If you haven’t played Sentinels of the Multiverse yet – it’s a comic book themed game where your team of heroes takes on a villain of your choice in a climatic battle to save the world. Will good triumph or will the villain escape victorious? Check out my review for thoughts on the game, the mechanics and whether it might be for you.

If you have played and want my thoughts on ways to increase your odds;

Before the Game:

Most of the choices in this game are here – picking your team and the order of the team. Here’s some things I look out for.

Support Characters; Take one but not too many and keep them early in the line up – Legacy’s ability to allow +1 on all attacks is best if he goes first. Whether it’s increased damage, healing or card draws, this can increase the impact of the character and help deliver you a victory.

Multi-Hit Characters; These are the guys who can attack multiple enemies at once. Definitely after the support character because of the impact of the support, but keep them early as you will get the opportunity to wipe out the villain’s supporting cast. These are the members of the team that target the environment or the minions to help ensure that latter characters can focus their damage.

Defense Characters; Leave them late – you want to know who you need to protect and if you need to protect. Sometimes you will get to that character and realize you know what the villain will do next (the weakest player gets attacked etc) and that you can plan this out. Sometimes though you will get to this point and decide the risk is worth it for the turn, and just let them attack.

Mix your Crew; It’s no good having all support, but a all attack team will find themselves weaker than many of the villains. Keep a balance across the group and use each one to maximise the impact.

During the Game:

Now you are making choices on your cards, your actions, the small things that you can effect turn by turn to tip the balance.

Villain, not Minions; If it comes to it, you will need to beat the Villain and in most cases not the minions. Where minions reappear you need to ensure you are cutting to the victory condition of the game – beating the boss. I would liken this to Pandemic where you can spend the whole game clearing the board, but the win condition is curing the disease – don’t let putting out the fires stop you achieving the goal.

Environments can help; If an environment is hitting the minions, let it. Use the environment to your advantage and shield from it when you need to. It’s an important factor in the battle and can turn the tide when you are struggling.

Build up; The game is getting stronger and your characters need to. Start  by equipping characters or laying cards that will last in the game. Then plan to strike back as your strength grows.

Knock Outs; These are common and a factor of the game – part of the team dying can actually help you win the game by unlocking powers that you need to survive.

4; I think playing with four heroes is generally best number – the balance between damage from the villain and the attacks / combinations available. If I am playing solo, or two player I would still play with this number.

Good luck!