Marvel Champions LCG Decklist - Protection Iron Man

Image taken from MarvelCDB

Oh boy, who doesn't love Iron Man??  I've played him in quite a few aspects, but this is my first time trying him with Protection.  Let's see how he looks for the moment:

Iron Man
Packs: From Core Set to Ms. Marvel

Upgrades
1x Arc Reactor (Core Set)
1x Mark V Armor (Core Set)
1x Mark V Helmet (Core Set)
2x Powered Gauntlets (Core Set)
2x Rocket Boots (Core Set)
2x Armored Vest (Core Set)
3x Indomitable (Core Set)
1x Enhanced Awareness (Captain America)
3x Energy Barrier (Ms. Marvel)
1x Endurance (Ms. Marvel)

Events
3x Repulsor Blast (Core Set)
2x Supersonic Punch (Core Set)
2x Get Behind Me! (Core Set)
2x Expert Defense (Captain America)
2x Preemptive Strike (Ms. Marvel)

Supports
1x Pepper Potts (Core Set)
1x Stark Tower (Core Set)
1x Med Team (Core Set)
1x Avengers Mansion (Core Set)
1x Helicarrier (Core Set)

Resources
2x The Power of Protection (Core Set)
1x Energy (Core Set)
1x Genius (Core Set)
1x Strength (Core Set)

Allies
1x War Machine (Core Set)
1x Luke Cage (Core Set)
1x Nova (Ms. Marvel)

This is at 41 cards, which was surprising, as I thought I had cut it down to 40.  Anyway, there are a few important things to mention.

First, I'm not the first to notice that Energy Barrier has the Tech trait.  Iron Man likes the Tech Trait.  Three of those were the first addition.

Having to balance the need for Energy Resources (for Repulsor Blast), and Science Resources, in order to give Iron Man Aerial, was pretty tough.  I am trying Enhanced Awareness to give me a few reliable turns of it, and Pepper Potts certainly helps.. but yeah, it wasn't available every turn in this deck.  Something I have to play around with. 

Anyway, I've played this once, and it did a lot of work, but of course, Iron Man is amazing as a character.  Have you tried this combo?  What did you think?

Marvel Champions LCG Decklist - Justice Spider-Man

(Image taken from MarvelCDB)

I've been playing at least a game a week, and one of the random combinations my generator told me to play was Spider-Man out of the Justice aspect, and I decided to give it a shot.  It's a bit of an odd combo- Spider-Man only has 1 Thwart, which isn't really a good fit for what Justice's goal is... but his other stats are good, and the Justice cards could be used to offset that weakness.  There certainly could be some potential.

My deck:
Justice Spider-Man

Spider-Man

Upgrades
2x Spider-Tracer (Core Set)
2x Web-Shooter (Core Set)
2x Webbed Up (Core Set)
2x Heroic Intuition (Core Set)
1x Followed (Captain America)
1x Endurance (Ms. Marvel)

Events
2x Backflip (Core Set)
2x Enhanced Spider-Sense (Core Set)
3x Swinging Web Kick (Core Set)
3x For Justice! (Core Set)
2x Great Responsibility (Core Set)
1x Concussive Blow (Ms. Marvel)

Supports
1x Aunt May (Core Set)
2x Interrogation Room (Core Set)
3x Surveillance Team (Core Set)
1x Avengers Mansion (Core Set)
1x Helicarrier (Core Set)

Resources
2x The Power of Justice (Core Set)
1x Energy (Core Set)
1x Genius (Core Set)
1x Strength (Core Set)

Allies
1x Black Cat (Core Set)
1x Daredevil (Core Set)
1x Jessica Jones (Core Set)
1x Mockingbird (Core Set)

Okay, so my main plan with this deck is to use all of the Justice cards to help handle the schemes on the board, and still leave Spider-Man free to bust some heads.

There aren't many Allies available at this point, so I included all who I thought were sensible.  Likely, any that come out, I'll use to thwart, except for Black Cat, who will just attack.

