From Panel to Play: Criminal Syndicate Affiliation Pack

In today’s From Panel to Play we are reintroduced to those key players of the Criminal Syndicate who are always aiming to prove that the old adage about crime paying is wrong. That’s right, today we are going over the Criminal Syndicate Affiliation Pack. This pack brings four classic characters back to the tabletop in a single box packed full of crime! This box features Kingpin, Hood, M.O.D.O.K., and Bullseye along with all their Team Tactic Cards to give players everything they need to start collecting and playing the Affiliation with the longest rap sheet. Like other Affiliation Packs, this one features cards with new art and previous changes incorporated!

To kick things off we start with the first of these characters to release, M.O.D.O.K., who released in the first wave of characters and saw a few adjustments in 2021 during that round of balance changes. During this balance, Bow to the Will of M.O.D.O.K.! and Pea-Brain! M.O.D.O.K.’s Genius is Infinite! were made once per Turn. Prior to this change these superpowers could be used as many times as M.O.D.O.K. had Power. This could create some backbreaking Activations that would instantly win games by using Bow to the Will of M.O.D.O.K.! multiple times to clear objectives without needing to roll dice! During this update, another change was made to Pea-Brain! M.O.D.O.K.’s Genius is Infinite! when the timing of its rerolls were clarified to be declared during the Modify Dice step of the attack.

M.O.D.O.K. comes with his Psychic Fortress Team Tactic Card. This card has not changed over the years. It grants cover to every allied character near him.The only requirement to benefit from this cover is that the allied character is within range of M.O.D.O.K. Enemy characters cannot deny this cover by getting within Range 2 of the target like they can with cover granted by terrain features.

Next up is Kingpin, the original leader of the Criminal Syndicate. Wilson Fisk had two changes made to him over the years. His Hail to the King attack’s triggered Throw previously worked on all enemies of all Sizes. It is now limited to characters Size 3 or less. Additionally, his Illicit Network Leadership got a minor change by limiting the second part to “non-Grunt” allies, a needed change as Grunts are always Healthy and allowing them to count as two characters when determining which player is Securing an objective would be a bit too much.

Kingpin does not have any Team Tactic Cards specific to him, but his original release brought two potent cards for Criminal Syndicate players to consider. Both Shadow Organization and All According to Plan are unchanged since their release. All According to Plan is played during the Power Phase to steal the Priority token from an opposing player. As this card is a player effect, the order two Criminal Syndicate players can play this card is determined by the existing Priority. If the second player steals the token, the first cannot steal it back immediately as their opportunity to play All According to Plan has already passed. They will have to play it on a different Round when they do not have the Priority token.

The third character in this pack is Hood, who can transform between his Normal form and his Possessed form throughout the battle. Hood has not changed over the years and possesses potent attacks and abilities that are offset by some key weaknesses. When he is damaged, he might transform into his Possessed form to gain powerful attacks and defensive superpowers. However, when he is damaged by a Mystic attack, he will be forced back into his Normal form.

Hood has a history of leading gangs of criminals. Hood’s Gang has not changed over the years and provides a squad with the ability to reroll attack dice when attacking enemies in certain situations.

The final character in this Affiliation Pack is Bullseye. Bullseye may have seen the most profound changes of any character revised in 2021. When he was first released he was often ranked as the worst character in the game. He had a clear role but was unable to execute it due to a kit that was missing…something. The changes he received fixed those issues. First, he lost a point of Mystic defense and Stamina. In exchange, his Throwing Knife attack had its power generation changed from being based on damage to being a consistent gain of 1 Power. This activates his kit, allowing him to do the consistent damage to opponents he is meant to do. The final fix was to change his Threat Value from 3 to 2. With this change, Bullseye went from one of the least played characters to one of the most, offering an unparalleled amount of flexibility for a character with a Threat Value of 2! With this Affiliation Pack, his Throwing Knife goes down to Range 3 instead of Range 4. To stay safe, Bullseye now has to use his Hit and Run and Parting Shot Superpowers to get away from danger.

Bullseye originally came with a great Team Tactic Card that features excellent artwork—Cruelty. This card is in this pack with the same great artwork and effect. Cruelty is a rare Team Tactic Card that features a free attack that hasn’t changed over the years. This card is Reactive to an allied character damaging an enemy with an attack. The attack is then made during the first attack, usually before the defending character is able to respond to the attack with one of their reactions.

That’s all we have for today’s From Panel to Play as these criminals gear up for their next heist!

Until next time, Atomic Mass Games, signing off!