Marvel United
Marvel United Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
In Marvel United, 2 to 4 players take the role of Heroes working together to thwart the master plan of a Villain.
You'll build a Storyline by drawing the Villain's cards and playing your own Hero cards to counter the Villain's schemes. Your cards allow you to move your Hero around, rescue Civilians, defeat Thugs, clear Threats, and use your Hero's unique powers. Choose cards carefully, as Heroes can unite their abilities to act as the perfect team.
Meanwhile, the Villain will roam the city, weaving their plan, spreading chaos, deploying Henchmen, and attacking the Heroes. Only after accomplishing the necessary Missions will the Heroes be ready to directly attack the Villain and take them down for good!
Components
- 5 Hero sculpts: Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hulk, Captain Marvel
- 3 Villain sculpts: Red Skull, Ultron, Taskmaster
- 3 Villain Dashboards
- 60 Hero Cards (12 for each Hero)
- 36 Masterplan Cards (12 for each Villain)
- 8 Location tiles
- 3 Mission cards
- 1 Mission Guide
- 18 Threat Cards (6 for each Villain)
- 3 Challenge Cards
- 36 Thug/Civilian tokens
- 6 Threat tokens
- 4 Invulnerable tokens
- 56 Action tokens (20 Heroic, 12 Attack, 12 Move, and 12 Wild)
- 30 Health tokens
- 15 Crisis tokens
- 1 Villain Tracker
- 1 rulebook
Setup
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Place the Mission Guide at the center of the table and the 3 Mission Cards on the slots at its bottom (in any order).
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Choose a Villain to face and place its Villain Dashboard on the slot at the top of the Mission Guide (we recommend new players start with Red Skull). The Villain Dashboard indicates how much Health the Villain has, depending on the number of Heroes. Place that number of Health tokens on the Dashboard. If the Villain Dashboard has a track, place the Villain Tracker next to it.
Example: In a 4-player game, Red Skull starts with a pile of 11 Health tokens.
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Randomly pick 6 Locations and place them around the Mission Guide. Fill any marked slots of each Location with either Civilian or Thug tokens, as indicated.
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Shuffle the Villain's Threat cards and place them faceup on the slot at the bottom of each Location (covering the 'End of Turn' effect), adding a Threat token to the slots next to them. Some Threat cards contain Henchmen, characters in the service of the Villain. Each of their cards indicate the number of Health tokens that should be placed on them.
Example: Crossbones always enters the game with 6 Health tokens.
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Place all remaining tokens separated into pools within reach of all players.
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Take the Villain's Masterplan deck, shuffle it, and place it facedown next to a random Location. Then, place the Villain's sculpt in that Location.
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Each player chooses a Hero and places their sculpt on the Location opposite to the Villain. Then, each player shuffles their corresponding Hero deck and places it facedown next to them.
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Each player draws 3 cards from the top of their deck into their hand, and you're ready to start with the first Villain turn!
IMPORTANT: All players should familiarize themselves with the text on the Villain Dashboard and all 6 Threat cards, as they will inform the particulars of the game being played.
Winning & Losing
HEROES WIN if they defeat the Villain. To be able to damage the Villain, Heroes must first accomplish at least 2 of the 3 available Missions.
HEROES LOSE if the Villain completes their master plan. This happens if any of these conditions are met:
- The Villain achieves the victory condition stated on their Dashboard.
- The Villain must draw a Masterplan card, but their deck is empty.
- Any Hero starts their turn with no cards both in their deck and in their hand.
Villain Turn
The game always starts with the Villain taking their turn. Draw the top card from the Masterplan deck and place it faceup on the table. This is the start of the Storyline that will guide the entire game. Each Masterplan card played will have different elements that must be executed in order, from top to bottom, one after the other.
Move Villain
Move the Villain clockwise (unless otherwise indicated) a number of Locations equal to the number shown on the card.
If there is a Threat card with the movement symbol in the Location where the Villain ends their movement, immediately resolve the effect described on that Threat card.
