Just Follow the Card: A "Sentinels" Dual Session Report

     I was recently able to log my first two Sentinels of the Multiverse plays, and it blew me away.  I had been on the fence for a long time, shying away due to the unfamiliar superhero characters in a world where "Superhero" is synonymous with Batman and Spidey,  I thought that if the game was that good, it surely would have been adapted by now, possibly utilizing a more recognizable property.  I got in my own way for the better part of a year, and since I recently dove back into the hobby, I thought I needed to really get off some fences with my purchases and not simply go with what's new and linen textured.

     In a strange turn of events, and contrary to some opinionated views I had read during my time on the dividing line, I found Sentinels to be a smooth, logical and deep game.  The ease of which you can track effects with the banner tokens and the roundabout turn sequence is so fundamental and intuitive in contrast to the majority of cooperatives that have hit my table.  It's a game where every mechanic makes sense, team composition and seat placement is as important as the cards you draw, and it's difficult to lose your place.  It's often in solo games that there's so much going on that I need to write down important actions just to keep everything straight.  In a multiplayer game you can often rely on a friend to correct you if you really mess up, but solitaire play requires you to be sharp at all times and it's not always easy.  I enjoy Sentinels' rules for being aggressively straightforward and telling me to "just follow the card." Play, Power, Draw.

     

     The Report:

     Match 1:

     Team Composition: 

              Left: Tempest         Center: Legacy        Right:   Wraith

      Villain:   Baron Blade (First play recommendation)

      Environment:   Megaopolis   (First play recommendation)

On Team Comp:

      I think I really lucked out with my first team composition.  While I picked them for looking cool, I definitely expected Legacy to be a damage dealer due to his front and center role.  Tempest was my pick for "my guy" but I was a little disappointed in his performance by the end of the game.  While Legacy was integral to success, The Wraith most definitely takes the MVP.   I picked 3 heroes because I did not want to manage 4 hands. 

On Villain and Environment:

      These picks were based on the rulebook's "level 1" recommendation and I was satisfied.  I'll be interested in trying this configuration on Advanced difficulty after I've defeated all the villians once though.  I'm happy to see that even after a full play I've only seen a few of the cards in the deck, and this goes for the heroes too.  

The Match:

      I owe this game's win to Wraith and Legacy's first hands. Wraith had a ton of essential equipment that boosted her attacks, so she was consistently dealing 8+ damage each round with the help from Legacy and his inspiring presence.  In order to keep that buff alive, cards were played by Legacy almost exclusively for that purpose.  I think Legacy only dealt 4 damage the whole game, but he was the target of many attacks due to his HP being higher than anyone else's (particularly by environment cards.) which would then be negated.  Tempest ended up being a "specials" character, discarding ongoing cards now and then but never really doing much damage or boosting Wraith's.  I was slightly dissapointed in this, but as I said above, I feel like I saw a fraction of his cards. Tempest was taken out in the last Villain turn, with Wraith killing Blade the turn after.  At the end of the match, The Wraith was able to nuke all her equipment and turn it into damage  to defeat the Vengeful Mad Scientist for the win.  It was a great first match.

      Career Status:   WINS: 1   LOSSES: 0
      Hero Status: 2/3

++++++++++++++++++++++++

     Match 2:

     Team Composition: 

              Left: Tachyon         Center: Maka        Right:   Legacy

      Villain:   Omnitcron

      Environment:   Primalis

On Team Comp:

      As before, I think I have a strange talent for team composition, as it seemed like these three gelled - maybe not as well as the first play, but they still had chemistry.  It felt like everyone had their shining moment, and the mix of two specialized characters and a consistent damage dealer really helped cut down ongoing villain cards, drone and chip away at Omnicron.

On Villain and Environment:

      These picks were based on the rulebook's "level 1" recommendation and I was satisfied.  I'll be interested in trying this configuration on Advanced difficulty after I've defeated all the villians once though.  I'm happy to see that even after a full play I've only seen a few of the cards in the deck, and this goes for the heroes too.

The Match:

      Haka dealt at least 5 damage every round with One Shots and his base power, (any time I tried to
invest in some ongoing effect that would increase damage later, it was always better to do it now.)  I quickly picked up Tachyon's deck strategy of playing and discarding as many cards as possible so as to do as much damage as possible (picking up speed!) and Legacy mostly helped Haka on damage up until the very end, where she was able to hold two particularly nasty Villain cards (the laser beam that does 15 damage and his skeleton drones) from dealing damage.  Closing it out was a matter of almost decking Tachyon to get the second burst powered attack card (I had foolishly used the first one way to early) to do 16 damage to Omnicron, bringing him to 98 wounds.  With one of her ongoing cards allowing two card plays during the play phase all that was left was to Sucker Punch Omnicron (destroy a villian card with 2 HP) and he is down.  From there it was a matter of cleaning up the drones for the win.

      Career Status:   WINS: 2   LOSSES: 0
      Hero Status: 3/3

If you spot any rule inconsistencies, I'd love to hear it! Thanks for reading my session report.

-MS