DOCTOR STRANGE VS SCARLET WITCH DICE THRONE BATTLE

It is chaos magic versus the mystic arts when the Scarlet Witch duels against Doctor Strange in the Marvel edition of the tabletop game Dice Throne from The Op Games. Role play as a character striving the be a gladiatorial champion in a competition that pits warriors from various times and dimensions against one another. Strategically utilize abilities and action cards combined with manipulating the roll of dice to defeat opponents. From a cursed pirate to a vampire lord, Dice Throne provides energetic gameplay in one on one battles ... and now competitors from the Marvel universe have entered the fray! 

Scarlet Witch comes in a 4-Hero Box that also includes Thor, Loki and Miles Morales Spider-Man. You can pick-up Doctor Strange in an expansion pack that also includes Black Widow. Time for a Multiverse of Madness showdown Dice Throne style between Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch!

After an accident removed Doctor Stephen Strange's fine motor skills from his hands, the renowned surgeon looked beyond traditional medicine for healing and found the mystic arts. What he was not expecting was to become the Sorcerer Supreme, Earth's preeminent defender against international threats. In Dice Throne, Doctor Strange has the ability to prepare and cast spells through utilizing a deck of spell cards that are separate from action cards which he also maintains a deck of. He also can inflict magical attacks and defenses through rolling dice combinations. Additionally, through casting spells and die rolls, Doctor Strange can summon status effects to inflict on his opponent or empower himself.

DOCTOR STRANGE DICE COMBINATIONS

When it is Doctor Strange's turn to attack, he can roll his dice three times. After the first roll, he can utilize a dice combo attack from what is showing or re-roll all or any number of dice he chooses. After the second roll he can reroll all or any number of dice he chooses if he doesn't initiate a dice combo attack. A third roll is allowed if a player desires but that is the final outcome for being able to activate an attack using a dice combination.

Here are some of the attack combinations for Doctor Strange:

Augury -- Dice rolls result in two tome symbols and two amulet symbols. He inflicts 8 points of damage on his opponent and gains one Deja Vu status effect token.

Universal Awareness -- Four tome symbols are showing. Draws one action card to add to his deck. Gains two Deja Vu and two Premonition status effect tokens. If he has already cast and spell and placed it in a discard pile, it can be pulled out and prepared to be reused. 

Astral Incursion -- Rolling a combination of one mandala, one tome, one mantle, and on amulet triggers this attack. Inflict 6 points of damage then roll two dice. If you roll a mandala add 3 points of damage; roll a tome gain a Premonition token; roll a mantle inflict a Crimson Bands status effect on your opponent; on an amulet cast a spell.

Mystic Bolts -- If you roll a small straight (four dice with numbers in a row) deal 6 points of damage and cast a spell. If you roll a large straight (five numbers in a row) deal 9 points of damage and cast a spell.

Binding -- Roll two mandals and two mantles. Inflict Crimson Bands on your opponent plus hurt them with 9 points of damage.

Wand of Watoomb -- Roll four amulets. Inflict Crimson Bands; Deal 5 undefendable points of damage; Prepare a Spell from your discard pile and cast up to two Spells.

ALL-SEEING EYE! -- This is the most powerful of Doctor Strange's dice combo attacks. Roll five amulets. Look at the top five cards in the spell deck. Pick two of these cards to prepare to use. Put the other three cards back in any order you may later want to pull them. Then deal 10 points of damage and cast up to two Spells.

As mentioned, Doctor Strange can cast spells in addition to his dice combo attacks through his Book of Vishanti passive ability. He begins the game with the Flames of Faltine Spell placed on his game board. Once per turn, he may prepare this Spell or another from the Spell cards in your hand. Casting Spells are triggered by action cards and dice combos.

Doctor Strange also has a defense dice combo. During an opponent's attack against him, Doctor Strange can utilize his Cloak of Levitation. He rolls two dice. For a mandala, he inflicts back 1 point of damage. On a tome, he gains a Premonition token. On a mantle, he is protected from 2 points of damage. On a amulet he inflicts 3 points of damage back to his opponent.

DOCTOR STRANGE STATUS EFFECTS

Doctor Strange's status effects are Crimson Bands, Premonition and Deja Vu. Crimson Bands are a negative effect inflicted on the other player preventing him or her from utilizing action cards during rolling dice during their next turn.

Premonition and Deja Vu are positive status effects benefiting Doctor Strange. If you have one Premonition token you can draw two action cards instead of one during the start of a turn. If you have three Premonition tokens you can draw three action cards instead of one at the start of a turn. With Deju Vu, Doctor Strange can turn in the status effect token to start an offensive roll phase from the beginning. Roll three times and don't like where you are at with the dice? Use a Deju Vu status effect to start over with three new rolls!

