THE STRATEGY BOARD GAME

A GAME BY MARCO MAGGI AND FRANCESCO NEPITELLO

ADDITIONAL DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT BY ROBERTO DI MEGLIO AND SALVATORE PIERUCCI
2
1 GAME BOARD
16 SUPER HERO
FIGURES
4 MASTERMIND VILLAIN
FIGURES 8 DICE
T M & 2 0 0 6 M A R V E L | 2 0 0 6 N E X U S | M H 0 1 - M P C 1 1 / 1 2
Development - Scheming
Magneto now has an additional
Scheming ability: You are able to Draw
Additional Villain Cards in addition to
any another option when Scheming.
BROTHERHOOD OF
EVIL MUTANTS
T M & 2 0 0 6 M A R V E L | 2 0 0 6 N E X U S | M H 0 1 - S C 1 / 2 4
THE AVENGERS
RECOGNIZED BY THE U.N.
THEIR BASE WILL BE TREATED AS
AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY
T M & 2 0 0 6 M A R V E L | 2 0 0 6 N E X U S | M H 0 1 - H C 8 / 3 6
6
DEMONS WALK THE EARTH!
DOES A NEW INFERNO THREATEN THE CITY?
MYSTERY
MYSTIC
VP 6
T M & 2 0 0 6 M A R V E L | 2 0 0 6 N E X U S | M H 0 1 - P U C 6 / 1 2
You may use one action to move
any number of Ready Super
Heroes to the same District, or to
Recovery.
FANTASTI-CAR
12 MASTER PLAN CARDS 24 STORY CARDS 36 HEADLINE CARDS 12 TEAM POWER-UP CARDS
T M & 2 0 0 6 M A R V E L | 2 0 0 6 N E X U S | M H 0 1 - R C 6 / 5 0
D4
ALLY
Pay 1 Plot Point
to play during the
Planning Phase.
ATTRACTION
PHEROMONE
Activate to use this
Allys rating on your
next d roll.
SPIDER-WOMAN
TM & 2006 MARVEL | 2006 NEXUS | MH01-SC 5/10
8
EFFEC
T
V I C
T O
R
Y
MAXIMUM CARNAGE
PSYCHOPATHIC SUPERVILLAINS ON A RAMPAGE
Add 1 to the Threat Number of
each CRIME Headline.
The Special Headline comes into
play once any player reaches 15
Victory Points. The game ends
at the end of the Action Round
in which the Special Headline is
completed, or at the end of the
Game Round in which it comes
into play. The player with the most
Victory Points wins.
CRIME
FIGHT
VP 6
T M & 2 0 0 6 M A R V E L | 2 0 0 6 N E X U S | M H 0 1 - V C 1 6 / 5 0
1 0
1
KO 1
A1 D3 W1
A2 D1 W2
VILLAIN
DODGE
Discard this card to use a rating of 3 on your
next d roll.
VIPER
VENOM DARTS
TELEPORTATION RING
50 RESOURCE CARDS 10 SCENARIO CARDS 50 VILLAIN CARDS
Round Setup phase
1) Advance the Game Round marker.
2) Reset the Action Round marker to the rst step of the Action Round track.
3) Advance the Story track.
4) Draw and place new Headlines, and place Threat Level tokens.
5) Assign the Archnemesis and First Player tokens.
Planning phase
1) Receive Plot Points
2) Assign Superhero Status
3) Heal
4) Allies and Power-Ups
Mission phase
5 Action Rounds, each with one action chosen between:
Movement
Troubleshooting
Medical Treatment
Story Action
Use a Special Ability
1) Choose Powers.
2) Character with Initiative
attacks, and the opponent defends.
3) Character without Initiative attacks, and opponent
defends.
4) Outwit Contest.
C
O
M
B
AT
1) Determine Trouble Level
2) Reduce Trouble
3) Play Villains
4) Combat
5) Headline Resolution
TR
O
U
B
LES
HO
O
TING
G
A
M
E R
O
U
N D
TEAM NEMESIS
PO
W
ER-U
P
C
H A
R
A
C
T E RPhoenix Force
Danger Room
Blackbird
Magneto
Cyclops
Jean Grey
Storm
Wolverine
TM & 2006 MARVEL | 2006 NEXUS | MH01-HR 5/16
1
2
2
1
1
A 1 D2 W4
4 W2
R
E A
D
Y
S
U
PPO
R
TING
DANGER
CRIME
MYSTERY
LEVEL
Discard a Resource card to add 1 HIT to your result.
INVISIBLE FORCE FIELDS
(Combat)
Discard a Resource card to discard all dice showing
a BOOST icon that your
opponent just rolled.
INVESTIGATION
INVISIBILITY
TM & 2006 MARVEL | 2006 NEXUS | MH01-VR 3/4
0
2
1
2
2
A 2 D2 W4
5 W2
A
DANGER
CRIME
MYSTERY
HENCHMEN
C
O
M
B
A T
S
C
HEM
ING
INCREDIBLE
STAMINA
Discard a Villain card to add 2 to your d result.
ORGANIZED
CRIME
When Scheming, you may additionally discard 1 Villain card to increase the Trouble Level by 1.
SURPRISING
GREAT SIZE
RUTHLESS FIGHTER
4 TEAM
REFERENCE CARDS
16 SUPER HERO
REFERENCE CARDS
4 MASTERMIND VILLAIN
REFERENCE CARDS
1 FIRST PLAYER TOKEN
The First Player token is given
to the player who acts frst in
each Action Round
1 ARCHNEMESIS TOKEN
The Archnemesis token is given
to the player controlling the
Nemesis of the Team with most
Victory Points.
12 COMBAT POWER
TOKENS
Each player has a set of 3
Combat Power tokens used to
choose Powers during combat.
1 GAME ROUND
MARKER
The Game Round marker keeps
track of how many rounds have
been played. If the game goes to
6 or more rounds, set it back to
the 1space.
1 ACTION ROUND
MARKER
The Action Round marker keeps
track of how many Action Rounds
have been played in this Game
Round.
4 TEAM VICTORY
POINT MARKERS
The Team Victory Point
markers keep track of how well
each Super Heroes Team is doing.
13 SUPER HERO
WOUND/KO TOKENS
KO tokens are used to keep track
of how many times a character
has lost in a combat; the opposite
side is called a Wound token
and is put on a Super Hero when
hes defeated.
36 THREAT TOKENS
Threat tokens have a number
on them and are placed in a
District to show the Threat
number of the active Headlines.
52 PLOT POINT
TOKENS
Plot Point tokens are used to
manage the use of the Super
Heroes and their Allies during the
Planning phase.
1 TROUBLE LEVEL
TRACK MARKER
The Trouble Level marker
keeps track of the current level of
Trouble during the resolution of
a Headline.
GAME COMPONENTS
0
UPPER MANHATTAN
central manhattan
The Village
lower manhattan
Queens
brooklyn
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 25 24
1
1 2 3 5 4
1 2 3 5 4
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
T M & 2 0 0 6 M A R V E L | 2 0 0 6 N E X U S | M H 0 1 - M

