How to Play Marvel United: X-Men

Game Objective

In Marvel United: X-Men, 2 to 4 players take on the role of Heroes working together to thwart a Villain's grand scheme. Alternatively, in Supervillain Mode, 1 player takes on the role of a Villain facing up to 4 players as Heroes.

You will build a Storyline by drawing Villain cards and playing your Hero cards to thwart the malefactor's plans. Player cards allow them to move Heroes, rescue Civilians, defeat Thugs, remove Threats, and use the unique powers of the Heroes.

It is only after completing the necessary Missions that the Heroes will be ready to face the Villain directly and defeat them once and for all! The Heroes win if they defeat the Villain, which is only possible after completing at least 2 of the 3 available Missions.

The Heroes lose if the Villain completes their grand scheme. This occurs if any of the following conditions are met:

• The Villain fulfills the conditions of the Villainous Plot indicated on their Dashboard (if any).
• The Villain needs to draw a Grand Plan card, but their deck is empty.
• Any Hero starts their turn with no cards in their deck and hand.

Setup

To set up the game, follow the steps below:

1. Place the Mission Guide in the center of the table and the 3 standard Mission cards in the designated spaces at its base (in any order). There is an alternative Mission Card, Use Cerebro, which is only used when facing Magneto as the Villain.
2. Place the chosen Villain Dashboard in the top space of the Mission Guide (it is recommended that new players start with Sabretooth). If the Villain Dashboard has instructions for Special Setup on the back, follow them first. Then, flip the Dashboard to its face-up side. The Villain Dashboard indicates the Villain's starting Health, depending on the number of Heroes in play. Place that number of Health tokens on the Dashboard. If the Villain Dashboard has a tracker, place the Villain Marker on the "0" space.
3. Place 6 Locations around the Mission Guide. Fill the marked spaces in each Location with Civilian or Thug tokens, as indicated. The markings on these spaces are only used during Setup and are irrelevant during the game, when any token can fill any space.
4. Shuffle the Villain's Threat cards and place 1 of them face-up in the spaces at the base of each Location (covering the 'End of Turn' effect), also adding a Threat token in the indicated spaces next to them. Some Threat cards contain Henchmen, which indicate the number of Health tokens that should be placed on them. Some Henchmen indicate a number of Health tokens based on the number of Heroes in play.
5. Separate the remaining tokens into piles, within reach of all players.
6. Shuffle the Villain's Grand Plan Deck and place it face-down near a random Location. Then, place the Villain's miniature in that Location.
7. Players shuffle the decks of the Heroes they chose and place them face-down somewhere they can reach. Some Heroes, like Wolverine, have cards that indicate 'Starting Hand' on the back. Make sure these cards are placed on top of the deck.
8. Players draw the top 3 cards from their deck. Now the game is ready to begin with the first Villain's turn!

Components

The game includes the following components:

• Miniatures: Storm, Cyclops, Professor X, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Beast, Mystique, Sabretooth, Magneto, Juggernaut
• 8 Locations
• 4 Mission Cards
• 1 rulebook
• 48 GRAND PLAN Cards (12 for each Villain)
• 4 Villain Dashboards
• 96 Hero Cards (12 for each Hero)
• 1 MISSION Guide
• 24 Threat Cards (6 for each Villain)
• 1 Villain Marker
• 6 Threat Tokens
• 32 Health Tokens
• 18 Crisis Tokens
• 54 Action Tokens (18 Heroic, 12 Attack, 12 Move, and 12 Wildcard)
• 36 Thug/Civilian Tokens
• 4 Invulnerability Tokens
• 1 Hunted Token (used by Sabretooth)
• 1 Senator Kelly Token (used by Mystique)
• 2 Accelerated/Delayed Villain Tokens
• 3 Challenge Cards
• 12 SUPERVILLAIN Cards
• 8 SUPER HERO Cards

Game Flow

The game always begins with the Villain's Turn. The turn sequence is as follows:

1. Villain's Turn.
2. 3 Hero Turns clockwise.

This sequence continues until the first Mission is completed. After the first Mission is completed, the Villain becomes Under Pressure, and the sequence changes to:

1. Villain's Turn.
2. 2 Hero Turns clockwise.

The game continues this way until the Heroes defeat the Villain or the Villain completes their Grand Plan.

