Marvel Crisis Protocol: Getting Started with Guardians of the Galaxy

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.

Do you like to play really aggressive strategies in your tabletop games? Do you like heroes who have a bit of that cosmic touch? Are you drawn to stories of lovable misfits who somehow find a way to win the day? If you answered “yes” to any or all of these questions, you might be interested in collecting the Guardians of the Galaxy in Marvel Crisis Protocol.

Who Are the Guardians of the Galaxy?

The Guardians are a group of heroes (misfits, really) drawn from planets all across the various galaxies in the Marvel Cosmic Universe. They are known for facing down extraterrestrial threats, and have come against some of the biggest villains in the Marvel Universe, including Thanos and Galactus. 

Additionally, they are a very eclectic mix of characters, and several characters in the Marvel Universe have been a Guardian. There are technologically enhanced humans, mutants, aliens, cyborgs, Asgardians, among others. 

The Guardians made their comics debut in Marvel Super-Heroes #18 in Jauary of 1969 and was initially written by Arnold Drake. This team of Guardians looked very different from the Guardians we are familiar with from both the James Gunn films and modern comics runs. This initial team was amde up of Charlie-27, Martinex, Vance Astro, and Yondu.

The Guardians had their first major comics runs during the seventies and eighties when they were written by Steve Gerber, and wouldn’t have their own series until 1990 under Jim Valentino. Except for a historical perspective, I don’t really recommend these early runs with the Guardians, because they definitely feel like they were written as an afterthought that Marvel didn’t really know what to do with, especially in this early to mid-nineties era of Marvel comics where the X-Men reigned supreme. They only had 62 issues published in this five year span, and wouldn’t have another named series published until 2008.

However, since that 2008 series, while they haven’t had one continuous series of comics, they have had several runs off and on, with the latest runs really being written by some of the modern all-stars of the Marvel writing lineup.

Essential Reading and Viewing

All of the comics mentioned below are available to read on Marvel Unlimited, which is an incredible service available for comics fans that 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.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) (Gunn) – These are not just three of the best movies in the MCU, these are just three flat-out great movies. James Gunn took a Marvel property that not a lot of people were familiar with, injected them into the established MCU, and wrote a compelling story arc for them across three movies. 

Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #5 – This issue introduced Angela to the Guardians of the Galaxy not long after her Marvel debut during the Age of Ultron story that concluded a couple of months prior. Why does this matter? Angela was originally created by former Marvel employee Todd McFarlane and Neil-freaking-Gaiman for the Image Comics series Spawn. She made her debut in that series in issue #9, way back in March of 1993. Gaiman eventually won the legal right to Angela and sold those rights to Marvel, who then had to make some tweaks to her story to fit in with Marvel.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2008) #1 – This 25-issue run is an offshoot of the great Annihilation: Conquest storyline, and is written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. I truly recommend this entire series, but this is the place where it starts. And it’s Dan Abnett, a name well-known to Black Library readers.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #0.1– Brian Michael Bendis pens a GREAT storyline for the Guardians, which culminates in Peter Qull being elected the King of Spartax and married to Kitty Pryde. It also introduces Angela and Flash Thompson’s Agent Venom.

How Do They Play?

In Marvel Crisis Protocol, the Guardians of the Galaxy are one of the most heavily attrition-focused affiliations in the game. With Star-Lord’s leadership ability Winging It combined with tactics cards like Galaxy’s Greatest, Deadly Duo, and Foreign Assignment, the Guardians can take a mediocre offensive stat card and make it exponentially greater, and can really create multiple stress points for your opponent. Additionally, Guardians will teach you how to prioritize targets and how to order your activations to be the most effective. 

Affiliation Strengths

• Strong attrition game
• Decently large roster of characters
• Low threat cost, highly effective leader
• You can splash almost any character into your roster and not feel bad about it

Affiliation Weaknesses

• Pretty fragile characters
• Mediocre to bad objective control game
• If the dice go cold, it can get ugly really quickly

Leadership(s?)