carnegie
hill

central HARLEM

morningside
heights

east HARLEM

MIDTOWN

Central
park

Upper
west side

Upper
east
side

EAST SIDE

CHELSEA

GREENWICH
VIllage

Hells
Kitchen

lower
east side

tribeca

financial
district
EAST
VILLAGE

BROOKLYN
HEIGHTS

WILLIAMSBURG

Bedford-
Stuyvesant

gREENPOINT

SUNNYSIDE

ASTORIA

LONG ISLAND
CITY

Steinway
game round
action round
victory points
scenario card
headline deck
villain discard pile
resource discard pile
most wanted villains
story deck
TROUBLE LEVEL
villain deck
resource deck
city hall
Misty knights apartment
hellfire club mansion
DaIly globe
norman osborns penthouse
LATVERIAN EMBASSY
J. JonAH Jamesons penthouse
avengers embassy
symkarian embassy
wakandan embassy
LAW OFFICES of Nelson & Murdock
baxter building
bedford tower
Mary Janes Apartment
Luke Cages Apartment
heroes for hire office Curt Connorss Apartment united nations
madame webs apartment
matt murdocks apartment
S.H.I.E.L.D. Public H.Q.
Mary Jane Watson & Peter Parkers Luxury Apartment
Empire state building
Fisk Tower
Daily bugle
wolverines apartment
nick furys apartment
S.h.i.e.l.d. secret H.Q. tinkerers workshop
x-Mans apartment harry OSBORNS former loft
dr. Stranges sanctum sanctorum
PIER FOUR
X-FACTOR H.Q.
archangels apartment
Ben Grimms Apartment
YANCY STREET
empire state university
Daily grind
Coffee bean
daniel rands apartment
thunderbolts Original h.q.
power residence
sersis apartment
she-hulks apartment
nightwing restorations
clint bartons apartment
Metropolitan Museum of Art
oracle inc.
timeS square
gem theater
world Trade center site
Steve Rogerss Apartment
Peter Parkers Apartment Black Widows Apartment
alicia masterSs studio
marvel comics office
Coleen Wings Apartment columbia university
Oscorp Eastern L.I.
Forest Hills
Multivex
grand central station
LAGUARDIA AIRPORT
3
TEAM, CHARACTERS AND TEAM NEMESIS
TEAM CHARACTERS TEAM NEMESIS
The Avengers Captain America The Hulk Iron Man Thor Red Skull
The Fantastic 4 The Human Torch The Invisible Woman Mr Fantastic The Thing Doctor Doom
The Marvel Knights Daredevil Doctor Strange Elektra Spider-Man Kingpin
The X-Men Cyclops Jean Grey Storm Wolverine Magneto
GAME OVERVIEW
In the Marvel Universe, groups of superhuman heroes defend New York City and the
world against menaces and dangers, while in the shadows evil masterminds unleash
their plots to control humanity.
In the Marvel Heroes Strategy Board Game, two to four players each control a
Team of Super Heroes, competing to solve mysteries, rescue innocent bystanders, and
defeat criminals. At the same time, each player controls an individual Mastermind
Villain, trying to advance his evil agenda.
SUMMARY OF GAME PLAY
Each player controls a Team of four Super Heroes. Each player also controls the
Mastermind Villain that is the Nemesis of the Team controlled by the player to
his left (see below).
The game progresses in Game Rounds, which are divided into three diferent phases.
Each Game Round, the players send their Super Heroes to solve Headlines, the stories
and dangers around which the game revolves. In general, during the course of the
game you will try to solve as many Headlines as you can with your Super Heroes, in
order to develop the abilities of your Team and gain Victory Points.
When a player uses his Team to solve a Headline, he is called the Hero player; all the
other players act as Villain players, trying to hinder the Hero player and advance the
secret agendas of their own Mastermind Villains.
OBJECT OF THE
GAME
At the start of the game, you will
select one of the 10 diferent Scenarios
included in the game. The Scenario represents
the main storyline narrated in the game: Think
of each Headline as a part of a single issue of a
comic book, while the Scenario is like the larger
story developed in a story arc.
Most Scenarios make a specifc change to the game rules
(Efecttext), and each Scenario provides a specifc goal for the
players to achieve to win the game (Victorytext). Often the goal
listed by the Scenario card is for the players to acquire the most
Victory Points (by solving Headlines), but sometimes the goal is to be
the frst player to acquire a certain number of Victory Points, or to be
the frst player to resolve a Special Headline. See Winning the Gameon
page 12 for more information on the Scenario cards. The Victory text also
specifes in which round the game ends, although in some scenarios the
game ends when a certain victory condition is achieved.
For your frst game, we recommend using the Born AgainScenario.
This Scenario does not alter the rules of the game. Its Victory description
is simply to play until one player acquires 15 or more Victory Points, and
then fnish the current Game Round. At the end of that Game Round, the player
with the most Victory Points wins. Once you have played this basic Scenario, you will
want to try the other Scenarios, which provide more favorful victory conditions.
44
GAME BOARD
THE GAME BOARD
1
Each Area has a diferent color: Upper Manhattan, Central Manhattan, The
Village, Lower Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn.
2 Each District in the same Area has a diferent symbol:
3
There is one Headline space for each Area on the board. The current Headline
cards are placed here.
4
The Victory Point track is used to keep track of the success of each Team. Red
spaces indicate your Plot Point bonus.
5 Each Area has on its border two Support spaces, shown as colored circles
6
The four visible Story cards are placed on the Story track. The cards advance
on the track in the direction shown by the arrows.
7 The Scenario space holds the Scenario card for the current game.
8 The Most Wanted Villain spaces hold up to three undefeated Villains.
9
Advance the marker on the Action Round track every time a round of Actions
is completed; after 5 Action Rounds, advance the marker on the Game Round
track and reset the Action Round track to the frst step.
10
The Trouble Level track is used during a Troubleshooting action to keep track
of the dif culty of the Headline.
11 Place here the Villain deck and the discarded Villain cards.
12 Place here the Resource deck and the discarded Resource cards.
0
UPPER MANHATTAN
central manhattan
The Village
lower manhattan
Queens
brooklyn
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 25 24 1
1 2 3 5 4
1 2 3 5 4
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
TM & 2006 MARVEL | 2006 NEXUS | MH01-M