Example: Red Skull moves 2 Locations clockwise, triggering the Threat effect at his destination.
Activate BaM!
Activate the BaM! effect detailed on the Villain Dashboard, as well as any BaM! effects shown on Threat cards. These effects complicate the Heroes' lives in all sorts of different ways, often dealing damage to them (see Hero Damage).
Place Thugs/Civilians
Place the indicated number of Thug and/or Civilian tokens on the Villain's Location and those around it. The central Location on the card represents where the Villain is, with the two adjacent Locations to either side.
Go in clockwise order adding the tokens to the Locations. At each Location, first place the required Thug tokens, then the required Civilian tokens. If there are not enough empty slots available at a Location, check the Villain Dashboard to see what happens.
Example: Going in clockwise order, the first Location gets a Thug, then a Civilian, then Red Skull's Location gets a Thug, and finally the last Location gets a Thug. As there's no empty slot to place the remaining Civilian, the Villain's effect is triggered once.
Special Effect
If the Masterplan card has a Special Effect described on it, resolve it last (if possible).
Hero Turn
Once the Masterplan card is fully resolved, it's time for the Heroes to act!
Players collectively choose which Hero will start, then they will take their turns in clockwise order.
During their turn, players follow these steps in order:
- Draw a Card
- Play a Card
- Resolve Actions
- Location Effect
1. Draw Card
The active player draws the top card from their Hero deck into their hand. If their Hero was KO'd, they draw up to 4 cards instead (see "KO").
NOTE: There is no limit to the number of cards a player may have in their hand. If their deck runs out, the player simply doesn't draw a card.
2. Play Card
The active player chooses a Hero card from their hand and adds it to the end of the Storyline, to the right of the last card played.
3. Resolve Actions
Look at the symbols at the bottom part of the Hero card just played AND at the bottom of the previous Hero card in the Storyline (even if they are separated by a Masterplan card): each of these symbols corresponds to an action the Hero can perform this turn, in any order (the first player in the game does not benefit from the actions of another Hero's card, as there are no other Hero cards in the Storyline yet). Keep in mind that when Heroes unite their efforts, they only benefit from the symbols at the bottom of the other Hero's card, not from any special abilities or extra symbols shown above that.
Example 1: Captain America plays his card. Combined with Black Widow's symbols, this turn he can perform 2 Attacks, 1 Move, and 1 Heroic Action, in any order.
Example 2: Captain Marvel plays her card. Besides her 2 Heroic Actions, she can also perform the Move action from Iron Man's card. She cannot use Iron Man's special ability.
The active player may perform the following actions, once per symbol available to them, in any order they like:
Move — Move the Hero to an adjacent Location, in any direction.
Attack — Deal 1 damage to an enemy of your choice in the active Hero's Location.
- If attacking a Thug, it is eliminated upon receiving 1 damage (unless a Threat card in its Location says otherwise). See "Defeat Thugs" to learn what to do with defeated Thugs.
- If attacking a Henchman on a Threat card, remove 1 Health token from the card for each damage dealt. See "Clear Threats" to learn what to do with defeated Henchmen.
- Only after resolving 2 Missions, Heroes can attack the Villain directly. Remove 1 Health token from the Villain Dashboard for each damage dealt. See "Completing Missions" to learn about defeating the Villain.
Heroic Action — This can be used to do one of two things:
- Rescue 1 Civilian in the active Hero's Location. See "Rescue Civilians" to learn what to do with rescued Civilians.
- Place a Heroic Action token on an empty slot of the Threat card in the active Hero's Location in order to clear that Threat. See "Clear Threats" to learn what to do with cleared Threats.
Wild — This can be used to perform either a Move, Attack, or Heroic Action.
Special Effect — In each Hero deck, there are a few cards with a Special Effect described in a box above the regular action symbols. The active Hero may apply the listed effect before or after any other of their actions. Remember that these Special Effects cannot be performed by other Heroes.
