How to play Marvel: Age of Heroes & Review

Marvel: Age of Heroes is a worker placement game.

Title: Marvel: Age of Heroes

Year Published: 2023

Designer: Rodney Thompson

Publisher: Wizkids

Players: 2-5

Game Time: ~90 mins

Set-up Time: ~5 mins

Ages: 14+

Theme: Marvel

Mechanisms: Worker Placement, Resource Management

How to win: Score the most victory points by dealing damage to the villains.

Game Description

Each player commands a duo of X-Men who are dispatched to defeat villains and complete objectives.

How to play Marvel: Age of Heroes

Learn how to play Marvel: Age of Heroes quickly and concisely.

Main mechanisms

Worker placement is the main mechanism used to take all the actions. There is a bit of resource management in there too.

USP

Nothing new technically… however, a Marvel-themed euro is a new one to me!

Theme

Marvel! X-Men to be more precise. The character abilities kinda work and the abilities of the allies make sense.

Setup & Rulebook

Setup is a little fiddley as you have to combine cards and follow setup instructions for the 3 scenarios.

The rulebook is OK but doesn’t give everything in the correct order as far as I’m concerned. The cards in the game reference things that are not clear in the rulebook.

Components & Artwork

The components are nice. The plastic bits come in a plastic punchboard which was a pain to get the bits out of. The sticky film pulled everything out then you have to peel each bit off the film which was sticking to itself.

I really do like the art, it’s a really nice style.

Ease of Teaching

The game is easy to teach at a base level. However, those little niggles I mentioned earlier in the rulebook come back here. Plenty of rules questions crop up about the cards people have drawn.

Similar Games

Well, this game is from a designer of Lords of Waterdeep and it shows.

Marvel: Age of Heroes Summary

So this is a pretty decent game, better than I was expecting.

I liked Lords of Waterdeep initially but soured on it soon after, I found it a little bit basic. I also found it too tense sometimes and a little frustrating which was the worst part.

Seeing that game basically rereleased with a Marvel theme which attracts me and from Wizkids (Zev knows his games) I had to take a chance on it.

I was expecting it to be one and done… or maybe play each scenario once then get rid. But it’s a definite keeper. The basic gameplay of LoW is there but it’s more… fun?

It also looks better. The people I played it with, who all have different interests, gameplay levels and personalities enjoyed it too.

The rulebook is a letdown. The main bulk of the rules are explained really well, I can’t fault that. But some bits are glossed over or are missing entirely. Others reference the rules but don’t match up with what the designer/publisher cleared up on BGG. Very odd.

Also, everyone has kinda agreed that upgrading the heroes is not really worth it. One or two maybe? but all six? No way.

Marvel: Age of Heroes Round-Up

Good game with characters, abilities, bad guys and cards giving some replayability.

Rating

I give it 7/10