Unlikely Allies Come to the Aid of Spider-folk: Uneasy Friends or Sinister Foes?

 

Dear Readers,


When we think of what to splash into our Web Warrior lists, a couple of names normally pop up depending on how you like to play your Web Warriors. I have always been fond of any unit with innate damage reduction and the ability to punch holes in my opponents (looking at you Reality Corvus and Proxima), others may prefer a little bit more control in their lists through the likes of Omega Red, Shiri, or Valkyrie, while others still may be looking for synergy through the use of re-rolls such as the aforementioned Shuri, Bill Nye the Science Guys, and Baron Zemo. However, there are some allies who are not often spoken of and synergize exceptionally well with part of Miles Morales’ leadership.

The Leadership: Into the Leaderverse

One thing a lot of players overlook from my experience is that Miles' leadership isn’t limited to defensive skull re-rolls/modifications. This opens Web Warriors up to some extremely aggressive objective play and make running Hammers a very enticing scenario to play for our newly minted murder arachnids. Below I will cover some oft unspoken potential allies for Web Warriors that will fit a more aggressive playstyle so you can pull your spider stingers out in style.

Where is my Scarlet Spider (Kaine Parker) AMG?

Units with either selective or full re-rolls

Re-rolls are very good, and more importantly selective re-rolls are extremely good. Their only weakness being filled by the ability to re-roll your skulls

Magneto

There is no need to talk about the defensive capabilities of the leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Being able to ramp your defenses to 6 and be immune to pushes and throws is so good it should be illegal (especially when you get a re-roll or two), but under Miles, the Master of Magnetism is going to really crush his foes on defensive points. Dueling against Magneto becomes a risky proposition as he selectively rolls his failures into a metal storm that would make Mordekaiser jealous while also pushing those duelists away. I think my favorite thing about possibly including Magneto into your lists is there really is no safe place when fighting him. Long throws on terrain up to size 4, a massive minefield of A2 shrapnel blasts that stuns enemies, and a D6 builder that can push makes Magneto a truly terrifying addition if you can afford his 6 threat.

Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel makes my list of unconventional allies for 3 reasons:

1. She will punch holes in your enemy’s chest with Energy Blast due to it being much like Moon Knight’s Bonk Staff, minus the stagger but with much better range and attack typing.
2. Her throw is insane. Throwing Size 4 is rare. Throwing medium is uncommon. Being able to choose characters or terrain on a throw is becoming rarer. Doing all of the above in one ability almost makes up for the Captain Marvel movie (I can already hear the pitchforks being pulled and the torches being lit).
3. Energy Absorption makes me happy because it helps to power up Binary Form, and you can fish for her wilds under Miles' defensive leadership.

These are just the main reasons why I am looking at her. Her builder does a good job of potentially limiting enemy activation (though I think the guaranteed throw will be your go to 93% of the time because you can throw and then pew pew twice). But, seriously, try her out. I am fairly certain you will not be disappointed. No promises. But I think a fairly durable turret that is immune to incineration and poison can’t go wrong in WW.

Starlord

Now, if you know me, you know I am no fan of Guardians of the Galaxy. Like. At all. But, there is one reason why Peter Quill makes my list and I promise it's not to make juvenile jokes about the number of Peters I can put on the field. It is because of one ability:

Plucky Attitude is the swingiest reroll ability in the game, but when it goes off it is something to behold. The best part of this is that if you had rolled a good chunk of crits but no hits, you get to reroll after you roll your newly minted crit dice, allowing for surprise dice dumps from R4 with that sweet sweet energy attack. This inclusion is not one I highly recommend, but when it does go off it will be something to tell your grandkids about in the future.

Change failures to Successes

Another nice addition to Miles' leadership is that it allows for modification to skull dice, which makes the following effects a nice bonus for holding and keeping objectives.

Gamora

Valkyrie

We don’t have all the time to talk about the merits these two bring to the table, from good movement to throws to stellar offensive hitting potential, these ladies are ready to rumble. But what really drew my eye to them was their legendary status as Ass-Kicker Supremes with a side of your opponent’s gallbladder. Being able to change those wayward skulls into something useful makes these two blade masters a superb objective holder. Imagine, a hammered Gamora coming in on your opponent’s cheeky wee ones and reinacting the fall of Anakin Skywalker on anything that looks at her funny with 7 dice God Slayers after she threw herself onto them. Wolverine, eat your heart out.

Everything you want in a control piece

Now, this following character has nothing, and I mean nothing to do with Miles’ leadership. What it does have to do with is one of the Web Warrior’s main plans for victory: control.

Ronan

I know, for a guy who hates Guardians of the Galaxy, I sure did put a lot of them on this list. But look at this absolute unit of beef:

He has a size 4 throw on his builder. He has push and Shock on a R4 attack. I cannot tell you how big Shock is for Web Warriors. For a Dice 5 attack it literally lowers attack potential by a minimum of 20%. That doesn’t even count if that dice were to be a crit. Partnered with Miles’ defensive re-roll means you are taking leaps and bounds less damage. He has a stun and stagger on his spender. He has Judgment. A status so good that I literally just avoided attacking someone one game because I hated the thought of such a power detriment coming into play. He even is so manly that before he succumbs to his wounds he counter attacks. The more I look at Ronan, the more I like him for just being able to push people around with reckless abandon while threatening to judge your opponents for the shade of paint their models have. He truly is the manliest, sassiest model in Marvel.

With all this said, I love Marvel Crisis Protocol because of the diversity in list building. I am not saying you have to use these characters. I am saying that no one is and it's a method of building a list for our Friendly Neighborhood Webheads that makes them not so friendly anymore. I love the experimentation aspect of the game where you can bring a character from out of left field and they somehow, like our above mentioned Unlikely Allies, somehow synergize really well if you chose your scenarios right. If you want to run these guys and gals, I would recommend utilizing scenarios where they don’t have to move too much. Use them as duelists and let their natural talents flow with Miles’ leadership to pull out more surprise damage. I, personally, would look at scenarios such as Hammers, Gamma Shelters, Demons Downtown (if you are feeling Volcano Spicy with your potential damage output), and Research Station. If you try them, let me know how they worked for you. If you didn’t and you still want me to know how you're feeling, I would still love to hear from you.

Till next time fellow web-slingers.