Getting Started-Marvel: Crisis Protocol X-Force

At Goonhammer we’ve devoted a lot of words to talking about how to compete and take your game to the next level. In “Getting Started,” we look at how to get started with an army – the basics you need to know, how to start collecting models that will leave you with a serviceable army, and what the best deals are.

X-Force is the ultimate representation of 90’s Marvel Comics design: big muscles, big guns, and even bigger personalities.  In Marvel: Crisis Protocol, X-Force is a hard-hitting affiliation with a growing roster of affiliated models, who are a blast to paint and play with on the tabletop.

Who Is X-Force?

X-Force is a superhuman team created by Rob Liefeld that debuted in New Mutants #100 in April 1991.  This team has very close ties to the X-Men, but X-Force takes a more militaristic approach to accomplishing their missions than the X-Men do.  Usually, this team is led by Cyclops, who gives the team their missions.  Cable and Wolverine have also led them.  The original members of X-Force include Cyclops, Wolverine, Caliban, Hephzibah, X-23, Warpath, and Wolfsbane.  Other team members that have appeared over the years include Deadpool, Psylocke, Domino, and even Storm and Beast have been part of this wet work X-Team.

Essential Reading and Viewing

All of the comics mentioned below are available to read on Marvel Unlimited, an incredible service for comics fans who don’t mind reading their comics on their phone, tablet, or web browser. The movies can be streamed on Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video, among other services.

X-Force (1991-2001) (X-Force #1-12; Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza): Whatever your feelings are about Rob Liefeld as a person or comic book creator, I encourage you to read the 12 issues of X-Force he is responsible for.  The art style is definitely representative of an era in comics (and honestly an acquired taste if anything), but had this team not been created, some of the (in my opinion) better stories that would follow may not have been possible. How far you go past these in the original run is completely up to you, so your mileage may vary. 

X-Force (2008-2010) (X-Force #1-28; Christopher Yost and Clayton Crain): This is the X-Force I prefer.  It is very late-00s “everything has got to be SUPER gritty and violent”, but there are actually some entertaining stories behind all of the blood and gore.  I also think this series does a really good job of showing more modern audiences how absolutely different this team is from any other team in the Marvel Universe.

Deadpool 2 (2018): This is the only movie that X-Force has appeared in, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I think the tone of the Deadpool movies in general lend themselves well to including X-Force, and also the casting of Josh Brolin as Cable was perfect.  There were talks for a standalone X-Force movie, but those plans have since been scrapped through corporate acquisitions.  

How Do They Play?

Do you like hitting things with a hammer? Because that’s what X-Force does. Their Plan A is to keep the scoring slow and remove models from the table. Their Plan B is to reference Plan A.  Cable is the only leader for the affiliation and his ability to remove cover and also allow a failure to be re-rolled once per activation pushes models to be more attrition focused and capable.  There are only 10 affiliated characters, so you will be using splash characters that take advantage of this leadership quite a bit.

Affiliation Strengths

• Relatively simple strategy of keeping scoring low and KO’ing enemy models.
• Very strong offensive characters in affiliation.
• Very strong leadership since it was changed in the 2023 updates.
• Can go mono-affiliation in a game and not feel like you’re giving up anything.

Affiliation Weaknesses

• A 5-threat leader is tough and can be a limiting factor in squad building.
• Can be tough to come back if scoring ramps up really fast.
• You really get hurt when you lose an activation because a character gets dazed, or you lose the model entirely.
• Cold dice can spell doom for this bunch.
• No models in either Core Set can make this an expensive affiliation.

Leadership

X-Force currently only has one leader, and it is 5-threat Cable. His leadership ability Wetworks allows allied characters (they don’t have to be affiliated, which is huge) to re-roll one attack dice per turn, including failure results.  Additionally, if you are attacking an enemy within Range 3 when you re-roll the dice, the enemy character does not benefit from cover.

