AAR: Core Set

By Cable2, in Marvel Champions: The Card Game

Posted at

In this After Action Report I will play a game through the core set while writing every card used into a narrative form.

All cards in CAPS; note for thematic reasons all minion cards will be referred to in plural (just makes more sense for the heroes to fight multiple thugs and not just one)

These may be rather long; thanks to anyone who bothers to read. For those who enjoy thematic play maybe it will help you also envision how the story is going, and any comments from anyone would be appreciated.
-------


TONY STARK is alarmed to receive word that RHINO is staging a BREAK IN at a S.h.i.e.l.d. facility with the purpose of stealing vibranium and valuable technology. The futurist Tony immediately begins to consider how to create a new Rhino-busting armor and begins to get to work at AVENGERS MANSION. Luckily on location is T'CHALLA who in a moment of HEROIC INTUITION was present to oversee the shipment of vibranium from his country and to thwart any schemes concerning it, and had the foresight to bring his panther suit. BLACK PANTHER gives a cry of WAKANDA FOREVER and swipes at Rhino with his PANTHER CLAWS. Rhino turns his attack to him but Panther is more than ready to retaliate. Unfortunately matters get more complicated when word gets out that Hydra has started a BOMB SCARE by threatening to blow up the surrounding buildings. This causes total panic in the civilians and the heroes now have to worry about CROWD CONTROL.

Black Panther is prepared to withstand Rhino's continued attacks thanks to his VIBRANIUM SUIT but he also receives aid from a S.h.i.e.l.d. agent onsite: MOCKINGBIRD manages to temporarily stun Rhino before moving to deal with the bomb for the heroes. Stark meanwhile has designed his MARK V ARMOR and installed the ARC REACTOR but it is not yet fully functional and ready for battle. He does order though that FIRST AID be administered to Black Panther to keep him in the fight against Rhino until Stark can arrive. Panther is having a difficult time due to a new ARMORED RHINO SUIT that protects the villain from damage; "I'M TOUGH" laughs the villain as he shrugs off attacks.

IRON MAN finally enters the battle as he has gotten his ROCKET BOOTS up to full power. Upon arriving he immediately strikes, stumbling Rhino with an UPPERCUT and then sending him flying with a SUPERSONIC PUNCH. A HELICARRIER is also now hovering overhead with bad news: more Hydra elements are arriving on-site to aid Rhino. Sure enough HYDRA BOMBERs hurl explosives at Iron Man. To make matters worse, in a moment of terrible timing T'Challa receives word of rebellious elements in Wakanda and must retreat to deal with these AFFAIRS OF STATE.

After receiving word from THE GOLDEN CITY that Okoye has matters in hand, Black Panther is able to resume the confrontation and considers how to use his TACTICAL GENIUS to end Rhino's assault. Iron Man meanwhile is bringing all the capabilities of his suit to bear as his MARK V HELMET and POWERED GAUNTLETS are 100% online. The Hydra bombers are easily taken care of but Rhino is still able to ADVANCE his scheme as Stark ends up engaged with an unexpected accomplice: SANDMAN!

Briefly falling back to the HELICARRIER, Stark is able to make some adjustments to double the output of his ROCKET BOOTS. Black Panther again gives a cry of WAKANDA FOREVER and with his ENERGY DAGGERS melting away Sandman that villain is forced to retreat. Iron Man though is forced to deal with renewed attacks by HYDRA BOMBERs and also confusion resulting from threats they make regarding secondary explosives that turn out to just be a FALSE ALARM deception. Rhino's I'M TOUGH boast holds true as he continues his rampage.

In the spirit of WAKANDA FOREVER Black Panther has continued to fight, clearing out the Hydra goons again, but ultimately T'Challa is forced to quickly retreat to AVENGERS MANSION to recover. Tony Stark also finds he needs to fall back to recover, taking the respite to tinker with his POWERED GAUNTLETS and double their power, and fortunately the heroes are able to take this break thanks to another Avenger arriving: HULK! This new ally is not able to help much though as shortly after engaging Rhino in battle, Hulk grabs his head and begins to revert to his Banner persona. With cover provided by a HYDRA MERCENARY crew, Rhino now advances from just breaking in to now BREAKIN AND TAKIN as he plans to make off with the loot.

