Marvel Knockout Final: Guardians of the Galaxy vs Avengers

It's the final!

Guardians of the Galaxy vs Avengers

THIS is what we're left with? America's last stand against the Alt-Left Flag-Wavers from Outer Space, and it's between some functionally identical multi-coloured tight-wearing cyborgs and pairs of emotionally conflicted siblings. Even if they didn't have masks on, I can't tell these godforsaken misfits apart. 

If there was a J. Jonah Jameson Jr, and right now I'm glad there isn't, it's going to be a sorry States he grows up in. Surrounded by touchy-feely plant people, a tamagotchi mascot nobody adopted and Uncle Sam's tophatless shield-bearer. 

Whoever wins, the Stars and Stripes will weep tears of blood over the grave of all our hopes. It's the dawn of a dismal new era indistinguishable from darkest night. 

This Bugler sounds last post. May God have mercy on us all. 

J. Jonah Jameson

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Guardians of the Galaxy

Pootle has captained this plucky band of heroes through some of the best teams in the tournament: Wakanda, Defenders and Avengers. They've proven themselves equal to either objective play or all-out brawls, so we won't know what to expect tonight.

This is a team full of threat, but without a single lynchpin to target, which makes them very difficult to counter. Their superior numbers mean they are unlikely to hold priority for long, but they will almost certainly get the last word in a round.

Tactics are: Crew of the Milano, Galaxy’s Greatest, Daughters of Thanos, Deadly Duo, We Are Groot

Avengers West Coast

Having started the tournament with eight teams, I, Stylus, have basically ridden the laws of probability all the way to the final. That said, Cap's Kooky Quartet have proven themselves formidable opponents, knocking out the Criminal Syndicate, Asgard and S.H.I.E.L.D. to get here.

The team is playing at a threat less than the Guardians (16 vs 17), but Pootle and I discussed it beforehand and found no satisfying way to balance it out - we also reasoned that we were both neophyte MCP players. so we might not actually notice the difference!

One change we did agree was that Quicksilver's tactics card that allows him to steal assets can be replaced (since we're playing for civilians, not assets, making the card useless) - so I've gone with Avengers Assemble, naturally.

Team tactics: The Whims of Chaos, Second Wind, Avengers Assemble, No More Mutants, Battle Plan

Deployment

Our final crises shall be: Mutant Madman Turns City Into Lethal Amusement Park (the backstory being a lunatic has dragged innocents into playing a game for his own twisted amusement - no meta-commentary there). This is a secure crisis, with the added twist that you have to pass a physical defence test to control a Trap. But once under your control, it remains so, and can zap nearby enemies.

The other crisis is Skrulls Infiltrate World Leadership, where we have to collect Skrull imposters, with the added twist that they might give you a bit of a shove when you pick them up.

The Guardians spread out across their deployment zone, with Rocket and Groot on the west flank.

Nebula and Gamora, daughters of Thanos, take the main street.

Star-Lord and Drax position themselves on the east flank.

The Avengers are more bunched up, with Scarlet Witch, Captain America and Quicksilver going in the centre.

As always, Vision is assigned a flank to himself.

And for the final time, we're away!

Round 1

The Guardians race forward on both flanks, with Groot picking up a Skrull and Rocket flipping the south-west Trap. Gamora joins Rocket after grabbing the central Skrull, and Nebula swings around to her sister's side.

On the other flank, Drax picks up a Skrull, although it proves troublesome and drags him into range of the furthest Trap. Star-Lord controls the south-east Trap and hangs back.

The Avengers, by contrast, all swing over to the eastern flank, looking to overwhelm half the Guardians' team before the other half can respond. Quicksilver grabs the central Skrull then joins Vision at the north-east Trap, gaining control of it.

Vision then lightly singes Drax with his Solar Energy Beam, earning a vengeance token for his troubles.

Cap and Scarlet Witch both steer to the eastern flank, but too far away to engage. They will get priority next turn, so will be looking to lay down some hurt then.

With one side favouring the objectives, it's an early lead for the Guardians, but the Avengers have the initiative. They also activate the north-east Trap objective, which zaps Drax the Destroyer.

Guardians of the Galaxy 5 : 2 Avengers

Round 2

Scarlet Witch is up first and wastes no time in throwing down some Hex Bolts (and a truck!) at both Drax and Star-Lord. Both Guardians are dazed in a shocking turn of events.

The response has Gamora and Nebula sprinting across the battlefield, trying to get into engagement range.

Quicksilver sprints across to the south-east Trap but, even with Star-Lord dazed, he proves unable to flip control of it. The mutant speedster sheepishly retreats behind a chemical truck.

The flaw in my plan to overwhelm one side of the table becomes apparent as I seem to have run out of targets. After picking up the Skrull that Drax dropped, Vision has no-one else to attack (and generate power from) and therefore can't attempt to flip an objective. All the synthezoid can do is line up for a beam attack next turn.

In a cunning bit of play, Rocket Racoon leaves the protection of Groot and presents himself as a target to Captain America. Instead of moving to flip the south-east objective, Cap tries to go for the easy target and flings a Shield Throw at Rocket. Not only does he miss completely, but he's now out of position to bodyguard Scarlet Witch.

