Looking to lead from the front with a fearless Asgardian warrior and a band of Thor’s best buddies at her side? Then it’s time to raise your banner with Valkyrie and Elendil and Warriors Three.

Today we’re charging headlong into this box to break down what Valkyrie brings as a mobility focussed Asgardian and how Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg back her up with a mix of durability, control, and raw damage that can catch opponents off guard. For Asgard!

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Valkyrie and Elendil

First things first - this is a Large base (65mm) and a Medium move. That’s a big deal. That’s as fast as Apocalypse, Ghost Rider, Malekith and company, but on a 4 threat. That’s a first!

Valkyrie (although to be fair, we’re talking about Elendil here) is RAPID. One of the scariest things that Apocalypse can do in today’s meta is deploy in the middle, place himself Range 2 (which Valkyrie can also do with Take Wind) and then move to hit an opponent’s back Secure from Range 3. Granted, Valkyrie does need an extra power to make that happen. But still, this character is mobile.

The mobility doesn’t stop there though. Need a Lift? Allows Valkyrie to move her allies around, including Thor, Hero of Midgard. A previously terrifying model in Asgard who very much welcomes the bonus bit of movement from deployment that he used to get from Loki, Prince of Lies. But now it comes in the form of a 4 threat!

The Elusive trigger on Dragonfang is directionless which is nice. I initially thought this would be a cool way to get out of danger while still fighting. Dragonfang, Elusive away from the target and then throwing out a now-seven-dice Geirr feels right. But Valkyrie has one of the most dreaded things in Marvel Crisis Protocol…dun dun dunnn…a mandatory place! If you hit a Wild trigger on Geirr, you are forced to Vault next to your target. Be careful with that!

Having a double hit trigger on Fury of the Valkyrior for a Stagger is really nice. Especially seeing as this attack encourages you to target high threat characters. I love the idea of using Valkyrie as an aggro piece that charges down big threats. If she manages to grab an Extract, then great - she can Take Wind and move away Medium to safety. If she doesn’t have an Extract, then I think you’re happy to leave her in the Brawl to hand out some Staggers. Guardian Of Valhalla is a pseudo Stagger Immunity here too, so long as she isn’t getting focussed down. She can also spend the power she gains from this really easily with a very flexible kit.

Overall, Valkyrie feels like a fantastic support piece that can run around flipping pay-to-flips and putting allies back on Secures.

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Warriors Three

Fandral, Hogan & Volstagg all lumped onto another Large base is a great thing. We’ve seen something similar to this with The Wrecking Crew, but how do they stack up?

Well first off (and nicely thematic), they’re 3 threat! This is sorely needed in Asgard as they’ve historically been made up of a high number of 4+ threats and could do with a bit more flexibility. But are they any good? You know what -- it’s actually kind of hard to say. Their gimmick is that they can attack more than the average model. Strike One for Volstagg! gives them essentially a third attack action a turn, much like The Wrecking Crew. My Steel Shall Strike for Thee! gives them a bonus attack on your opponent's turn. Cool!

However, some of these methods of dishing out damage come with a risk. If an attack made by Strike One for Volstagg! contains a Skull, they suffer 1 damage. On top of that, we have Brandrheid Undrsigr which risks dealing a whopping 3 damage to them with the Clumsy Warrior trigger. That’s a lot of self damage on a model with not a lot of health in the first place! It feels cool -- I guess it’s them going around loving a scrap all in the name of Asgard -- but what is the payoff? A couple 4-5 dice attacks? Maybe the odd 8-10 dice Brandrheid Undrsigr every now and then? I’m not sure the juice is worth the squeeze here - but they’re certainly a character that we need to see on the table to really judge how effective they can be. Just like The Wrecking Crew.

Grim Resolve does help them greatly. It can get them back into Range for a My Steel Shall Strike for Thee! These guys will be slapping your opponent back fairly regularly…so long as they achieve the difficult feat of actually surviving an initial attack with a health pool that low…

Team Tactics Cards

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Warrior’s Frenzy is cool, but I’m not sure when you’re going to play it. Valkyrie isn’t much of a killer. Sure you might get off a big dice pool with Fury of the Valkyrior and Daze/KO something scary - but then Medium throws are usually best used on scary models that you don’t want near you. I suspect the chance of there being a high threat model, on low health, nearby another high threat model that you want to displace AND having a spare 3 power to pay for this card is slim.

I’m not surprised this card specifically calls out Valkyrie and Elendil, as this would probably be of much better use for the original Valkyrie.

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Warriors’ Oath is pretty fun. Characters like Warriors Three are hard to assess without playing them on the table a few times, so it’s hard to know what their power economy is like. They have a Gainer in the form of Fimbuldraugr and a 5 dice Builder in Hridgandr, so I’m going to go ahead and say no, I don’t think they’ll often have 6 power to get all of the benefits from this card.

Getting them into range for their activation feels good as I suspect they usually want to be in Range 2 of their target.

Fandral’s Biting Wit giving out Shock and Stun on an enemy that just suffered an attack from an ally is pretty great, especially if the attack whiffed. Dishing out damageless Stun is a big deal.

Hogun’s Elixir of Recovery healing up a fellow Asgardian is really cool. They tend to come with big health pools, so a little healing can go a long way.

Volstagg’s Courage is a little more niche. But Asgardians tend to be balanced around the fact that they have awesome 3 cost superpowers, just out of reach of their 2 power-per-turn generation. So this could be clutch…sometimes.

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

This card is single handedly making me want to become an Asgard player. It is dripping in flavour. It’s so awesome, I love it. You essentially play this at the very start of the game and give yourself a bunch of side quests to try and achieve.

Drive Out the Invaders is harder to pull off these days now that all collisions deal 3 damage. So this one is probably pretty tough.

Ragnarok feels real fun - especially now we have Warriors Three who open up more options for running wide Asgard with a bunch of 3 threats.

Protect the Small is cool in conjunction with Warriors’ Oath, as you could go with a heavy hitter like Thor, Hero Of Midgard and use the card to ensure you have an ally in range after going ham on 2 opponent models.

Very cool. Very fun. Not too powerful. More cards like this please Atomic Mass Games!

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Now this is interesting. The old Valkyrie is technically a different alias (Brunnhilde) meaning we can play both Valkyrie at the same time. Great!

Now does spending a whopping 4 each make this card worth it? Actually…yeah…I think it does. A Range 3 place on Valkyrie and Elendil’s large base is a huge deal. A Range 3 place followed by a Charge from Brunnhilde gives her a huge area of threat. It also doesn’t cost an Action to play this card - and gives you two attacks!

I think the key here is to Activate Brunnhilde to play this card, as she can then also pay for Warrior Of Legend to make that free attack even more deadly. To pull that off though, you are looking at 6 power.

I can see this being played at the top of Round 2 after both of these characters simply double move onto a Secure in Round 1, so they will be able to afford it. Or maybe it happens later in the game after Brunnhilde has Dazed so they can pull off the impressive 6 power spend. Either way, I think this card is great and definitely makes me want to play both Valkyrie at the same time.

Final Thoughts

Both of these characters bring a lot of kit that is sorely needed in Asgard. Mobility, low threat models and cool new Team Tactics Cards.

I for one have been waiting for one last push to jump onto this affiliation. They’re suffering from the changes to collision damage, but they’re now making up for it with a bunch of flavour and incredible looking models.

HAVE AT THEE!

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Tags: Marvel Crisis Protocol | MCP | Crisis Protocol | Marvel