I played 50 games with Weapon X so you don’t have to! In my quest to play 50 games with every mutant affiliation in Marvel Crisis Protocol, I find myself at the bunker of Weapon X…a group of violent mutants with knives for hands and guns on their hips.

Weapon X 50 Games Badge

Image courtesy of Longshanks

Today I’m going to run you through all the Highlights, Lowlights and Guest Appearances that made up my 50 games with the good-for-nothing, shooty stabby mutants that are…Weapon X!

Highlights

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Dossier

First things first…I think this is one of the best designed cards in MCP.

The idea of a bunch of Weapon X dudes rocking up to chase down some poor sap who has gotten their hands on some documents they shouldn’t have NEVER. GOT. OLD.

In 50 games, I played this every game, I pretended it was the leadership, I constantly surprised my opponent both with how it worked, how thematic it was and how effective it could be in the wrong (or right) hands. Love, love, love this card.

Now onto how it actually plays. The cliff notes are that you give your opponent a fancy Extract after deployment, you declare either X-23, Sabretooth, Apex Predator or Logan, The Wolverine to have played it - and watch as your opponent puts it on a model on the opposite side of the board from that character.

This is fine though, as it only affects the re-rolls going into the enemy character holding the Dossier. ANY Weapon X character can benefit from holding it once it’s dropped (including Weapon X himself, as it doesn’t count as an Extract objective token so Savagery Protocols doesn’t matter).

Meaning Domino & Maverick can start shooting out 6 dice Rapid Fire attacks!! Weapon X can charge LONG onto a Secure and make a 9 dice Berserker Rage?!?! It’s nuts. Especially when played on Intrusions, as your opponent then really can’t keep the Dossier away from whoever played it. Full re-rolls including skulls makes X-23 and her Assassin Training even better somehow if she’s hitting the person holding this thing.

Also - anyone can pick this thing up. I had a lot of fun convincing my opponent that they might want to pick it up off the floor after I’ve dropped it - only then to have the full re-rolls back online for the poor soul who just grabbed it.

It’s an every game card and it’s endless fun. Pretend it’s the leadership and you’ll have a great time.

Call The Pack Team Tactics Card

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Call the Pack

I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I had no idea this card existed. It’s very flavourful for Weapon X, but I found it wasn’t that usable.

I’m still putting it in the highlights section because it’s fun and has some serious play. There’s Healing Factor everywhere in Weapon X, so you’ll have lots of opportunities to trigger this card - and moving another murderer or two (that doesn’t have to be Weapon X affiliated by the way) into position has got to be good…right?!

X-23 & Honey Badger Models

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

X-23

I’ve talked more than enough about how incredible I think this pair is. I played X-23 every single game and didn’t regret it once.

You can read more about my thoughts here and here.

Maverick Character Card

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Maverick

Well well well…this guy it turns out, is very slept on. Maverick stood out massively for me in Weapon X. He is so surprisingly versatile and useful, I’ve never felt so wrong about judging a character by its card.

Energy attacks are very useful in today’s meta. Rapid fire is great, Hit and Run is great, Agent Zero is a good attack that brings some much needed displacement to Weapon X.

In 50 games, I used Adamantium Knife once and regretted it. Getting up close and personal isn’t Maverick’s job. He wants to be hitting ‘n running his way back to safety.

Kinetic Energy Absorption is such a weird superpower. It rarely ever comes up as it relies on him surviving a physical attack - and with defences of 3/3/3 and 5 health, that ain’t likely. But when he does…he can move back as if he has played Fall Back, he can move forward to get onto a point or he can move somewhere to block line of sight for a follow-up attack. Situationally, and I mean very situationally, it’s great.

Anti-Healing Factor Corrosive is arguably the superpower people know Maverick for. The key wording here is that it stops characters from removing damage from themselves. So this won’t stop Patch Up, it won’t stop Wong, Phoenix or Doctor Strange from healing others…but it does stop Healing Factor and effects like Carnage’s Paint The Town Red & Dracula’s Blood Feast.

Speaking of Dracula by the way…I’m tempted to sculpt a fedora and a cape onto my Maverick and call him Van Helsing with how hard he counters that guy. In multiple games, Dracula hits Maverick with a Blood Feast (Range 2), only for Maverick to survive, prevent the healing from that attack with Anti-Healing Factor Corrosive, then move out of Range 2 with Kinetic Energy Absorption (gains 1 power too, thanks) and then also prevents Dracula’s Unholy Vampiric Immortality heal at the end of his activation, because Anti-Healing Factor Corrosive isn’t once per turn. It felt amazing!

Of course you are banking on Maverick to survive the attack for this to work…which doesn’t always happen…

Weapon X Character Card

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Weapon X

Now, this version of Logan is very much hanging on to the bottom of the Highlights section by the tippy tops of his adamantium claws, I’m afraid.

