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After you’ve started the Marvel Crisis Protocol Core Set, you’re going to want to expand, and that means you need to look at the Marvel Crisis Protocol affiliation list.
We’ve reviewed Marvel Crisis Protocol before (the gist of the review: we loved the Marvel Crisis Protocol rules and really kinda hated the fiddly models.) Things have changed a lot since then, however. I have now spent a significant amount of time digging into Marvel Crisis Protocol, and expanding my team, and I’ve found that the part of the game that I disliked the most (the hobby aspect) is now one of my favorite parts.
See, the problem that I had with assembling and painting Marvel Crisis Protocol miniatures was that the models are absurdly assembled, and the standard way of painting wasn’t working. The models had problems such as a single arm of a small character (like Captain Marvel) being in three pieces: the upper arm, lower arm, and hand. And there was no good reason for being so small and fiddly. Well, after now assembling a dozen more, I can say that the problem doesn’t seem to be as bad.
The problem with painting is that I am very used to the basecoat, wash, highlight type of painting, and I just kept finding that it made the characters look dirty. Washing was not doing it for me. And it’s because I’m painting characters that come out of comic books, not out of the grimdark. So I decided to prime them all black and then build up their main colors with a drybrush. What this did, in effect, was to blackline all of them–which looks very comic book-ish. Now that I’ve cracked the code I honestly can’t get enough of these models.
Expanding Beyond the Core Set: Marvel Crisis Protocol Affiliation List
So now you’ve gotten to like the game and it’s time to expand your force beyond the ten models that come in the core set. One thing I like a lot about the core set is that they have wisely decided to not give you second-tier superheroes.
The Marvel Crisis Protocol Core Set gives you:
- Spider-man
- Captain Marvel
- Iron Man
- Red Skull
- Crossbones
- Baron Zemo
- Captain America
- Black Widow
- Doctor Octopus
- Ultron
See? A really good starter pack. So where do we go from here? That’s where the Marvel Crisis Protocol affiliation list comes in.
To play the game fully, you choose a team of ten characters, and then the specific scenario is going to dictate how many of them you get to select from. Now, if you haven’t read the review, one thing to remember is that absolutely anyone can be on anyone else’s team. Captain America and Red Skull can be teamed up, or Captain Marvel and Thanos. This is weird at first, but it is a very comic book thing to do: thing of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. How many times did the characters (all supposedly “good guys”) fight against each other, and not just in Captain America: Civil War. And in the comic books it happens more often, with one of the characters being a Hydra agent, or under mind control, or somebody is a Skrull.
So your roster of 10 superheroes don’t have to be affiliated. BUT: If more than 50% of your roster is from the same affiliation list, then they gain the powers of that affiliation. And, if you also have the leader of that Marvel Crisis Protocol affiliation list, then that’s even better.
The Marvel Crisis Protocol Affiliation Lists
A-Force
A-Force is a collection of superheroes that has been described as “decidedly feminist.” It’s essentially a whole bunch of the main female superheroes (and some fence-sitters about being good or not) all working together on the same as an all-female Avengers. The opening issue of A-Force has them in an alternate universe, defending a matriarchal world of Arcadia.
The Marvel Crisis Protocol characters in A-Force are:
- Leader: She-Hulk
- Angela
- Black Cat
- Black Widow
- Black Widow, Agent of SHIELD
- Captain Marvel
- Crystal
- Domino
- Gamora
- Medusa
- Okoye
- Scarlet Witch
- Shuri
- Storm
- Valkyrie
- Wasp
A-Force’s ability: when an allied character is injured, another allied character gains one power.
Asgard
As is known from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Asgard is the world where Thor, Odin and Loki are from–a realm of Norse mythology.
The Marvel Crisis Protocol characters in Asgard are:
- Leader: Thor, Prince of Asgard
- Angela
- Enchantress
- Heimdall
- Hela
- Loki, God of Mischief
- Skurge
- Valkyrie
Asgard’s ability: At the start of each turn any character can spend one power to remove one damage or special condition.