Action Tokens — If the active Hero has any Action tokens in their possession (Move, Attack, Heroic Action, or Wild) they may spend them at any point during this step to perform the corresponding action. Note that when a Hero gets an Action token, they may hold on to them to spend on any future turn.
4. Location Effect
If the Location where the active Hero ends their turn has no Threat card on it, the player may choose to apply the End of Turn effect detailed at the bottom of the Location. Each turn, a Hero can only use a single Location Effect.
Example: Captain Marvel ends her turn on the Helicarrier, where there's no Threat covering the End of Turn effect. She decides to use it and moves to another Location (she won't be able to use that Location's effect as well this turn).
Turn Sequence
Once the active player has completed all the steps of their turn, the next player in clockwise order becomes the active player, performing their turn. Each time 3 Hero cards have been added to the Storyline, a new Masterplan card is drawn from the deck, added to the end of the Storyline and resolved (see Villain Turn). The next player then takes their turn.
Under Pressure
Play continues in this fashion until players complete their first Mission (see "Completing Missions"), at which point the Villain becomes Under Pressure and starts adding a Masterplan card to the Storyline after every TWO Hero cards. The game proceeds this way until either the players defeat the Villain or the Villain completes their master plan (see "Winning & Losing").
Missions
Completing Missions is a crucial step in the Heroes' road to victory. Every game has 3 Missions available for the Heroes to tackle and they can be completed in any order.
Rescue Civilians
Endangered Civilians are always in need of rescuing. If a Location can't hold any more of them, the Villain's effect is triggered (see "Place Thugs/Civilians"). Whenever a Civilian is rescued (see "Heroic Action"), take its token and place it on an empty slot of the "Rescue Civilians" Mission card (if possible, otherwise discard it).
Defeat Thugs
Thugs are always threatening to dominate Locations, triggering the Villain's effect if the Location can't hold any more (see "Place Thugs/Civilians"). Whenever a Thug is defeated (see "Attack"), take its token and place it on an empty slot of the "Defeat Thugs" Mission card (if possible, otherwise discard it).
Important: If an effect "discards" a Civilian or Thug token, it is returned to the pool, not placed on a Mission card.
Clear Threats
The Threat cards that the Villain places on the Locations, covering their End of Turn effect, may have all sorts of different effects, from constant effects at that Location or the entire game, to effects triggered by a Masterplan's BAM! (see "Activate BAM!"), to effects triggered by the Villain's presence (see "Move Villain").
When it comes to how to clear them, Threats are divided into two basic types:
- Henchmen: To clear this Threat, Heroes must defeat them, removing all of their Health tokens (see "Attack").
- Other: All other Threats are cleared by placing 3 Heroic Action tokens on its slots (see "Heroic Action"). Note that some Threats may display other types of actions that must be spent.
Once a Threat has been cleared, remove its card, returning any tokens on it to the pool. The Threat has no effect anymore and its Location's End of Turn effect can now be used by the Heroes. Take the Threat token located next to it and place it on an empty slot of the "Clear Threats" Mission card (if possible, otherwise discard it).
Note: While rescuing Civilians, defeating Thugs, and clearing Threats, after their respective Missions have been completed does not advance the game, it still helps the players avoid negative effects and gain benefit from more Locations.
Completing Missions
Remember that Missions can be completed in any order. Once all slots of a Mission card are filled, the Mission is complete! Remove its card from the game, returning its tokens to the pool. If necessary, move the remaining Missions to the right, so that the leftmost slots are left empty, unlocking the effects listed above them.
- Once the first Mission is complete, the Villain becomes Under Pressure and starts playing Masterplan cards after every 2 Hero cards, instead of after every 3 cards.
- Once the second Mission is complete, the Heroes are able to damage the Villain directly (see "Attack"). Once all Health tokens are removed from the Villain Dashboard, the Villain is defeated and the Heroes win the game!
- Players don't have to complete the third Mission, but doing so allows all players to immediately draw 1 card from their deck into their hand.