From a design perspective, fantastic. Savagery Protocols makes his positioning very interesting. I would often sit him off a Secure in Round 1, in between 2 Secures that he can get to in a single Charge in Round 2. This prevented him from getting blasted during Round 1 with less defence dice for now good reason, while making him an unappealing target until he’s ready to charge in and roll a ton of dice.

Weapon X is the ultimate “YOU SHOULD HAVE KILLED ME WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE!” character. With 5 health and 3/2/3 (which is usually actually 2/1/2), this shouldn’t be too hard. But if you DON’T…oh boy. Healing Factor 3 is the most amount of Healing Factor we’ve ever seen (and likely will ever see), so this guy is going to be all nice and powered up and then likely full health if you fail to finish the job. I took Sacrifice & Survival to help ensure Weapon X gets at least one unstoppable activation a game.

The downside however is that he loses the cool dice changes on his injured side, becomes an AoE attacker and is just a lot less…fun? His Uncontrollable Weapon attack is wildly unpredictable (as it probably should be). If you hit double Wilds with this, you’re on fire. But half the time you just won’t, and you’ll be left wanting.

So long as you remember that this interaction of Logan is just a 3 threat, you should be able to swallow the unpredictable games and dice rolls he has.

How They Play

I want to take a moment to step through how I played Weapon X - as it was a bit of a meme way of doing things. I essentially went as wide as possible. I would typically go 7 wide at 20 with something like; X-23, Domino, Honey Badger, Maverick, Weapon X, Nebula & Carnage.

Is wide attrition a thing now?! God no, it’s awful. You get a bunch of glass cannons and never have priority. But stay with me; there’s a little bit of thought put into this.

With that many affiliated 3 threat killers - you then have space to splash in the likes of Baron Zemo, Carnage & Nebula. Nothing but gas, screw defensive tech, we’re just here to take models off the table.

The idea here is that you flood the board with so many options for your opponent to deal with, they can’t deal with all of them. If they go and grab 2 Extracts on the midline in Round 1, they’ll be starting with 2-3 models all pointing knives & guns at their heads. Sure they can run away with 1 Extract, maybe even daze a couple 2-3 threats in the process, but can they stop ALL of them?

The answer is yes…usually. But SOMETIMES they can’t, and that’s cool!

Sacrifice & Survival

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Sacrifice & Survival

To further lean into the whole “I don’t think I can stop them all!” vibes, I take Sacrifice & Survival. If they fail to take out Weapon X or Carnage with a single attack, I’ll use Sacrifice to take the attack on the other one. Best case scenario here is we have two killy models with a bunch of power now - who can then heal it all off on their activation. It’s mortifying for your opponent to witness.

Survival is also fantastic for models like Nebula & Baron Zemo. Force your opponent to play whack-a-mole and see if they can remove activations quick enough.

Carnage Character Card

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Carnage

Hallelujah! The time has come! Carnage is finally good in MCP!

Now, he is still just a bucket of dice and a dream…but he gets a few more dice now and can have some insane turns. Be sure to play his Team Tactics Card Carnage Rules with him - and look out for the huge 4 attack turn he can have!

Having 8 health makes him fit in perfectly with the Weapon X gameplan I outlined above. It’s almost impossible to Daze Carnage with a single attack - and now collisions only deal 3 damage into his whopping 5 Physical defence…all you need to do is keep Sacrifice online to protect him from the final blow and then let him RIP.

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Intrusions Open Across City As Seals Collapse

I don’t often mention crisis cards in the Highlights section for affiliations - but this one felt too sweet to leave out.

Weapon X are a bunch of what I like to call…’dummies’. They’re not those smart attrition pieces like Red Skull Master Of The World or Winter Soldier that have cool action compression abilities to compliment their killy kits…they’re just a bunch of movers and attackers. That’s where Intrusions comes in. Having a boring Round 1 where everybody double moves onto a Secure is fine when your Round 2 can result in you teleporting to anywhere you like and murdering someone.

It works especially well for Dossier, as they really do have nowhere to hide from you.

Lowlights

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Are You Sure You Want to Remember?

The actual leadership.

This is widely regarded as the worst leadership in the game. It falls into an awkward pit of rules where it is essentially turned off when the leader dazes.

Adding additional defence dice is the worst form of defence in MCP. Only affiliated models benefit from it. It takes up a Team Tactics Card slot. I took it a couple times.

It had some interesting interactions with Domino, who has higher dice quality than usual thanks to Probability Manipulation meaning she’s more likely to not suffer damage from the attack - and she loves a bit of extra movement.

Maverick is also somewhat interesting with it. In a 1v1 with Captain America on a Secure, Steve tried to Push Maverick off after he had used the leadership. If the attack dealt damage, Maverick could use Kinetic Energy Absorption to walk back on…whereas if the attack dealt no damage, the leadership would also let him walk back on.

