I’m back! Another Friday, another Three Box Challenge! This time: SHIELD!
What is the Three Box Challenge, you may ask? It’s simple – what affiliated rosters can you put together with just the core set plus three boxes of your choice. I know a lot of us obsessively purchase every single box, but I think a huge part of why this game is so great is you can pick up a core box, and a couple boxes of what appeals to you and you could take that to a game night or tournament and do OK.
If you’re coming to this article without having any MCP experience whatsoever and are doubting the value of the Core box, I’m here to tell you that it is worth it. For $100 you get:
All the dice you should need
All the measuring tools you will need
~Half a tournament board’s worth of terrain
10 characters (a standard game requires a roster of 10)
20 tactics (you’ll need 10)
3 secure crises and 3 extract crises (you’ll need 3 of each to play)
Compared to other big wargames like 40k/AOS and WMH, its really impressive what you can get for ~$200. So, this article series is somewhat akin to a budget/beginner’s MCP guide, focusing on a different faction each time.
And this time we are of course covering the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division, which you may better know as S.H.I.E.L.D.. And there’s no better place to start your S.H.I.E.L.D. roster with than its leader, Nicholas J. Fury, Jr.
You can read my first impressions here if you want some more in-depth thoughts but at the core Nick Fury is an otherwise middle of the road 4 threat with a fascinating leadership tacked on alongside his S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents
Which collectively add up to make him a powerful scenario-focused option – especially on the F shaped extracts that make up 2/3 of the core extracts. Going with priority you can grab middle and a side with Fury’s first activation. Without priority you can try and dive the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in and threaten to pick it up with another character. This all combines with his bevy of tactics. No other single box gives you so many playable tactics full stop.
For our second box I’m going to go in a slightly odd direction and pick up Sam and War Machine. Only War Machine is S.H.I.E.L.D. affiliated but Sam is an incredible piece for the game plan. In the tactics section Bird of Prey is a situationally good card for Sam depending on your local meta (needs lots of fliers around) but I want to point you in the direction of The Air Force:
If you pay attention to the TTS Leagues this isn’t exactly lighting up the world. But in the world of 3 box there are a few factors that make this INCREDIBLE.
- Virtually all your games will be at 17 threat. That means you are pretty much always playing two 4s and three 3s. Unless you pick up another 4 threat or REALLY like Ultron you’re going to be playing Captain Marvel a LOT
- Going back to the 17 threat aspect whenever you’re playing 17 threat your opponent is probably 5 wide alongside you. That means this can compress your activations to steal prio (or get away with taking someone out before they go without losing prio)
- It has no range component which lets you spread out on the core box secures
- War Machine runs hot on power regularly and its relatively easy to set this up for top of 2
But enough about my pet tactic, lets take a look at our first option to round out these two boxes, the S.H.I.E.L.D.-iest box outside of Fury himself, Agent Widow & Hawkeye:
Now you may be asking, why did Sam/War Machine get tapped as the 2nd box over this? Quite simply, this box is only kinda/sorta one more S.H.I.E.L.D. character because while you can include both in your roster you cannot play both Black Widows at the same time. And while 2 threat Black Widow won’t be played super often on 17, War Machine + Sam feel like they round out the amount of frontline and backline options you take a bit better. But if you want Agent Widow and Hawkeye they are solid affiliated 3s that carry their weight. Hawkeye is a mobile backline objective holder that can hand out status effects, while Agent Widow is a pretty bog standard rapid fire 3 threat with the addition of a cool bonus VP mechanic which can really pay off in the long run. Consider the following roster:
[Characters]
- Baron Zemo: 3
- Black Widow: 2