Avengers
You know who the Avengers are. They’re Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
The Marvel Crisis Protocol characters from the Avengers are:
- LEADER: Captain America (Steve Rogers)
- LEADER: Captain America (Sam Wilson)
- Ant-Man
- Beast
- Black Panther
- Black Widow
- Black Widow, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D
- Blade
- Cable
- Captain Marvel
- Deadpool
- Doctor Voodoo
- Hawkeye
- Hulk
- Hulkbuster
- Iron Fist
- Iron Man
- Luke Cage
- Ms. Marvel
- Nick Fury
- Quicksilver
- Scarlet Witch
- She-Hulk
- SHIELD Agents
- Thor, Prince of Asgard
- Vision
- War Machine
- Wasp
- Wolverine
The Avengers’ ability: every turn you can lower the power cost of a character’s superpower by one point.
Black Order
The Black Order is a group of alien warriors who work under Thanos. In the comics, the Black Order come to earth to track down the Infinity Stones which, in that reality, are controlled by the Illuminati. Of course, in the MCU, the Black Order operates differently (and I don’t think they’re ever actually referred to as the Black Order).
The Marvel Crisis Protocol characters in the Black Order are:
- Leader: Thanos
- Black Dwarf
- Corvus Glaive
- Ebony Maw
- Proxima Midnight
- Supergiant
The Black Order’s abilities: first, if an enemy is KO’d (no one is killed in Marvel Crisis Protocol) then the Black Order player scores a Victory Point. Second, during the Modify Dice step, a character can take up to three damage, which allows them to re-roll that many dice.
Brotherhood of Mutants
The Brotherhood of Mutants are counter to the original X-men. They are mutants who see mutants as superior to regular humans and want control over them. They have been depicted in several films, including the first three X-Men movies as well as the later X-Men First Class series. They are always under the leadership of Magneto.
The Marvel Crisis Protocol characters which make up the Brotherhood of Mutants are:
- Leader: Magneto
- Leader: Mystique
- Juggernaut
- Quicksilver
- Pyro
- Sabretooth
- Scarlet Witch
- The Blob
- Toad
Brotherhood of Mutants Ability (Magneto): when terrain is destroyed, allied characters equal to the terrain size gain one power
Brotherhood of Mutants Ability (Mystique): One power per turn is refunded when spent on an objective.
Cabal
A villain organization in the Marvel comics who are the primary antagonists of the Illuminati (though the individual characters appear in a wide variety of comics, and Red Skull made an appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe).
The Marvel Crisis Protocol characters who make up the Cabal are:
- Leader: Red Skull
- Leader: Sin
- Baron Mordo
- Baron Zemo
- Bob, Agent of Hydra
- Bullseye
- Cassandra Nova
- Crossbones
- Enchantress
- Hood
- Killmonger
- Kingpin
- Loki, God of Mischief
- Magneto
- Mister Sinister
- M.O.D.O.K.
- Mysterio
- Mystique
- Omega Red
- Sabretooth
- Ultron
- Viper
Cabal abilities (Red Skull): Every time an attack does damage, the character gains one power
Cabal abilities (Sin): At the end of a turn, every enemy holding or contesting an objective may be forced to drop it, on a die roll
Convocation
- LEADER: Ancient One
- Baron Mordo
- Clea
- Doctor Strange
- Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme
- Doctor Voodoo
- Magik
- Wong
Criminal Syndicate
A crime organization that is run by Kingpin, and which consists of many relatively low-level villains based in New York City. Kingpin was originally the arch-nemesis of Spider-man, but then later was moved to Daredevil.
The Marvel Crisis Protocol characters in the Criminal Syndicate are:
- Leader: Kingpin
- Black Cat
- Bullseye
- Crossbones
- Green Goblin
- Hood
- Killmonger
- Kraven the Hunter
- M.O.D.O.K.
- Mysterio
- Omega Red
- Sin
- Taskmaster
Criminal Syndicate ability: an allied character holding an Asset or Civilian may spend 2 power to transfer that token to another allied character within range 3. Also, when contesting objectives, each allied character counts as two characters.
Dark Dimension
The Dark Dimension is the dimension where Dormammu was banished. In the Dark Dimension is a race of sorcerers called the Mhuruuks.
