Marvel Crisis Protocol: Throw Anything!
One of MCP’s most interesting cinematic mechanics and the thing that catches a lot of new players’ eyes is the ability to throw anything!
Crisis Protocol is a very fun game with eye-catching models and some very well-written rules. With all that it has going for it, one of the most interesting cinematic mechanics and the thing that catches a lot of new players’ eyes is the ability to throw anything!
Many other wargames have some sort of throw mechanic. Warmachine lets you use warjacks to throw models into each other. Monsterpocalypse of course is all about throwing monsters around a city. But how many games let you actually pick up terrain and smash each other with it?
Almost any piece of terrain and model can be picked up and thrown in Crisis Protocol. In my opinion this is one of the coolest cinematic pieces of the game. How many times in the comics or movies do you see a super hero (or villain) pick up a car and drop it on someone? Or pull up a street light and throw it at a flying opponent? All of this is possible in Crisis Protocol.
Hulk throw!
The Nuts and Bolts
The mechanics for throwing in MCP are fairly easy to understand, but have a few nuances that I want to cover briefly.
First of all, every model and piece of terrain in the game has a size value. Humans are size 2, generally. Hulk is size 4. cars are size 2, trucks are size 3. buildings are 4 or 5 depending on how big they are. Every throw ability in the game will specify which sizes it works on. Crossbones can throw something his own size, at size 2. Captain Marvel can pick up larger items up to size 3. Thor can throw things all the way up to size 4!
Second, throwing characters and throwing terrain both work a bit differently. When throwing a character the throw distance is measured from the character being thrown. That character will take 1 automatic damage. A piece of terrain that is thrown is removed from the table first. The distance thrown is measured from the character doing the throwing using the movement measuring sticks.
I missed this my first few games. the rules for “away” from a model are very clear, but do not always apply to throws!
Third, not every throw has to be done AWAY from the throwing character. This only applies to throwing characters of course. Unless the throw ability specifies it, you can throw the target character in any direction which opens up a lot of interesting angles.
Uses for Throws
Throws in MCP are very powerful. They offer abilities for board control, automatic damage, and extra attacks in a turn.
Even before calculating damage, throws are great board control for scenario plays. Once a model activates it can’t do anything else that round. If the enemy has an activated model contesting a scenario point, throwing them will deny points that round. Throws can also be used to set up another model’s activation, placing the enemy within range of an attack without having to waste an action on moving in range with your second character. It can also be used to pull a character away from a bodyguard setting them up for future hits.
Would it really be a Marvel game without the ol’ spidey web-a-pult?
Of course one of the primary reasons for throwing stuff is dealing damage! A thrown model takes 1 automatic damage if they hit something. This is great for getting around great defensive abilities that make it hard to sneak damage through, such as Captain Marvel’s binary form or Captain America’s “I can do this all day” superpower.
A model that has something thrown into them also takes damage, but has a chance to avoid some or all of it. Unlike a normal attack, you don’t have to roll attack dice for it. The target model essentially gets hit with automatic successes equal to the size of the object thrown plus one. They have to roll a defense roll using physical defense. Getting 3 automatic successes is roughly equivalent to using a 6 dice attack against the target. This is again a good way to get around things like Cap’s Vibranium shield (which only works against attacks), or MODOK’s ability to ignore ‘wild’ results. In fact, throwing things is possibly the easiest way to deal with MODOK, who has a measly 2 physical defense.
Because this guy is surprisingly hard to hit for being a big head in a chair!
Finally, throws often don’t take an action to use. Current throw abilities are all either a superpower or a bonus effect from an attack. That means the damage caused by a throw can be added to damage caused by two more attacks from one character!
Get More Throws in Your Game!
While this might not be the most competitive list, here is a sample squad that can really take advantage of the throw rules.
Threat level: 17
Affilitation: Avengers
Captain America
Captain Marvel
Thor
Venom
Each character aside from Cap have a throw superpower. Cap has a throw on his shield bash. Cap’s leadership in this team lets the others use their throws for a lower power investment. 4 models in a squad will likely put you on the back foot on scenario, but the increased damage plus the scenario control of moving enemy models should theoretically make up for it.
I will be trying this list out as soon as my Thor is ready to go, and will potentially put together some battle reports on how it goes!
Now with even more things to throw at your opponent! check out the new big trucks from Atomic Mass Games
How often do you take advantage of throws? What crazy things have you smashed into your opponent? Who is your favorite character to use throws with?
