Deciding what card to play isn’t only determined by what the player wants to do on their turn, but also what the players after them might want to do. This mechanic - alongside the need to stay on top of the villains’ various schemes - is what makes Marvel United such a good co-op game, as it forces players to be very vocal about their plans and strategise together, just like the real Avengers might. It’s an undeniable fact that one of the most popular aspects of the Marvel comics and films are the epic battles between the superheroes and their dreaded nemesis. There’s a reason why, love it or hate it, pretty much every entry in the MCU has to end with a CGI-filled action scene, and Marvel: Strike Teams knows that too. A dungeon-crawling game for two people, Marvel: Strike Teams enables players to recreate or envision big Marvel battles of their own. There are quite a number of co-op board games on this list - considering the themes of working together against a great evil is a common one in Marvel stories - so how does Marvel United manage to stand out? Besides its striking chibi art-style, which manages to make the stoic Captain America look positively adorable, it’s Marvel United’s gameplay that makes it so special.

Whichever player manages to reduce the health of their opponent’s team to zero is named the winner of the game. Marvel Dice Masters is a great series for players who want a straightforward game that allows them to use some of their favourite characters from the comics. The core concept of Marvel Villainous remains the same as Disney Villainous. Each player takes on the role of one of the classic villains from the Marvel comic book franchise. You could be any one of Thanos, Hela, Ultron, Killmonger or Taskmaster. This game scales for two to four players, despite there being five different villains. Evil born of science. Dominate the Marvel Universe as an iconic Marvel Villain in this assymetric card game. Play as Doctor Octopus, Titania or Kang the Conqueror as you wield your sinister abilities to pursue your own objectives, and follow your path to victory. Marvel Villainous Twisted Ambitions can be played as a standalone game or combined with other Marvel Villainous games. There’s a multitude of differing game modes. These allow flexibility with regards to adjusting the difficulty. Because of these beginner and advanced options, Marvel Villainous: Infinite Power has the scope to appeal to all kinds of board game fans.

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Marvel Villainous: Infinite Power runs in a sequence of players taking turns to execute actions available to them. A player takes their turn by moving their character figure to a new location. They may then activate any abilities available to them at that location. These are signifies by symbols, usually in the four corners of the spot.

A co-op board game that has players protecting humanity as a team of mutant characters The standees and art-style in Mutant Insurrection make it a love letter to the X-Men comic series.Marvel Villainous: Infinite Power’s villains range from the omnipotent god like beings to the organised crooks. You’ve got Thanos, the big bad of the MCU and our right power house – and that’s without the Infinity Stones! And on the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got Taskmaster, a chap whose power came from taking a dodgy concoction of chemicals. Sure, being able to imitate anything you see punch for punch is pretty darn useful, but it’s not much compared to innate strength and power of a Titan. The venom moving piece is particularly special. To be frank I’ve found the Marvel villainous pieces feel a little ‘cheaper’ made than their Disney counterparts. This piece however has a lot of detail and looks pretty impressive. Although it still feels lighter than Disney movers it is weightier than other Marvel movers and it just looks overall like more attention to detail has been included. With Marvel being more popular than it’s ever been before, now’s the time to lure your friends into playing board games with you via the appeal of their favourite MCU characters. How could they resist a board game with Captain America and The Hulk, that also happens to be really great, too? To give you some ideas to indulge your love of the comics, films and TV shows, here’s our list of the best Marvel board games.

Events complicate this further. Even though you don't have to use them (they can be ignored in an easier game mode), they're still an extra barrier to entry for some. They sometimes feel unbalanced, too. More specifically, we drew the Avengers Assemble Event right at the start of our game and proceeded to get inundated with heroes that clogged up our boards. Sending Allies to end the Event became a slog due to this. Due to the popularity of the original game, there are many, many different versions of Love Letter out there, including one featuring Batman characters from Marvel’s rival comics company: DC. Most of these are simple re-themes that keep most of the gameplay mechanics from the base game, but with one or two extra elements like characters from a known property or roles with abilities unique to that version. Venom is a character who likes action. He likes fighting and as such he has 3 actions at the bottom of each of his locations and only 1 in the top. This means that for the most part you really don’t mind Venom being fated as much. In fact I found it easier to almost ignore heroes that were attached to him to purely seek out Spider Man. Venom also has a specialty that lets you remove heroes so, you know, you don’t even need to worry about defeating them. That said he is still fairly balanced with the other characters so it’s not a given that you will win when playing this ‘villain’, you still need to keep your strategic wits about you. We’ve Come For Your Soul Players can choose to play either standalone battles against one another or in an overarching campaign that’s made up of multiple sessions. Choosing the campaign will allow players to improve their heroes and villains’ abilities between battles, imbuing the whole experience with a sense of progression. For a dungeon-crawler with great Marvel characters and fun gameplay mechanics, you could do worse than Marvel: Strike Teams.A dungeon-crawler game where players can recreate some classic Marvel battles The detailed miniatures help to immerse players into the world of Marvel: Strike Teams. Become the baddie in this board game about seizing power before anyone else The tokens, card artwork and titles in Marvel Villainous are designed to embody everything about its characters. Event cards are a new addition to this Villainous variant. These cards affect all players and must be defeated by players to remove the effect. This is the only time players can play allies to another location other than those in their area (without special effects). Events are defeated when their power level is lower than the cumulative villains’ cards. Whoever has the highest strength value at the event when it is defeated gains its benefit. How It Handles Thanos is arguably the hardest character to win as, which we initially found disappointing. The Mad Titan should surely dominate the competition, right? Arguably yes, but in a race to complete goals... probably not! It took him about 17 films to get the stones in the MCU, so I think an hours board game is fair! Which Flavour Villainous Did You Want? Marvel Champions: The Card Game takes the very well-worn formula of players coming together as a band of heroes to fight a classic villain, and mixes things up with its clever approach to card gameplay and challenge. A living card game from the publisher behind Arkham Horror: The Card Game, Marvel Champions manages to provide a unique experience that rewards and punishes its players in equal measure.