Here comes the thunder...
Asgard vs The Invaders
As a true American patriot, I'm offended just by the suggestion that we're in need of so-called technologically advanced people coming down here and 'looking after' us. They might not have masks on, but they're certainly masking their true intentions. Nobody here was asking for protection, Asgard - you're just trolling us with your giant pretentions!
Mark my words - one minute it'll be helping, the next it'll be helping themselves to whatever resources catch their eyes. Whether the cost is in minerals, money or manpower, nothing comes without a bill. You need proof they're up to no good? Well, how's this - Loki's on their side!
And as if you didn't think that smelt fishy enough, look what's come crawling out of the sea - another supposed emperor of a made-up country, stinking like low tide at Coney Beach. Sinking to a new low, he's dredged up the bodies of honoured war veterans in a parody of an honour guard. Someone needs to give this herring king a good fishing smack!
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Asgard
I think this team has the distinction of being entirely 3D-prints (or, in once case, Heroclix), but we won't hold that against them. The top billing goes to everyone's favourite siblings, Thor and Loki. Providing a splash of magic is Enchantress (a big player in the comics, less so in the movies - unless you count Sylvie in the Loki series).
Filling out the final spot is Captain Mar-Vell, who is a proxy for Heimdall. Mar-Vell isn't really an Asgardian, but he travels the cosmos a bit and is most famous in the Marvel Universe for being dead and staying that way (him, and Uncle Ben).
It's me, Kraken, guiding this hit-and-myth band for a second swing at a place in the quarter finals. Hammer Time!
Tactics are: Doomed Prophecy, Freyja’s Blessing, Odin’s Blessing, Rainbow Bridge, Sibling Rivalry
The Invaders
There's a few proxies in this team too, since shockingly Peggy Carter doesn't have her own character yet. So Captain Carter will be using the rules, appropriately enough, of Steve Rogers, Captain America. While the Hydra-Stomper (who actually is Steve) will be using rules for the Crimson Dynamo.
Rounding out this classic crew are Nick Fury (senior) and his Howling Commandos and, from the depths of Atlanis, Namor the Sub-Mariner.
All of these guys have, in one way or another, fought in Marvel's coverage of WWII so it's appropriate to give them The Invaders affiliation, under the command of Namor.
Tactics are: The Invaders, Battle Plan, Infiltration, Over The Top, Prince's Protection
Deployment
The first crisis is Paranoia Pummels Populace!, which is a straightforward grab-the objective mission. It also encourages sticking close to your teammates, since there's a bonus VP for being near your pals during the Cleanup Phase, and a risk of damage if you're not.
The other crisis is Deadly Meteors Mutate Civilians, which provides three fixed objectives to score (you can also make these objectives sticky, with the slight risk of harm to yourself).
It's all very focussed on the centre of the field, so prepare for a scrimmage.
The meteors and disturbances are all around the centre, so bunching-up is the order of the day. The Asgardians cluster around the portacabin: Mar-Vell, Enchantress, Loki and Thor.
While the Invaders take the centre on the opposite side: Hydra-Stomper, Captain Carter and Namor. The Howling Commandos are off-table during deployment, thanks to their Infiltration tactics card, which allows them to essentially deepstrike during a Cleanup Phase.
Asgard wins the priority, and we're away!
Round 1
No shrinking violets across the Bifrost - all the Asgardians make a rush for the centre and control the central meteor. Thor and Mar-Vell pick up a disturbance token each.
The Invaders take a more circumspect approach, with Namor going wide to the eastern meteor, to take control of that one.
Meanwhile, the Hydra-Stomper boosts forward to the western meteor, controlling that one, and having enough left in the tank to tickle Mar-Vell with an Electric Blast.
Captain Carter follows up behind, lobbing a flare to summon Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos.
It's all positioning to begin with, but the Asgardians have the advantage in disturbance tokens (plus a bonus for being near friends), so they take the early lead.
Asgard 4 : 2 The Invaders
Round 2
The Howling Commandos parachute into the fray, picking up a disturbance token and lobbing incendiary grenades at Mar-Vell, setting him on fire.
Just as they're passing around the Lucky Strikes and Hershey Bars in celebration, Enchantress sashays up to and, using her Amora's Kiss ability, persuades them to hand over the objective to her. The nerve!
Hydra-Stomper is made of sterner stuff, and blasts Mar-Vell once more, dazing him and forcing him to drop his disturbance token. Hydra-Stomper then collects it.
With a cry of Imperious Rex!, Namor flies in to trident Thor, staggering him (but doing no real damage), before flying back to support his fellow Invaders.
Even with just one action, Thor is no slouch. In Loki's activation, Thor plays the Sibling Rivalry tactic, which throws his brother at the Hydra-Stomper. We don't know if Loki got a say in this, but he obligingly beats up machine.
When it comes to Thor's actual turn, he takes back control of the central meteor (which Captain Carter has just seized), then throws her back into the Hydra-Stomper, dazing it and forcing it to drop its disturbance token.
The Invaders aren't having much luck holding onto their disturbance tokens, but the consolation is that the Asgardians are so spread out, they're not picking up a bonus VP this turn either.
Asgard 7 : 4 The Invaders
Round 3
As the heroes pick themselves up again, Mar-Vell grabs the disturbance token he dropped last round, then targets Captain Carter.