Interrogation Room feels like it's a good fit, as Spider-Man has decent offensive abilities, so there could be ample chances to trigger this.  The Surveillance Teams may end up doing a lot of lifting, and combined with For Justice! may end up being the primary means I handle threat on the board.

Followed hasn't impressed me, so I will likely replace it before I play again.

Anyway, so far, I've taken on Risky Business with the Doomsday Chair, and it wasn't exactly easy, but I did manage, and Spider-Man's ability to take on even strong Minions came in handy quite frequently.

Hopefully the upcoming Justice-focused release gives this sort of deck some new toys to play with!

Posted a list of my unplayed games!

In an effort to get my gaming more focused on my goals for the year, I've posted up a list of all of my unplayed games here.

If there's a game you particularly want to read about, or better yet, would like to play, let me know, otherwise I'll be working on going through these very soon, as soon as I clear up some of my other gaming commitments :)

Marvel Champions LCG Decklist - Aggression Captain America

Image taken from the FFG home page

I have played a few times with the Captain America preconstructed deck (a Leadership deck), but I wanted to try something different, and decided to give Aggression a shot, as my experience with it wasn't super impressive.  Here is what I ended up with:

https://marvelcdb.com/decklist/view/323/all-fun-and-games-until-you-get-a-shield-in-the-face-1.0

Captain America

Upgrades
2x Combat Training (Core Set)
1x Captain America's Helmet (Captain America)
1x Captain America's Shield (Captain America)
2x Super-Soldier Serum (Captain America)
2x Enraged (Captain America)
1x Endurance (Ms. Marvel)

Events
1x Chase Them Down (Core Set)
2x Relentless Assault (Core Set)
3x Uppercut (Core Set)
2x First Aid (Core Set)
2x Fearless Determination (Captain America)
3x Heroic Strike (Captain America)
2x Shield Block (Captain America)
2x Shield Toss (Captain America)
2x Melee (Ms. Marvel)

Supports
1x Avengers Mansion (Core Set)
1x Helicarrier (Core Set)
1x Steve's Apartment (Captain America)

Resources
2x The Power of Aggression (Core Set)
1x Energy (Core Set)
1x Genius (Core Set)
1x Strength (Core Set)

Allies
1x Hulk (Core Set)
1x Tigra (Core Set)
1x Mockingbird (Core Set)
1x Agent 13 (Captain America)

My primary goal of this deck was to stock it with physical resources to enable Hulk to stick around for a long time once I got him out, and to allow Heroic Strike to have a lot of opportunities to trigger its stun effect.  The Super-Soldier Serum, if I could get that out early, was a huge help to the latter.  In two games, it's actually played pretty well.  Captain America is actually great for handling threat on his own, and he can certainly put damage out as needed.  Overall, he's just a fantastic hero.  He can hunker down and take some blows, too, which is really helpful, keeping your allies on the table longer.

So, I've gotten two games in with this combo so far, both wins, but both against Rhino.  I'll take him on a tougher challenge as soon as I can manage.

Current Warmachine/Hordes Status

I just wanted to write some notes where I stand with my Warmachine and Hordes stuff, by faction.

Minions - This is a faction where I currently have a fully assembled and ready to go list pair:

https://conflictchamber.com/?cb201b_-2ncr4cbNjNjWfIj_bHbOhmjV7y7FbF2N___-2l494cbN4djWj_bOk6k6jXkckckckc

Minions
[Theme] Will Work For Food

[Rask 1] Rask [+27]
 - Blackhide Wrastler [16]
 - Boneswarm [7]
 - Swamp Horror [15]
 - Gatorman Soul Slave [0(5)]
Bog Trog Mist Speaker [0(4)]
Bone Shrine [2]
Dahlia Hallyr [17]
Gatorman Witch Doctor [4]
Gremlin Swarm [3]
Kwaak Slickspine & Gub, Croak Sorcerers [4]
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor [0(5)]
Rorsh [15]
Wrong Eye [17]
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew [2]

