MARVEL UNITED X-MEN EXPANSION

Excelsior! The MARVEL UNITED games is such a blast to play and I am so geeked that now you can expand upon the gameplay by adding mutant heroes and villains into the action. Up to now the focus has been on Avengers-based characters but with new expansion packs Alpha Flight, Deadpool, the Fantastic Four, X-Men and more can join in the action.

I arrived home to find my dog guarding a crate of MARVEL UNITED expansion packs I ordered through a pledge in a Kickstarter campaign for the game. The artwork on these game box covers is super! I need to figure out a nice way to display this amazing art as part of storing these games when they aren't being played. If you have some suggestions tweet them out to me at @Geekdad248!

The elements of these expansion packs to MARVEL UNITED are similar to its original gameplay. A cooperative game where players team up to defeat a villain's master plan. Players must manage their own deck of action cards while moving around a gameboard to complete missions and combat evildoers. It is essential to work together to achieve victory because when players unite in combining actions it can result in some spectacular outcomes.

While a lot has stayed the same, these X-Men themed expansions also have some upgrades to the game. Now you can have a player control the villain in manipulating their master plan rather than just have everyone in the role of heroes. Also, some of the included miniature figures included for gameplay, anti-heroes, can be utilized as heroes or villains. Additionally, heroes now have more special effect cards available to add more comic book style action to the game and each hero has a trigger that when a certain scenario occurs unlocks a unique ability. These changes should make the game more exciting to play!

CORE X-MEN BOX

There is a core X-Men themed game box that is required to play the game unless you have the original Avengers themed core box for MARVEL UNITED. You need to have one or the other or both to play the game or utilize any of the expansion packs that are available for the game. The X-Men core box includes deck building cards, board locations, gameplay dashboards, and miniatures of heroes Wolverine, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Storm, Beast, and Professor X; anti-heroes Magneto and Mystique; and villains Sabretooth and Juggernaut. MARVEL UNITED: X-MEN is available on Amazon.com.

In addition to the core X-Men MARVEL UNITED box, through pledging on Kickstarter I received a huge box filled with additional bonus characters from Alpha Flight, Excalibur, New Mutants and more. 

Plus, Oldman Login and '80s era Storm were bonus characters that I received for going all in and purchasing all of the available expansion packs through the CMON MARVEL UNITED Kickstarter campaign for the game's X-Men focused adventures.

FIRST CLASS

One of the new expansion modes available through the Kickstarter campaign allows you to play as the original X-Men. Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Marvel Girl and Iceman team up against Magneto's twin children, from the 1960s comic book stories not more recent Marvel Cinematic Universe tv shows and movies, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. In addition to adding playable characters this expansion also  includes four more locations to add to your game board.

GOLD VS BLUE EXPANSIONS

Two other expansion packs add future generations of X-men characters that followed the First Class. My goal was to be able to put together the X-Men team from the mid-1980s when I was a diehard reader of the comic books for several years in elementary and middle school. Yes, I'm an '80s kid! With these two expansion packs I was able to add Colossus and Rogue to go along with Cyclops and Wolverine from the X-Men core box as well as Nightcrawler, Storm, Kitty Pryde and Lockheed in my Kickstarter bonus box. Now I have the team back together time for some nostalgic fun!

THE HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE 

How will my '80s X-Men fare against Famine, War, Pestilence and Death? The Horseman of the Apocalypse lets you battle against the world's oldest and one of the mightiest mutants along with his four henchmen in a multi-stage scenario that provides for challenging and intense gameplay. If they can't beat Apocalypse and stop his master plan than there are numerous other characters from these new MARVEL UNITED expansions to incorporate into the game. How do you think Alpha Flight, New Mutants or X-Force would do? Or how about the Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy from the first MARVEL UNITED release would stand up against Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen?

SENTINALS 

When it comes to X-men battles you really need to be able to have a fight against Sentinals. And MARVEL UNITED: X-MEN doesn't let us down! The Days of Future Past expansion provides a number of these gigantic mutant hunter robots for players to engage with. Players are really going to have to work together and give it their all to defeat these techno terrors!