Currently, Guardians only have one available leader to their affiliation. With the announcement of Nova and Yondu, however, I can see Guardians getting another leadership option. As most of the general public will say, though, it’s not like they really need one. Star-Lord’s leadership ability, Winging It, allows him to give three characters in his squad (that don’t have to be Guardians affiliated) Winging It Tokens. These tokens allow that character to re-roll up to two dice in an attack roll, defense roll, or dodge roll (but not skulls), and then discard the token. This built-in re-roll can take away some of the variability inherent in a dice game, and can take a character from having average offensive output to overwhelming offensive output. And because you can give it to non-affiliated characters, it gives you a ton of flexibility. Additionally, Star-Lord can carry around the Power Infinity Gem to generate 3 power every Power Phase. Historically, he hasn’t been played with an Infinity Gem, but it’s not entirely out of the question with Star-Lord only having an initial threat value of 3.

First Purchases

One of the downsides of this affiliation is that they do not have an affiliation box with multiple characters in it. This means you will be purchasing multiple boxes to pick up affiliated characters, and since a few of the Guardians have multiple affiliations, you may be picking up boxes that have characters in them you don’t want. The first purchase you will definitely want to pick up is Star-Lord, since he is the only leader available. 

Do I Need a Core Set?

Technically, no. But if you are brand-new to Marvel Crisis Protocol, I do recommend buying one because not only do you get a bunch of really great characters, but you also get all of the movement tools, dice, tokens, etc. you need to play a game. You also get some really nice terrain, too. You would not be able to play a Guardians-affiliated list, however, because none of the characters in Earth’s Mightiest Core Set are Guardians-affiliated. It would take a few other purchases to fill out a roster in addition to the Core Set, which can be expensive. If you already have a Core Set, and are looking to start collecting Guardians, I recommend buying the Groot & Rocket Raccoon, Gamora & Nebula, and Drax & Ronan the Accuser boxes after buying Star-Lord. This will give you 7 affiliated characters without any wasted purchases, and give you a good variety of playstyles to learn how to play the affiliation. You also get staple team tactics cards with these purchases like Crew of the Milano and Deadly Duo. 

Core Set and Extra Purchases Sample Roster

This list utilizes some of the heroes in the core set and combines them with only three Guardians-centric purchases. The Team Tactics Cards and Crises are also chosen from what you will get in those sets as well. This list will give you a dual-affiliated Guardians/Avengers list with leaders for both in Star-Lord and Captain America, First Avenger. The Avengers in this list can also play pretty aggressively to match the playstyle of the Guardians, and can also add some much-needed control and objective play to the Guardians as well. And TTCs like Avengers Assemble, Stark Armory, and Soldat Activated can really help a mixed roster play a really strong attrition game. Now that I’ve written all of this out, I want to try it out for myself!

Core Set and First Purchases List

Branching Out

These lists are more thematic than they are competitive, although as the Guardians sit right now, they will still be extremely strong lists. I tried to base these around the Guardians in both comics and movie form, as well as a dual-affiliated option. I also tried to limit the amount of purchases you have to make to create each list, but since Guardians don’t have an affiliation pack, that is difficult to do at the moment. The only purchase I truly recommend outside of the models is the 2023 Crisis Cards Pack so that you have access to ALL of the various Crises to choose from and can pick ones that really fit your roster and playstyle. If you want bleeding-edge competitive discussion about the articles, please check out the Start Competing: Guardians of the Galaxy when it is published.