- Dormammu
Defenders
The Defenders are unique in that they’re kind of known in the comics for not being a cohesive team, they just all kind of work together from time to time. What ties them is that they mostly face supernatural or magical threats.
The Marvel Crisis Protocol characters in the Defenders are:
- Leader: Doctor Strange
- Ancient One
- Amazing Spider-Man
- Blade
- Clea
- Daredevil
- Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme
- Ghost Rider
- Hawkeye
- Hulk
- Iron Fist
- Luke Cage
- Moon Knight
- Scarlet Witch
- Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
- Valkyrie
- Wolverine
- Wong
Defenders ability: Before declaring an attack, the allied character can spend one power and, if that attack does damage, then the target gets a Hex token.
Guardians of the Galaxy
You know who the Guardians of the Galaxy are. There have been a bunch of movies about them.
The Marvel Crisis Protocol characters in the Guardians of the Galaxy are:
- Leader: Star-Lord
- Angela
- Drax the Destroyer
- Gamora
- Groot
- Nebula
- Rocket Raccoon
- Ronan the Accuser
Guardians of the Galaxy ability: once per round, you can sacrifice a Team Tactic card to place three Winging It tokens on a character. The Winging It tokens can be used to reroll up to two dice.
Hydra:
The classic villains against the Avengers, Hydra is a newer affiliation in Marvel Crisis Protocol.
Leader: Baron Strucker
Leader: Red Skull
Arnim Zola
Taskmaster
Inhumans:
The Inhumans are a group of, well, inhuman characters who come from a strange land (that is sometimes Europe and sometimes another planet). Some of them originally started as villains, but with the coming of Black Bolt they were all made heroes.
Marvel Crisis Protocol characters who are Inhumans:
- Leader: Black Bolt
- Beast
- Crystal
- Lockjaw
- Medusa
- Ms. Marvel
- Quicksilver
- Ronan the Accuser
Inhuman ability: once per turn you can move one power from one allied character to another
Midnight Sons
- LEADER: Blade
- Black Cat
- Doctor Strange
- Doctor Voodoo
- Ghost Rider
- Iron Fist
- Moon Knight
- Wong
Spider-Foes
Not really a cohesive group, this is the conglomeration of all the major villains who battle Spider-man on a regular basis. They have been known to work together, both in the comics and in the MCU.
Marvel Crisis Protocol characters who are Spider-Foes:
Spider-Foes ability: Once per turn, an allied character can spend one power to re-roll one of a target’s defense dice.
Uncanny X-Men
You would think that the X-Men would be led by Professor Charles Xavier, but Professor Xavier has never made an appearance in Marvel Crisis Protocol.
The Marvel Crisis Protocol characters who are in the Uncanny X-Men:
Uncanny X-Men ability (Cyclops): An allied character can spend their own power to decrease the cost of another ally’s ability.
Uncanny X-Men ability (Storm): Allied characters gain cover.
Wakanda
Wakanda is the home of Black Panther and the mysterious Vibranium.
The Marvel Crisis Protocol characters from Wakanda are:
- Leader: Black Panther
- Killmonger
- Okoye
- Shuri
- Storm
Wakanda ability: an allied character can spend one power to re-roll a die.
Web Warriors
Just like the Spider-Foes are not necessarily a unified group, the Web Warriors are mainly friends of Spider-Man who help him out from time to time.
The Marvel Crisis Protocol characters in the Web Warriors are:
- Leader: Amazing Spider-Man
- Leader: Spider-Man (Miles Morales)
- Black Cat
- Daredevil
- Ghost-Spider
- Moon Knight
- Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
- Venom
Web Warriors ability (Amazing Spider-man): Once per turn put a Slow condition on an enemy.
Web Warriors ability (Miles Morales): reroll one defense die during an attack. Also, if an allied character is holding an objective they can reroll skulls
Winter Guard
X-Force
The X-Force is made up of X-Men, but they are a more aggressive and militant branch of the X-Men under the leadership of Cable.
The Marvel Crisis Protocol characters in the X-Force are:
X-Force ability: Each allied character can reroll one attack die per turn
Unaffiliated
- Punisher
- Winter Soldier