But before he can strike, Mar-Vell finds her guarded by the Prince's Protection tactics card. Namor deflects the attack onto his trident, and shoves all the enemy characters away (which may not have been wise, since I want them all up-close to hit).
Regrouping, Mar-Vell throws more attacks at Namor, but his defences are pretty strong (he must be standing in a puddle) and he's not budging.
The Howling Commandos run up to Enchantress, to ask if they can have their disturbance token back, but they don't have enough power to circumvent her mystical defences, and she's left standing.
This dearth of power is chiefly because Loki's presence is making all the Invaders' superpowers cost more to use - something which is having a subtle, but meaningful, effect on the game. Just as the god of mischief would want.
More direct, Thor goes straight for his opposite bruiser, and the two demigods smash away at each other, but neither can get past the other's defences.
Hydra-Stomper does have the presence of mind to scoot over to the eastern meteor, and pick up the final disturbance token.
Loki retaliates by zapping his Frost Beat, completely missing Hydra-Stomper, but dazing Captain Carter!
With three of the four disturbance tokens, the Asgardians are starting to widen the VP difference. It's only the fact that they control two of the three meteor sites that is keeping the Invaders in contention.
Asgard 12 : 8 The Invaders
Round 4
As she can clearly do this all day, Captain Carter gets to her feet and sprints over to the eastern meteor. Seeing Enchantress skulking back there, she dazes her with a double-shield throw, and picks up her disturbance token - one down!
Hyrda-Stomper follows up with an Electric Blast that KOs Mar-Vell. The disturbance token is dropped, and Namor flies in to claim it, right after laying another stagger onto Thor.
It's been a stellar round for the Invaders, only let down by the Howling Commandos, who jog along to join the action and fail to gun down anyone.
For the two remaining Asgard siblings, Loki tries and fails to take control of a meteor objective (this has been a running problem for the Asgardians) and Thor clings on to their final disturbance token - no-one's getting that off him!
With two characters down (and one of them out!), the majority of the tokens and objectives are now in the Invaders' hands. It's a big VP swing to almost draw level - and the final round is going to see someone win it.
Asgard 15 : 14 The Invaders
Round 5
In the mood for something dramatic, Thor stands in the centre of the battlefield and calls down the lightning.
This is going to hit everyone - friend and foe - but since the Enchantress automatically defends on her mystic rating (Thor doesn't seem inclined to pay the points to bypass this) and Loki can use his Trickster ability to skip out of the way, maybe Thor knows what he's doing.
Namor gets away unharmed, and Captain Carter is singed. But the Hydra-Stomper takes a full hit (I know copper armour was a mistake) and the Howling Commandos are pretty badly hurt. As a finale, the Strongest Avenger throws Hydra-Stomper into the Howling Commandos, KOing the former and dazing the latter.
Not a bad start!
Despite losing half their numbers in one strike, the advantage is still with the Invaders, especially after Namor seizes control of the third and final meteor objective. He then gives Thor crabs (yes, really) with his Armies of the Deep attack.
It's not enough to bring Thor down, but it does steal away his disturbance token, so that's one VP less for them.
Enchantress is back on her feet, and his Captain Carter with Enthrall. Peggy is swept away by the sweet melodies of Harry James, as she KOs and Enchantress gets her disturbance token.
It's just Loki remaining now, but he still needs to do something or the Invaders may yet steal the game. Luckily, no-one steals better than Loki, who finally manages to take back control of the central meteor, pick up a disturbance token, and daze Namor for good measure.
It was back-and-forth towards the end, but Asgard managed to hold onto its lead and take the victory!
Asgard 19 : 16 The Invaders
Back at the Bullpen
That was a proper rumble! We thought that having two central crises - plus some conditions that encouraged close play - would result in a massive scrum, and so it did!
For my side, I was impressed with Namor. He's very fast and durable, and his choice of sea-creatures makes him surprising versatile. I'll definitely want to try out the Invaders again. Captain Carter and the Hydra-Stomper also showed some staying-power, which is what kept me in the game for so long. Although both fell a bit short of offensive punch - but then, we were fighting demigods.
I poured some pretty poor sauce in the mid-game, many weak attacks that fell short against a defensive dice game that was on point from Stylus. My dice were sure saving up for that final swing - I rode my luck hard to victory, and I'll be giving it extra oats in the stable tonight as a reward.
I was even more impressed with the Asgardians - they can rack up power quickly, and have a lot of abilities to use. Thor is naturally the quarterback, but Enchantress and Loki bring some nice twists to the play. Captain Mar-Vell/Heimdall didn't really shine - but he did have some nice movement play, and I was targeting him as the only one I could realistically damage!
I think he was pretty handy, actually. Yes, he's a weak link, but the extra movement is great, either from teleporting his chums about or (not that I managed it this time) by reactively smacking enemies back as they approach. Definitely a cheerleader, though!
So that's our seventh team through to the quarter-finals. One more to go!
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It's a dark day for democracy when these dubious demi-deities can prance round our parks and thoroughfares, defying the laws of man and nature on a whim. America is one nation under God - that's singular, and long may it remain so!
Did we ask for this Rainbow Bridge connection? Hel, no!
J. Jonah Jameson
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