- Black Widow, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 3
- Captain America (Sam Wilson): 3
- Captain America (Steve Rogers): 4
- Captain Marvel: 4
- Hawkeye: 3
- Iron Man: 3
- Nick Fury: 4
- War Machine: 3
[Team Tactics]
- Avengers Assemble
- Battlefield Medicine
- Brace for Impact
- Eye in the Sky
- Patch Up
- Reposition
- Sacrifice
- Sitrep
- The Air Force
- The Shieldmobile
[Extract Crises]
- Skrulls Infiltrate World Leadership [C]: 17
- Spider-Infected Invade Manhattan [F]: 17
- Struggle for the Cube Continues [F]: 17
[Secure Crises]
- Infinity Formula Goes Missing [B]: 17
- Riots Spark Over Extremis 3.0 [D]: 17
- Mayor Fisk Vows to Find Missing Witnesses [C]: 16
Next up we have the heavyweight choice in the stable of S.H.I.E.L.D. options, Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk. She’s a particularly exciting choice if you like priority because she will let you play 4 wide at 17 with Fury, War Machine, Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, and even potentially compress your activations down to 3 in a 4-wide mirror thanks to The Air Force. Most teams will struggle to kill her between Brace, Battlefield Medicine, and Patch Up, allowing her to suck up a LOT of pain for her nearby allies. Unfortunately the roster doesn’t allow playing A-Force at 17, but a S.H.I.E.L.D. roster struggles to find room for unaffiliated tactics regardless. Check it out:
[Characters]
- Baron Zemo: 3
- Black Widow: 2
- Captain America (Sam Wilson): 3
- Captain America (Steve Rogers): 4
- Captain Marvel: 4
- Crossbones: 3
- Iron Man: 3
- Nick Fury: 4
- She-Hulk: 6
- War Machine: 3
[Team Tactics]
- Avengers Assemble
- Battlefield Medicine
- Brace for Impact
- Disarm
- Eye in the Sky
- Patch Up
- Reposition
- Sitrep
- The Air Force
- The Shieldmobile
[Extract Crises]
- Skrulls Infiltrate World Leadership [C]: 17
- Spider-Infected Invade Manhattan [F]: 17
- Struggle for the Cube Continues [F]: 17
[Secure Crises]
- Infinity Formula Goes Missing [B]: 17
- Riots Spark Over Extremis 3.0 [D]: 17
- Mayor Fisk Vows to Find Missing Witnesses [C]: 16
And finally, possibly my favorite option. At the moment this box is one of the best value boxes out there – Field Dressing is one of the best restricted cards, Vision is a top three 4 threat, and Bucky is an excellent 3 threat that happens to be affiliated. You also get access to Till the End of the Line
Note this card says Captain America has to play this, not Steve Rogers, opening the door to playing it with Bucky and Sam. Making two characters unmovable PERIOD and pretty unkillable at the same time is situationally massive.
You’ll notice I left out The Air Force this time. This is under the theory that when you pick up this box you pretty much only play Vision as your second 4 threat as he is generically powerful, and giving him pseudo-aggressive from Fury’s leadership (sometimes) can wreak all kinds of havoc lining up filthy beams and really solid throws. That said if you want to keep the activation compression in your back pocket I’d cut Avengers Assemble which is just a nod to how Avengers heavy you naturally are. Without any further adieu, the final roster:
[Characters]
- Baron Zemo: 3
- Black Widow: 2
- Captain America (Sam Wilson): 3
- Captain America (Steve Rogers): 4
- Captain Marvel: 4
- Iron Man: 3
- Nick Fury: 4
- Vision: 4
- War Machine: 3
- Winter Soldier: 3
[Team Tactics]
- Avengers Assemble
- Battlefield Medicine
- Brace for Impact
- Eye in the Sky
- Field Dressing
- Patch Up
- Reposition
- Sacrifice
- The Shieldmobile
- Till the End of the Line
[Extract Crises]
- Skrulls Infiltrate World Leadership [C]: 17
- Spider-Infected Invade Manhattan [F]: 17
- Struggle for the Cube Continues [F]: 17
[Secure Crises]
- Infinity Formula Goes Missing [B]: 17
- Riots Spark Over Extremis 3.0 [D]: 17
- Mayor Fisk Vows to Find Missing Witnesses [C]: 16
And FINALLY, if you’re not supporting your Friendly Local Gaming Store for Marvel Crisis Protocol, I would like to bring your attention to our sponsors for your wargaming needs in both NA and the UK:
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That will wrap us up for this Three Box Challenge article here on acrossthebifrost.com! Also make sure to check out the Roster Doctor on Facebook, Youtube and Twitch!
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