By this point PEPPER POTTS has made a phone call, and WAR MACHINE arrives to help. He takes out the Hydra soldiers and leaves Black Panther to again invoke WAKANDA FOREVER and smash the Rhino with his full power. It looks like the enemy might be down for the count, but Rhino picks himself up from the rubble to start round 2. While any normal hero might be discouraged, Black Panther can sense the Djalia and the ANCESTRAL KNOWLEDGE contained within that encourages him to continue with the same spirit of WAKANDA FOREVER! Also by this point S.h.i.e.l.d. has dispatched NICK FURY Jr to help clean up this mess. He draws the remaining Hydra goons away as they GANG UP on him, and the other heroes prepare themselves as Rhino gears up for a CHARGE.

They will face it with new allies, as the cry of WAKANDA FOREVER is matched by the arrival of SHURI. Also rolling up her sleeves is JESSICA JONES, ready to smash some Rhino face in. These heroes all stare down the villain, awaiting his final powerful attack, only for a giant flash of energy to be seen and Rhino to fall on his face. Behind him stands NICK FURY Jr with a giant laser gun and a pile of unconscious Hydra goons at his feet.

Posted at

nice storytelling

Posted at

Yeah, you did a nice job. I could totally see somebody doing cartoon little short stories about there games. And it totally works narratively, that is, until Taskmaster engages Ms Marvel and has three attack due to having a bio-mechanical Polymer suit, and somehow is EMBIGGENED and shrunken.

