It’s been quite a while since you’ve heard from us!  We’re here to do a quick update on what we’ve been up to.

[James] Well it’s certainly been a rather long time since we have posted anything, and I’m sure you are all very eager to find out why. Sadly, the reasons are fairly pedestrian I’m afraid. A mixture of real life, other hobbies and just a general lack of passion for Marvel Champions. 

For a while now though I’ve been feeling the urge to write about my interest in solo card games again, and after discussing it with Tim, we have decided to give this content creation malarkey another try.  There are going to be some changes made to the type of content we are both creating though.

[Tim] In the time since we were regularly writing articles, I have been playing a wide variety of games and even got back into some of my old hobbies such as miniature gaming.  I’ve been collecting and painting miniatures all the way through my Marvel Champions addiction, but I’ve not played many games using them (except for Blood Bowl!).  Recently, that has changed, and it’s going to feature in much of the content I will be producing in the near future.

[James] For me the focus shall remain on card games. However, my primary focus will be shifting from Marvel Champions to another game (more on that shortly). I shall also be dropping all lip service to any multiplayer elements. I’m only interested in solo games so that’s the format I wish to explore.

Despite my issues with Marvel Champions it will still feature heavily in my articles. I’ve been dabbling with both Arkham Horror and The Lord of the Rings LCGs, and despite both feeling like more mechanically complex games, Champions still offers the best solo experience in my opinion. At least in regards to Fantasy Flight Games’ Living Card Games.

[Tim] I’ll be totally honest here, I don’t really like Marvel as a franchise; I’m not a fan of the MCU and I’m not really into the comics.  The main draw of Marvel Champions to me was the general game mechanics, decent solo play, and the LCG model.  

After having played a lot of games of Champions, I started to become less impressed with the game mechanics, and The Galaxy’s Most Wanted expansion was probably the straw that broke the camel’s back, so I decided to take a break from the game.  It’s been quite a while now and I haven’t felt the urge to get it back onto the table, particularly as other games have been occupying my attention.  One such game is Xenos Rampant and I shall be talking about that in the near future.

[James] My interest in competitive card games is pretty much non-existent after my experiences with Legend of the Five Rings, but there is one I was curious about because of its mechanics and fantastic artwork. So when Plaid Hat Games announced that Ashes Reborn was getting a soloable PvE format added to the game, my interest was definitely piqued. I would even go as far as to say it’s the reason I want to write again.

I’m still ironing out the details on the type of content we will be producing, but I suspect my card game articles are going to consist mainly of campaign and stand alone game write ups, with greater detail than our showdown articles used to consist of.

Starting very soon I’m going to be writing about Ashes Reborn’s new PvE mode, and I have a Marvel Champions article planned in which I’ll discuss my various issues with the game at length. The purpose of said article is to get all my negativity out of the way so I can then focus on what I do enjoy about the game. I’m aware that I have come across quite critically of Champions, both here and in past articles, but despite my issues I still think there is a lot to like about the game, especially in its most recent waves of content.

Also, I think I’ll be returning to the hero pack review series (perhaps Tim will care to join me?), but will likely be jumping forward to Mutant Genesis, starting again with the X-Men characters. These articles will be similar to what we were producing before our lengthy break, but with a greater focus on solo play. I even have ideas regarding our showdown series, but don’t want to get ahead of myself.

In closing, we will be back making content again soon. Some of that content shall be Marvel Champions based but we also have other things we wish to write about.

Cheers,

James & Tim