Just to clear up any ambiguity (for those that are curious) here's what went on in the last game, sans embellishments.
So the X-Men show up a little wary. When everyone arrives, it only gets worse since the Invaders and the Avengers hardly look at each other. It's as if they are trying TOO hard to be nonchalant. Still no proof, though.
The dungeon is interesting. Everyone's starting tile is well spaced out and there is a "Corridor of Death" (as it was dubbed) dividing a third of the map, just for kicks.
X-Men play Ordinary Day and the Invaders place Doomed on Rogue. Not very nice. We won't get into the fairness of Doomed, though.
Some foreshadowing: Steve hinted that he was disappointed in the megalomaniac distribution on the board. It turns out there were two mega tokens on the board, and I believe one also replaced an existing yellow token through some special rule. In other words, there weren't that many points available to everyone.
Everyone enters and gets piddly villains. Rogue runs into some trouble with a Skrull because she can't seem to attack or break away. Still, just a mere hinderance. As the X-Men move forward, two mega tokens get revealed both in front and behind them (3 x 100 [1 tokened away], 3 for 75 or some such). At this point, the Invaders and the Avengers started acting strangely (i.e. the Invaders were telling the Avengers which villains to control and which villains they "suggested" placing in the X-Men's proximity). The X-Men became suspicious...but still no proof.
Rogue takes the point and works on the western front, with a little cover fire from Storm. All is going well. Then the trap springs and some flying wench with 4 damage attacks Havok from behind...and misses! Karma baby! The wench quickly gets a face full of plasma and makes an unceremonial exit.
Around this time, the Invaders were on the other side of the map, using the Avengers as a shield (pun intended). Meanwhile, the Avengers were slowly stringing themselves out...
The X-Men get control of some of the rear attackers, then on the next turn Rogue clears the other remaining big guns in the front line. Things are going well.
Lo and behold, the Hulk has fallen back to pick up an object...it's decision time. The X-Men are hovering around 20 Exp, with the other teams in the low to middle teens. At this point, the X-Men are pretty sure they will have to take on both teams to get a gem, if not just to get out of the dungeon. So I figure now is a good time for Emmett and I to have a discussion on what is important to him. I ask if he's here for points, or...something else. After some thought, he decides he's here for points and the X-Men leave some villains behind and move towards their exit.
With the alliance on shaky ground, the X-Men start eyeballing the Invaders gem. At this point, the Avengers nicely mention that if the X-Men try anything, the Avengers will have to intervene. Hmmm...decision time #2. The X-Men call on the Teen Titans leader (who happened to be around) to ask their advice, which was "Kill'em...kill'em ALL!" