Marvel Knockout Quarter-Final 3: S.H.I.E.L.D. vs Web Warriors

Ello, ello, ello...

S.H.I.E.L.D. vs Web Warriors!

Well, well, well. Look who’s come crawling back - Spiderman has scuttled out of hiding once again, along with his supposed friends. Is there any such thing as a friendly spider? Folks, these arachnid monstrosities use modified poisonous feet at the sides of their mouths to kill their prey. I think we all know the answer to this one. 

No wonder they wear masks! If I had toes where my teeth should be, I'd do the same. 

Wherever there's a mutant weapons project gone wrong, you'll always find S.H.I.E.L.D. Seriously, have they ever had a mutant weapons project gone right? Personally, I prefer my government agencies to reduce the number of problems in the country, not the other way round. PETA would have a better chance of success against these misfiring miscegenations - and I'd actually know what they were there to do!

J. Jonah Jameson

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S.H.I.E.L.D.

Fresh from defeating the Spider-Foes (so doing the Web Warriors' work for them) Nick Fury jnr and his government agents are bringing some long range firepower: Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Black Widow and War Machine. I, Stylus, will be undertaking yet another attempt to get into the semi-finals.

Tactics are: Battlefield Medicine, Defensive Prototype, Eye In The Sky, Helicarrier Strike, Life Model Decoy

Web Warriors

jhnlk will be taking charge of the webheads once again. A smaller squad than S.H.I.E.LD. but there's not a bad character among them: Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Ghost-Spider and Spider-Man Noir (aka Agent Venom). Just wait until I can add Spider-Punk and Spider-Ham to them, and they'll be perfect!

Tactics are: Aunt May’s Wheat Cakes, Spider-Tracker, Go Get 'em Tiger, Clean Up, All Webbed Up

Deployment

We're going for a theme with tonight's crises (it's subtle, but you might spot it). First is Spider-Infected Invade Manhattan - five civilians to extract, so plenty of points to be had, with the slight drawback that these poor infected might draw around their saviours in the Power phase.

Next is Portals Overrun City With Spider-People! - this is apparently a 'Pay-To-Flip' scenario, because it's not enough to be withing range of an objective, you also have to interact with the Inheritor Portal to gain control (and if things go wrong, it shoves you away).

With a potential of 9VPs up for grabs per round, this one has the potential to score high and fast.

The Web Warriors deploy favouring one side, with Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man Noir along the left flank.

Miles Morales and Ghost-Spider take a central position.

With more bodies to spare, S.H.I.E.L.D. spread out. Nick Fury and War Machine take their left flank.

Winter Soldier and Hawkeye go down the centre.

Black Widow is sent out to exploit the right flank.

S.H.I.E.L.D. takes priority and we're away!

Round 1

The first round is a mad dash for objectives. Hawkeye starts off, backed by Winter Solider, who step forward and secure the northern portal.

Both Ghost-Spider and Spider-Man Noir dash into the centre, each picking up a spider-infected as they do so. Nick Fury and the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents also move into the centre, clipping off a wound from Ghost-Spider as they also secure a spider-infected

War Machine begins an unobstructed run down the left flank, securing the eastern portal as he does so.

Miles Morales hangs back to secure the southern portal, but flubs his roll to secure it! Even worse, his friend and mentor, Amazing Spider-Man swings over to the western portal, and fails to secure that too.

Black Widow runs over towards Amazing Spider-Man but, once she's picked up a spider-infected, good sense takes over and she retreats to the safety of her home portal.

That leaves everyone with some VPs this round, although the Web Warriors' failure to secure two portals costs them half their potential haul. And now everything looks set for a dust-up in the centre.

S.H.I.E.L.D. 4 : 2 Web Warriors

Round 2

With fewer characters in play, the Web Warriors elect to pass the initiative - this is a mechanic that allows a smaller team to keep back some moves until later, but it proves inadvisable as S.H.I.E.L.D. immediately go for the nuclear option.

Winter Soldier uses Helicarrier Strike to rain fire upon Spider-Man Noir, catching Ghost-Spider in the blast and incinerating them both. This leaves Ghost-Spider open to an Assault Rifle attack and she is dazed.