Hero Damage
Heroes usually take damage when attacked by the Villain or Henchmen due to activated BAM! effects. For each damage a Hero takes, they must discard 1 card from their hand, placing it at the bottom of their deck.
KO
If a Hero discards the last card in their hand, they are immediately KO'd. Lay down that Hero's sculpt to indicate that it must be ignored by all game effects, both negative and positive. Then, immediately resolve the BAM! effect on the Villain Dashboard (this could cause another Hero to be KO'd, creating a chain reaction). At the start of that Hero's next turn, their sculpt is placed back upright. During the Draw Card step, the player draws up to 4 cards from their deck.
Note: If a Hero plays their last card during their turn, they get to perform their full turn before being KO'd.
Challenges
If you want, you can add Challenges to your game in order to up the difficulty and introduce new twists. Below, you can see the 3 basic Challenges included in this set. Other expansions will provide you with additional Challenges that you can freely add and combine. Reference cards are provided to help you easily choose and remember the Challenges in play.
- MODERATE CHALLENGE: Each player removes the highest-value card from their Hero deck.
- HARD CHALLENGE: Each player removes the indicated card from their Hero deck.
- HEROIC CHALLENGE: Each player removes both indicated cards from their Hero deck.
Additional Rules
INVULNERABLE: If a Hero card states that the Hero cannot be damaged until their next turn, place an Invulnerable token on the Hero as a reminder, removing it at the start of their next turn.
BREAKING TIES: If there are ever events or effects whose conditions are tied, the players decide how they should be resolved.
UNLIMITED TOKENS: The supply of tokens is considered to be unlimited. If for any reason a specific token runs out, players may use anything as replacements.
Credits
GAME DESIGN: Andrea Chiarvesio and Eric M. Lang DEVELOPMENT: Alexio Schneeberger and Francesco Rugerfred Sedda LEAD PRODUCER: Thiago Aranha EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AND LICENSE COORDINATOR: Mike Bisogno ART DIRECTOR: Mathieu Harlaut LEAD ARTIST: Edouard Guiton PUBLISHER: David Preti
Special thanks to Brian Ng at Marvel.
©2020 & TM Spin Master. CMON, and the CMON logo are trademarks of CMON Global Limited.
Rules Summary
1 Villain Turn, then 3 clockwise Hero Turns. Continue until first Mission is completed, then 1 Villain Turn every 2 Hero Turns.
Villain Turn
- Add 1 Masterplan card to the Storyline.
- Resolve effects in order, from top to bottom:
- Move: Move clockwise this number of Locations. Trigger movement effect on final Location.
- BaM!: Resolve BAM! effects on Villain Dashboard and Threat cards.
- Place the indicated Thugs and Civilians on the Locations around the Villain.
- Resolve any special effect on the card.
Hero Turn
- Draw a Card: From your deck into your hand.
- Play a Card: Add it to the Storyline.
- Resolve Actions: In any order, all symbols at the bottom of your card and the previous Hero card:
- Move to an adjacent Location.
- Attack: Deal 1 damage to an enemy at your Location: Defeat 1 Thug, or Remove 1 Health from a Henchman, or Remove 1 Health from Villain (after completing 2 Missions).
- Heroic Action: Rescue 1 Civilian or place 1 Heroic Action token on the Threat at your Location (3 needed to clear it).
- Wild: Resolve any action.
- Resolve any Special Effects on your card.
- Spend any action tokens to resolve their action.
- Location Effect: May resolve visible "End of Turn" effect of your Location.
Hero Damage
Discard 1 card from your hand to the bottom of your deck per damage suffered. KO'd if you discard the last card in hand. Lay sculpt down. Activate Villain's BaM! Next turn, stand back up and draw 4 cards.
Winning & Losing
Heroes win if they remove all Health tokens from Villain (must complete 2 Missions first).
Villain wins if:
- Completes condition on Villain Dashboard.
- Must play a card but deck is empty.
- Hero starts turn with no cards.