Marvel Heroes

First off, each player gets to choose a squad of four Capes, either Marvel Knights(Spidey, Elektra, Daredevil, Dr Strange) Avengers(Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Capt America) X-men(Wolvie, Jean, Cyclops, Storm) or The Fantastic four(You know who they are!!!!).
In addition to your team you also get control of you neighbour’s Nemeses (Kingpin, Magneto, Red Skull, Dr Doom).The game board is a map of New York divided into colour coded sections, each section also has a shape marked on it. A Headline card is drawn for each section and a threat marker is placed on the relevant shape showing how tough the headline is to beat.
At the start of the turn each player gets a set amount of plot points, with which to activate their superheroes, or pay for cards. Super Heroes are assigned Ready Status to solve Headlines on the board, or Support Status where they can use a special ability, or give assistance to Ready characters.
The action phase is next. Players can either: move their ready heroes onto or around the board, solve a headline, Heal or Advance the story track. Advancing the story tack earns victory Points and can also give the Team a Power-Up. Headlines are where the big points are and solving them is the meat of the game. Each Headline comes with a trouble value to indicate the amount of dice rolled to calculate threat. The threat level can be reduced or increased with cards or special abilities. The final threat level determines which Villain cards the other players get to use against the active superhero team. Once a lead villain has hit the board, card effects can make him more powerful. Then the hero and villain players each choose one of their characters powers in secret and reveal to show how many dice they roll in combat. First they take a swing at each other, with the hero gong first, followed by the villain. Finally they have a battle of wits, which not only determines who strikes first in the next round but also gives the looser one damage. When the Villain is knocked out, the Hero scores the points for the headline. If the hero is knocked out they end up back at superhero HQ with their tights wrapped around their face. Tackling headlines is also further complicated by the meddling Super Villains (controlled by you fellow players) these can interfere during certain Headlines, by adding cards, boosting dice or creating even more trouble for the superheroes to face. They can also fight the heroes directly, by attempting to complete part of their master plan, which gives them even more ways to trash the heroes.
There are fifteen scenarios that come with the game, that modify play style and help keep things fresh, but most of the time it’s just a plain race to get the most Victory Points. The Twenty fully painted figures are great to look at but a bit superfluous. Don’t whatever do try to put them in the storage tray in the box, unless you want them without legs (trust me the tray is more evil than DR Doom with a migraine!!). The Hero and Villain cards are beautifully illustrated with full colour comic art work, though the headline cards are a bit bland. The game board is also lacklustre.
What holds this game together and makes it great is the interaction of team powers and cards. Both come together to create a good synergy, though not in a way that would break the game. Distributing plot points is tearing experience, as you never have enough to do what you want to do. The game flows well but could do with a better edited rulebook and more comprehensive ‘Cheat Sheets’. The learning curve is a bit steep, so you need a good few plays to get the hang of the finer strategic points. Overall Marvel Superheroes is a great strategic game. With good storytelling potential, that captures the feel of managing a superhero team, but is not really for beginners.