carnegie
hill

central HARLEM

morningside
heights
east HARLEM

MIDTOWN

Central
park
west side

Upper
east
side

EAST SIDE

CHELSEA

GREENWICH
VIllage

Hells
Kitchen

lower
east side

tribeca

financial
district

EAST
VILLAGE

BROOKLYN
HEIGHTS

WILLIAMSBURG

Bedford-
Stuyvesant

gREENPOINT

SUNNYSIDE

ASTORIA

LONG ISLAND
CITY

Steinway
game round
action round
victory points
scenario card
headline deck
villain discard pile resource discard pile most wanted villains
story deck
T
R
O
U
B
L
E
L
E
V
E
L
villain deck resource deck
city
hall
Misty knights
apartment
hellfire club
mansion
DaIly
globe
norman
osborns
penthouse
LATVERIAN
EMBASSY
J. JonAH
Jamesons
penthouse
avengers
embassy
symkarian
embassy
wakandan
embassy
LAW OFFICES of
Nelson & Murdock
baxter
building
Mary Janes
Apartment
Luke Cages
Apartment
heroes for
hire office
Curt Connorss
Apartment
united
nations
madame webs
apartment
matt murdocks
apartment
S.H.I.E.L.D.
Public H.Q.
Mary Jane
Watson & Peter
Parkers Luxury
Apartment
Empire state
building
Fisk
Tower
Daily
bugle
wolverines
apartment
nick furys
apartment
S.h.i.e.l.d.
secret H.Q.
tinkerers
workshop
x-Mans
apartment
harry
OSBORNS
former loft
dr. Stranges
sanctum sanctorum
X-FACTOR
H.Q.
archangels
apartment
Ben Grimms
Apartment
YANCY
STREET
empire state
university
Daily
grind
Coffee
bean
daniel rands
apartment
thunderbolts
Original h.q.
power
residence
sersis
apartment
ment
clint bartons
apartment
Metropolitan
Museum of Art
oracle inc.
timeS
square
gem theater
world Trade
center site
Steve Rogerss
Apartment
Peter Parkers
Apartment
Black Widows
Apartment
alicia masterSs
studio
marvel
comics
office
Coleen Wings
Apartment
columbia
university
Oscorp
Eastern L.I.
Forest
Hills
Multivex
grand central
station
LAGUARDIA
AIRPORT
1
2
3
4
5
7
6
8
9
10
11
12
THE GAME BOARD
The game board represents the island of Manhattan and its surrounding areas. The city
is divided into 6 Areas, each in a diferent color. Each Area is divided into 4 Districts,
and each District in an Area is identifed by a diferent symbol. Any number of Super
Heroes can be in a District at the same time.
In addition, each Area has two Support spaces: Each Support space can hold one
Super Hero, who may be used to help his Teammates in the corresponding Area.
Note: The Brooklyn and Queens Areas are not used if playing a two-player
game.
The board also features several spaces and tracks:
6 Headline spaces (one for each Area). These spaces hold the Headline cards,
which represent missions in the Area that Teams can try to complete.
The Scenario space. This space is for the current games Scenario card.
The Story track. This track holds the four available Story cards, which
represent positive developments for the diferent Super Hero Teams.
3 Most Wanted Villain spaces, where certain Villains are placed if they defeat
Super Heroes in combat.
The Game Round track and Action Round track, which are used to mark
the current Game Round and the Action Round within a Game Round. If the
game goes to 6 or more rounds, set it back to the 1space.
The Victory Point track, which is used to record the Victory Point total and the
Plot Point bonus of each Team.
The Trouble Level track, which is used to record the dif culty level of a
Headline as it is being resolved. If the Trouble Level goes above 10, use the side
of the Trouble Level marker with a +10to indicate this.
In addition, there are spaces on the board for the Headline, Resource, Story, and Villain
decks, and spaces for the Villain and Resource discard piles.
THE DICE
Eight special dice are included with the game. They are
used to resolve combat and to determine the
Trouble Level of Headlines.
On each die, one face is blank, and the
other faces show shows one or two
special icons:
Hit icon ( ): This
icon is the most important
one on the dice. When you
roll the dice in combat,
you add together all the
HIT icons to determine
the value of the roll.
Trouble icon
( ): The TROUBLE
icon is only used
in the Mission
phase, when you
roll to determine
the Trouble Level
in a District (see
Missions, page 8).
Boost icon ( ): This icon means that you may be able to reroll some dice, if
you have the appropriate special ability or if the rules indicate that you should
use dice boosting. If you are able to use dice boosting, then when a die
shows a BOOST icon, it can be rolled again and the new results are added to
the previous total. You reroll only once: BOOST icons on the additional roll are
ignored.
The Mission or Combat rules will tell you how many dice you must roll and the efects
of the roll. However, the number of dice you roll can never be more than 8 (not
including rerolls).
55
THE GAME ROUND
INITIAL GAME SETUP
Determine randomly or by choice who will control each Super Hero Team. Each
player takes his Team Reference card, his Super Hero fgures and Super Hero
reference cards, the Teams Power-Up cards, and one set of Combat Power tokens.
Place all of your Super Heroes on the middle of their respective Reference cards.
Each player controls the Mastermind Villain that is the Nemesis of the Team
controlled by the player to his left. Each player should take his Mastermind
Villain card and fgure and the three corresponding Master Plan cards.
Each player then draws two cards from the Resource deck and two from the
Villain deck.
Note: Draw three cards from each deck in a two-player game.
Give the First Player token to a player chosen randomly.
No Archnemesis is named for the frst Game Round.
Place the Resource deck, Villain deck, Headline deck, and Story deck on their
respective spaces on the board.
Shuf e the Headline and Story decks, then fll the Headline spaces on the board
with Headline cards, and the Story track with Story cards.
Form a pool of Plot Point tokens by placing them beside the board. You will take
tokens from here whenever you receive Plot Points, and put them back here
whenever you spend them.
For each Headline, place one Threat token with a number matching that of the
Headlines Threat Number on the District where the Headline is taking place.
Randomly draw (or choose) a Scenario card and place it on the appropriate
space on the board. (We recommend using the Born AgainScenario the frst
time you play.)
Put the Game Round marker on the frst space of the Game Round track, and
the Action Round marker on the frst space of the Action Round track.
Put the Victory Point marker of each Team on the 0space of the Victory Point track.
Put the Trouble marker on the 0space of the Trouble Level track.
THE GAME ROUND
A Game Round in Marvel Heroes consists of three phases:
1) Game Round Setup
2) Planning
3) Mission
PHASE 1: GAME ROUND SETUP
During the frst Game Round, skip this phase. At the beginning of each Game Round
thereafter, do the following:
Advance the Game Round marker.
Reset the Action Round marker to the frst step of the Action Round track.
Advance the Story track (see below).
Draw and place new Headline cards to fll the empty Headline spaces, and place
the corresponding Threat tokens on the board.
Assign the Archnemesis and First Player tokens (see below).
Advance the Story Track
Story cards represent public and personal events that afect the Super Heroes and their
Teams.
At the beginning of the game, four Story cards are drawn and placed faceup in a row, in
the appropriate spaces on the board. This row of cards is called the Story track.
At the beginning of each Game Round, a new Story card is drawn and placed at the
beginning of the track. The cards already on the track are shifted in the direction of the
arrows on the track to make room for the new card, and the card that is pushed ofthe
Story track is discarded without efect.
During the game, players will afect the Story track by using Story actions.
Headline cards
Headline cards represent events initiated by criminals, supernatural creatures, or natural
hazards in the streets of New York City.
Using Headline Cards
Headline cards are placed on the appropriate spaces on the board, each corresponding
to one Area of the city.
At the beginning of each Game Round, Headline cards are drawn and placed to fll
the empty Headline spaces. Read aloud the Headline text, its Threat Type, Threat
Number, and the Skills involved.
Each card bears a District Icon linking the card to a specifc District in the Area, to
identify where the incident is taking place. Place a Threat token in each District where a
Headline takes place, corresponding to the Threat Number of that Headline.
Example: If this card is played in The Village (Area),
place a 5Threat token in Chelsea (District).
TM & 2006 MARVEL | 2006 NEXUS | MH01-HC 15/36
5
ANCIENT MANUSCRIPT STOLEN
MONSIGNOR VITTORIO MONTESI: IT CONTAINS DANGEROUS
KNOWLEDGE
DANGER
MYSTIC
VP 4
Some Headlines also bear a Mastermind Icon (

). This icon indicates that a
Mastermind is possibly behind the criminal activity.
Assigning the Archnemesis and First Player tokens
The player that controls the Nemesis of the Team which currently has the most
Victory Points receives the Archnemesis token, and keeps it for the coming Game
Round (during the frst Game Round, there is no Archnemesis). In the case of a tie, the
Archnemesis token goes to the tied player whose Mastermind Villain has the highest
Henchmen rating.
The First Player token is then assigned to the player who has the fewest Victory
Points. If there is a tie, then the tied player with fewer Team Power-Ups in play
receives the First Player token. If there is still a tie, break it randomly.
The Scenario
At the beginning of the game, the players must choose or randomly draw a
Scenario card.
The card includes both a Game Efect and a Victory description. The Game
Efect changes the rules of the game, while the Victory description explains
how and/or when the game will end. One player should read this card aloud
at the beginning of the game, and all players should keep the Scenarios
Game Efect and Victory description in mind throughout the game.
66
SUPER HERO REFERENCE CARD
1 Combat Powers
2 Each Power has 3 Ratings.
3 Team symbol
4
The Level indicates how many Plot Points
you must spend to make this Hero Ready.
5
The left part of the card is also called the
Ready section.
6
This Combat Special Ability can be used
when the Super Hero is Ready and in combat.
7
The right part of the card is also called the
Supporting section.
8
This Support Special Ability can be used
when the Super Hero is Supporting.
9
The middle part of the card is also called the
Recovery section.
10
When the Super Hero receives this number of
KOs, he is wounded and moved to Recovery.
11
These Troubleshooting ratings are used
when the Super Hero is reducing the Trouble
Level of a Headline.
12
The Skill indicated here show which
Headlines are best solved by this Super Hero.
MASTERMIND REFERENCE CARD
1 Combat Powers
2 Each Power has 3 Ratings.
3
The Mastermind is the Nemesis of this
Team.
4
The Henchmen rating indicates how many
Villain cards to play when the Mastermind is
in combat. It is also used to determine who
the Archnemesis is in case of a tie.
5
This Combat Special Ability can be used
when the Mastermind is in a combat.
6
This Scheming Special Ability can be used
during the Troubleshooting of a Headline,
when the Mastermind is involved.
7
When the Mastermind receives this number
of KOs, he is defeated.
8
These Threat ratings are used when the
Mastermind is increasing the Threat Level of
a Headline.
SUPER HERO AND MASTERMIND REFERENCE CARDS
TM
&

2006 M
ARVEL |
2006 N
EXU
S | M
H
01-H
R 3/16
1 0 1
3 3
A3 D3 W4 A4 D3 W3 A W2
R
E
A
D
Y
S
U
P
P
O
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G
DANGER CRIME MYSTERY
LEVEL
URU HAMMER
Discard a Resource card to use
this ability. If you are using
Mjolnir Whirl, add 1 die to
your next a roll or droll.
STORM MASTERY
(Troubleshooting)
During a Troubleshooting
action, reduce the Trouble
Level of the District by 1.
MYSTIC
MYSTICAL BLASTS MJOLNIR WHIRL THUNDER GOD
TM
&