DEADPOOL

The Merc with a Mouth makes an appearance in the X-Men MARVEL UNITED expansions too. Deadpool has his own expansion pack. It really is a zany scenario that fits in with the madcap exploits of this character known for breaking the fourth wall of media and being a goofy smart aleck. This expansion will provide a zany time!

FANTASTIC FOUR

Now that the movie rights for the Fantastic Four have returned to Marvel the first family of comic books is once again in the publisher's good graces which means we are starting to see more of them including inclusion in MARVEL UNITED. This expansion pack lets you try to spoil the plot of my favorite Marvel comic books villains ... Doctor Doom! A master of both the mystic arts and mechanical technology, it will be no easy task to defeat Doctor Doom.

THOR

I didn't get the THOR expansion in the original MARVEL UNITED Kickstarter and regretted it. With the new Thor movie coming out this summer, I wanted to add the character to my Avengers roster for MARVEL UNITED games. So, was glad to get a second chance to get my hands on it though this X-Men MARVEL UNITED Kickstarter campaign.

I'll be sharing more information about these and other MARVEL UNITED expansions as have the opportunity to dig into all these boxes and enjoy playing game sessions. Stay tuned to ageekdaddy.com for more updates as I get the chance to play MARVEL UNITED with family and friends. Note the game pieces come unpainted so keep an eye on my Instagram and Twitter feeds for occasional pictures of this amateur painter adding some color to them.

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MS MARVEL AND SHE-HULK MARVEL UNITED GAME NIGHT

Excited about the upcoming Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk live action series coming to the Disney+ streaming service, my daughter and I had some game night fun this weekend with these new leading ladies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Carnage is on a rampage in New York City and it is up to Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk to foil the villain's master plan in this game of MARVEL UNITED. It won't be easy as this alien symbiote has a number of offspring to battle before you can go head to head with him. Plus he is continuously transforming more people around the City into dangerous clones of himself that speed up the time frame of his master plan coming to fruition.

Why is Carnage trying to infiltrate the labs of Stark Industries and Oscorp while flooding New York City with an army of monstrous Symbiotic clones? Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk leap into action to battle this evil threat! They don't have much time though ... if Carnage completes ten turns he WINS and that timeline speeds up as he assimilates innocent bystanders as hosts for the Symbiote organisms that make up his alien army. There is no time to waste in stopping Carnage!

Carnage belongs to a race of amorphous extraterrestrial organisms known as Symbiotes, which form a symbiotic bond with their hosts and give them super-human abilities. Carnage has no regard for life and a desire to promote total chaos. Yet he can be methodological and meticulous in his plots to become the dominate lifeform on the planet. 

Ms. Marvel is a leading character in Marvel's development of a diverse lineup of superheroes appealing and relatable to new generations of young fans. This Pakistani-American hero has the power to shapeshift being able to transform her body to do feats such as elongating her limbs or enlarging her fists. Ms. Marvel often teams up with Squirrel Girl and America Chavez to create an amazing trio of girl power that can give any bad guy a run for their money!

After getting a blood transfusion from her cousin Bruce Banner, Jennifer Walters gained all the powers of the Hulk without losing her personal consciousness or sense of conscious in fighting for justice as the She-Hulk. She is a combination of brains and brawn! In addition to her solo crime fighting endeavors, She-Hulk has also been a part of the Avengers and Fantastic Four superhero teams.

Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk have a lot to take on in a limited amount of time. Before the can even tackle Carnage head on, this super duo must clear threats from four locations and either defeat nine Symbiotes or rescue nine bystanders. Plus, in this MARVEL UNITED game scenario the heroes must also defeat three of Carnage's henchmen in combat before unlocking the big boss char acter for a final showdown. 