Posted at
Continuing the Core Set campaign...
-----------------------
T'CHALLA investigates who was trying to steal his country's vibranium and finds evidence of UNDERGROUND DISTRIBUTION of weapons by his old foe KLAW. Furthermore the villain has a DEFENSE NETWORK of ARMORED GUARDs to protect this operation. PETER PARKER notices this activity going on in his neighborhood and the scientist immediately begins calculating a plan to deal with it. He goes into action as SPIDER-MAN and calls upon an ally in the VISION to help him infiltrate the villain's network. They knock out the guards only to find BLACK PANTHER and MOCKINGBIRD already on the scene. They unfortunately also find the villain is meeting with MADAME HYDRA and they face her alongside the wrath of KLAW'S VENGEANCE.
Black Panther readies his ENERGY DAGGERS and also sees a call he made earlier pay-off: his sister SHURI arrives for back-up, giving T'Challa some time to recover from Klaw's attacks. Spider-Man swings into action with both his left WEB-SHOOTER and his right WEB-SHOOTER and Vision seemingly knocks out Madame Hydra. While T'Challa has unfortunately become preoccupied with some AFFAIRS OF STATE, Pete's spider-sense suddenly starts ringing! MADAME HYDRA rises laughing, having used a secret communicator to summon her LEGIONS OF HYDRA!
A HELICARRIER has arrived on scene and the distraction gives Spidey a moment to nail Klaw with a SWINGING WEB KICK. WAKANDA FOREVER cries Black Panther! WAKANDA FOREVER cries Shuri! Their fierce attack takes down Madame Hydra for good. Klaw will be a more difficult foe as he summons his WEAPONS RUNNERs to protect him, and his SOLID-SOUND BODY makes him nearly impervious to damage anyway.
By this point the HELICARRIER overhead has proven useful as MOCKINGBIRD retreats to it temporarily to recover before returning to battle. Black Panther is smacking down WEAPONS RUNNERs left and right but Klaw only sends more into the fray as he prepares to retreat himself to a SECRET RENDEZVOUS he has scheduled with his next buyer. Peter Parker is distracted by a message on his phone that his poor aunt has received an EVICTION NOTICE, and doesn't see coming the SONIC BOOM that the departing Klaw blasts at the heroes.
Spidey regains his senses and sends a call to AUNT MAY to go to AVENGERS MANSION until he can see to her rent; Black Panther meanwhile is readying his PANTHER CLAWS to make one last attempt to bring down Klaw before he can escape. He slashes through the weapons runners blocking his way but Klaw continues to ADVANCE his scheme by calling upon the HYDRA SOLDIERs summoned earlier by Madame Hydra to stop the heroes.
The good guys have their own ace up their sleeve though as suddenly BLACK WIDOW emerges from the shadows. She helps Mockingbird take out the Hydra goons and then suddenly an arrow shoots through Klaw. It looks like HAWKEYE has saved the day, but the IMMORTAL KLAW gets back up for round 2. Another S.h.i.e.l.d. asset joins the final battle in the person of MARIA HILL, as Spidey slugs Klaw with a HAYMAKER. While Hawkeye's arrows prevent any more WEAPONS RUNNERs from arriving on scene, their foe still somehow has ARMORED GUARD after ARMORED GUARD rallying to his defense.
Spidey and Hawkeye are taking down all these guards when suddenly they receive some help: NICK FURY arrives, having taken his sweet time to GET READY on the Helicarrier. After the guards are taken care of, the TACTICAL GENIUS of Black Panther comes into play as he leads the final assault on his old enemy. With a cry of WAKANDA FOREVER he leads the charge! Klaw quickly takes down Fury, Black Widow, and Hawkeye with his powerful SONIC CONVERTER. Luckily though the ENHANCED SPIDER-SENSES of Pete are telling him no more minions remain to GANG-UP on he and Black Panther.
WAKANDA FOREVER cries Black Panther, and Spider-Man joins him as he delivers a final SWINGING WEB KICK, knocking Klaw into his own illegal explosives and finally defeating the villain in the resulting blast!
Posted at
The conclusion to the Core Set campaign:
Since he and T'CHALLA encountered Rhino TONY STARK has done some research and has discovered the secret identity of THE CRIMSON COWL, the villain behind the recent attempts at stealing vital components: it is their archenemy ULTRON! The evil robot's plan is to create an army of unstoppable ULTRON DRONES. Upon learning of this BLACK PANTHER suits up with his ENERGY DAGGERS and PANTHER CLAWS and springs into action, taking on the drones that have begun appearing. Stark begins upgrading his MARK V ARMOR to its most powerful form yet and calls in orders for a MED TEAM to be prepared as this is clearly an EMERGENCY situation. Unfortunately a SHADOW OF THE PAST is following Stark as his old foe WHIPLASH chooses this moment of chaos to seize a power plant and cause an IMMINENT OVERLOAD if his demands are not meant. He has hired a band of mercenaries called the Masters of Evil, and the one known as TIGER SHARK is at his side.
Stark is still working on increased power for his ARC REACTOR but more help is called into action as DAREDEVIL and MOCKINGBIRD join Black Panther in the fight. Unfortunately they all receive word about Ultron's ultimate plan: an ASSAULT ON NORAD that will allow him to gain control of the nuclear arsenal. Through a PROGRAM TRANSMITTER Ultron is able to direct a SWARM ATTACK of drones.
