Marvel Reveals First Details on D.A.G.G.E.R. Board Game

Fantasy Flight Games is jumping back into the Marvel Universe for its latest game, and now we have a bevy of details on how it plays. The new game is titled Marvel D.A.G.G.E.R., and while we already knew of the game’s existence, now Fantasy Flight has revealed which characters you’ll control, who you will be facing, and the core gameplay fans will be experiencing when they get the game in their hands. Marvel D.A.G.G.E.R. will be a fully cooperative board game for 1 to 5 players, and you’ll have 20 heroes (such as Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Black Widow) to choose from as you race across the globe to battle enemies and complete missions, with a final showdown against a central nemesis. No release date was given, but we’ll keep you posted when that eventually releases, and you can find even more images of the new game starting on the next slide!

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The D.A.G.G.E.R. in the title stands for Defense Alliance for Global and Galactic Emergency Response, with Fantasy Flight highlighting the Alliance and Emergency Response parts of that name. To defeat the nemesis players will need to work together to deliver combos using either empowered or primed tokens. Empowered heroes can later discard their empowered token to add one success to any attribute test. When an emery is primed, a hero attacking that enemy can remove a primed token from them to add one success to their attack result.

Each hero also has at least one combo ability that requires one of those tokens, and triggering those abilities also advances the team-up track. The team-up track is a resource shared by all of the heroes to pay for team-up abilities, which are the strongest abilities you have at your disposal. You’l have 20 heroes to choose from, though they are split into 10 pairs (and feature their own double-sided hero sheets).

While the heroes are often connected in some way (like Black Widow and Yelena Belva for instance), the play styles amongst the teams can be quite different. Natasha has several abilities that accelerate the heroes’ action economy, and her Quintet ability allows a hero to move three spaces, while the Martial Master combo ability allows her to benefit from a primed token on an enemy and still leave them primed for another hero. On the flip side, Yelena is more about being on the offensive, using her Ambush ability to swap her attack power with her defiance stat and therefore granting her an attack bonus. Then her Counterattack combo ability lets her hit with heavy damage after a primed enemy attacks her.

Daredevil and Elektra are another superhero pairing, and while often allies, they feel quite different to play. Daredevil specializes in control and response, and his Sentinel ability allows you to intercept enemies while his Acute Senses combo ability ensures he succeeds in those critical moments and attacks. Elektra is more of a damage dealer who can empower herself with Instinct and can use her Mind Games and Manipulate combo abilities to get enemies to damage themselves and each other.

The last pairing we see is Peter Parker and Miles Morales, who are both holding the Spider-Man mantle. Peter can utilize his Friendly Neighborhood and Sticky Web abilities as well as his Citizens Arrest combo ability, while Miles has his Great Responsibility and Camouflage abilities and his Venom Shock combo ability. All heroes also have an unlockable Support card to use, with Peter having Aunt May and Miles having The Champions.

As for Team-Up abilities, they are used via a special card that is shared by both heroes in a pair. Once you’ve spent enough charges from the team-up track to flip to its active side, you will exhaust the card to execute the move. These are powerful abilities, though there’s even more to consider, as you’ll also need to choose from one of six heroic aspects, which will give you different benefits when certain moves are used.

The heroes will need to solve missions so they can ultimately face the nemesis, and Loki is the one featured in the new preview. While you can attack them throughout the game, you can’t take them down until the final showdown, and they come with their own special abilities that will cause havoc with your team.

We can’t wait to see more from this game, and let us know what you think in the comments! You can also talk all things marvel and tabletop with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!