Marvel: Crisis Protocol Character Breakdown: Crossbones

Crossbones is a bruising powerhouse in Marvel: Crisis Protocol meant to pursue enemies and deal a whole lot of damage. Marvel: Crisis Protocol is a brand new tabletop skirmish game by Atomic Mass Games featuring Marvel's greatest superheroes and villains. Players can mix and match their heroes and villains into teams that they send out on different scenarios. While attacking an opponent's characters is definitely part of Marvel: Crisis Protocol, players score Victory Points by completing objectives, which means that positioning and movement is a critical part of the game too.

Each character in Marvel: Crisis Protocol has their own strengths and weaknesses, and ComicBook.com is highlighting what each character does to help players interested in the game or looking to build their own roster of heroes. Today, we're looking at Crossbones, the most "obscure" character to appear in the Marvel: Crisis Protocol Core Set. Crossbones is a recurring Captain America villain and is best known as one of the primary villains of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Although he doesn't possess any superpowers, Crossbones is a remarkable athlete and is trained in a variety of deadly fighting skills.

In Marvel: Crisis Protocol, Crossbones has a Threat Level of 3. He's one of the weaker characters defensively, with 2 Defense from Mental and Energy Attacks, but he makes up for this with his reactive "Inured to Pain" superpower, which can reduce any damage he suffers by 1. Crossbones can also move towards a target using his "Aggressive" superpower, which allows him to make a small movement towards an attacker whenever he suffers damage.

Crossbones' attacks are rather basic in nature - in addition to the standard Strike, he also has an "Overpower" attack, a Physical attack with 5 damage dice and a cost of 2 power. If a Wild is rolled on the attack, Crossbones can throw a target (provided it has a Size of 2 or less) and Crossbones also moves towards the target after the attack is resolved. Using Overpower effectively can help Crossbones move across the battlefield quickly, more than making up for his small movement speed.

Crossbones' strongest superpower is his Haymaker, which allows a player to add three dice to his next Strike or Overpower attack roll. While it costs 4 power to use, Crossbones can give any of his attacks 8 defense dice, which should do a hefty amount of damage to just about any Marvel: Crisis Protocol character.

Af first, Crossbones seems like an odd character - his skillset makes him a bit of a bully, good at picking off single characters but not so good at withstanding sustained brawls with some of the game's other powerhouses. However, his deceptive movement and flexible attacks makes him a dangerous character, especially when coupled with characters that can give him extra activations or push him across the field. For instance, teaming Red Skull with Crossbones can help move Crossbones around the battlefield, picking off vulnerable targets or pulling him out of dangerous situations.

It may take a little bit of time to learn how to use Crossbones effectively. He's a character you use to capitalize on your opponent's mistakes, mercilessly knocking out vulnerable targets. Think of Crossbones as an alligator who's ready to pounce at a moment's notice. When used the right way, Crossbones is one of the best characters in Marvel: Crisis Protocol.

The Marvel: Crisis Protocol Core Set is available for sale now.