Minions
[Theme] The Blindwater Congregation

[Maelok 1] Maelok the Dreadbound [+28]
 - Blackhide Wrastler [16]
 - Boneswarm [7]
 - Bull Snapper [5]
 - Gatorman Soul Slave [0(5)]
Bone Shrine [2]
Gatorman Witch Doctor [4]
Thrullg [0(5)]
Thrullg [0(5)]
Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron [5]
Gatorman Posse (max) [16]
Gatorman Posse (max) [16]
Gatorman Posse (max) [16]
Gatorman Posse (max) [16]

The Rask list is in need of some updates- I admit I haven't had much success with it, but I think if I am smart about choosing which list to drop into which scenario, I should be fine, as Maelok can handle most situations.  My next steps for this faction (which I may get to this year) is to update the Rask list, and get a playable, decent Jaga-Jaga list.  I own a bunch of stuff, much of it assembled, but I have a tremendous gap on the Farrow side of things, but I'll work slowly to correct that, starting with some Farrow caster in WWFF.

Cryx - I'm currently working on a Skarre1 Dark Host list:
https://conflictchamber.com/?c4201b_-1U0F1h1h1h1h2Ai22E2o2oi5nkdVbBbB

Cryx
[Theme] Dark Host

[Skarre 1] Pirate Queen Skarre [+28]
 - Stalker [8]
 - Stalker [8]
 - Stalker [8]
 - Stalker [8]
 - Skarlock Thrall [0(4)]
Bane Lord Tartarus [0(6)]
Darragh Wrathe [9]
Scrap Thrall (3) [2]
Scrap Thrall (3) [2]
Bane Knights (max) [15]
 - Bane Knight Officer [0(4)]
Bane Riders (min) [12]
Wraith Engine [15]
Wraith Engine [15]

I'm currently assembled the Wraith Engines, and I need to buy the Scrap Thralls, but I've tested the list in a few games, and it seems to play pretty well.

I am unsure what I should do for my second list.  I don't have many of the miniatures I would need to play Slaughter Fleet Raiders or Ghost Fleet, and the former seems to be a pretty competitive list.  I do have plenty of jacks to play Black Industries, however, so I may just play some random Black Industries list as I buy what I need for Slaughter Fleet.  So really, this year, I'm going to finish getting that Skarre1 list fully assembled, and then work on a second list.

Skorne - I haven't really done much work on my Skorne yet, and I don't think 2020 will be the year it gets on the table.  If I do, it almost certainly will have to played in Disciples of Agony for some time- I don't have many Immortal related pieces yet, but I suppose I'll have to at some point.  I do own a TON of beasts, and a good assortment of the small based infantry.  Maybe a Winds of Death list?  I don't know.  Like I said, not this year.

Circle Orboros - I currently own over 250 points of Circle and have enough that I could do Devourer's Host or The Wild Hunt.  So far, I haven't really assembled all that much (just the old Mk1 Battle Box and a Gorax).  I would like to get them assembled and give them a try, but I just haven't had time.  Maybe next year (i.e., 2021).

Infernals - I am actually interested in trying to field Infernals in 2020.  I have enough stuff to run a list (due to various sales I've been taking advantage of), and I'm working to assemble it.  It might not be until nearly the end of the year, but by golly, I'm going to run an Infernals army this year!

Cygnar - I have enough stuff to run Storm Division and Heavy Metal, but I would have a ton of assembly to do. Maybe 2021.  I really enjoy running Cygnar, but I've got so much to do with the other factions, I just don't have time for them yet.

Convergence of Cyriss - I literally only own two colossals.  That's it!  Hard to do much with that, haha.

Protectorate of Menoth - At this point, I could almost run a Creator's Might list, but I would need to buy Choir and solos.  They are in a good place now, and would be fun to play, but I already have a friend who plays these guys, so not a super high priority.

