Legendary is not a new game, but Upper Deck thought it was time for a base game change. This is the same game as the original Legendary and can be combined with all the cards from all the expansions. The differences here is the artwork, number of cards, and the price. We will discuss these differences more in detail later, but first off, lets learn the game of Legendary.
If you saw my previous review of Legendary X-Files, you may have a basic idea of the game. Legendary is a 1-5 player cooperative deck building game where the players work as a team of heroes to defeat an evil mastermind and his accomplices from fulfilling his evil schemes.
The game plays against you, the players, to advance the forces of evil against you. To start, first select the evil mastermind you wish to go against. The base games comes with 3; Red Skull, Loki, and Iron Monger. Next gather the appropiate number of villain groups, henchmen, based on the mastermind and the number of players. Next, select what scheme the mastermind is attempting to accomplish and follow the instructions adding the number or master strikes and scheme twists it requires. Finally, gather the mastermind tactics, shuffle and place them under the mastermind. Shuffle the villains, henchmen, scheme twists, bystanders and master strikes into one deck; this is the villain deck. Place it face down on the mat next to the sewers in the city area of the playmat.
Now it is time to gather the heroes. For a standard game, select 5 heroes out of the 7, and shuffle their cards together to form the hero deck. Draw the top 5 and place them face up in the HQ space on the playmat. Place the hero deck face down in its space, adjacent to the HQ.
Deal each player 8 shield agent and 4 shield trooper cards. This is their basic starting hand which they will use to fight villains and gather heroes from the HQ. Lastly, place the wounds, bystanders, and shield officers face up in their places on the playmat.
Choose the first player and you are ready to begin. On a players turn, they draw 6 cards from their deck. Each card has a recruit (star), strike, (slash), combination of both, or another set of abilities. (draw a card, bonus, etc). At the start of each players turn, they take the top card of the villain deck, and play it. If it is a villain, place it in the rightmost space in the city, if that space is occupied, move all cards in the city to the left. If a villain card ever leaves the city area, that villain escapes and a hero of 6 or less is KO’D (removed from the game) from the HQ. Each villain has a number of strikes needed to defeat it. If a player has enough strikes, that card is defeated, and the player collects it for their victory point (VP) pile. If the villain card is a bystander, it goes under the closest villain. If that villain escapes with the bystander, the current player discards a card from their hand in addition to KO a hero from the HQ.
If there are no villains, it goes under the mastermind and the first player to attack the mastermind, gains it in their victory pile. A scheme twist, triggers an action, based on the scheme in play. Finally, a master strike, triggers the action for master strike on the mastermind in play.
After the villain card, the player then plays their hand of cards. They can recruit a new hero and add it to their discard pile, fight a villain card, or the mastermind themselves. When striking a villain, the hero defeats the villain and follows the instructions for when this card is defeated, and adds it to their VP pile. Players play cards with stars to recruit heroes from the HQ. When a player recruits a hero, the top card of the hero deck is played in its space, and they take their new card adding it to their discard pile.
If the player wants to attack the mastermind, they play strikes to defeat the mastermind, and take the top mastermind tactics card under it and follow the instructions. The players win when the mastermind is hit and the last tactic card is collected. Players then add up their VP and the one with the most, is the winner.
I will admit, the first time I played Legendary I did not really understand it, being used to other deck builders like the DC Deckbuilding game and Star Trek. It took a few plays to really see how amazing it is, and why so many other gamers sing its praises.
The combinations one can play in the game are insane, especially with the team bonuses. A player with the right cards, can rack up a strike total of 20 or more in a single turn. There is a lot of thinking and planning in the game. Deciding who to recruit and strike have lasting effects on a players deck. Some things to consider on a players turn, should I strike the mastermind or prevent a villain from escaping and KO a card in the HQ that I want? Also, recruiting heroes that combo well with a players deck or pick ones with big stars or strike values. These are the kinds of choices players consider in Legendary.I think this is definitely an advanced deck builder, even though the rules say the best way to teach it is to play and explain as you go along. An advanced player has a distinct advantage to a first time player, and while not throwing the game, should consider assisting a new player with choices so that all the players are balanced and having fun.
Now let’s talk about the comparisons between this version and the original base game. First off, the artwork are images from the phase 1 movies, as opposed to comic art. This is really a matter of preference. The cards are the same quality as its predecessor. Unlike the original that comes with a fold out board, this version comes with a neoprene mat and has spaces for the card decks, very much like Legendary Encounters, X Files. One caveat, is the mat is smaller, so some spaces are only half for the stack of cards. You still get dividers that make organizing the cards very easy.
In addition to the components, this version comes with Whiplash, an extra villian not in the original. It comes with only 7 heroes, The Avengers from the movies, instead of the 10 from the original game, meaning no Spiderman.
Finally, it is a smaller size set so the price is lower, which makes it appealing to new people wanting to try the game and are not ready to invest in the original set. Overall, I think that for the money, the base game is the better choice, as there are more heroes, and the art is consistent with all the expansions currently available. But for someone who loves the movies, and is looking to get into this game, the phase one Marvel set is a good start. I really like the neoprene mat over the board and I don’t mind the photo stills over the art.
Cody Carlson, from the discriminating gamer has a nice overview of this set.
Written by Ed Carter
