It’s the holiday season, and knowing what to buy for the tabletop gamer in your life (or yourself...) can be a challenge. Fortunately, there are plenty of great official and third-party options for Atomic Mass Game’s Marvel Crisis Protocol. From new characters to special, bespoke tokens, read on for gift ideas in every price range.
Starter Sets
In years past, the only ways to get into Marvel Crisis Protocol as a new player were to either buy a core set or individual character packs, along with all the accessories needed to play. Both were and remain decent options, but Core Sets feature characters that may not appeal to everyone, and buying everything piecemeal can add up quickly.
Fortunately, AMG has recently launched two new products that are fantastic for new players and veteran players interested in a new affiliation. The
Spider-Foes Starter Set and
X-Men Starter Set contain 10 models each, tools, dice, tokens, tactics cards, and 10 crisis cards. In other words, they’re thematic starter sets with everything you need to play except for terrain and a playmat. The best part? They’re a steal at $95 USD.
If you know someone trying to get into MCP who can access terrain and a mat via friends or game store resources, this is the most economical way to do it - and both affiliations are popular and fun to play.
Affiliation Packs
Photo Credit - Atomic Mass Games
If a full starter set doesn’t sound like the right buy, AMG has also significantly increased the number of four- of 5-model affiliation packs. These won’t provide a full roster or the accessories needed to play the game, but they offer a cheaper way to kickstart an affiliation collection than buying two-packs. Moreover, many of the models in affiliation packs are hard to find outside of them.
While there are several to choose from, some recent releases include Affiliation Packs for
Defenders,
Midnight Sons,
Convocation, and
Criminal Syndicate.
Game Mats
While MCP can technically be played on a pre-measured square on a table or counter, the game is meant to be played with mat. With official mats out of production for several years, players must turn to third parties for the goods. Fortunately, several companies offer a wide variety of mats made from different materials in different parts of the world.
While designs are up to personal preference, the two big questions you’ll want answers to are which material you want the mat made of and whether you’d like markings for the crises. Material-wise, the two most common options are neoprene (like a mousepad) and vinyl (a thinner, flexible plastic). Neoprene is softer and won’t curl, but it’s also generally more expensive. Vinyl is usually cheaper and lighter, but in rare cases, it can curl and take some time to flatten. I own mats made with both materials, and they’ve all been excellent.
The next question is about markings. Early in the game’s life cycle, the Crises were shaped with a handful of pre-set templates. This made it handy to have mats with those templates already marked. However, AMG has committed to yearly Crisis updates, and they’ve also ditched the preset positional templates. So, buying a pre-marked mat is still cool, but it won’t be up to date for as long as it used to be. Consider looking into a mat with just the centerline and midline marked - this will remain an evergreen aid and still offers some references to speed up measuring. Many mat manufacturers will be happy to do this if you reach out in advance.
Here are some popular places to buy MCP mats:
Third Party Terrain
Images from C27 and Corvus Games
If you’re looking for more options than official AMG terrain provides, the game fully supports third-party options, and the possibilities are limitless. Buying third-party terrain already printed won’t save too much money compared to the official stuff, but if you or a friend has access to a 3D printer, there are two particularly great sources for terrain designed with MCP in mind.
Corvus Games Terrain has a few different lines inspired by various games, but their Urban and Heroic collection features realistic buildings, vehicles, and more, perfect for MCP. Exact dimensions and parts are listed with each product, as is the scale to print at for MCP if rescaling is suggested. Moreover, they have some incredible bundles if you’re looking to put together a matching table of terrain quickly.
C27 also features some realistic buildings and vehicles, but it leans more toward Marvel-specific imagery. With terrain representing everything from Castle Doom to Oscorp Industries and the Xavier Institute, it’s quite fun to put together boards thematically relevant to your mat or Marvel characters of choice. Note that they don’t list sizes, so it may be worth researching the sizes of the items if you have a smaller printer.
Third Party Tokens
There’s nothing wrong with the tokens that come in the MCP core boxes and starter sets, but a set of lovely acrylic tokens adds a premium feel to a part of the game that players handle a lot. A search on Etsy will turn up several options, but I personally use
CurledPawCreatives' full suite of damage, power, activation, and condition tokens. The up-front cost is high, but they look and feel great. Moreover, for a cheaper option, the seller offers each token type independently at a higher per-token cost. A set of activation, power, or damage tokens stands well on its own.
Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don't forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.Thank you for being a friend.
This website uses cookies. Learn more.
Goonhammer Hobby Round-Up: March 2026
Goonhammer Reviews: Tribal Conquest
Conquest: Weaver Courts Gemred Knights and Scaile Dancers Model Review