We focused on the tackling the henchmen and clearing location threats as our first priority. She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel tore through the henchmen and unlocked three of the four locals trying to move forward to battle one-on-one with Carnage. Unfortunately, Carnage was able to capture numerous people off of New York's streets adding them to his alien army and speeding up the completion of his master plan by giving him some extra jumps ahead on the Spawn Track further reducing the number of turns She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel had to work with. BAM! The villain was victorious this game night.

Doah! Unfortunately, you can't win every game; but it is fun trying! Win or lose it is always a good time playing MARVEL UNITED during a family game night. Looking forward to a rematch against Carnage and watching the Disney+ Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk tv shows.

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MARVEL UNITED IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS

Inspired by Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, my family had a MARVEL UNITED game night featuring the heroes from the movie. In Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the Marvel Cinematic Universe unlocks the Multiverse and pushes its boundaries further than ever before. The film journeys into the unknown with Doctor Strange, who, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary. 

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, frightening images, and some language by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness stars Benedict Cumberbach (Dr. Strange), Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), Xochitl Gomez (America Chavez). The villain of the movie is still somewhat shrouded and secrecy, but could it be Kang the Conqueror who has already been connected to the Loki tv series and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania movie setting up the time traveling and dimension jumping bad guy as the next major Thanos-level nemesis for the MCU?

So, we set up a Marvel United battle pitting Kang versus America Chavez, Dr. Strange and the Scarlet Witch. In the Marvel United tabletop game, 2 to 4 players take on the role of a team of heroes working together to thwart the master plan of a villain. This is a cooperative game produced by a partnership between CMON and Spin Master Games, in which the players either all win or lose together so instead of competing against one another to come out on top, Marvel United is about teamwork. Have a super time roleplaying as your favorite Marvel superheroes tackling the villainous plots of dangerous foes.

From Sanctum Sanctorum, Dr. Strange senses that something odd is going on in New York City. Temporal anomalies are appearing at locations ranging from the Daily Bugle to Stark Industries. Futuristic warriors are creating chaos in the city! Kang the Conqueror who has mastered traveling through time and space is up to some sort of scheme attempting to implement a master plan.

KANG THE CONQUEROR

Heralding from the far distant future of an alternate dimension, his quest to rule all universes has him crossing timelines brining him to our reality as Kang attempts to accomplish his master plan. He commands a time army of henchman consisting of warriors from across the galaxy of his future, multiverse origins. Both he and his thugs are equipped with advance technology and weaponry. Our team of heroes must defeat Kang's henchmen, rescue civilians, and eliminate threats at New York City locations around the gameboard before being able to directly attack the villain.

What heroes will team up to stop Kang's master plan in our game of Marvel United? We brought together the heroes from Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness! Can America Chavez, Dr. Strange, and Wanda Maximoff defeat the master plan of Kang the Conqueror?

Players utilize cards from a deck that each has to take actions and use special abilities within the game. Each turn, a player adds a card to the game's storyline that allows characters to complete tasks and battle enemies. Players also pass on some of their card actions to be used by teammates in super combo moves. Teamwork is so important in Marvel United!

HEROES WIN if they eliminate all of a villain's health points. To do this though they must first accomplish 2 of 3 tasks (rescue civilians, defeat thugs or eliminate threats) before they can attack a villain head on. Beware that there is no such restriction on the villain directly attacking your heroes with a BAM! while they are unlocking tasks!

HEROES LOSE if the villain completes the master plan. This happens if any of the following occurs:

• The conditions of the Villainous Plot on the villain's dashboard are completed;
• the villain places all of the Master Plan cards within the storyline;
• any hero starts their turn with no cards in both their deck and hand.

DR STRANGE

Formerly a renowned surgeon, Doctor Stephen Strange now serves as the Sorcerer Supreme—Earth's foremost protector against magical and mystical threats.

SCARLET WITCH

Superhuman genes allow the Scarlet Witch to utilize energy and reality manipulation and provides powerful access to magical energies, such as chaos magic.

AMERICA CHAVEZ

Possesses superhuman strength, durability and the power of flight. America Chavez also has the power to kick open holes in reality, allowing her and her teammates to travel through the multiverse and into other dimensions.