Villain's Turn

The Villain's Turn follows these steps, in order:

1. Draw the top card of the Grand Plan deck and place it face-up on the table. This is the start of the Storyline.
2. Resolve the elements of the Grand Plan card in top-to-bottom order:
   1. Move the Villain: Move the Villain clockwise (unless otherwise indicated) a number of Locations equal to the number indicated on the card. If there is a Threat card with the symbol in the Location where the Villain ends their movement (even if the movement is zero), immediately resolve the effect described on the Threat card.
   2. Activate BAM!: If the card features this symbol, activate the BAM! effect detailed on the Villain Dashboard and then any BAM! effects on the Threat cards, starting with the Threat card in the Villain's Location and then proceeding clockwise.
   3. Special Effect: Resolve any Special Effects described on the Grand Plan card, if possible.
   4. Add Thugs/Civilians: Add the indicated number of Thug and/or Civilian tokens to the Villain's Location and surrounding Locations. The central Location on the card represents where the Villain is, with two adjacent Locations on each side. Proceed clockwise adding tokens to the Locations. In each Location, first place the necessary Thug tokens, and then the Civilian tokens. In each Location, if there are not enough empty spaces, an Overflow effect occurs.
   5. Overflow: Whenever 1 or more Thug/Civilian tokens cannot be added to a Location, a single Overflow effect is activated in that Location. Check the effect description on the Villain Dashboard and resolve any activated Overflows in clockwise order.

Hero Turns

After the Grand Plan card is fully resolved, it's time for the Heroes to act! Players take turns, proceeding clockwise. During their turn, players follow these steps, in order:

1. Draw a Card: The active player draws the top card of their Hero deck. If the Hero has been Knocked Out, they instead draw up to 4 cards. There is no hand limit for the player. If the deck runs out, the player simply does not draw cards.
2. Play a 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: Check the symbols at the bottom of the card the Hero just played AND ALSO at the bottom of the previous Hero card in the Storyline (even if separated by a Grand Plan card). These symbols correspond to an action the Hero can perform this turn, in any order. The first player of the game does not benefit from the actions of another Hero's card, as there will not yet be other Hero cards in the Storyline. When Heroes combine their efforts, they only benefit from the symbols at the bottom of the other Hero's card, not from special effects or extra symbols indicated at the top.
4. Location Effects: If the Location where the active Hero ends their turn has no Threat cards, the player may apply the End of Turn effect detailed at the base of the Location. Each turn, a Hero can only use a single Location Effect.

Actions and How to Play

During the Resolve Actions step, the active player can perform the following actions, one per symbol available to them, in any order they wish:

• 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, they are eliminated after taking 1 damage (unless a Threat card in the Location indicates otherwise).
  • If attacking a Henchman on a Threat card, remove 1 Health token from them for each point of damage dealt.
  • It is only after resolving 2 Missions that Heroes can directly attack the Villain. Remove 1 Health token from the Villain Dashboard for each point of damage dealt.
• Heroic Action: This action can be used for one of two things:
  • Rescue 1 Civilian in the active Hero's Location.
  • Place a Heroic Action token in the empty space of a Threat card in the Hero's Location, to remove that Threat.
• Wildcard: Can be used to perform a Move, Attack, or Heroic Action.
• Special Effect: Every Hero deck contains some cards with a Special Effect described in a box above the action symbols. The active Hero can apply the listed effect before or after any of their other actions. Remember that Special Effects cannot be used by other Heroes.
• Action Tokens: If the active Hero has any Action tokens (Move, Attack, Heroic Action, or Wildcard), they can spend it at any time during this step to perform the corresponding action. A Hero can save an Action token to spend on a later turn.

Missions

Completing Missions is a crucial step on the Heroes' road to victory. Every game has 3 Missions available for the Heroes to tackle. They can be completed in any order.

• Rescue Civilians: Whenever a Civilian is rescued (using a Heroic Action), take their token and place it in an empty space on the Rescue Civilians Mission card (if possible. Otherwise, discard the token).
• Defeat Thugs: Whenever a Thug is defeated (using an Attack), take their token and place it in an empty space on the Defeat Thugs Mission card (if possible. Otherwise, discard the token).
• Remove Threats: Threats are divided into two basic types:
  • Henchmen: To clear this Threat, Heroes need to defeat the Henchman, removing all their Health tokens (using an Attack).
  • Other Threats: These are generally removed by placing 3 Heroic Action tokens in their spaces (using a Heroic Action). Some Threats may require other quantities and types of actions to be spent.

  After the Threat is removed, take its card out of the game, returning any tokens on it to the token supply. Take the Threat token that was near it and place it in an empty space on the Remove Threats Mission card (if possible. Otherwise, discard the token).

Completing Missions: After all spaces on a Mission card are filled, the Mission is complete! Remove its card from the game, returning its tokens to the supply. If necessary, move the remaining Missions to the right, so that the leftmost spaces are empty, revealing the effects listed above them.

SPECIAL MISSION: USE CEREBRO: This is a special mission that replaces Rescue Civilians when using Magneto as the Villain. To complete this Mission, a Hero needs to use both a Heroic Action and a Move action in the same turn to place a pair of tokens (Heroic Action and Move) from the supply of tokens