I had Summit and played it a couple of times but only solo. I would not buy it just for solo but might be fun with others.
I’m pumped for the 2nd edition. The designer says he is not a solo player very much so when he upgraded the solo game for the 2nd edition, he made it so the AI goes for victory points now and even at medium level, it’s a good challenge. He wanted it good enough for him as a non solo player to feel like it is worth his time and thinks it came out very well.
Just wanted to say thank you for telling us about Turncoats. I wrote to the designer to see if she’d make me one!
I still haven’t tried the solo side. I probably will try to get a few games in this weekend for practice as I’m pretty terrible at the game.
It’s excellent. I’ll write about it next week, and I should be doing an interview with the designer the week after. I’m blown away by the whole thing. I’d even go so far as to say that the production lends it a particular air, not unlike how the first Total War pitched you as sliding army counters around on a war map.
I look forward to it. Thanks again!
Did you get your copy by writing directly to the designer?
Yes. You need to fill out a form to submit an order request, then she’ll send you an email sometime thereafter. Give it a week or two. It’s somewhat convoluted, but understandable since she’s making everything by hand.
Will you host it on the Discord? I’d be interested
Of course!
today is the day for Marvel Dice Throne, waiting impatiently for the ups delivery. Also need to figure out how I want to sleeve Marvel United.
I sleeved all of my Marvel United in Percival Paladin Sleeves. I have two triple row card boxes from a sports card store in town. The heroes take up almost all of the first one. The villains take two rows of the second box with miniatures in the third row. The cards store vertically and I printed out card dividers from BGG that have the the symbol counts for each deck which aides in picking team compositions.
How do folk manage the ‘tableau’ when playing Marvel United? I find the played action card chain becomes quite the sprawl as you play so I need to periodically clean them up into a discard pile, leaving only the last 3 or 4 visible to enable ongoing gameplay.
Anyone else find a better way?
I’m not fully done with the video yet, but I’m finding it fascinating so far.
When a boardgame review becomes a deep dive into the history and development of a game genre.
It’s good stuff.
Yeah, I think he’s real good at that. He did this as well for Sleeping Gods – his praise comes in a larger historical context of ‘narrative choice’ games.
Is Marvel United any good?? I got sucked into a Kickstarter hole and ended up with absolutely every expansion and every exclusive figure (that took a lot of explaining when the box showed up!), but I’ve never actually cracked open the damn game.
I think it Marvel United is a good game and especially good with younger players. I think if you play it a lot it may start feeling a bit samesy since a lot of the regular character cards can give that feeling. If I recall correctly each hero has three specific cards (out of 15) that give them their individual hero flavor. The game shine more the more heroes you own. The fun comes from trying different combinations.
Just played my first games of Marvel United, played three games, loving it so far. Really bummed/irritated/slightly angry at the whole concept of just how much stuff there is that is kickstarter exclusive though. I understand trying to give people a reason to back it, but I see no fair or good explanation for locking actual gameplay stuff behind a one and done promotion. I like how Wise Wizard Games handles their kickstarter and goals, you get extra stuff and/or alternate artwork but anything ‘exclusive’ to kickstarter can be had eventually down the road, just might not be right away.
Also got my first game of Marvel Dice Throne and so far loving it as well. Already huge DT fans here though, but we played Miles Morales vs Loki and it felt pretty good. I’m always amazed at how they can fit the theme of a character into game mechanics so well.
I would LOVE to have both All-In’s on Marvel United, but sadly our household just went unemployed unexpectedly and the prices for kickstarter bundles ain’t cheap after the fact.
My heretical opinion of Marvel United is that it’s Babby’s First Arkham Horror, and I really enjoy it.
TLDR: MU has been one my best gaming pick ups in a long time due to theme and flexible play group appeal.
I find Marvel United to be amazing. It fits well in that slot that has more going on than a party game, while also has the theme and pacing to hold the interest of non-gamers. It is a solid, highly modular cooperative resource puzzle in 30 minutes or less.
I see the “it’s for kids” thing thrown around a lot. I felt it before I really knew the game. In fact, that is why I skipped the first KS—and then deeply regretted it after trying the game. It cost me a bundle to chase it down later. I went all in for the MU X-Men though.
MU is very good, MU X-Men is better as they expanded in their design space (more unique cards per hero, starting hand cards, bottom deck cards, more interaction with timeline (cards already played), etc. Not that MU is obsolete. It all mixes so very well.
Yea the amount that is KS only is a crime. Especially when the game thrives only if you have enough to swap heroes, villains, and modes around a bit. I do think there is or will be enough at retail between MU and MU X-men to be way more than serviceable. I would not suggest just a core box. You need a critical mass of options for it all to feel great.
As to the timeline, I use the circular Neoprene mat from the KS. The cards just go in a circle. It does eat space but it’s nice to look at the full timeline as a thematic story presentation of turn and it also has game value as plenty of cards interact with the timeline. Also I tend to have 3 to 4 people at the table so the large circular layout works to equalize position.
Thanks! That was very helpful and very thorough! And yeah, I’ve been a sucker for expansions since Cosmic Encounter, so I love games where you can swap out heroes and villains and scenarios and add all-new combinations. (But man, they take up a lot of room! Maybe I should sell them on eBay??)
And yes, I also have the neoprene mat. :(