GAME TIP

Each hero character normally has one or two cards that bestow an extraordinary ability. You will want to make sure to strategically play these cards to maximize the benefit. Be alert that if the villain knocks out your character all cards in your hand are reshuffled into the down-sided deck so no assurance when the hero may be able to access that card into you up hand as a playable ability. While a KO doesn't end the game for a character it does throw your card use into chaos!

ORB OF AGAMOTTO

Placing this Dr. Strange card into the storyline provides the team an advance look at all of the villain's Master Plan cards before they are put into play. This ability to see into the future is invaluable for positioning characters around the game board and determining what actions to take during a turn. An invaluable ability to give your heroes and edge over the game's artificial intelligence controlling the villain's moves against you.

INVULNERABILITY

When the game is nearing its end and there isn't much room for error, the invulnerability card of America Chavez avoids a KO at an inopportune time.

CHAOS MAGIC

Have bad card options in your hand and wish you could replay one that is already in the storyline? With the Scarlett Witch's Chaos Magic she enables a teammate to swap one card from their hand with a faceup card in the storyline.

The game started out with a fairly quick KO of the Scarlet Witch by Kang. But after that the heroes held their own and knocked out two of the three missions they needed to accomplish to be able to allow them to try and KO Kang themselves. Yet Kang avoided a head-on confrontation with the heroes with his Time Master card coming into play within the storyline. This allowed the villain to phase out of our reality and avoid losing health points to hero attacks.

With only three cards left in Kang's Master Plan deck, there was no guarantee another Time Master card would appear allowing the villain to phase back into gameplay. Without that happening there was no way the heroes could inflict damage to eliminate his health points. That would leave them with no way to win the game!

Dr. Strange came to the rescue as he was able to add his Eye of Agamotto card into the storyline. This allowed him to pull out one of the previously drawn Time Master cards from Kang's Master Plan deck from the storyline. The heroes were able to replace that card in a reshuffled Kang Master Plan deck thanks to the Eye of Agamotto!

Yet the heroes were running out of time with Kang only having four cards left to play now. If he plays all his Master Plan cards before the heroes eliminate his health points, the villain wins. Two turns later, the Time Master card returned to the storyline setting up a Kang showdown with Dr. Strange, America Chavez and the Scarlet Witch in Central Park. With only two turns left before Kang could play his last Master Plan card to win the game it came down to one last battle.

Being able to play Dr. Strange's Orb of Agamotto card in the closing moments of the game, the heroes were able to know exactly where to position themselves to quickly inflict the most damage on Kang. Scarlet Witch utilized a powerful attack from an adjoining location cutting Kang's health in half. America Chavez then used some combo effects passed on from cards in the storyline to provide the final body blows to take out the rest of the villain's health points.

With no time left, the heroes make a last second comeback to tackle the Master Plan and defeat Kang. Whew! That was too close for comfort! America Chavez, Dr. Strange and Scarlet Witch save the day and stopped Kang's Master Plan. We achieved a Marvel United family game night victory!

One last note. Playing pieces come unpainted with the Marvel United game. The characters shown in this post were decorated with my own amateurish skills. Be nice!

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MARVEL UNITED RHINO ATTACK

A rhino is on the loose in New York City! He is rampaging through sites ranging from Central Park to Time Square with the goal of stealing technology from OSCORP and Stark Industries labs in Manhattan to sell to the highest bidder.  Stopping this villain's masterplan is our challenge in this Marvel United family game night!

Aleksei Sytsevich, also known by the alias RHINO, was an enforcer with the Russian mob when one of his oligarch bossed "volunteered" him to have an experimental combat suit grafted to his skin. He possesses extraordinary strength and is amazingly fast making him as dangerous as a charging rhino. Aleksei is now an independent contractor providing muscle for mercenary work and burglaries. Rhino charges around the game board with a BAM! that both KOs heroes that oppose this super villain and forces them to waste turns by placing action cards facedown within the storyline. 

