Apocalypse Unleashed: Marvel Crisis Protocol Figure and Terrain Review - The End Never Looked So Good

En Sabah Nur, known more commonly as Apocalypse, has finally made his chilling debut in Marvel: Crisis Protocol. As one of the most powerful and ancient mutants in Marvel Comics, Apocalypse has been a bane to the X-Men for decades. Now, Marvel: Crisis Protocol players can bring this iconic villain to their tabletop battles. Atomic Mass Games sent along a review copy of Apocalypse, as well as several terrain sets tied to the character, for review - so follow along to hear my thoughts!

Apocalypse Character Pack

Let's start with the star of this show, Apocalypse. Also known as En Sabah Nur, he's been a long-time antagonist to the X-Men, with the goal of pushing the world to evolve through extreme crises! And though the Apocalypse character pack is the second most expensive single-character pack for the game at USD $69.99 (second only to the $79.95 Dormammu miniature), there's a lot of content in this little box o' Apocalypse.

First, we should look at his stats and abilities, and I'll go over how I think he can best be used in a game of MCP. After that, I'll speak a bit to list creation with him, and how his specific list restrictions open up some really fun options for building a Four Horseman team!

First, his stats across the board are pretty strong - which you'd expect from one of Marvel's biggest baddies! With 4's in all his defense stats, and 7 HP, he's very sturdy. Add to that his special ability "Only The Strong Remain," which is always removing 1 Damage every time he's hurt, and you're looking at a very, very tough customer here. But here's another interesting aspect to this character: he's a size 4. That means that most things you throw at him (or throw him into) aren't going to hurt him much.

This, thematically, makes a lot of sense to me! It's hard to imagine Peter Parker doing much damage to Apocalypse by flinging a telephone pole at the guy, right? 

For attacks, Apocalypse uses his ability to transform his body into weapons (the model kit comes with a few alternative build options for his arms, giving him saws or guns. I kept it classic, as I'm want to do in all my miniatures). This ability is shown in the Biomorphic Arsenal attack, his builder with a whopping 7 strength.

En Sabah Nur's Judgment, his second attack which keys nicely with his You Will Be Remade Through Me special ability, really wants you to be inflicting condition types on your opponents. But talk about someone who can dish out condition effects but can't take them - Apocalypse is immune to all conditions when you flip him over to his injured side. I can't think of any other model for the game that can do the same.

So, how do you play Apocalypse? A lot of that comes down to really using him as the leader of the Servants of the Apocalypse affiliation. But just straight up as a 6 Threat miniature on the board, I could see him being very useful at eliminating threats and targeting your opponent's priority models. He doesn't have very good range, but get him in close and let him pummel your enemies, and you should be in good shape.

Now what's all this about his affiliation: Servants of the Apocalypse? This is, by far, the best way to utilize Apocalypse in your games of Marvel Crisis Protocol. With this Affiliation, you'll assign Apocalypse the 'Master of the Horseman' card.

But who are the horsemen? When building a roster of 10 potential figures to bring to a match, you'll want to make sure those ten models are eligible to one of Apocalypse's Four Horseman. Atomic Mass Games has a handy chart to consult:

When building your roster based on the Threat Level of the encounter, you'll squeeze as many horsemen from your roster in as possible, and each will be assigned their relevant card for whether they play the role of Death, Famine, Pestilence, or War.

Each of these cards offers useful - but not game-breaking - boosts, from dishing out damage to draining energy from nearby characters, and they all work towards helping Apocalypse evolve into more. And Apocalypse gains the powers of every horseman card on the field.

There are untold synergies here between the innate abilities of the characters you can use as your four horsemen, Apocalypse's ability to serve as a storage bank of energy for characters and fun interactions on the board. I have a feeling this could end up being very competitive, with lots of different iterations on the most potent combo of characters and abilities.

All of this is why, as I stated above, I think there's a lot of game packed into a single character pack, and bringing Apocalypse to the table opens up a lot of new play options for the inventive MCP player. But now let's talk about the new terrain sets that are coming out alongside Apocalypse (but sold separately).

Dark Future Terrain Pack

The Dark Future Terrain Pack starts our trend of bringing Apocalypse-adjacent terrain into Marvel Crisis Protocol. Featuring an overall look that combines Ancient Egyptian construction and style with futuristic Celestial Technology, Dark Future is the first of three exciting new Terrain Packs.

This pack features 2 Regeneration Vat Miniatures, 2 Energy Syphon Miniatures, 4 Sacred Flame Miniatures, 4 Illuminated Crystal Miniatures, and - most importantly - two different One-Shot cards. First, the "Teleportation Network" reduces the overall threat value by -1, and allows players to teleport between Crystal Obelisk (Illuminated Crystal) pieces of terrain by interacting with them (Fun note: nothing in the rules says you can't destroy these obelisks and shut down the teleportation network).

The second One-Shot included in this is "Celestial Healing," which lets a character interact with a regeneration vat to remove 2 damage and 1 special condition at the cost of gaining the stagger special condition. Aside from these fun one-shots - and INCREDIBLE new addition - the miniatures themselves really do a nice job of getting the game away from the classic NYC-style terrain.

Shrine To En Sabah Nur Terrain Pack

This terrain pack consists of two small chest miniatures and one large, chunky Shrine To En Sabah Nur (remember, that's Apocalypse's real name) terrain piece. Solid and easy to construct, this model offers great cover and comes with a One-Shot that adds +2 to the Threat of a game.

That One-Shot, "Trial of Survival," allows characters overlapping with the miniature to gain a bit of the power of Apocalypse, copying his ability to remove 1 damage every time they take a hit.

Rejuvenation Chamber Ultimate Encounter

Finally, there's the absolutely stunning Rejuvenation Chamber Ultimate Encounter. This huge terrain model, which at the time of this writing is still up for pre-order, features a massive Rejuvenation Chamber model. And it comes with a full Ultimate Encounter, "Survival of the Fittest."

This Encounter, for three players, sees two players serving as the Crisis Team, each bringing their own squards to battle. The other player takes on the role of Apocalypse (sold separately) and four minions. And while it's a little bit odd that this is for three players exactly (not a normal player count), the game is in desperate need of more multiplayer formats/scenarios!

In the Encounter, Apocalypse hibernates while his minions attempt to grow his power, and after a certain point in the game Apocalypse will emerge, ready to fight! Depending on how well his minions did, he'll enter with one of four different character cards based on his "Evolution Count."

We haven't had a chance to playtest this Ultimate Encounter yet, but reading through the rules it looks like a very fun asymmetrical PvP format, and there's even a sliding difficulty scale!

Marvel Crisis Protocol Apocalypse Miniature and Terrain - Final Thoughts

This is an absolutely astounding set of releases all tied around Apocalypse, and it just shows how much care and dedication the team puts into Marvel Crisis Protocol. For such an iconic villain as Apocalypse, this is the kind of miniature and release schedule the fans deserve. And though it helps build out the board, you don't have to go all in on the (admittedly pricey) terrain to get the most out of your experience.

If you're a fan of the game and are considering diving into Apocalypse, you'll be pleased to know the character is done justice by its interpolation in Marvel Crisis Protocol.

The products used in the creation of this review were provided by Atomic Mass Games.