2006 M
ARVEL |
2006 N
EXU
S | M
H
01-VR 4/4
2 1 0
2 1
A3 D1 W4 A1 D4 W4 A4 2
DANGER CRIME MYSTERY
HENCHMEN
C
O
M
B
A
T
S
C
H
E
M
I
N
G
ANTI-GRAVITY
FIELDS
Discard a Villain card to skip
the next Outwit Contest.
Initiative stays with the
character who has it now.
ENERGY
MANIPULATION
When Scheming, you may
additionally discard up to 2
Villain cards to drawthe same
number of Villain cards.
MAGNETIC FIELDS
SKILLED
STRATEGIST
1
2
3
4
5
7
6
8
9
11
10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
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PHASE 2: PLANNING
During the Planning phase, players plan their courses of action for the current Game
Round. Mainly, planning involves spending Plot Points to assigning your available Super
Heroes to diferent tasks, by placing their fgures on diferent positions on their Super
Hero cards. Players can also play Allies and acquire Team Power-Ups in this phase.
At the beginning of the game, Plot Points are limited, and players will not be able to
feld all their Super Heroes. As the game progresses, players will accumulate Plot Points
and will soon be able to feld more characters.
The steps of the Planning phase are:
1) Receive Plot Points
2) Assign Super Hero Status
3) Heal
4) Allies and Power-Ups
The Super Hero Card
Each Super Hero reference card provides information on the abilities of a
character, but is also used during the game to keep track of what a Super
Hero is doing. The position of a Super Heros fgure on his card indicates that
characters status: If a fgure is on the left side of the card it is Ready; if it
is on the right it is Supporting; and if it is on the middle of the card it is In
Recovery.
Super Hero Status
Ready: All Super Heroes in a District on the board or in the Ready (left)
position on their card are said to be Ready.During the Game Round, Ready
Super Heroes will be able to troubleshoot Headlines and fght Villains.
Supporting: All Super Heroes in any Support space on the board or in the
Supporting (right) position of their card are said to be Supporting.During
the Game Round, Supporting Super Heroes can help Ready Super Heroes in
troubleshooting Headlines and in combat, or they can complete other non-
combat activities, such as engaging in scientifc research.
In Recovery: All Super Heroes in the Recovery (middle) position on their
card are said to be In Recovery,whether they are wounded or not. Super
Heroes in Recovery will not be used during the current Game Round.
To assign Super Heroes to Readyor Supportingstatus you must spend Plot
Points, as explained under Assign Super Hero Status.
All players may perform the Planning phase simultaneously, or you may have the First
Player perform his Planning phase frst and proceed clockwise around the table, as you
prefer.
Receive Plot Points
Take all your Super Heroes that are on Support spaces on the board, and all your Super
Heroes positioned on their reference cards - unless they have a Wound token - and place
them in a group in front of you. These are your available Super Heroes.
77
RESOURCE AND VILLAIN CARDS
ALLY CARD
1 Team Allegiance symbol
2 Name
3 Type
4 How to play the card
5 Special Ability
6 Ally Rating (or Ratings)
EVENT CARD
1 Title
2 Type
3 How to play/Special Ability
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EVENT
Play as an action to move a Supporting Hero to
a District containing a Ready Hero of the same
Team. The moved Hero is now Ready.
HEROES ASSEMBLE!
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1
KO 1
A1 3 4
3
VILLAIN
PROTECTED
Discard this card to use a rating of 4 in your
next droll.
ONRY
SHAPECHANGE
IMPERSONATION
Discard a Villain card to roll the same number of
dice as your opponent on the next combat roll.
A0 D0 W-1
AGENTS
May only be played as a Backup Eect.
Apply the modier to the Super Heros
Powers for this combat.
HAND NINJA
VILLAIN CARD
1 Trouble Level Requirement
2 Trouble Cost
3 Name
4 Type
5
When the Villain receives this number of
KOs, it is discarded.
6 Combat Powers
7 Combat Special Ability
8 Trouble Cost of the Backup Efect
9 Backup Special Ability
10 Most Wanted icon
AGENTS CARD
1 Trouble Cost
2 Name
3 Type
4 Modifers to opponents ratings
5 Agent Special Ability
1
2
3
1 2
3
4
5
6
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8
9
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ALLY
Pay 1 Plot Point
to play during the
Planning Phase.
DIAMOND-
HARD SKIN
Activate to use this
Allys rating on your
next droll.
EMMA FROST
1
2
3
4
5
6
10
You receive a number of Plot Points equal to the number of your available Super Heroes:
You dont receive any Plot Points for your Super Heroes that are in a District on the board
or that are wounded.
Important: At the start of the frst Game Round, all your Super Heroes are
considered available, so you receive 4 Plot Points.
You also receive a number of additional Plot Point tokens equal to your Plot Point
bonus score, which is determined by how many Victory Points you have. You receive 1
bonus Plot Point for every 5 Victory Points. This is indicated on the Victory Point track by
the red spaces: You receive 1 Plot Point for each red space your marker has passed.
Example: After a Team has reached 10 Victory Points, it receives a bonus of
2 Plot Points during the Receive Plot Pointsstep of each Game Round.
Assign Super Hero Status
Now you decide what the status of each of your Super Heroes will be for this Game
Round, spending Plot Points for each Super Hero that you want to be Ready or
Supporting.
First, if you left a Super Hero in a District on the board from the previous Game Round,
you must spend a number of Plot Points equal to his Level in order to keep him on the
board. If you do so, the Super Hero is left where he is and is considered to be Ready
in this Game Round. If you cannot or do not wish to spend these Plot Points, move the
Super Hero of the board and to the Recoveryposition on his card: He is considered to
be in Recovery for this Game Round.
Then you must choose the status of your available Super Heroes:
You may spend a number of Plot Points equal to a Super Heros Level to place an
available Super Hero on the Ready position of his card.
You may spend 1 Plot Point to place an place an available Super Hero on the
Supporting position of his card.
Any other available Super Hero is considered to be In Recovery and is placed in
the middle of his card. You dont spend any Plot Points to place a Super Hero in
Recovery.
Heal
If a Super Hero is wounded, leave him or her in Recovery and discard the Wound token.
Allies and Power-Ups
You may play one Ally Resource card from your hand (up to three can be on the table at
the same time) by spending one Plot Point. You may also place additional Plot Points
on the Ally card you just played (see Allies, page 13). However, you may not place Plot
Points on Allies already in play.
You may also discard 3 Story cards to purchase a Team Power-Up (see Using Story
Cards, page 9).
Important: You keep any unspent Plot Points, for use in later Game Rounds.
Example of a Planning phase
Its turn one of a 2-player game and James, the Fantastic Four player, has
received the First Player token. He receives 4 Plot Point tokens at the start
of the frst Game Round. James takes a look at the board and decides he
will try to solve You Cant Defeat Me(a Crime/Fight Headline with a Threat
Number of 5) using the Human Torch with the support of the Invisible
Woman. So, he spends 2 Plot Points to make the Human Torch Readyand
1 Plot Point to make the Invisible Woman Supporting.He still has 1 Plot
Point remaining: He decides to use it to play the Black WidowAlly card.
With no points left, he has to put both the Thing and Mr. Fantastic in the
Recoveryposition on their cards.
His opponent, Rich, is playing the X-Men. Rich also completes his planning,
making Wolverine Ready (2 Plot Points), making both Jean Grey and
Storm Supporting (1 Plot Point each), and putting Cyclops in Recovery. The
Mission phase may now begin.
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5
JUSTICE AT RISK?
KEY WITNESS AT THE MAGGIA TRIAL RECEIVED THREATENING LETTERS
CRIME
PROTECTION
VP 5
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4
