It’s no secret that coronavirus has been dramatically changing the world’s economy, in addition to planned product releases and events. FromE3’s cancellationto big blockbuster movies being delayed a full year, a lot of changes are being made to help try and stop the spread of the virus. As expected, the world of board games, includingMarvel Champions, is also going to be hit with some delays and changes just like movies and video games.
So far,Marvel Championshas been able to hit release dates for all of its products, even if it is having an incredibly tough time restocking out of print products. The first few Hero Packs and Scenario Packs are already very difficult to get a hold of and it seems that the slowdown of production at warehouses around the globe may also be pushing the LCG’s first big box expansion away from its summer release date, as well.
Since its launch in late 2019,Marvel Championshas been dropping about one piece of product per month. This is right in line with the release schedule for most of the other active Fantasy Flight Games LCG’s, so all seems to be going as expected. The idea is that there will be a fairly inexpensive addition to the game every month, in the form ofa Hero Pack or Scenario Pack, and then a big box expansion about once every six months.
Since the original content road map was rolled out, the messaging from FFG has suggested that the mystery first big box expansion would arrive in around 2020 and add a handful of new heroes and villains to the popular Marvel-themed game. With many Avengers already available and the latest hero packs bringingThor, Captain America, and Ms. Marvel; fans have been theorizing about what the summer big box could be.
Thanks to some leaked info out of GAMA, it seems like the first few details about the big box are finally arriving. Unfortunately, one small detail from the presentation seems to suggest the release date is further away than expected…
According to the key art shared at GAMA, it looks like the first big box expansion forMarvel Championsis going to be Rise of the Red Skull. Fans who were predicting an X-Men expansion may feel a bit disappointed, but all of the hints seemed to suggest that Fantasy Flight would be sticking with the Avengers-themed content a bit longer, so this box and its heroes shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise.
From what the we can see on the box art, it appears that the Rise of the Red Skull will addHawkeyeand Spider-Woman to the game as playable heroes. Some fans were predicting at least 3-5 heroes in this big box, so if there are really only two some people may be a little disappointed. That said, there will already be a ton of Hero Packs out by the time this product arrives, so hopefully the box focuses on adding more villain scenarios to the game.
So far it looks like the box will add the Red Skull and Zola as villains and Hydra will likely play a key role in the form of one or more new modules. So far the only add-on Scenario Packs available are Green Goblin and The Wrecking Crew and there are no others that have been announced at this point. This means that many players are itching for some new challenges, so hopefully Rise of the Red Skull is ready to deliver on that front.
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When will Rise of the Red Skull be available?
Unfortunately, this is where the presentation information seems to have taken a surprising turn. Sources who were at GAMA claim that Fantasy Flight Games had the Rise of the Red Skull marked as a 2020 quarter 4 release. That would push this product back to fall at the earliest (just liketheMarvel’s Avengersvideo game), which is quite a bit out from the original June release that other communications had suggested.
The reason for the Q4 release was not shared, but the community seems to be speculating that the temporary shutdown of may warehouses in China could be part of the cause. The game is produced in China, so if warehouses are not operational, the product will likely have to wait until the Coronavirus pandemic dies down and production starts to return to its usual pace.
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Definitely keep in mind that Fantasy Flight hasn’t officially announced a release window for Rise of the Red Skull yet, so it’s possible that the reports out of GAMA could be incorrect and perhaps the big box will skill arrive over the summer as originally planned. If that doesn’t happen, the game may be in some big trouble in terms of its content drought. LCGs rely on frequent content drops to keep the community engaged and revenue coming in and a break in content between May and early fall seems like it would spell big trouble for Marvel Champions.
At this point, FFG has Black Widow, Doctor Strange, and Hulk Hero Packs lined up for release in the coming months and what comes after that is still a bit of a mystery. It will be very interesting to see how the summer plays out for fans of the game…
Be sure to check back in the near future for moreMarvel Championsstrategy guides, news, and updates. Until then, good luck out there, heroes.
Marvel Championsis available now at local game stores. No release date has been confirmed for the first big box expansion.
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