First Purchases

If you don’t want to purchase a Core Set, you can get started with X-Force by purchasing CP47 (Cable and Domino), 2023 Crisis Card Pack, Movement Tools and a dice pack.  This will get you your affiliation leader (Cable), a model you will almost always want to bring (Domino), and get you two really solid Team Tactics cards in Cat and Mouse and Recalibration Matrix.  From there, I do recommend purchasing both CP40 (Sabretooth and Wolverine) and CP71 (Honey Badger and X-23) because all four of the characters included in these boxes are affiliated, bringing your affiliated character total up to 6.  From there, it is a matter of preference because the other members of X-Force are in box sets that only include one affiliated character.  I do recommend purchasing Deadpool and either Bishop or Psylocke because all three of those characters have been mainstays in my roster, and they’re all affiliated.  As far as recommendations for splash character choices, you really can’t go too wrong with any of the options in MCP.  Any model can take advantage of Cable’s re-roll, so the sky is really the limit.  Some models I have played around with and enjoy: Baron Zemo (Core Set 1 version), Agent Venom, Crimson Dynamo, Gwenom, Agent Venom, and Logan, The Wolverine.

Do I Need A Core Set?

AMG has made it possible to buy the components that come in a Core Set (dice, measurement tools, etc.) separately from a Core Set.  If you have zero interest in any of the models that are included in either Core Set, you don’t have to buy one.  There are some decent splashable characters in the sets, though, so you may want to consider that before completely passing on them.  You also get a good start if you have any interest in either the Avengers or Cabal affiliation in addition to the terrain and tools that come in each set.

Earth’s Mightiest Core Set and Extra Purchases Roster

This particular list uses models, tactics cards, and crises from the Earth’s Mightiest Core Set, along with the purchases of CP 47 for Cable and Domino, CP 71 and CP 40 to get you Honey Badger, X-23, Sabretooth, and Wolverine.  This is nowhere near a bleeding-edge competitive list, but with characters like the Ultron, Metal Tyrant and others alongside your affiliated characters, this list is not to be taken lightly.

”Core

Branching Out

The following roster is based around the theme that you want to have all of X-Force in your roster, and not really anyone else.  In addition to purchasing Cable, Domino, X-23, Honey Badger, Wolverine, and Sabretooth, you will need to purchase CP 112 (Bishop), CP57 (Colossus), CP45 (Deadpool), and CP103 (Psylocke). Additionally, you will want to purchase the 2023 Crisis Pack and 2022 Card Pack so you will have access to all of the available crisis cards and a huge selection of Team Tactics Cards.

All X-Force, All the Time

X-Force has 10 affiliated characters, and more than enough team tactics cards to fill our your roster.  These characters all pack an individual punch, and will offer you a ton of tactical flexibility for scenarios you may face.

“All

Starting Other Affiliations

There are some great opportunities for X-Force to dual-affiliate.  Because of character overlap, Avengers and Uncanny X-Men are the two affiliations that I have built rosters for.  In the Avengers, you really can’t go wrong with any of the Captain America leadership abilities, and several Avengers love Cable’s ability that allows them to re-roll failures.  Additionally, the X-Men can help X-Force have some play in a faster-scoring scenario game where it might not be possible to KO models fast enough.  

Avengers

X-Force benefits greatly from the mobility and healing offered by Sam’s leadership in Avengers.  Additionally, if you choose to bring in X-Force pieces like Deadpool, Cable, or Wolverine under Captain America, First Avenger, they will be more than happy to pay a power to get their attack triggers, and you will notice the difference in their output.  Additionally, all of the Avengers included in this list will love the ability to re-roll failures in their attacks throughout the course of a game. 

“Avengers/X-Force”

Uncanny X-Men

X-Men are another easy affiliation to dual-affiliate with because there are so many X-Force members who are also X-Men.  Additionally, any of the included X-Men will love the ability to re-roll their failures while they are attacking. 

“X-Men/X-Force”

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