CURSE OF THE MAYANS?
MUSEUM GUARD TOMMY WEBSTER DISAPPEARS
MYSTERY
MYSTIC
VP 3
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E
F
F
E
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T
V
I
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T
O
R
Y
ACTS OF VENGEANCE
SUPERHEROES FACE THE MENACE OF UNUSUAL ENEMIES
Randomly choose which
Mastermind will be the Nemesis
of each Team, such that each
Teamhas a dierent Nemesis
than usual (and no 2 Teams
have the same Nemesis).
Masterminds may choose
2 (dierent) options when
taking a Scheming action.
The game ends at the end
of the 5th Game Round,
and the player with the
most Victory Points wins.
However, if any player
completes 3 Master Plans
before that time, he or she
immediately wins the game.
HEADLINE CARD
1 Title
2 Narrative text
3 Threat Type
4
The Threat number indicates how
dif cult the Headline is.
5
The Headline is easier to solve if one of
your Super Heroes has this Skill.
6
The District icon determines where the
Headline appears.
7
Mastermind icon: Indicates that a
Mastermind Villain may become involved
in the Headline.
8 Victory Point value
SCENARIO CARD
1 Title
2 Game Efect
3 Victory condition
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
2
3
SCENARIO AND HEADLINE CARDS
PHASE 3:
MISSIONS
The Mission phase is the focal
point of the game, during which
the Super Heroes try to solve the
crimes and mysteries on the board, and
the Villains seek to thwart the Super
Heroes.
Each Mission phase in a Game
Round is divided into fve
Action Rounds. During each
Action Round, all players
alternate in taking actions,
starting with the First Player.
When a player acts in each
round he is called the Hero
player, and he can choose to do one
of the following actions:
Movement
Troubleshooting
Medical Treatment
Story Action
Use a Special Ability
Important: Each action may be done more than once in the same Game
Round.
These actions are explained in detail below.
Supporting Super Heroes
Supporting Super Heroes can be moved to special Support spaces on the
board. Each Area on the board has two Support spaces. A Super Hero in the
Support Space of a given Area is considered to be in that Area, and you can
use the Support ability of that Super Hero in all the Districts of that Area.
Note: You cant move a Super Hero to a Support space if it is already
occupied by another Super Hero. So, a maximum of two Super Heroes can be
Supporting in the same Area.
The Movement Action
You may use a Move action to move one Ready
or one Supporting Super Hero, as follows:
Move a Ready Super Hero: You may
move a Ready Super Hero from his card to
any District on the board, from one District
to any other District, or from a District to
the Recovery position on his card.
Move a Supporting Super Hero:
You may move a Supporting Super Hero
from his card to any Support space on the
board, from one Support space to any other
empty Support space, or from a Support space to
the Supporting position on his card.
Free Movement of Supporting Super Heroes
When you use a Movement action to move a Ready Super Hero to a District,
he may take one Supporting Super Hero along with him. In this way, you can
move two Super Heroes with one action.
The Supporting Super Hero you move in this way must be on the Supporting
position on his card. He must be moved to one of the Support spaces of the
Area containing the District where you move the Ready Super Hero. The
movement of the Supporting Super Hero is freeand does not count as an
action.
Important: A Supporting Super Hero that is already on the board (in a
Support space) may not beneft from this freemove. To move a Supporting
Super Hero that is already on the board, you must use a Movement action.
The Troubleshooting Action
During a Troubleshooting action you try to resolve a Headline in a District containing at
least one of your Ready Super Heroes. See Troubleshooting, page 10, for a complete
explanation of the Troubleshooting action.
The Medical Treatment Action
You may use a Medical Treatment action to remove a Wound token from one Super Hero
currently in Recovery. The token is removed and the Super Hero remains in Recovery. He
will be available again at the start of the next Game Round.
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TEAM POWER-UP, MASTER PLAN AND STORY CARDS
STORY CARD
1 Title
2 Narrative text
3 Team symbol
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Development - Scheming
Magneto now has an additional
Scheming ability: You are able to Draw
Additional Villain Cards in addition to
any another option when Scheming.
BROTHERHOOD OF
EVIL MUTANTS
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You may use one action to move
any number of Ready Super
Heroes to the same District, or to
Recovery.
FANTASTI-CAR
1
2
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THE AVENGERS
RECOGNIZED BY THE U.N.
THEIR BASE WILL BE TREATED AS
AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY 3
1
2
TEAM POWER-UP AND
MASTER PLAN
1 Title
2 Special Ability
The Story Action
During the game, whenever you take a Story action, you draw one card from the
Resource deck. You may then either:
Advance the Story track: Draw a new Story card and place it at the beginning
of the track, shifting the other cards on the track in the direction shown by the
arrows on the track. Give the card that is pushed ofthe track to the player
whose Team icon is shown on the card. In this way, it is possible that a player
taking a Story action benefts another Team. If the related Team is not in play,
the Story card is simply discarded.
or
Rearrange the Story track: Move a Story card belonging to your Team to the
last position on the Story Track, shifting the other cards back to fll the empty
space.
Using Story Cards
Whenever you receive a Story card, add 1 Victory Point to your score.
During the Planning phase, you can discard three Story Cards in your possession to put a
Team Power-Up card into play. The Victory Point value of the discarded Story cards is not
deducted from your score.
Use a Special Action
Certain abilities of Super Heroes are preceded by the terms Support (Action).
These abilities require the use of an action, so using such an ability will be
all that you can do during one of the Action Rounds. A Super Hero must be
Supportingto use a Support (Action) ability.
Example: The Hulks Rampageability is a Support (Action)
ability. This means that you must use an action and move
the Hulk from either a Support space on the board or the
Supporting position on his card to Recovery to draw 2
Resource cards and discard the frst 2 cards on the
Story track.
Example of a Mission phase
Lets continue the previous example.
First Action
James, the F4 player, goes frst. With his frst action, he moves the Human
Torch to the District with the You Cant Defeat MeHeadline, moving the
Invisible Woman to a Support space of that Area (a free movement).
Rich, the X-Men player, decides to use Jean Greys Support (Action) Ability,
Cerebro,to take two consecutive Story actions. Jean Grey is moved to
Recovery.
Second Action Round
James decides to take a Story action, since the last card on the Story track is
an F4 card and he wants to take it. He also wants more Resource cards in his
hand before he attempts to solve the Headline. He draws 1 Resource card
and advances the Story track, taking the F4 card that is pushed of the track
and adding 1 Victory Point to his score.
Rich moves Wolverine to the District with the Serial Robbers on Crime
Spree!Headline and takes Storm along to a Support space of that Area (a
free movement).
Third Action Round
James decides to Troubleshoot the You Cant Defeat MeHeadline
and a Troubleshooting sequence begins (see Troubleshooting,
page 10).
After Troubleshooting is
completed, the action goes to
Rich. When both players have taken
fve actions, the Game Round ends and a
new one begins.
10 10
TROUBLESHOOTING
A player may use a Troubleshooting action to try
to resolve a Headline, in order to score Victory
Points. There are two types of Headlines:
normal Headlines and Mastermind Headlines.
Mastermind Headlines are indicated by the
(

