Marvel: Crisis Protocol - Black Panther, Shang-Chi, and More Review

We're back with another new set review for the fast-paced, kinetic Marvel: Crisis Protocol, a tabletop miniatures skirmish game from Atomic Mass Games featuring your favorite characters from across the Marvel universe. We most recently covered a large batch releases, including Professor X, Nightcrawler, and more. Now we're checking out two new releases: first up is Black Panther, Chosen of Bast & Namor, The Sub-Mariner, and from there we move onto Shang-Chi & Silver Sable -- read on for our review!

Marvel: Crisis Protocol - Black Panther, Chosen of Bast & Namor, The Sub-Mariner

First let's look Black Panther, Chosen of Bast - who brings his hand-to-hand combat skills to the table in a new version of the character (the game has previously released the character as: Black Panther, this new "Chosen of Bast" moniker makes this an entirely different version of the character).

Black Panther, Chosen of Bast

As we can see from the above stat card, this version of the character is a 3 Threat character (the previous incarnation is 4 threat) and features a balanced defense. Retaining the very fun "Pounce" ability the former version of the card also had, he's now kitted out with the very powerful Spirit Predator ability.

I found myself immediately drawn to that big, nasty attack - where you're rolling 7 dice and (with a little luck) then able to unleash your Builder for free. In one of my games, this lead to him almost one-shotting Mysterio. It's these kinds of interactions that make me fall more in love with Marvel: Crisis Protocol every day -- it truly is just a chance to play What If? on a grand scale.

Playing with Black Panther, I was impressed with his ability to navigate the battlefield now that he has Wallcrawler. With a larger base, in my playthrough I had him constantly moving around the board, throwing himself with Pounce, and getting the jump on objectives with Insight of the Ancients.

Statistics-wise I feel like he's fairly middle-of-the-road for a 3 cost character (though I do like that all of his attacks are Mystic-based), but that doesn't mean he's not an incredibly useful addition to your crew. Use him (obviously) with other Wakanda affiliated characters to great effectiveness, or throw him in an Avengers lineup and just lean on him to get stuck in and deal serious damage.

Namor, the Sub-Mariner

Next up in the pack, making his Marvel: Crisis Protocol debut, is the isolationist king himself Namor, the Sub-Mariner. Let's go ahead and take the plunge (sorry) and check out his stat card.

As his 5-threat power level suggests, Namor, the Sub-Mariner is a seriously powerful character. While play testing Namor, the number one thing that was immediately obvious was how shockingly fast this character is. He's on a large base, has flight, and he's got a Move Long, which means he was absolutely zipping across the battlefield the entire game.

With 7 Health on both sides of his card, he's also incredibly sturdy, allows nearby allies (and himself) to reroll 1 die in their attack and defense rolls, gains extra Power, and his attacks and effects can't be reduced or prevented by superpowers or Team Tactic Cards. So why does all of that matter? Because that's all passive bonuses that don't require an energy spend.

This means that - even setting aside his attacks for a moment (which we'll get to shortly) - he's a highly mobile, extremely hard-hitting model who can even slightly, passively buff his teammates. 

But it's his two attacks that were most impressive in my playtesting. His builder attack allows him to Advance toward his target distance Small, but his Armies of the Deep attack is the real stunner here. As you can see from the card above, he either calls a swarm of crabs, an octopus, or a wave of turtles to crush the foe. That's... hilarious? In my playtesting, he sent a devastating Wave of Turtles crashing into Doc Ock (missed opportunity not sending the octopus after him, but I had a game to win here).

All in all, for sheer maneuverability, I think Namor deserves some serious consideration for your list. He hits hard, is a sturdy fighter, and has multiple abilities that allow him to either stay on his opponents or do a bit of zone control by pushing them away.

Marvel: Crisis Protocol - Shang-Chi & Silver Sable

Up next is everyone's favorite martial artist, Shang-Chi, and the famous mercenary known as Silver Sable!

I'm always a big fan of more on-the-ground heroes and villains, so I knew this character pack would be right in my wheelhouse. Let's start with Shang-Chi!

Shang-Chi

He's exactly what you'd expect from a character who's main form of super-heroism comes from on-the-ground, fist-to-fist combat, though the Range 3 on his Rising Phoenix Kick has a much nicer range than I could have hoped for with this martial artist. His "Supreme Martial Artist" ability, where he counts blanks as successes when defending a close-combat fight, is super thematic.

And while all of his attacks, on both sides of his card (we love new attacks opening up on an Injured card side), are potent and powerful - I think the main takeaway for how to play Shang-Chi is to use him to really manage hot objective areas.

I wouldn't necessarily lean on him to hold objectives, but he should constantly be pushing enemies out of range with moves like "Dragon Chases Its Tail" and "One Inch Punch." With his ability to sneak in little small moves, and push enemies around the board, it'll be hard to face off against him and stay put in one spot.

In other words, Shang-Chi is great at letting someone else hold objects while he ensures high-danger enemies aren't allowed to stick in and cause problems.

Silver Sable

For Silvija Sablinova, there are no radioactive spider bites to nurse, no exposure to gamma rays... nothing but a big, terrifying looking sniper rifle! And it's for this reason that this character is such a fun welcome to the game. I have to admit, I'm a sucker for long-range characters in Marvel: Crisis Protocol, and there aren't many out there with a Range 5.

Of all her special abilities here, for me - in my playtesting at least - it was all about the Sniper Nest and Headshot. Just build up her power, get her high up, and start cracking at enemies out in the open. Easy to pilot as a character, there's not a ton of complexity to Silver Sable, but she's so much fun to play.

I do wonder if she's worth the 4 threat, as Silver Sable feels like more of a 3 threat character, but with Shot Caller, and some of her tactics cards (which you should check out in depth on the Atomic Mass site), she can be a really potent addition to your team.

Marvel: Crisis Protocol - New Character Packs Final Thoughts

I think that both of these new character packs are really strong additions to the game. The new Black Panther is a very powerful striker, and Namor is so slippery on the battlefield he's a must-add for anyone running a S.H.I.E.L.D. list. And both Shang-Chi and Silver Sable are fun characters who do very different things.

It's always hard for me to give a sort of final thought roundup on miniatures when we're dealing with a collection of different ones, so what I really want to say in this space is: do these characters interest you? Do they feel like they'd be a good fit in your lists? Overall, for me, the most important thing about each of these four miniatures is that none of them feel boring.

Instead, each of these characters are rendered onto the tabletop in ways that feel true to their roots, the miniature designs look absolutely amazing, and each has the ability to create a fun, engrossing moment. I've always felt that you get the most interesting moments from non-core characters with MCP - Iron Man's great and all, but isn't it more interesting to lumber around the field as Arnim Zola?

That's how I feel about fielding Namor or Silver Sable, these are characters that are well-loved, but they haven't been MCU-ified to death (not that there's anything wrong with MCU, but it takes some of the mystique away from a character when we've lived with them in live action for years). So that's why I really love these packs - the characters are powerful, and shake up the world of the game a bit!

The products used in the creation of this review were provided by Atomic Mass Games.