Retribution of Scyrah - This is an odd one, I'm not really a Ret player at all, but I've accumulated so much stuff for it that I actually could run quite a few lists.  I've also just been randomly assembling things.  I may drop a list or two this year.  Nothing fancy, I'm sure, but I wouldn't say it's impossible.

Mercenaries - These were a faction I played occasionally in Mark II, but with the current theme forces, I don't have enough of anything to actually play this.  I'm probably closest to being able to run Llaelese Resistance, but I have no plans to invest more into them at the moment.  I also want to run Cephalyx, and have some models for it, but not enough.  Someday!

Legion of Everblight - I have the starter box, a few extra beasts, and a few solos.  Not enough to run a list, but I've mostly assembled everything I own.  My beasts aren't the ones popularly taken, so they may not be that good.  Who knows?  Who knows when I'll want to spend more money on them, too?

Khador - I own the Mark 1 battle box.  That's it.  I won't be putting them on the table for years and years.  Fortunately, my friend Rob plays them, so I don't feel any rush to get them on the table.

Trollbloods - I won the Mark 1 battle box, and the Mark 3 battle box.  We have Matt S and Ben J in my meta who play these guys, so there's no real reason for me to push to assemble and play these guys, either.

Grymkin and Crucible Guard - Ummm... I own the Child, and some solos?  No one I know plays them, but I own so little of these factions I can't reasonably start them anytime soon, and I don't think I can assume anyone I know to either.

Anyway, that's where I currently stand.  I am going to try to play more this year, and assemble a bunch, so I'd love to be able to say next year that I've made a ton of progress!

Marvel Champions LCG Decklist - Leadership Captain Marvel

Image taken from CardGameDB.

I've been playing a decent amount of the new Marvel Champions card game, and as I've been playing, I wanted to keep track of the various decks I was using, how I've done with them, etc.  I figured, why not put them up in my blog, so I can find them easy?

This deck is for Leadership Captain Marvel.  I enjoy Captain Marvel, but she felt a bit underpowered in the games I had played her prior to using this deck.  I figure with the allies buying her time and breathing space, she should be able to really come into her own.

https://marvelcdb.com/decklist/view/322/leadership-captain-marvel-let-them-eat-allies-1.0

Captain Marvel

Upgrades
1x Captain Marvel's Helmet (Core Set)
2x Cosmic Flight (Core Set)
2x Energy Channel (Core Set)
1x Honorary Avenger (Captain America)
2x Endurance (Ms. Marvel)
3x Enhanced Reflexes (Ms. Marvel)

Events
3x Crisis Interdiction (Core Set)
3x Photonic Blast (Core Set)
2x Get Ready (Core Set)
3x Lead from the Front (Core Set)
2x Make the Call (Core Set)
1x Avengers Assemble! (Captain America)
3x Morale Boost (Ms. Marvel)

Supports
1x Alpha Flight Station (Core Set)
1x The Triskelion (Core Set)
1x Avengers Mansion (Core Set)
1x Helicarrier (Core Set)
3x Quinjet (Captain America)
1x Avengers Tower (Captain America)

Resources
2x Energy Absorption (Core Set)
2x The Power of Leadership (Core Set)
1x Energy (Core Set)
1x Genius (Core Set)
1x Strength (Core Set)

Allies
1x Spider-Woman (Core Set)
1x Hawkeye (Core Set)
1x Maria Hill (Core Set)
1x Vision (Core Set)
1x Falcon (Captain America)
1x Squirrel Girl (Captain America)

The deck, so far, seems to play okay- I won two games against Rhino so far, but haven't taken it out for a more difficult challenge... yet.  I manage to get allies out pretty reliably, and like I thought, she does have the time to get set up, and enough energy resources that I can power her abilities and cards.  It's sitting at 49 cards, however, which is probably a bit high.  I'm trying to figure out what to drop.