The final move sees Groot move back to his buddy's side and flip the final north-west objective.

What started as a calamitous turn for the Guardians has turned around by the end, due to the Avengers inability to capitalise on their early gains. Crucially, the VP difference is now looking serious. 

Guardians of the Galaxy 10 : 5 Avengers

Round 3

The Avengers still hold priority here, so the first turn could be pivotal. I'd like to have started with Vision, who could beam both Drax and Star-Lord, then throw Drax out of combat range. But with Scarlet Witch lacking a bodyguard (damn you, Steve), I feel she needs to go first, to get the most from her attacks and to reduce her viability as a target.

Also, she's a Threat 5 badass, so what could go wrong?

I start with The Whims of Chaos tactic, which Incinerates Drax, Gamora and Nebula, then follow up with a Hex Bolt (6 dice attack) on Drax (1 dice defence). Against all the odds - and a thrown kiosk - Drax remains on his feet with a couple points of damage and a lot of power. Wanda chose a very bad time to whiff both her attacks, and this could be trouble.

So it proves, as Drax unleashes all his attacks against Vision - a vengeance-driven Blades, followed by a Titan Killer. Vision is battered unconscious in short order, and Drax scoops up his Skrull. He loses another point of damage to the Bleed that Scarlet Witch put on him, and the blast from the north-west Trap will finish him off - but not until he scores his VP.

With just two activations left, things are already looking bad for the Avengers. Captain America calls Avengers Assemble, just to move Scarlet Witch into bodyguard range, than unleashes a couple of Shield Throws at Gamora - which do nothing. Even the ricochets on Nebula do nothing!

To show that the Avengers don't have the monopoly in failed attacks, Gamora and Nebula both target Scarlet Witch (and sometimes Captain America, when he jumps in the way). Even with the Daughters of Thanos card adding to their attacks, both Avengers somehow end the turn bloodied and still on their feet.

Slightly away from the main fracas (isn't he always?) Star-Lord undertakes a crucial play disguised as a wasted turn. He flies into sight of Quicksilver, then targets him with his Full Auto. Quicksilver reacts with Can't Catch Me to duck out of sight once more, and Star-Lord flies back to where he started.

It would appear to have achieved nothing, except that it forced Quicksilver to spend the last of his power - which leaves him unable to flip an objective. And that's important because, unless the Avengers do something to reduce the Guardians' tally, they will win at the end of the round.

It's desperate measures now. Quicksilver rushes onto the south-east objective, and lashes out at Drax with his Supersonic Strike. He only needs to cause one damage to KO Drax (who will drop his objective), and make an attempt at flipping the Trap. That will even out the score and carry this onto the fourth round.

Alas, it's not to be. Quicksilver flubs his attack and Drax proves that he can, after all, take it.

The round ends with Rocket firing his Plasma Rifle triumphantly into the air - the Guardians of the Galaxy are the champions!

Guardians of the Galaxy 16 : 7 Avengers

Back at the Bullpen

My goodness, you really never know these games will turn out. At the start of Round 2, I had dazed one-third of the opposition and was feeling pretty good. Some bad luck and bad judgement quickly followed and I was flailing just to get to the next round. On reflection, I think my strategy was a high-risk one that could have paid off in spades, but didn't leave much space for things to go awry.

I still really enjoy playing the Avengers, and think they make a formidable team. That said, for the third time of asking, I still can't fathom how to defeat the Guardians. They're a unique mix of dangers, and Pootle has played them very well throughout the tournament. There was a lot of thinking and back-and-forth play in that game, despite the relatively low body count, and a few of my errors were certainly forced by his tactics.

Pootle here: I have to jump in to thank you for hosting! I'm sure I speak on behalf of the wider crew that you've corralled into playing: it's been tremendous fun to try a new game out and we appreciate your efforts in organising another campaign. I've really enjoyed playing the Guardians. I picked them out of the hat purely because I know and love the characters (more than many others: in 1985 I remember reading a Transformers comic that featured Rocket Raccoon and others in a supporting strip), but they turn out to be a pretty strong team. I've definitely felt the advantage of numbers in all the games I've played and agree with Stylus that not having one obvious centrepiece character is also a big plus: if my opponent decided to target Rocket, Groot, Gamora or Drax then someone else would step up and put the boot in; I think every one of the team put in a strong performance at some point. 

I have to pick up on one aside Stylus mentioned above: "there was a lot of thinking"; those who know me understand that that's code for pausing each turn for about fifteen minutes and contemplating out loud what my options are. I'll take the opportunity to apologise to Stylus for plenty of that during the campaign (and, while I'm at it, to Kraken and Kasfunatu for collectively wasting weeks of their lives)!

Kraken here: If those weeks were wasted, I'd hate to experience the rest of my life.

So congratulations to Pootle, worthy winner of the WoffBoot Crisis Protocol Tournament. And thanks to all the guys for humouring me and playing along. I've played a massive amount of Crisis Protocol, used every model in my collection (so far - I've added to it since) and gained a new appreciation for the game.

Thanks also to Pootle for creating all the maps for the games, and Kraken for channelling his inner conspiracy-theorist in J Jonah Jameson's write ups.

It was a fantastic season of games. 'Nuff said!