In the MARVEL UNITED tabletop game players each assume the role of superheroes cooperating to stop the master plan of a powerful opponent controlled by a deck of cards that serve as artificial intelligence competing against the real-life players. The supervillain's master plan is unveiled as cards are played that trigger different effects and threats are activated that pose challenges across the locations on the game board. Players cultivate their own deck of special effects cards that are placed in a storyline along with the villain's cards to create your Marvel United adventure. Cards placed within the storyline activate superpowers that individual characters can use or can be passed on to teammates for extra powerful combo moves. Build your storyline, unite your powers, save the day!

Who will stand up to Rhino and save New Your City from his crime spree? It appears the Avengers and Spider-Man are tied up dealing with other threats to the world. So, the fate of the city is up to an unlikely trio of heroes: Black Cat, Howard the Duck and the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl!

Black Cat

One of the most talented thieves on the planet, Felicia Hardy is an anti-hero who will standup against wrongdoers committing evil acts and hurting the innocent while also picking the pockets of the ultra wealthy to finance her own lavish lifestyle. She will standup to Rhino to protect civilians in his path, but is she out to do good or simply trying to take his score for herself. This cat burglar has feline-type abilities that include enhanced agility and the power to project bad luck onto others.

Howard the Duck

Howard was transported to Earth from another dimension where water fowl are the planet's leading intelligent form of life. Howard has no superpowers but is skilled in the martial art of Quak-Fu which allows him to hold his own against much larger and more powerful opponents. He also carries a big freaking gun that can be used to clear locations on the gameboard of the thugs that are serving as henchmen for the Rhino's masterplan. 

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Squirrel Girl 

Not intimidated by the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl? You should be! Doreen Green has squirrel-like abilities that include super speed, strength and senses. She has the sharp teeth and jaw strength that allows her to chew through almost any material including metal. She can also communicate with and command squirrels to assist her. Plus, she has a big, fluffy tail! Most importantly, in a nut shell Squirrel Girl has some of the best cards available in her deck to provide the final blow for a hero victory in the game.

The heroes in our game were having a rough time with Rhino stampeding theme preventing them from getting any traction against him. In Marvel United, players must unlock two of three objectives involving rescuing civilians, stopping henchmen and eliminating threats before they can combat the villain straight on. Things were looking bleak as the Rhino knocked out Black Cat over and over again with his charge move and the villain's masterplan kept resulting in player's not being able to play their special effects cards.

Black Cat, Squirrel Girl and Howard the Duck remained persistent though. They kept fighting! The team held out long enough that Squirrel Girl was able to play an action card from her deck that squashed Rhino's masterplan. She used her Common Sense ability → If the number of your Special Effects cards in the Storyline is greater than the Villain's current Health, the Heroes win the game.

While our heroes hadn't been able to unlock the accomplishments needed to attack Rhino directly, Squirrel Girl's common sense was his undoing. Rhino had 8 health points, but the team had played 9 special effect cards within the Storyline when Squirrel Girl's turn came up. Luckily, she had been able to hold onto that card in her deck without it being drained during the gameplay. Tossing that tenth special effects card down won the game!

Just in the nick of time too! If a villain, expends all of its A.I. action cards that completes the masterplan and ends the game with a loss for the heroes. Rhino only had 2 cards left when Squirrel Girl made her move! Whew ... that was close! Doreen Green really did earn the name Unbeatable Squirrel Girl with that game winning move.

MARVEL UNITED combines strategy, teamwork and luck in an entertaining combination of board game, RPG and card decking building competitive play. It provides a nice time having players engage in cooperative play where no individual wins the game but rather everyone wins or losses as a team. We've had some great family time playing the Marvel United tabletop game. It has absolutely earned a Geek Daddy nod of approval! 

One last note. Playing pieces come unpainted with the Marvel United MARVEL UNITED game. The characters shown in this post were decorated with my own amateurish skills. Be nice!

This post has affiliate links, which means this blog could earn advertising money if you buy something. This doesn't cost you anything extra, ageekdaddy.com just has to give you the heads up for legal reasons. Click away!