Anyway, that's where I am with her in Leadership, so far. Will follow up as I play more.

Looking into 2020

Well, I've put up my resolutions for the year, so I thought I'd, once again, talk more generally about what I'd like to see out of myself for gaming this year.  Unlike resolutions, I won't give myself hard metrics to try to meet and won't kick myself if I fail to get some of these things done.

Miniature gaming - One again, I'd love to get a lot done in the minis world this year.  I do have the resolution for Warmachine and Hordes, and I intend to complete that goal.  I have a routine now that sees me assemble quite a number of miniatures throughout the week, as I handle the filing and cleaning of miniatures on Sunday and use the rest of the week to assemble whatever I've cleaned.  I've been doing this for a few weeks now, and it has seen me move through the minis quite efficiently.  I have a section of the basement dedicated to miniature work, and it would work great as a paint station whenever I start to regularly paint.  Hopefully this year.

On the gaming front, I could see playing a lot more Marvel: Crisis Protocol this year.  The one game was enough to get me interested, and I'd like to see this hit the table more, especially as new releases come out.  I'd certainly love to get into one of the GW games out there, but aside from Warhammer Underworlds, I don't know that I have a regular opponent I could use, so who knows if I'll manage this.  I also seem to have gotten out of the Star Wars minis games, but some of the new things have gotten my interest again, and BK bought Legion, so that may see the table more this year, too.

I do have a few unplayed minis games- Adeptus Titanicus, Song of Ice and Fire, Necromunda, Age of Sigmar.  I don't think it's unreasonable one or those gets on the table, but it'd be a stretch to think more than one would.  Maybe I'll try pushing Song of Ice and Fire, and see if I can get a taker?

Card gaming - I really didn't make much progress here last year, and I'm really saddened by that.  I love card games.  Really, they are something I think a lot about, and would love to spend time doing.  And for the most part, card games are easy to fit in- it shouldn't be hard to get them on the table!  In practice though, the biggest problems are just finding people interested.  Eric and I may keep playing Star Wars, although we haven't talked about it much recently.  My brother and I may play more Star Trek, someday.  I'm playing Lord of the Rings semi-regularly with Joey, so I'm excited to get use out of my cards there.  Marvel Champions is getting on my table a decent amount, because it's a pretty fulfilling solo experience.

What about the rest of my games though?  I just don't know.  I'd love to see Netrunner start coming back to life, with the group using the new cards from Project Nisei.  I'd love to play more Ashes and use those fan expansions too. I just don't know when/if I'll manage any of that this year though.

I do intend to start going through the Arkham Horror stuff solo this year though, as I want to go through and use a bunch of the new cards.  That'll be a start.  I think Magic will occasionally get played this year, too.  Beyond that, I can just hope.

Board wargaming - This is going to be the big focus this year as I try to lower the number of unplayed games I have, since the largest group of unplayed games I have are these wargames.  I do manage to play some during the year, but these are almost always games owned by other people.  Most likely, the majority of the plays I do this year will be solo, as I try to go through my collection.  I intend to write detailed session reports of these as I play them, though, so keep an eye out for that!

RPGs - I am going to try to run my first campaign this year, likely Dungeons and Dragons 5E. I'm reading the books now in preparation of it, and I think it'll be a lot of fun.  Beyond that, I'm not sure there will be other RPG sessions this year, but that is subject to change.

And finally, Board games - How much I play or don't play in this category seems to be wholly determined by how interested my wife is in boardgaming, which depends on a lot of factors.  She's expressed more interest lately, so I'm hoping that this year will see me play a lot more games with her, and we'll take time to try some new things.  Heck, maybe I can even get her to go to a small boardgaming convention with me?

New Years Resolutions for 2020!

Despite how I did on my resolutions last year, I'm not deterred.  I think these resolutions help push me to try to get certain tasks done that I want completed, and despite failing last year, I really did make an effort along a few fronts.

