Marvel: Crisis Protocol – War of Kings Unboxed & Up Close
The War of Kings is coming to Marvel: Crisis Protocol. It’s time to dive further into this new boxed set and take a closer look!
I’ve been pretty excited to check out the new War of Kings Character and Crisis Card Pack for Marvel: Crisis Protocol. Not only does this pack contain a new character to use (Gladiator) but it also contains new crisis missions to play. But these aren’t just your typical crisis missions — they can actually be played in a narrative to tell the story of the War of Kings.
If you’re curious about how that works I actually got an interview with Will Shick from Atomic Mass Games. I asked him about the inspiration for this new pack and how the missions tell the narrative. It’s a cool insight into how the AMG team came up with the missions and tied it back into the theme.
With all that said, AMG did send us a review copy. I got to dig into it and build Gladiator. I also got to check out the missions as well. So let’s dive into the War of Kings Character and Crisis Card Pack!
Unboxing the War of Kings
First up we’ve got all the contents of this boxed set. It’s both a Character Pack and Crisis Card Pack so it’s got a lot of things going on. Not only do you get all the components to run Gladiator, you’ve also got a full set of Crisis Cards.
Naturally, all the cards in the box come in four of the supported languages. So you’ve got 4x playsets for the missions and Gladiator’s character card, too. There’s also the set of team tactics cards included. Additionally, just in case you don’t have them from the core set, there’s also tokens for the missions.
Finally, there’s also the five Gladiator specific Confidence tokens. These relate back to how his character plays on the tabletop.
If you’re curious about his rules I’ve already covered all of those in more detail. So please check out that article for a deeper dive into his rules.
The War of Kings Missions
As far as the missions are concerned we’re going to check out a few of them below. Included in the box is a flyer (also in the four supported languages) that covers which cards work together to tell the narrative of The War of Kings. Each scenario pairs two of the crisis cards together to form the mission. If you’re familiar with the standard setup of the game then this just swaps out the “Building The Mission” section with the corresponding missions. It’s pretty straightforward.
Now, as far as the missions, you can see three of the five below. The setups aren’t vastly different than anything we’ve seen before. The actual crisis missions are new but still use familiar mechanics you’ve probably seen before. Basically, if you’ve been playing MCP, then you should be somewhat familiar with how these missions will work on the tabletop.
What I think makes this set unique is how they play off of each other. In second scenario you’ve got the Wedding Party happening. There’s both VIPs to secure as well as Guests to interact with. Frankly, it’s a little chaotic — but that’s kind of what you’d expect when assassins crash a royal wedding, right? The Unexpected Guests Crash Royal Wedding crisis has four guests that cause the characters to get pushed around. Wedding Party Targeted In Terrible Attack! on the other hand has VIPs that get placed within 2 of characters but also cause each character within 2 to lose an energy. Depending on how you resolve these you could have characters getting shoved around and losing energy all over the place. Again, chaotic but thematic!
Gladiator In The War of Kings
The last thing I wanted to touch on with this set was the character included: Gladiator. Below you can see his sprue and assembled miniature.
The character does come on a custom 50mm base that’s included with the sprue. I liked the details on the base and how AMG worked in the explosions and lightning effects happening with the miniature. Speaking of which…
Overall, the assembly of Gladiator was pretty smooth. I love that AMG managed to keep the details of his chest crest as well as his iconic mohawk. If you’re not familiar with the character of Gladiator then you should know he’s an homage to none other than Superman from DC comics. His alter ego is Kallark. The “Kal” coming from Kal-El and the “lark” coming from Clark Kent. That also explains the cape, too.
That said, he’s had quite the run in Marvel Comics, too. His first appearance was in 1977 and he’s been a part of a few teams in the past. Mostly though, he maintains his role as a member/leader of the Shi’ar Empire’s Imperial Guard. A position that often puts him in the command of Emperors he doesn’t always agree with.
Again, I’ve covered his rules before. But I just wanted to reiterate how cool I think it is that his power scales with how many Confidence tokens he has. That’s such a clever way to implement his super powers in game. I’m also curious to see what Affiliations Gladiator will be joining. He’s probably not going to be in the Inhumans Affiliation if the War of Kings is any indication…
The War of Kings Character and Crisis Card Pack is out March 14, 2025. It’s current up for pre-order right now.
Marvel: Crisis Protocol – War of Kings Character and Crisis Card Pack $44.99
Confront a new crisis in the cosmos for Marvel: Crisis Protocol! This Character and Crisis Card Pack includes 5 new Extract Crisis Cards and 5 new Secure Crisis Cards all around the events which occurred in the War of Kings storyline. Also included, is the mighty Gladiator! Jump into this campaign and mission set for Marvel: Crisis Protocol!
In addition to all new Crisis Cards players can add to standard Crisis Protocol games, this pack introduces a new campaign system which plays through 5 narrative missions constructed through pairings of the Crisis Cards in this pack.
Gladiator has some choice words for the Juggernaut…