) symbol.
TROUBLESHOOTING A
NORMAL HEADLINE
When Troubleshooting a normal Headline, your Super Hero will frst attempt
to resolve the Headline by reducing the Trouble Level of the District to zero. If
he is unable to do this, however, your opponents will have an opportunity to play
Villains in the District, whom your Super Hero will have to fght.
To Troubleshoot a normal Headline, frst choose a District that has an unresolved normal
Headline and at least one of your Ready Super Heroes. Then, follow these fve steps:
1) Determine Trouble Level
2) Reduce Trouble
3) Play Villains
4) Combat
5) Headline Resolution
1) Determine Trouble Level
Each District with an unresolved Headline has a Threat token on it, corresponding to the
Threat Number of its Headline card.
To determine the Trouble Level of a District, roll a number of dice equal to the number
on the Districts Threat token. Add up the number of HIT and TROUBLE icons. Also, dice
boosting applies to the Determine Trouble Levelroll (unless your Super Hero has the
appropriate Skill see below). If any dice show a BOOST icon, roll them again and
add any HIT or TROUBLE icons to the total. Ignore any BOOST icons that result from this
second roll. The total after dice boosting is the Trouble Level of the District. Record the
result on the Trouble Level track.
BOOST Icons and Skills
When Troubleshooting, if one of your Ready Super Heroes in the relevant
District or one of your Supporting Super Heroes in the relevant Area
possesses a skill displayed on the Headline card you are Troubleshooting,
then dice boosting does not apply to the Determine Trouble Levelroll:
Ignore all BOOST icons obtained in the roll.
Example: The You Cant Defeat MeHeadline that the Human Torch is
Troubleshooting has a Threat Number of 5. Rich, playing as the Villain
player, rolls fve dice: Two of them show 1 HIT icon, one of them shows 1
TROUBLE icon, one of them shows a HIT/BOOST icon, and the fnal die
comes up blank. The total Trouble Level is 4. The Human Torchs skill is
Protection,while the skill listed on the Headline is Fight.Therefore, the
BOOST die is rolled again: An additional TROUBLE icon results, so the Trouble
Level of the District becomes 5.
2) Reduce Trouble
Now you use your Ready Super Hero to reduce the Trouble Level of the District.
Each Super Hero has a Troubleshooting rating in the 3 Trouble types: Crime, Danger,
and Mystery. Reduce the Trouble Level by the appropriate Troubleshooting rating of
your Ready Super Hero in the District. (Adjust the marker on the Trouble Level track
accordingly it cannot go below zero.)
Example: The Human Torch has a Troubleshooting rating of 2 in Crime, 1 in
Danger, and 1 in Mystery. He is currently Troubleshooting a Crime Headline,
so he will reduce the Trouble Level by his Crime Troubleshooting rating of 2.
In our example, the Trouble Level was 5 after the roll: It becomes 3, and the
Trouble Level track is adjusted accordingly.
If you have more than one Ready Super Hero in the District, you may use whichever
Super Heros rating is highest.
Support (Troubleshooting) Special Abilities: Some Super Heroes have
special abilities that are preceded by the terms Support (Troubleshooting).
These abilities may be used to reduce the Trouble Level of a Headline during
a Troubleshooting action. Such abilities do not require the expenditure of an
action; however, to use the ability the Super Hero must be in a Support space
of the Area where his Teammate is performing a Troubleshooting action.
If the Trouble Level is still higher than zero, proceed to the next step, Play Villains. If
the Trouble Level is at zero, proceed directly to the Headline Resolution step.
3) Play Villains
If you did not reduce the Trouble Level in the District to zero, then the other players may
play Villains cards against your Super Hero, as follows.
Draw Villain Cards
All Villain players, starting with the Hero players Nemesis and proceeding clockwise,
may draw one Villain card from the Villain deck. When playing a two-player game,
the Villain player draws two Villain cards.
Determine Whether There Will Be a Lead Villain
In clockwise order, starting with the player controlling the Hero players Nemesis, each
Villain player must decide whether or not to play a Villain card. If he does not, then
the player to his left may play one card, and so on, until all Villain players have passed.
However, as soon as one player plays a Villain card, this step stops and that Villain card
represents the Lead Villain. There may only be one Lead Villain.
If all the Villain players choose not to play a Villain card, go directly to the Headline
Resolution step.
11 11
Paying for Villain Cards
There are two numbers in the upper left of each Villain card: The Trouble
Level Requirement and the Trouble Cost.
Trouble Level Requirement: To play a Villain card as a Lead Villain, the
current Trouble Level in the District must be equal to or higher than the
Trouble Level Requirement shown on the Villain card.
Trouble Cost: When you play a Villain card as a Lead Villain, you must reduce
the Trouble Level in the District by the Villain cards Trouble Cost (adjust the
marker on the Trouble Level track accordingly). Thus, when you play a Villain
card, you lower the Trouble Level, making it harder for the other Villain
players to play further Villain cards.
Play Backup Efects and Agents
If there is a Lead Villain, then the Villain players may also play Backup Efects and
Agents. Beginning with the Hero players Nemesis and proceeding clockwise, each
Villain player may play one or more Villain cards as Backup Efects or Agents. While
there may only be one Lead Villain, there may be any number of Backup Efects and
Agents.
The lower half of a regular Villain card shows what efect that card has if it is played
as a Backup Efect. Backup Efects usually give additional powers to the Lead
Villain. Depending on the situation, you may think of the Backup Efects you play
as actual characters helping the Lead Villain, but these cards may also represent
unexpected abilities, new powers and equipments of the Lead Villain, or other special
circumstances.
When playing a Villain card as a Backup Efect, use the Trouble Cost on the lower half of
the Villain card. This cost is usually lower than the cost to play it as a Lead Villain. There
is no Trouble Level Requirement to play a Villain card as a Backup Efect.
Agents Cards
Agents are a special type of Villain card. Diferently from other Villain cards,
Agents can only be played as a Backup Efect to a Lead Villain and, rather
than boosting the Lead Villains ability, they hinder a Super Hero by reducing
the value of his or her Powers.
Example: In our example, the Trouble Level of the District is 3. Rich has
two Villain cards in his hand and now draws a third card. With 3 points of
Trouble available, he decides that the Lead Villain will be the strongest
Villain he can play, Avalanche,who has a Trouble Level requirement of
3 and a Trouble Cost of 2. After playing Avalanche, theres still one point
of Trouble left, so Rich decides to play the Backup Efect of the Crimson
Dynamocard, Innocent Bystanders,which gives Rich the ability to
manipulate Jamess dice rolls in the upcoming combat. Rich still has one
Villain card but no Trouble is left, so now its time to fght!
4) Combat
When all Villain players have either played cards or passed, the fght between Super
Heroes and Villains is resolved using the Combat rules (see page 14).
If the Villain wins
The defeated Ready Super Hero is immediately placed in Recovery with one Wound
token, and all Backup Efect and Agents cards are discarded. The Lead Villain card is also
discarded, unless it shows a Most Wanted icon: In that case, place it on an available
Most Wanted space on the board (see the Most Wanted Villains sidebar).
Note: When a Hero player is defeated, only his ready Super Hero is moved to
Recovery; his Super Heroes on Support spaces in the Area remain where they are.
Most Wanted Villains
When a Villain showing a Most Wanted icon ( ) defeats a Super Hero (or
group of Super Heroes), place the Villain card faceup on one of the three Most
Wanted spaces on the board. If all spaces are occupied, the player controlling
the Nemesis of the defeated Team must decide whether to replace one of the
three cards (discard the replaced card), or discard the victorious Villain.
Each card on a Most Wanted space is available to all players during the Play
Villainsstep of a Troubleshooting action, to be played as if part of their hand
of cards. A Most Wanted Villain may only be played as a Lead Villain, not as
a Backup Efect, and the Trouble Level Requirement of Most Wanted Villain
cards is considered to be 0. The Trouble Cost must still be paid normally.
If the Super Hero wins
Discard all KO tokens accumulated during the Combat, then discard the Lead Villain card
and all Backup Efect and Agents cards. Then proceed to the Headline Resolution step.
5) Headline Resolution
If your Super Hero defeats the Villain (or if no Lead Villain was played), you score the
Headline. Take the Headline card and place it in front of you, and advance your marker
on the Victory Point track by the amount indicated on the card.
If the Super Hero was defeated, the Headline card is discarded.
Finally, reset the Trouble Level track to zero.
TROUBLESHOOTING A MASTERMIND
HEADLINE
If a Headline card has a Mastermind Icon (