This year, I'm going to keep the same number, and the keep the same goal 'themes', but I'll put more realistic numbers, and try to at least get moving in the right direction.

Get 10 painting points
Okay, this isn't a big drop from last year's goal, but I really think if I just focus, I can get some painting done.  I'd love to be able to post painting progress for once.  Let's try to do that this year, eh?

Reduce number of unplayed games by 10
I am currently sitting at 260.  That's quite an increase from last year, but it isn't solely that I've been purchasing games.  Part of this is really a mistake in how I was keeping track of games before, but that has been corrected.  So, the goal, plain and simple, is to end the year with only 250 unplayed games.

Play 30 games of Warmachine/Hordes
I played 21 games last year.  I'll try to push myself to get more in this year.

Read 25 books
I read 21 books last year, exceeding my goal.  I want to push myself to read even more this year, and this seems like a good goal.

Lose 25 pounds
Oh boy- I won't list my weight here for now, but suffice to say, it's higher than I want.  I'm going to do my damnedest to reverse the weight gaining trend this year.

So, that's that- I will post an update in March, June, and September, and see how I'm coming along.

What about you?  What resolutions have you made for the upcoming year?

Monthly Summary for December, 2019

Games Played

• Lord of the Rings: The Card Game - Four plays, all with Joey.  We played through the first four adventures of the Mirkwood cycle, beating them all with relative ease.
   
• Marvel Champions: The Card Game - Four plays, all double handed solo against a variety of scenarios.  Tried my hand at deck building, and also played some games with all the new stuff that came out!
• Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth - One play with Bob, as I taught him the system.
• Marvel: Crisis Protocol - One game with Matt.  We set up the intro scenario with the intro setup, and played through the game.  I ended up winning handily about Turn 5 or 4, but I was en route to tabling him too.  So far, has proven to be quite a fun game!
• Splendor - One game with my wife, during some downtime on Christmas.  She actually led most of the game, but I managed to keep her locked out of the reds, and finally pulled ahead to win.
  
• X-COM: The Board Game - One game with Rob and Mark.  I played as the scientist, and mostly focused on buffing the other two, instead of working on things for myself.  Ended up rolling very well early, put out a bunch of upgrades, and we managed to win... narrowly.  Pretty fun game!

New Arrivals

• Marvel Champions- I bought the new Captain America, Ms Marvel, and Goblin packs for the game, and have already tried them out.
• Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth.  Bob accidentally ordered two, so I got one :).
• Sabacc - Received from Ben for Christmas.  The classic, well know Star Wars game!
• Expedition Altiplano - I really know nothing about this game.  I received it for free from Games and Stuff after buying a certain amount of stuff from them during December.
• Random packs and expansions for various games I need to get caught up on, which is mostly the FFG LCGs.
• Admiral's War - Arrived on the last day of 2019, from Canvas Temple Publishing.  I backed this on Kickstarter, and it looks pretty cool.  Looking forward to trying it in 2020!

Miniature Assembly/Painting

• More assembly- I assembled the Hermit of Henge Hold, the five minis in the Riot Quest box, two Stalkers, and a few more random fixes of miniatures.  I started working on Crisis Protocol miniatures, as well.
  

Reading

• I've started reading the Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook. If I want to run a campaign, I need to read all the rules!
• I've been reading The Great Pretender, by Susannah Cahalan.  This is a book that investigates the 1973 study by David Rosenhan where he and several other people pretended to be mentally ill enough to be put into mental hospitals, then attempted to get out.  It's been pretty interesting so far, but I'm not completed yet (although should finish it the first week of 2020).

Happy New Year!

Just wanted to wish everyone reading a Happy New Year!  This past year felt like a bit of a mess, but hey, 2020 is looking to be great!

I am not going to push a lot of new projects this year, as I didn't manage to make much progress last year.  This year, I'll shoot to get back to basics- play game, write about the games I'm playing.  That's the basic goal.  Hopefully you'll be here to enjoy it with me :)