Sentinels of the Multiverse - 25Mar2013
One of my MOST favourite games of all time! (Much to the disagreement of many of my gaming mates) I really really love how much the card game simulates a comic book battle. Each deck feels and plays just like how a superhero with those powers would act, and the villains and environment decks give real character to the game. Up till today, I have yet to find a game dripping with as much theme and immersion as this one.
Just got the latest expansion - Shattered Timelines in the mail, along with a couple of kickstarter promos. So in honour of this most-awesome of games! I present, a Play-by-Play with the newest heroes, villains and environments of the Shattered Timeline!
The setting
A wasteland, sometime in the distant future. The Earth ravaged by extreme temperatures and populated by toxic and prehistoric-like creatures. What reason could anyone possible have to end up in a place like this?
The villain
La Capitan, a pirate captain, along with her time travelling ship, arrived in the wasteland after a successful heist of the late 30th Century Gold Vault. This forsaken timespace makes a good hiding place for her and her time-shifting crew. Little does she know, hot on her heels are 3 misplaced heroes!
The heroes
Chrono-Ranger, a coy-boy time traveler sworn to hunt down pirates and thieves, especially those of the time hopping variant.
Omnitron-X, time guardian. A 30th Century Time Cop, X has been chasing La Capitan ever since he could remember.
The Scholar. No one knows his real name, but wherever an abnormally appears, so does he.
The Game
La Capitan, specializes in theft. She steals equipment and cards from our heroes. If she manages to get 3 of them, she uses their energies to displace herself in time, rendering herself nigh-immortal. Everytime she takes damage in this form, she removes one stolen item. When she doesn't have any more stolen items, she reverts back to her normal self. She also employs a crew of warriors from different time periods to serve in her motley crew.
Omnitron-X acts as the tank and shield of the group. With his low health pool, he always attracts the attention of most damage cards. His cards help by reducing damage dealt by specific sources and bouncing them back.
Most of the Scholar's cards in his deck help and heal himself and his allies.
What Chrono-Ranger lacks in AoE (Area of Effect) abilities, he makes up for it with his really high single-target DPS! Especially with a few bounty cards out.
Let's begin!!
Turn ONE
First turn saw La Capitan pull out Walk the Plank and Captain's Orders. 2 cards which deal damage to just about every hero on the board. Along with her innate ability to deal even more damage, the heroes look like they're gonna take a beating right out of the gate!
Turn one saw Chrono Ranger whip out his every trusty hat, allowing him to play more cards during his turn. He's going to have to rely on his teammates to help him draw. Denied of using his powers, Jim used his turn to setup a bounty on that dreaded pirate ship.
X took his time too. He took out the 2 annoying ongoing cards La Capitan had played. Using his power, X managed to fish out a shield to prevent even more damage.
The Scholar proved his worth in the first turn, by allowing everyone to draw a card and heal 2 wounds.
Out of the depths of the wasteland, an amphibious chupakabra appeared and smacked the evil pirate ship for more damage!
Turn TWO
With one flick of the her wrist, La Capitan flipped over Temporal Thief, allowing her to steal 3 cards at one go! The heroes would have to deal as much damage as possible next time, for she'll be immune the one after!
Putting a bounty on La Capitan, Chrono Ranger whipped out his signature weapon, The Masadah!! However, the heroes agreed that getting rid of the ship was more important!
Powering up his Plasma Cannon, X prepared for a deadly shot on the ship next turn. His power allowed Chrono Ranger to get out Hunter and the Hunted, a double-edged card which deals increasing damage to both his target as well as to the Ranger himself.
Buying his time, the Scholar ransacked through his stash, only bringing what he needed.
A mongolian Deathworm joined the party as the chupakabra dealt even more damage to the pirate ship
Turn THREE
La Capitan transformed!! In this form, the evil captain is IMMUNE to all damage as long as she has her stolen cards!
And to make matters worse, she brought along her crew! Can the heroes survive the Amazon and the lightsabre wielding Frenchman.
After playing bounties on the ship and the captain, Chrono Ranger uses secondary effects of his oneshots to knock 2 cards off the captain. Followed by the deadly One-Two combo of his weapon and Hunter to deal 8 damage to the Frenchman, knocking him out!
X used his plasma cannon to knock the final stolen card off the captain and followed up with a Defensive Blast, dealing damage to the Amazon!
The Scholar responded by turning in to Energy form, which allowed him to deal damage whenever he heals. Using his power to heal himself for one, the Scholar deals that much needed one damage to the Amazon, bringing her down to 4 life so the bounty could finish her off.
While the worm took a big chunk of our heroes, the chupacabra took out the pirate ship and along with that, the last remaining crew member!
Turn FOUR
With no crew members in play, La Capitan's plunder only netted her one card!
Looks like someone's really gunning for the captain. Chrono-Ranger uses his cards to fish out more bounties and deals 8 damage with one blow!
Seeing as how he's the lowest health hero on table, X prepares for a beating with Ablative Coating.
The Scholar does his thing again! Allowing everyone to draw a card and heal 2! His own healing of 2 causes 2 more damage on the captain due to his Energy Form!
The chupakabra deals 2 + 1 damage to X, who shrugs it off like it's nothing! The Snowman will start to hurt next round though.
Turn FIVE
Another plunder nets La Capitan her 2nd card and buys our heroes more time!
Chrono-Ranger takes his opportunity to call on MORE bounties on the captain, dealing her a whopping 27 damage!! The gun and hunted combo is really awesome!
X's auto-damage at the start of turn just got better with a shoulder mounted gun. He also managed to help the Scholar fish out another Energy Form.
The Scholar stores up by converting himself to energy, then to liquid and then taking a break for next turn.
The Abominable Snowman hits ChronoRanger for tons of damage. Looks like being a Hunter and Hunted ain't looking out so well for our time travelling sheriff.
The environment saw the emergence of another chupakabra which brought even more smackdown onto La Capitan
Turn SIX
The Amazing Mable makes an appearance as the sole crew member of La Capitan's team. More importantly, her ability netted the captain her 3rd stolen card, causing her to flip again. Things are not looking so good for our heroes.
Chrono Ranger's turn was spent removing 2 stolen items from La Capitan and getting rid of the Hunter and Hunted before he takes even more damage.
X chose to target the acrobat with his plasma cannon while allowing his coil blaster to remove the last stolen item.
The Scholar meditated and kept 3 cards to pay for his form. If this gamble pays off, he would be dealing 6 damage to the captain while healing 3 himself.
An unexpected turn of events! The Abominable Snowman looked away from our heroes and instead, chomped on the acrobat as she swung into his wide-open mouth.
Still immune from damage due to the effects of the time-warp, La Capitan shrugs off the wasteland creatures' attempts to maul her to death.
Turn SEVEN
With her last few moments, La Capitan barks out her orders and amidst the shadows, a time-displaced ronin appears and wounds Chrono Ranger within inches of his life!
Not one to give up without a fight, Chrono Ranger charges up to the Capitan and shoves his mechanical hand in her face, yelling "Thunder and Mud! Enough is Enough!", and with a one-two, he unleashes his Terrible Tech-Strike for 7 damage, knocking La Capitan out long enough for the heroes to haul her away!
Phew! I said it once, I'll say it again, AWESOME AWESOME game!! No other game captures the theme of comics and the thrill of superhero combat like this one!! 10/10
Good fight! Good night!