), it is a
Mastermind Headline: The criminal activities of a Mastermind
Villain may be behind this event.
The rules for Troubleshooting a normal Headline apply
to Mastermind Headlines, with some important
diferences.
In game terms, these special Headlines have an
added level of dif culty, as the Hero players
Nemesis has at his disposal two possible
interventions: taking a Scheming action, and
attempting a Master Plan.
Scheming
During the Troubleshooting phase, the Hero
players Nemesis can choose to take a Scheming
action, choosing one option from the following
list:
Increase the Threat: Before the Determine
Trouble Levelstep, the Nemesis may decide to add
his appropriate Threat rating (Crime, Danger, or Mystery,
depending on the Headline) to the number on the Threat
token on the District, increasing the number of dice to
roll.
Draw Additional Villain cards: At the start of
the Play Villainsstep, the Nemesis may draw a
number of additional Villain cards equal to the
highest Level among the Ready Super Heroes in
the District.
Boost Combat: Before combat starts, the Nemesis
may decide to give the Lead Villain dice boosting.
12 12
Attempting Master Plans
At the start of a Troubleshooting action involving a Mastermind
Headline, the Hero players Nemesis may decide to intervene directly with his
Mastermind to attempt a Master Plan. Master Plans must be attempted in order,
starting with the Prologue,continuing with the Development,and ending with
Conclusion.
The player places his Mastermind Villain fgure on the Headline card, and shows
the Hero player which one of his Master Plans he is trying to achieve.
Note: If a player has already achieved all his Mastermind Villains
Master Plans, he may not attempt any further Master Plans, but the
Mastermind Scheming abilities may still be used on
Mastermind Headlines.
The Troubleshooting action proceeds normally
until its conclusion. If the Hero player is
victorious, he scores the Headline normally;
then he must decide if he wants to challenge
the Mastermind Villain or not. If the Super
Hero is defeated by the Lead Villain or chooses
not to challenge the Mastermind Villain, the
Mastermind Villain completes his Master
Plan.
Challenging
the Mastermind
Villain
If the challenge takes place, any
KO tokens accumulated by the
Super Hero (or Super Heroes) during
the previous combat are not discarded.
The challenge is resolved as a new battle
against the Mastermind, using the Masterminds combat
abilities and powers. Mastermind Villains are always able to
use dice boosting on their combat rolls. Furthermore, at the
start of the challenge, a number of Villain cards equal to the
Henchmen rating of the Mastermind are drawn from the
Villain deck and played as Backup Efects, without paying
their Trouble Cost.
If the Mastermind Is Defeated: If the Hero player
wins the combat, he may put one of his Team Power-
Up cards into play.
The failed Master Plan card can be attempted
again by the Mastermind Villain later in the
game. However, the Mastermind Villain can
not attempt the Master Plan again in the
current Game Round.
If the Mastermind Is Victorious: If the
Mastermind Villain wins the combat (or
the Hero player decides not to challenge),
the Mastermind player succeeds in his
Master Plan and can from now on use the
special ability of that Master Plan card.
The Archnemesis
The Archnemesis role is taken at the start of a Game Round by the player
controlling the Nemesis of the Team with the most Victory Points. As the
Archnemesis, a player can take a Scheming action or attempt a Master
Plan when his opposing player is trying to solve any Headline, not just a
Mastermind Headline.
WINNING THE GAME
At the beginning of the game, the Scenario, which represents the main storyline of the
game, is revealed. Each Scenario has a Game Efect that modifes the normal rules of
the game, as well as a Victory description that describes how and when the game ends
and what the victory conditions are for the current game.
Some scenarios set a specifc condition or Game Round at which the game will end. In
many of these Scenarios, the player with the most Victory Points is then declared the
winner. In case of a tie, the tied player who scored the Scenario Headline (if there is
one) is the winner. If there is still a tie, then the tied player with the most Team Power-
Ups in play is the winner.
SPECIAL HEADLINES
Some Scenarios include a Special Headline, which enters play as indicated on the
Scenario card. This Headline has all the characteristics of a normal Headline, except
that it is not linked to any specifc District or Area on the board. When the condition
described by the card is achieved, a player can move Super Heroes onto the Scenario
card exactly as if the card were a District, and then use another action to Troubleshoot
the Scenario Headline. The Scenario has no Support space, so Super Heroes can only
move to a Scenario if they are Ready.
The attempt to solve a Scenario Headline is conducted normally, except that the
Nemesis of the Team may not attempt a Master Plan. The Nemesis, however, may still
take a Scheming action if he is the Archnemesis or if the Scenario has a Mastermind
icon.
If the Headline is solved, the game will end when the current Action Round is
completed; if the Headline is not solved, it remains in play to be solved later. When a
Team successfully Troubleshoots the Scenario Headline, it receives the amount of
Victory Points indicated on the card.
The House of M Scenario
The House of MScenario is similar to a Scenario with a Special Headline.
However, the fnal confrontation will not be the Troubleshooting of a
Headline, but a special challenge against Magneto, who in this Scenario has
a Henchman rating of 4 instead of his usual rating.
At the end of the fourth Game Round, place the Magneto reference card on
the table. All the players challenge Magneto one after the other, starting
with the player who has the most Victory Points and proceeding clockwise.
Every player must choose two Super Heroes from his Team for the challenge.
The combat is treated like a normal challenge against a Mastermind, with
Magneto played by the Nemesis of the Team challenging him.
The frst player to defeat Magneto wins. If the Super Heroes are defeated,
Magneto returns to 0 KOs and draws new Henchmen before the next combat.
If no player defeats Magneto, Magneto wins and everybody loses!
13 13
USING RESOURCE AND VILLAIN CARDS
USING RESOURCE
AND VILLAIN CARDS
ALLIED HEROES
Ally cards, which make up the bulk of the Resource deck, represent characters that
temporarily help your Team.
PLAYING ALLIES
You may play Ally cards during the Planning phase, in the Allies and Power-Ups
step, by spending one Plot Point per Ally Card. The Ally is played on the table, near
your Super Hero cards, and the Plot Point is discarded. You may also place one
additional Plot Point on the Ally card, so that you can use it two times instead of
just once.
Each Team can have a maximum of three Ally cards in play at any time. If you
already have three Allies in play, you can discard one in order to play a new Ally.
Allies are used during combat to help your Super Heroes (see Combat, page 14).
Team Allegiance
If an Ally is showing your Teams icon, the Ally is linked to your Team. You may
place the Plot Point that you spend to bring a linked Ally into play onto the card
instead of discarding it as normal. You may also still place one additional Plot Point
on the card. In this way, you can potentially use Allies that are linked to your Team
up to three times.
Example: Namor is an Ally showing the Avengersicon. If a player
controlling the Avengers spends one Plot Point to bring Namor into
play, he would place the Plot Point token that he spends on to the
Namor card. If a player controlling a diferent Team brings Namor into
play, he would discard the Plot Point token that he spends to bring
Namor into play. In either case, the player may spend an additional Plot
Point and place it on the Namor card.
ACTIVATING ALLIES
Allies are used during a combat to help your Super
Heroes (see Combat, page 14).
To activate an Allys special ability, you must
discard a Plot Point token from that Ally card. If
there is no Plot Point on the card, you must discard
the Ally card itself after using its special ability.
Note: You cannot spend Plot Point tokens from your
Plot Points pool to activate Allies. Only the
Plot Point tokens on the Ally card you
want to use can be spent to activate
the ability of that Ally.
EVENT CARDS
In addition to the Ally cards, the Resource deck also includes Event cards. Most of
these cards begin with Play as an action,indicating that playing the card counts
as an action (so playing one of these cards will be all you can do during one of the
Action Rounds).
VILLAIN CARDS
As explained in the Troubleshooting section on page 10, Villain cards may either
be played as Lead Villains or as Backup Efects.
To play Villain cards, the players must spend Trouble points from those available in
the District where the Troubleshooting takes place, as described on page 10.
DISCARDING CARDS
To use the combat abilities of most Super Heroes or Villains, you usually have to
discard one card from your hand, as stated in the ability text itself. You must
discard a Resource card to use the ability of a Super Hero, and you must discard a
Villain card to use the ability of a Villain.
Important: Any Villain player may discard a Villain card to use the ability of a
Lead Villain, not just the player controlling it.
RESHUFFLING DECKS
Whenever a deck of cards is exhausted, you must re-
shuf e all the cards in the discard pile to form
again a drawing deck.
14
COMBAT
The confrontation between Super Heroes and
Villains, where their superpowers special abilities are
used to the fullest, is often the focal point of a comic-
book story and is therefore a very important aspect
of the Marvel Heroes board game.
The outcome of a combat is shaped by many
factors, including the Super Heroes and Lead
Villains Combat Powers, Allies, Backup Efects,
Supporting Super Heroes special abilities, and
the roll of the dice.
In this section we will refer to both Super Heroes
and Villains as characters.
COMBAT POWERS
Each character has one to three Combat Powers, distinguished by color (red, orange,
and yellow).
Each Power has three numerical values, ranging from zero to fve. The frst number
is that Powers Attack (a) rating, the second number is the Powers Defend (d)
rating, and the third number is the Powers Outwit (w) rating. These numerical ratings
indicate how many dice you roll in each step of the combat sequence if you choose that
power.
COMBAT SPECIAL ABILITIES
Most characters also have one or more Combat Special Abilities which can be used
in combat. Normally, you use a special ability by discarding a card from your hand. You
must discard a Resource card for the abilities of Super Heroes, or a Villain card for the
abilities of Villains.
COMBAT SUPPORT ABILITIES
