Marvel Crisis Protocol: Guardians of the Galaxy Starter Set

Exactly one character in this box can lead the affiliation, and that makes the Guardians unusually easy to learn. You are not weighing up leadership options, you are learning Star-Lord, and the rest of the crew is assembled to work underneath him.

Where the squad earns its games is bodies on objectives. Rocket Raccoon and Nebula sit at the cheap end of the roster, so a Guardians list can afford to park someone on a distant point and still hold a real threat in the centre. That threat is usually Cosmic Ghost Rider, comfortably the largest investment in the box, or Nova and Ronan the Accuser if you would rather spread the cost. The trade is fragility. Several of these characters fall over quickly once an opponent commits properly to one of them, so screening and repositioning matter more here than they do for a brawling faction.

As a first purchase it is complete: miniatures, crisis cards, dice, tools and an Infinity Gem card, enough for one player to run a game unaided. Skip it if what you actually want is Gamora, Drax, Nebula and Ronan by themselves, because The Galaxy's Deadliest Character Pack covers those four alone, and the Guardians of the Galaxy Affiliation Pack covers Star-Lord, Rocket, Groot and Cosmic Ghost Rider.