It is always fun to be the hero and the one who saves the day, but sometimes, as Catwoman said in Batman Returns, “It feels so good to be so bad.” In Marvel Villainous; Infinite Power, from Ravensburger, players take on the role of the bad guys and are attempting to outwit the heroes and the other villains to complete their nefarious schemes first.
For those familiar with Disney Villainous, the game mechanics are similar and will be easy to learn, with a few slight changes. To start, select the villain you wish to use and gather their matching domain, domain mover, villain deck, and reference guide. Take the power and the strength tokens and place them in the vault. Take the corresponding villain’s fate cards (there is one set for each villain in play) and shuffle them in with the general fate cards to form the fate deck. Shuffle your villain deck and draw 4 cards to form your starting hand.
In Marvel Villainous, each villain has an objective they need to win, detailed in their villain guide. Thanos, for example, needs to collect the infinity stones for the gauntlet, while Ultron needs to bring about the Age of Ultron. Players achieve this, by using their deck of villain cards to recruit allies, gain items, and play events. They also play fate cards against the other villains that can delay their plans for victory, by sending heroes to combat them.
The game is played where each player takes their turn by moving their marker to various locations in their domain that will allow them to perform actions. They cannot remain in the same area and perform the same actions as in a previous turn but must move to another area each turn. These actions consist of; gaining power, playing cards, discarding cards, relocate, vanquish, and fate. Each area in a villain’s domain contains a certain number of symbols that correlate to the available actions. A player may choose to perform any or all of the actions in that specific area.
Power tokens are the currency used to play cards. In order to play a card, the player must pay the cost in power and then can place the card in their domain or at an event if it is an ally. (more on events later when we go into the fate action). Ally cards are used to defeat heroes placed in your domain or to assist in completing an event. Items are attached to allies to assist them. Effects are a one time use and discarded after playing.
The power action allows you to gain a number of power tokens indicated. Simply collect that amount of power from the vault. The discard action allows you to discard cards that you have that may not be useful which will allow you to draw back up to four cards when your turn ends. An active action allows you to use the activation symbol on one of your cards in your domain or your specialty area. Like playing cards, pay the cost in power, and use that card’s ability.
A Fate action allows you to draw a fate card and place it in an opponent’s domain. If it is a hero, choose a location in their domain and place the hero covering up the top actions as indicated. This prevents that player from performing those actions until they can vanquish that hero.
To vanquish a hero from your domain, you must have allies and equipment that are equal to or greater than the strength of the hero. Then place the hero in the fate discard pile and those actions are now immediately available to use during your current turn.
Fate cards also consist of events, and there are 2 kinds; villain specific events and general events. General events affect all of the villains and any of the villains can assist in defeating it by sending allies and items. Once the villains have equal or greater strength than the event, it is defeated and all allies at the event will gain the reward. Villain specific events are similar, except only the affected villain can contribute allies to overcome it.
Fate effect cards, just like event cards in the villain deck work the same way; choose an opponent and follow the steps indicated on the card.
After a player has taken all the actions they wish to perform, they draw back up to 4 cards. While there is no limit to a player’s hand, they can only draw from their deck when they have less than 4 cards and can only drawback to a maximum of 4 cards. If ever the fate or a villains deck is empty, simply shuffle the discard pile to create a new draw deck. The first villain to complete their goal is the winner.
While some may think that Marvel Villainous is a reskin of regular villainous, I would disagree. I think that it captures the theme of the Marvel universe and is not simply pasted on. Each villain has their own objective, similar to other engine building games, Terraforming Mars and Scythe come to mind. This type of game tends to get criticized for the lack of player interaction, however, the use of fate cards addresses that concern very well in this game. Creating roadblocks for your opponent is a clever strategy and one that is totally in line with how a villain would operate I believe. While they have a common goal to thwart the heroes, they will ultimately work towards what is their best interests and succeed in their plans first.
Getting a chance to see how the other side works here is more than a gimmick. You truly have to be in the mindset of “I want to win first and foremost and I will do whatever it takes to get there” in order to do well in Marvel Villainous. There is no “playing nice” you have to be willing to use those fate cards and really make it hard for your opponents to win, remembering that is “all in good fun.”
Taking on the role of a mastermind villain can be a challenge for some, especially those who prefer fully cooperative games. For those who like both, and are fans of the superhero genre, I think they will be pleased with this venture down the road less taken.
Written by Ed Carter