Some Super Heroes possess special abilities that are preceded by the terms Support
(Combat).These abilities are used during combat. To use a Combat Support special
ability, your Super Hero must be in the Support space of the Area in which one of his
Teammates is engaged in combat.
RESOLVING COMBAT
The Hero player controls the Super Heroes during combat, while the player who played
the Lead Villain controls the Lead Villain and any Backup Efects.
Before combat, the Hero player takes three Combat Power tokens of diferent colors,
and his opponent does the same. Then combat begins.
Each combat follows the Combat Sequence below:
1) Choose Powers.
2) The character with Initiative attacks, and the opponent defends.
3) The character without Initiative attacks, and the opponent defends.
4) Outwit Contest.
These steps are repeated, if necessary, until the combat ends.
In the frst combat sequence the Super Hero has Initiative.
CHOOSE POWERS
Each player secretly chooses one Combat Power,
by selecting one of the three Combat Power tokens. Then both
players simultaneously reveal their choice and check the values of their
Attack, Defend, and Outwit ratings.
Note: Certain characters have only one or two Powers, and therefore have
fewer choices in this step.
FIRST ATTACK PHASE
The character with Initiative rolls a number of dice equal to the Attack (a) rating of his
chosen power; his opponent rolls a number of dice equal to the Defend (d) rating of
his chosen power. Count and compare the number of HITS rolled on the dice.
If the attackers total number of HITS is equal to or greater than the defenders, the
attacker scores one KO against the defender. The attacker must roll at least one hit to
infict a KO. If the defender now has number of KOs equal to his KO value, the defender
is defeated and combat ends immediately. Otherwise, combat continues with the
Second Attack phase.
If the attacking players Attack rating is 0, skip this phase. If the defending players
Defend rating is 0, the attacker will score a KO unless he does not roll any HITS.
SECOND ATTACK PHASE
The second attack is resolved just like the frst attack, except that the character with
Initiative is the defender and his opponent is the attacker. If neither the Super Hero nor
the Villain has been defeated after this phase, combat continues with the Outwit Contest.
OUTWIT CONTEST
In the Outwit contest, each player rolls a number of dice equal to the Outwit (w) rating
in his chosen Power. The player that scores more HITS inficts a KO on the opposing
character.
Note: In both of the Attack phases, only the attacker can infict a KO, but in the
Outwit contest, either player can infict a KO.
In addition, the player who wins the Outwit contest gains Initiative for the next combat
sequence (if the opponent has not been defeated already).
In case of a tie, no KOs are inficted; the player who currently has Initiative keeps it, and
another combat sequence is fought.
Dice Boosting and Support
If a Super Hero in combat has a Team member in a Support space of his Area,
he receives dice boosting: Whenever he rolls a BOOST
( ) icon on a die, he may reroll that die, and add the new result to the
number of HITS already scored. BOOST icons rolled on the second roll do not
grant further rerolls.
If there is not a Teammate in Support, simply ignore the BOOST icon. Villains
do not receive dice boosting unless a Mastermind Villain uses a Boost
CombatScheming action.
15
Example of a Combat
Lets continue the previous example, where the Human Torch (played by
James) is facing Avalanche (played by Rich). James also has Black Widow in
play as an Ally and the Invisible Woman Supporting, while Rich has played
Innocent Bystandersas a Backup Efect. The Human Torch has Initiative.
Choice of Powers
First, both players secretly choose a Combat Power. James wants to go for
an all-out attack, so he chooses the red Power token: The Human Torch will
use his Fire Blastattack (a4 | d2 | w2). Rich knows that Avalanche,
with only 1 KO and no Initiative, must try to get the upper hand, so he
chooses his orange Power, Shatter(a1 | d2 | w5).
First Attack Phase
James rolls four dice to attack: Two come up blank, one shows 2 HITS, and
one shows 1 HIT.
Avalanche uses a dirty trick, taking advantage of the presence of Innocent
Bystandersto hide behind them! He discards the Innocent Bystanders
Backup Efect to change the Human Torchs 2 HITS die so that it shows only
1 HIT. This reduces the total attack result to 2, which is not enough to beat
Avalanches Defend roll of 3 HITS. The fght continues.
Second Attack Phase
Now its Avalanches turn to attack, but he rolls no HITs on the only die
allowed by his poor 1rating.
Outwit Contest
Now, the Human Torch sees the danger of his situation: His opponent could
easily win the Outwit roll, score a KO, and gain Initiative for the next combat
sequence. Its time to get some help! James decides to use Black Widow to
raise the Human Torchs Outwit rating to 4 for the next roll. Since there are
no Plot Points on the card, James discards the Black Widow card: She will
not be able to help him again!
James rolls his four dice: Two dice show 1 HIT, one shows a HIT/BOOST, and the
last one is a blank. Because the Invisible Woman is Supporting, the BOOST die
is rolled again, and the result is 2 more HITS! Jamess attack total is 4.
Rich rolls fve dice for Avalanche: three of them show 1 HIT, and two of
them show a HIT/BOOST. The total would be 5, scoring a KO on Human
Torch and winning Initiative for the Villain! But then James smiles, points at
the Invisible Woman, and discards one of the Resource cards he has in his
hand to use the Invisible Womans Invisible Force FieldsSupport (Combat)
ability! Invisible Womans ability cancels Richs two dice with a BOOST icon.
Avalanches result is now 3, and the Human Torchs is still a 4... Avalanche
receives a KO, enough to defeat him and end the combat!
Its good to have friends, isnt it?
MULTI-CHARACTER COMBAT
When more than one Ready Super Hero from your Team is in the same District, at the
beginning of each combat sequence you must decide which Super Hero will fght. Then
combat is resolved normally (one-on-one). The following rules also apply to multi-
character combat:
Combat does not end until either the Lead Villain or all the Ready Super Heroes
have been defeated.
If the Lead Villain is defeated, the Super Heroes are considered to have won the
combat, even if one or more Super Heroes were also defeated.
If one Super Hero is defeated, then the Lead Villain has initiative on the next
combat sequence if another Super Hero continues the fght.
Any Super Hero that is defeated goes to Recovery with one Wound.
ALLIES AND BACKUP
EFFECTS IN COMBAT
The special ability of an Ally or Backup Efect can be used at the appropriate moment
during combat, as explained by the card text. To actiavte an Allys ability, you must
discard one Plot Point token on the Ally card, or discard the card itself it has no tokens
on it. To use the ability of a Backup Efect, you must discard the card. Agents remain in
play for the duration of the combat and are only discarded once the combat has ended.
HENCHMEN
During a challenge with a Mastermind Villain, he may have Henchmen at his disposal.
Henchmen are put into play at the beginning of the combat against the Mastermind.
Draw a number of cards from the Villain deck equal to the Henchmen rating of your
Mastermind, and play these cards without paying their Trouble Costs. Once they are in
play, Henchmen are used exactly like Backup Efects or Agents.
TIMING OF SPECIAL
ABILITIES
Super Heroes, Allies, Villains, Backup Efects, Agents, Master Plans, and Team Power-Ups
all have special abilities, which may be used at diferent moments.
An ability may never be used retroactively, unless it specifcally states otherwise. For
example, you cannot decide to use an ability that changes the number of dice you roll
after youve rolled the dice!
Abilities do not stack; that is, abilities may not be used multiple time to afect
the same dice roll or value. For example, an ability that adds 1 to a rating or the
result of a combat roll may not be used twice to add 2 to the rating or combat
result. In another example, an ability that allows you to reroll a die may not be
used twice to gain a second reroll.
Abilities usually apply either to your next roll, that is, the one that is
immediately to come, or to the dice roll you just made. When an ability
refers to dice just rolled,this includes both the initial roll and any rerolls from
dice boosting.
Some abilities afect a result, not a roll, usually by adding to or subtracting
from the number of HITS rolled. Use these abilities after both players have rolled
their dice and performed any dice boosting, but before they compare results.
Some abilities state in their text that their efect lasts for one combat sequence:
Abilities that state that they afect thiscombat sequence must be used at the
beginning of the sequence, before the choice of Powers, while abilities afecting
the nextsequence must be used at the end of a sequence.
Some abilities state that they last until the end of the combat (that is, until
either the Super Heroes or the Villain are defeated). These abilities can be used
at any time, but usually they should be used at the beginning of the combat!
Agents abilities, which modify the ratings of Super Heroes, are considered to be
continuously in use throughout the combat.
If two players want to use abilities at the same moment, the ability of the player
with Initiative goes into efect frst, followed by the other players ability.
16 16
THE STRATEGY BOARD GAME
Game Design
Marco Maggi, Francesco Nepitello
Additional Design and Development
Roberto Di Meglio, Salvatore Pierucci
Graphic Design and Layout
Fabio Maiorana
Board Graphics
Fabio Maiorana, Kurt Miller
Sculpting
Bob Naismith
Original Cover and Character Art
Salvador Larroca (pencils), Paco Roca (colors)
Contributing Playtesters
Nicola Santarello, Giuliano Fassi
Additional Playtesting
Federico Burchianti, Christoph Cianci, Fabio Maiorana, Marco Molin, Giuliano Nepitello,
Simone Peruzzi, Niccol Pierucci, Fabrizio Rolla, Gabriele Tornar
Special Thanks to
Alfredo Gabrielli, James Hinton, Bruno Maglione, Matthew Primack, Mickey Stern
English Edition Editing
James Torr
A game published by Nexus Editrice Srl
Via dei Metalmeccanici 16, 55040 Capezzano Pianore (LU), Italy
www.nexusgames.com
English edition distributed by Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc.
1975 West Country Road B2, Roseville, MN, 55113, USA
www.fantasyfightgames.com
MARVEL, Marvel Heroes, all the characters used and their distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Marvel Characters, Inc., and are used with permission. Copyright 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.
All rights reserved. www.marvel.com This Marvel Heroes Strategy Board Game is produced under license from Marvel Characters, Inc. Super Hero(es) is a co-owned registered trademark. Made in China.