War Machine

War Machine is one of my favorite heroes (maybe even my favorite hero) !

He needs quite some time to set up so include cards to thwart and tank (allies, boost to your defence or heal).

Aspect

  • Agression is the least interesting I think, he's already capable to deal a lot of damage.

  • Leadership is always interesting, Iron Man is a good signature ally to abuse with this aspect (Make the Call for example) and chump blocking is useful/necessary until you get Upgraded Chassis !

  • Protection is nice to defend every turn until you are ready to counterattack. Don't over invest in defence events though as you still want to find your key supports/upgrades pretty quick. Upgrades like Energy Barrier or Forcefield Generator are really good (but quite expensive) because they protect you AND can be discarded in place of your other precious upgrades later on.

  • Justice is by far my favorite. He synergizes very well with the S.H.I.E.L.D suits (Agent 13, Field Agent and Helicarrier) as his AE and Munitions Bunker are both S.H.I.E.L.D !
    You'll need a lot of thwarting to make for all the times you will change form (to replenish your ammos !)

Main strategy

  • Survive until you've played Upgraded Chassis (to take most hits), your 2 Gauntlet Gun and your Shoulder Cannon. Crew Quarters will help you survive while you swap form every turn.

  • Play your Hero events when you can and replenish your ammos by using your Gauntlet Gun ability (even if you can't use the ressource you can still add 1 ammo when paying for other cards ;) ).

  • Full Auto is the best event you have and will destroy the villain and his minions quickly. When in AE just shuffle this on your deck if you can reliably pay for it (Gauntlets...). If you play a heavy-Supports/Upgrades/Allies deck, you will cycle your deck quickly by the end and you'll be able to often draw at least 1 Full Auto per turn !

  • Whenever you have ammo in excess before changing your form, just unload everything in your Shoulder Cannon and Missile Launcher.

Notes

  • You can play Iron Man with one of your upgrades as a resource and just immediately get it back.
  • You CAN'T play 2 Full Auto in one turn if you don't have a Munitions Bunker (5 ammo + 2 with your gauntlets, so 7). BUT you can do it over the course of 2 turns (because you'll get 2 more ammo with your gauntlet next turn). Then change form and start again !
  • You don't need Shoulder Cannon or Missile Launcher on your first deck cycle.
  • Don't hesistate to pay for good cards with your Hero cards as you can just reshuffle them back with your AE action ;)

Enjoy :)

Repulsor Blast

The fact that this was included in one of the first few decks and had a 1 cost for potentially up to 13 damage (although rare) is legit nutty only see this kind of insane damage value without setup from other cards is star lord's Sliding Shot off the top of my head. If any of the cards from the core set didn't age well this one sure isn't one of those cards.

Exploit Weakness

This card with Gambit's royal flush in multiplayer is chefs kiss. Honestly didn't realise this synergy played a local event, and I pulled a 18-damage royal flush with the help of this. An amazing card once you set-up the board with allies that had extra value thanks to the introduction of Gambit.

One Way or Another

Always nice to see this card in another deck. I'd argue its one if not the most powerful justice card in terms of solo play. This can really push a dead hand, set up momentum for future turns and generally adds more fun to the game, as justice is pretty boring without schemes to negate!

Royal Flush

This card was mad hyped when Gambit's cards were announced and definitely overshadowed charged card. It definitely lives up to that hype all the +1 damage aggression cards finally have their maximum value with this card and playing it at 15 damage (or more) potentially in a multiplayer setting is super exciting for the whole table I guarantee you that. This card in summary, truely represents the destruction and power of Gambit's kinetic charged cards.