With a cry of WAKANDA FOREVER Black Panther makes a play FOR JUSTICE and continues eliminating the many drones. Stark is now focused on improving his POWERED GAUNTLETS but has PEPPER POTTS monitoring the situation for him. Mockingbird takes down Whiplash, stopping the overload of the plant, but is too wounded in the confrontation to continue. Ultron will not be so easy to defeat thanks to his REPAIR SEQUENCE and his drones that keep coming thanks to their superb ANDROID EFFICIENCY.
Iron Man completes the final component, his ROCKET BOOTS, and enters battle against the drones alongside his friend WAR MACHINE. With a final cry of WAKANDA FOREVER Black Panther defeats Tiger Shark and then after a brief stop to recover at AVENGERS MANSION he continues on to Colorado for the final showdown as well. Unfortunately another of the MASTERS OF MAYHEM wants to avenge his teammate as MELTER engages Iron Man. This distraction allows Ultron to continue to ADVANCE his scheme and continue his ASSAULT.
Black Panther is surviving against Ultron and his drones thanks to his VIBRANIUM SUIT and the spirit of WAKANDA FOREVER that inspires him. He takes down Melter, which frees up Stark to take the fight to Ultron with his POWERED GAUNTLETS. A HELICARRIER has also arrived overhead for backup. A metal coil extends from Ultron and a ELECTRIC WHIP ATTACK slashes through Panther's Vibranium Suit and then another ELECTRIC WHIP ATTACK slashes into Iron Man's Rocket Boots.
After accessing the schematics on file at AVENGERS MANSION, Stark is able to get his ROCKET BOOTS working again. War Machine holds off all the drones while Stark makes sure the MED TEAM is still holding up under fire. T'Challa receives some FIRST AID while SHURI arrives to fight FOR JUSTICE alongside her brother. Ultron now calls forth his select group of ADVANCED ULTRON DRONEs to protect him, fresh from his DRONE FACTORY. The RAGE OF ULTRON is at its maximum as he tries to destroy the heroes.
Invigorated by the arrival of his sister, Black Panther lets loose a cry of WAKANDA FOREVER and tears through the Advanced Ultron Drones. By this point Daredevil has called in a favor and JESSICA JONES smashes her way in to help. With her happens to be her husband LUKE CAGE. MOCKINGBIRD has also been recovering at STARK TOWER and comes bearing important components Stark needs to get his ROCKET BOOTS operating at full capacity again after the damage they took. Ultron orders an all-out ASSAULT against the heroes, with a GANG-UP on them courtesy of his newly UPGRADED DRONES. Iron Man is CAUGHT OFF GUARD by the attack and the damage causes communication to be lost with Stark Tower. To make matters worse, another Master of Evil has shown up to get revenge: this time it is RADIOACTIVE MAN!
The TENACITY of Iron Man means he will never give up, and he charges headfirst with his MARK V HELMET at Radioactive Man before slamming the foe with a HAYMAKER. Black Panther joins in with his usual cry of WAKANDA FOREVER and with his TACTICAL GENIUS manages to take down Radioactive Man and multiple drones in one attack. The fight has been brutal and even Jessica Jones is in need of FIRST AID, while Shuri gets completely knocked out of the fight by Ultron. The villain again uses his ELECTRIC WHIP ATTACK to deplete that tenacity Stark is showing. The ADVANCED ULTRON DRONEs also continue to be replicated and swarm the heroes.
Jones and Panther battle their way through the drones and then with a powerful HAYMAKER T'Challa finally knocks Ultron's head right off. Unfortunately the villain just reattaches it and laughs and the heroes must continue the fight. FIRST AID is given to Daredevil and Mockingbird now; the efforts of the FIRST AID crew are all that is keeping the heroes in the battle and Iron Man knows this cannot last. He slams Ultron with his own SUPERSONIC PUNCH and then begins blasting away at the fiend with REPULSOR BLAST after REPULSOR BLAST, blowing chunks of armor off of their now vulnerable foe. Ultron desperately begins a COUNTDOWN TO OBLIVION, sending out a signal that will launch all the nukes within minutes. ULTRON'S IMPERATIVE is also sent out, an instruction to all drones to launch one final suicide attack to kill the enemy. In the midst of all this madness TIGER SHARK has caught up to the heroes again and is none too happy how things went down before.
Iron Man has had enough though and finally uses 100% of his power, shutting down all his systems, but allowing him to fire off one mega REPULSOR BLAST that finally evaporates away Ultron for good. The countdown ends, the drones deactivate and fall to the ground, and Tiger Shark looks at all the destruction and the fierce determination of the remaining heroes and decides he will just slip out the back and head home.
Posted at
7 hours ago, Cable2 said:

I just wanted to throw a shout out and say thank you Cable2. This has been a refreshing change, compared to the weird argumentative tone of the forums these last few days.

Posted at
On 6/18/2020 at 8:20 AM, KimJoshIl said:

I just wanted to throw a shout out and say thank you Cable2. This has been a refreshing change, compared to the weird argumentative tone of the forums these last few days.

Yes, really creative and light hearted. Really appreciate it. I have thoroughly enjoyed them, and can't wait for more.