Hooked on a Feeling (MCU Movies Themed)

This list is focused on characters who feature in the James Gunn trilogy of films in the MCU, or in the larger MCU outside of the Guardians films. Since this list includes Thanos, I did include Infinity Gems on two of the characters because they are really fun and thematic options for this list. Nick Fury is included to give this list access to Grunts, which can be great extract holders and runners, and also give your opponent one more thing to think about. The inclusion of Thanos and Ebony Maw with their attached Infinity Gems also gives this list an element of control and point denial (at a very high threat cost, though) that can help swing a turn in your favor. Nick Fury’s TTC Eye in the Sky also has some utility for this list as well, though it’s not nearly as powerful as it is in a S.H.I.E.L.D affiliated list where it can be recycled back into your hand and used multiple times in a game. The setup of the crises is also more favorable for Guardians, as they can keep your opponents in more manageable “lanes” of the battlefield to focus your fire.

Hooked on a Feeling List

The Bendis Run

This roster features characters that made an appearance in Bendis’s run on the Guardians from 2013-2017. I had to use a little bit of creative liberty with the inclusion of Shadowcat in the list, because Kitty Pryde actually becomes Star-Lord at one point in this run. This list has some real heavy-hitters with the addition of Angela and Agent Venom and TTCs like Foreign Assignment and Stark Armory. This list wants to punch your opponent in the face and grab objectives while they are dazed. Angela also becomes a really great mid-line objective grabber with her long movement and medium base and the TTC Eyes on the Prize. Because she’s also an Asgardian, she generates two power every Power Phase, so she can actually have enough power to do this! Shadowcat also gives this list a little bit more mobility with her long movement, and can really add to the durability of her allies with her Can’t Touch This reactive superpower.

The Bendis Run List

The Asgardians of the Galaxy

This is another dual-affiliated list, but this time it is a combination of Guardians and Asgardians. Both Angela and Beta Ray Bill are affiliated characters for both of these factions, so there is really some flexibility in how you build your squad. There is also an Asgardian Affiliation Pack that you can purchase to get Thor, Hela, Valkyrie, and Loki in one purchase. I really like that Asgardians generate an extra power in the Power Phase, and they can all benefit from the re-rolls provided by Star-Lord’s leadership ability Winging It. Bill is one of the most popular characters in the game because of his ability to safely reach out and grab objectives with Eyes on the Prize in the first round of a game, and is one threat cost less than Angela. If you need to add a little bit more offensive punch than Bill has, however, don’t be afraid to sub in Hela for him instead.  With the TTCs Doomed Prophecy, Odin’s Blessing, and Rainbow Bridge, the Asgardian portion of your list will also add more offense, defense, and mobility to your overall squad, too.

Asgardians of the Galaxy List

Starting Other Affiliations

Asgard

As mentioned in the last list idea, there is already some overlap built into certain characters for both Guardians and Asgard. Thematically, both of these factions also have a tinge of the cosmic influence around them, so they fit together nicely. I recommend the Asgard Affiliation Pack if you want to incorporate this affiliation into your Guardians lists.

Black Order

Black Order doesn’t have a TON of models to choose from, so it’s not a lot of purchasing decisions you have to make. Thanos and Cosmic Ghost Rider are both Black Order affiliated and CGR is also affiliated with Guardians. Both make regular appearances in Guardians lists. Adding in Ebony Maw, Proxima Midnight, and/or Corvus Glaive (with an almost mandatory Reality Infinity Gem if it’s not on Thanos) can give you the flexibility to play either affiliation in the same roster, because Black Order characters typically have a pretty high threat value.

A-Force

This is a bit of a wild card for me, because I have zero experience playing with them. HOWEVER, both Gamora and Angela are already in this affiliation, too, so that’s a start. Additionally, A-Force has a really deep roster of characters who would love to have a Winging It token for re-rolls (Gwenpool, She-Hulk, Valkyrie, and Domino come to mind) and have a relatively high damage output, which would synergize well with other Guardians characters. 

Now that you have some good ideas of what to buy, why don’t you read about how to paint them?- check out our How to Paint Everything: Marvel Crisis Protocol in 60 Minutes feature to learn how to get your heroes into battle quickly.

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