I'm going to leave some mystery and not spoil what the spell cards can do. You'll have to play a game of Dice Throne with Doctor Strange to see what you can do with these. These add a lot of extra energy to the game though making the Sorcerer Supreme a force to be reckoned with in any Dice Throne encounter. 

With powers that can manipulate reality itself and the meddling of unseen forces, Wanda Maximoff's real origin is a mystery. Blessed with the ability to manipulate chaos magic, she doesn't know her place in the world ... is she a hero or a villain?!

SCARLET WITCH DICE COMBINATIONS

Here are some of the attack combinations for Scarlet Witch:

Hex Bolts -- Roll three warp symbols deal 4 points of damage; Roll four deal 6 points of damage; Roll five deal 8 points of damage. 

Darkhold -- Roll two spell symbols to draw one action card, gain one combat point (used to cash in some action cards), and get a Crackle and Probability Manipulation status effect token.

Spellcraft -- Roll four dice numerically in a row deals 7 points of damage and gains her a Probability Manipulation status effect token. Roll five dice in a row deals 9 points of damage and lets her inflict a Reality Warp status effect on the opponent.

Mind Blast -- Roll one of each symbol. Gain a Crackle status effect token; Deal 5 points of pure damage and roll a die. If the die value is even gain a Probability Manipulation token. If the die value is odd deal 8 points of pure damage instead of five.

Bewitch -- Roll one warp symbol and three crowns. Gain a Conjure status effect. Deal 9 points of damage.

Pure Chaos -- Roll four crown symbols. Gain a Conjure status effect. Inflict a Reality Warp status effect. Deal 6 points of undefendable damage. 

SEALED YOUR FATE -- the Scarlet Witch's most powerful dice combo! Roll five crown symbols. Gain Conjure status effect and a Probability Manipulation too. Inflict Reality Warp status effect. Deal 12 points of damage.

The Scarlet Witch also has a formidable defense to opponent's attacks. She can roll FIVE dice. If she gets two warp symbols she gains a Crackle; Two chaos gains her a Probability Manipulation; Two Spells gains a Conjure and two Crowns deals 4 points of damage back at her attacker.

SCARLET WITCH STATUS EFFECTS

While Doctor Strange has Spell cards to enhance his offensive capabilities, the Scarlet Witch relies instead on status effects to give her an edge. She has three positive status effects to empower herself: Probability Manipulation, Conjure and Crackle. Plus, can hinder others with her Reality Warp negative status effect.

Reality Warp forces an opponent to remove one of their die during attack rolls and instead use one of the Scarlet Witch's dice. Thus they are in essence actually only rolling four instead of five dice during their turn.

Probability Manipulation allows the Scarlet Witch to change the value on a die after a roll up or down one value when an even number is showing. So, if a 4 is rolled, cashing in one of these status effect tokens allows that die to be adjusted to a 3 or 5. This could impact a dice combo by allowing a straight to be created or changing symbols by altering a chaos to become a warp or spell.

Conjure allows the Scarlet Witch to either steal a positive status effect token from another player or inflict a Reality Warp on an opponent.

Crackle allows Scarlet Witch to inflict 1 point of damage per each positive or negative status effect token on an opponent's game board including the Crackle token used to initiate this impact. So, if Doctor Strange was to have a Deju Vu and Premonition positive status effect tokens and a Reality Warp negative effect on his game board those along with the Crackle would cause him to have 4 points of damage. This is a nice way to finish off an opponent who is on the ropes if a dice roll combo narrowly misses accomplishing a knock out.

Which of these two magic wielders do you think is the more powerful foe in a Dice Throne bout? Would you go with the Sorcerer Supreme or the Scarlet Witch? 

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Marvel United

Avengers Assemble! Roleplay as Earth's Mightiest Heroes in MARVEL UNITED, a hybrid card game that incorporates fantastic tabletop miniatures, which lets players team up as their favorite Avengers. Have yourself a super family game night attempting to stop the dastardly master plans of dangerous villains. 

Two to four players each take on the role of one of seven Avengers characters (Ant Man, Black Widow, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Hulk, Iron Man or Wasp) in this cooperative game co-created by CMON and Spin Master Games. MARVEL UNITED is a mashup of plots and characters from both the Marvel comics and cinematic universe with the artwork and figure models in a unique chibi style to be appealing to tweens and teenagers based upon the current popularity of anime and manga. The game has been specifically designed to be easy to learn yet challenging enough to be entertaining to play to maximize its playability with a wide range of ages making MARVEL UNITED an ideal selection for a family game night.

One of the reasons I picked up MARVEL UNITED was that it isn't too complicated for my twelve year old twins to enjoy but is comprehensive enough to keep me interested in playing it too. I also appreciate the cooperative nature of the game where we would all be working together to win the game. This game has the potential for a lot or repeat playability and I liked how it can provide us quality family time immersing ourselves in the fantasy world of Marvel super heroes and villains.

