using more conventional means, Captain America flies onto the right power core and secures that (albeit at the cost of being outside gamma shelter range).

Ant-Man scurries onto to his home gamma shelter, and Iron Man eschews the safety of a gamma shelter for a chance to Repulsor Blast Red Skull (which does nothing).

Iron Man also calls Avengers Assemble, allowing Hulk to jump forward and really end up in the thick of it.

With more power cores and shelters in their possession, it's an early lead for the Avengers, although both Iron Man and Captain America take damage from being outside their shelters.

Speaking of damage, Hulk's power core overloads and splashes damage on himself, Thanos and Ultron.

Avengers 4 : 2 Cabal

Round 2

Sensing that this Hulk chap might be a bit of a handful, Ultron activates and plays Dark Reign to reroll all his attacks. He pounds the green goliath for quite a bit of damage, afflicting him with Bleed and Incinerate, before dumping a portacabin on his head as a finishing touch.

Hulk clearly applauds this effort and responds with a Thunderclap that fails to damage either Ultron or Thanos. Losing his temper, he them follows up by dropping a truck on Thanos, then hitting him with a Hulk Smash and throwing him into Ultron.

That's enough to daze Thanos (no matter what the movies tell you) and he's out before he even activates!

This leaves Red Skull to manage all the other heroes, and the best he can do is to Unleash the Cube on Iron Man, pretty much sending him back to where he started.

Ant-Man tucks and rolls into his tiny form and hitches a ride on a flying ant to deny Red Skull the central gamma shelter. Iron Man tries to get himself back in the game and sends some Homing Rockets over at Ultron.

That leaves only Captain America, who has the speed to reach the Cabal's home gamma shelter (currently contested between Hulk and Ultron). After much deliberation, Monkey decides to avoid violence and eschews the risky prospect of dazing Ultron with an attack, in favour of just flying onto the objective and securing it.

That last play brings quite a VP swing, and the loss of Thanos (who has accumulated a boatload of power, thanks to his Soul Gem and Hulk's constant use of his superpowers) tips the balance in the Avengers' favour.

Avengers 8 : 3 Cabal

Round 3

Seeing the enemy's gamma shelter undefended, Red Skull makes a dash for glory (also putting distance between himself and Hulk, who he may remember getting dumped in a trashcan during their last fight). He secures the key objective, then drains all Iron Man's energy with a Cosmic Blast.

It's possible I underestimated how dangerous Hulk was (that lacklustre hand clap lulled me into a false sense of security), since he was only on a few points of damage left. However, due to the punches he'd taken, Hulk was adding four dice to each of his attacks. He'd also saved up a lot of power.

Hulk immediately throws a one-two Smash into Thanos, then throws Ultron at him - by the time the dust has settled, Ultron is dazed and Thanos is KO.

That once again leaves me without activations, so the Avengers get a free hand. Captain America flies onto the central gamma shelter, securing it (although his Shield Throw fails to push Red Skull). 

Iron Man fails to make much of an impression on Red Skull (he's really doing more harm to himself with the Cosmic Cube), but Ant-Man buzzes back into the fray and delivers an Ant-Sized Uppercut that dazes Red Skull, forcing him to drop his power core, which Ant-Man retrieves, along with control of the gamma shelter.

Between the loss of Thanos and all the objectives in the hands of the Avengers, that's a very big mountain for the bad guys to climb.

Avengers 15 : 3 Cabal

Round 4

Having thoroughly learned my lesson, I start my turn with Ultron punching Hulk, and finally KO the monster. Ultron then follows up with throwing a taxicab at Captain America, dazing him and picking up his power core. He finishes off with a stroll to the centre gamma shelter and that wasn't a bad start.

Even better, I have the Cosmic Invigoration tactics card that Red Skull can use to give Ultron a whole additional activation, which would more than even the odds.

However, Iron Man gets to go first, and he finally gets his eye in with his Repulsor Blasts - pushing Red Skull off the objective and too far away to invigorate Ultron.

Red Skull retaliates by Unleashing the Cube onto Ant-Man, who decides he'd rather not and shrinks down out of range. This leaves Iron Man to take the power of the Cube full in the faceplate, getting dazed.

By way of an apology, Ant-Man returns to the fray and delivers an outstanding Pym Particle Punch on Red Skull. The leader of the Cabal is KO and drops the power core he'd only just recovered, which is then scooped up by Ant-Man.

This round actually ends up with 2VP each, but clearly that's not enough to recover, even if most of my team weren't in the dirt - so it's another victory to the Avengers!

Avengers 17 : 5 Cabal

Back at the Bullpen

Ouch! Another brutal quarter-final, and a salutary lesson in prioritising your actions. I think the Cabal should have been focussing on getting rid of Hulk at all costs, but I was getting concerned about the VP deficit, so my attention wandered onto scoring - clearly giving Hulk another chance at smashing is not a good idea!

That said, I do like the individuals in this Cabal team. Thanos has some great movement options and the ability to generate a massive amount of power, Red Skull is always good at getting stuff done, and I was impressed by Ultron's output (although I didn't get to resurrect him with my Age of Ultron tactic - he was the only one Monkey didn't KO!).

I think they'd do better in a more balanced team, with some more minions around them, since their ability to score and secure fell off a cliff as soon as their numbers dropped. Good fun to play - but that's the end of the road for the Phase 1-3 villains!

And the Avengers bandwagon rolls onto the semi-finals. Even better, because their opponents have a higher threat value, a couple of the team will be getting upgrades (because clearly Hulk is underpowered!)

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Thanos got what he deserved. Does that mean I’m singing praises to the Hulk and his wranglers?

Certainly not! The America I know and love takes the high ground. We defend what we hold dear with military smarts and home-grown weapons expertise, not some crazy science project gone wrong. 

Who’s going to respect us on the world’s stage with that viridian lunk representing us? Luxembourg!?

J. Jonah Jameson