Amazing Spider-Man finally manages to flip the western portal and swings over to help, booting away the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents and sending Nick Fury running for cover with Eye In The Sky.

But it's too late, as a couple of flaming arrows from Hawkeye then daze Spider-Man Noir.

Miles Morales attempts to recover the situation: firstly he succeeds in flipping the southern portal, then swings forward to kick Winter Solider, generating enough power to pick up the dropped spider-infected.

While all this is going on, War Machine completes his sweep of the field, picking up a spider-infected and moving onto the southern portal. He doesn't have enough energy to interact with it, and the VPs are more or less even, but it finishes off a successful S.H.I.E.L.D. turn by surrounding the Web Warriors.

S.H.I.E.L.D. 9 : 6 Web Warriors

Round 3

Back on his feet, and loaded up with power, Spider-Man Noir weblines into action. He throws a construction vehicle at Hawkeye, then lets out a beam attack that dazes Hawkeye and knocks off most of Winter Soldier's wounds.

Winter Solider responds by targeting Miles Morales, but Ghost-Spider reacts with her Life Saver ability that can drag Miles to safety (with Stealth, he can only be targeted within Range 3). Alas, this means Winter Solider gets to pick another target, so Ghost-Spider made the ultimate sacrifice for her friend, as she is KO.

Back at the southern portal, Amazing Spider-Man pushes War Machine away from the objective. War Machine hangs back, recovers his position, but chooses to target Miles, rather than Peter (thus denying him the chance to generate any power).

Nick Fury calls in more S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, who are just as swiftly despatched by Miles. And now that everyone seems to have forgotten about her, Black Widow runs onto the western portal and secures it.

So ends another strong turn from S.H.I.E.L.D., who are laying down some serious hurt at the same time as scoring VPs (3 spider-infected and 3 portals) over the Web Warriors (2 spider-infected and 1 portal).

S.H.I.E.L.D. 15 : 9 Web Warriors

Round 4

Patching himself up with Battlefield Medicine, Winter Solider unleashes his Assault Rifle once again and KOs Spider-Man Noir - he's earning his place as Most Violent Player.

That leaves Miles - who has one point of damage left and the Bleed condition from War Machine's Metal Storm last turn - some big decisions. Opting for glory, he decides not to remove the condition and swings in to attack Winter Solider and Hawkeye, and attempt to steal the portal from under their noses.

None of these plans pay off, however, and at the end of his activation, Miles Morales drops dazed from the Bleed.

That just leaves Amazing Spider-Man on his feet - he swings back to the western portal and takes back control from Black Widow.

Instead of arguing the point, Black Widow runs all the way over to the portal that Peter just vacated and steals that one instead!

As Fury moves to surround Miles, and summons yet more S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents to pick up his dropped spider-infected, it's all over.

S.H.I.E.L.D. 22 : 11 Web Warriors

Back at the Bullpen

Well, that was a brutal one! In all honesty, I was expecting these crises to really favour the Web Warriors, as they heavily emphasised movement and control. But failing to grab the portals in turn one was just bad luck, and jhnlk was chasing the game from there.

The other problem was making a stand in the centre of the field - S.H.I.E.L.D. had the firepower and the numbers to really mix it up, and the Web Warriors were robbed of their characteristic mobility. I'd also been burned (literally!) by Spider-Man Noir in the last battle, so I was wasting no time in laying into him. Conversely, I made a point not to engage with Amazing Spider-Man, who ended up starvedof power and struggling to affect the game.

They may not look flashy, but I continue to be impressed by how formidable this S.H.I.E.L.D. team appears to be. Winter Solider and Hawkeye kick out some decent ranged firepower, Nick Fury and his innumerable Agents can be infuriating objective collectors. War Machine is durable enough to go solo, and Black Widow once again held up a character more that twice her threat level.

The only question is: who will face them in the semi-final?

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Bravo, S.H.I.E.L.D! Bravo! I hope you get defunded in the next round of cuts, but bravo all the same!

J. Jonah Jameson