Cute, but not worth taking at all. Even if they eventually fix the token mechanic when the leader is dazed, this effect is just lame and definitely not worth a Team Tactics Card slot. So I can confirm - this is likely the worst leadership in the game. Don’t take it, but DO take Dossier and pretend it’s the leadership.

Sabretooth, Apex Predator Character Card

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Sabretooth, Apex Predator

Ahhhh Victor Creed. I wish this guy was in the Highlights section.

He is arguably one of the best power users in the game. All of his superpowers are fantastic (though Stop Squealing And Die is perhaps a little too expensive). If he’s chasing you down with the Dossier he starts to get a bit silly with all the re-rolls…but he has to actually catch you first.

On Infinity Formula, I bet this guy is a bit of a menace. Once he gets the power, he really starts to feel like an Apex Predator. But without it…he’s just another 4 threat that can’t access his tricks.

Logan Character Card

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Logan

With the amazing card X-Ceptional Healing being rotated out of standard play these days, Logan has gone missing.

Especially in Weapon X, his On The Hunt becomes a little tricky to pull off as there are loads of allies running around.

Playing Dossier with him is cool, especially if paired with Gotta Get Some Air as you can get one of your non-scoring models (Honey Badger or Nebula) to walk behind him after deployment, trigger the card and then send him off on his merry way to go chase down that Dossier.

Worth noting that I also used a custom print of Dossier which felt way more thematic…

Custom Dossier Team Tactics Card

Image courtesy of @han_x_made

Don’t get me wrong: Logan can sometimes singlehandedly win games with a huge What I Do Isn’t Very Nice + X-Slash to throw his target into the perfect position, place off them and then beam an entire team with Tornado Claw. Every now and then, this will completely turn the tide of a game and you’ll have him to thank.

But you do have to make a choice between this guy and Weapon X as you can’t play both Logans at the same time. They’re both different flavours of fun, and I just feel that this version of Logan is a shadow of what he once was.

Perhaps one day we’ll get a Weapon X affiliation-tied version of X-Ceptional Healing.

The Guest Appearances

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Baron Zemo

This just in - best 3 threat attrition piece in the game fits well into Weapon X. I know…I know…you come to Goonhammer for these hot takes.

Namor character card MCP

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Namor, the Sub-Marinor

One thing Weapon X severely lacks is any semblance of a Round 1 play. Namor brings a sort-of safe grab (the new rules about re-rolling priority after deployment hamper that somewhat).

He also brings re-rolls & Extract steals which again - Weapon X have none of. There’s also something with bringing a 5 threat and not going SO wide on models…as it’ll let you keep priority every now and then. Namor felt like more of a ‘serious’ pick for this roster.

Nebula Character Card

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Nebula

Ultimate “deal with me or suffer”
In line with rest of the affiliation

Big round of applause for Nebula please everyone! The Bullseye nerfs have left the ‘Best Attrition 2 Threat’ throne vacant and I think Nebula has her little beady cyborg eyes on it!

Assassin takes away her ability to score VPs, but she more than makes up for that by being able to re-roll any dice when attacking those VP scoring nerds.

Nebula punches way above her pay grade. After a few games with her it will be no surprise to you when she takes down a 4 threat who didn’t deal with her first. She’s the ultimate “you better put some resources into dealing with me before I activate”.

Clearly she can be removed very easily. But when she isn’t…she can bring the pain right back at your opponent. Some games she’ll KO before getting to activate, but remember that she is only 2 threat! Other games…she’ll take out a key threat on your opponent's team, paving the way for the rest of your killers to punch through.

My 50th Game

As is tradition - when people find out my 50th game is coming up, I get offers for a fun 50th game. This time was no different. Darren Kelso stepped up to the plate with a bunch of Sentinels & Cassandra Nova. Very fitting.

Sentinels vs Weapon X

It didn’t start well. It felt like the opening scene of Days Of Future Past where the Sentinels just waltz through a bunch of D-list Mutants like they’re nothing.

The highlight here was Cassandra Nova using Mental Domination to make Honey Badger attack Weapon X…KOing him…forcing out Aimless Aggression which then KO’d Honey Badger right back…

X-23 then flipped, KO’d Cassandra Nova and used Frenzy to finish off the final Sentinel MkIV, tabling my opponent and leaving the table in a mess of blood & shrapnel…which felt very Weapon X.

Final Thoughts

While I didn’t unlock any new exciting tech with this affiliation during my 50 games - I did unlock a new level of fun in MCP.

Having a ton of characters that you expect to not make it until the end of the game, but leaning into that really leads to some fun games and a bit of a care-free attitude towards dice not going your way.

Recent buffs to Carnage…having an extremely viable slot for Nebula and a hidden hero in the form of Maverick made for an extremely fun set of games with Weapon X.

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