The core box of MARVEL UNITED focusses on the Avengers with a team that is pretty consistent with the makeup of the characters as portrayed in the Marvel cinematic universe. You can pick from one of three villains (Red Skull, Ultron or Taskmaster) for your team of Avengers to tackle in an adventure. Players only go head to head against one of these villains per game. Each villain and hero gets their own deck of cards which are utilized in turns throughout the game.

RED SKULL

Rising to power during World War II, the Red Skull was one of the planet's most dangerous threats and Captain America's greatest enemy during the conflict. Exposed to an experimental gas near the end of the war he remained in suspended animation for decades. He emerged in modern times to continue his desire for world domination as the leader of a terrorist organization known as Hydra.

TASKMASTER

Has photographic reflexes that allow him to replicate any super hero fighting move he sees. He is a mercenary who trains super villains in combat techniques and engages in covert missions. Taskmaster utilizes his martial arts skills and special ability for a wide range of criminal enterprises from assassinations to high priced heists. He doesn't have loyalty to any particular creed beyond the accumulation of wealth. 

ULTRON

A science experiment gone wrong, Ultron is a sentient robot that hates and seeks to destroy humanity. Ultron’s abilities include superhuman strength, flight, and various weapons such as concussion blasters, radiation emitters and his “encephalo-ray,” which plunges its victims into a deathlike coma. As a mechanical being Ultron can transfer his consciousness from robotic body to body making him nearly indestructible.

In MARVEL UNITED an actual storyline is created by drawing villain cards that imperil the heroes and move the master plan forward. Players build a hand of cards from drawing blindly from their individual hero decks during the game. Hero cards allow players to take certain actions such as moving to different locations, clearing threats, fighting thugs, rescuing civilians, inflicting damage on the villains and their henchmen or utilizing a unique power. 

Don't rush into making a decision in your turn because your decision also impacts your team mates. Heroes can unite their powers so your move can impact what someone may or may not be able to turn the next turn. Remember no one wins the game unless your team prevents the villain from enacting their master plan.

While the Avengers strategize and leap into action, the villain will roam around six locations in the game (ranging from the grounds of New York City's Central Park to the airborne deck of a S.H.I.E.L.D. helocarrier hovering over Manhattan) creating chaos. They could be deploying minions to terrorize the city, kidnapping civilians and more. Oh and while there is only one primary villain (represented by a game board figure piece) they do have some powerful henchmen that the Avengers will have to battle one on one too. 

Plus just to make things a little more tricky ... you can't battle the main villain until you do two of three things. Before you can inflict damage on the villain your heroes must defeat nine minion thugs, rescue nine civilians or do a combination of defeating powerful henchmen and clearing threat scenarios. And once you get close to getting to the big bad guy the villains cards start to be drawn after every two hero turns instead of at the conclusion of an entire Avengers' team. Are you up to the challenge?!

For our first family game night playing MARVEL UNITED, we took on Red Skull. While the Avengers we played as resembled the heroes portrayed on the silver screen, the Red Skull and his henchmen were closer to characters from the pages of Marvel comic books. As I said earlier, the Red Skull wasn't just backed by nameless thugs. We also had to combat Crossbones, Madame Hydra, and Bob (Agent of Hydra) before we can go after Red Skull. And while we can't engage right away with the main villain, Red Skull and his henchmen can inflict damage on each of our heroes from the get go. We have to make quick work of the henchmen and thugs or our heroes could get KO'd. Game over!

BAM! BAM! BAM! Red Skull and his henchmen were hitting us hard doing a ton of damage to our heroes as the Avengers started off the game clearing out locations of minor thugs and rescuing civilians in danger. Things started to swing our way though starting with Bob being a bit of a pushover and Madame Hydra falling next. Crossbones was more of a challenge but Captain America and Iron Man combined their abilities to take him down. With Hydra's thugs and henchmen out of the way this opened up an opportunity for The Incredible Hulk to smash Red Skull for an Avengers victory in our first time playing MARVEL UNITED.

This game has been available for retailers since the 2020 holiday season, but we just received it now because I purchased it through a Kickstarter pledge which took awhile to arrive because it included some exclusive items. One of those items is the wonderful game mat with a neoprene non-skid backing shown in our pictures playing the game. This game mat really enhanced the game play. 

Also I received a box of additional hero and villain miniatures with their own card decks. While the core box focus is on the Avengers this Kickstarter exclusive expansion pack brings into play a variety of characters from the comic books, television shows, and movies. These range from heroes such as Daredevil, Squirrel Girl, and Howard the Duck to villains that include M.O.D.O.K. and Kingpin. 

With these Kickstarter exclusives there is so much re-playability with MARVEL UNITED. We're going to be having a lot of family game night fun with this game. MARVEL UNITED absolutely gets a Geek Daddy nod of approval.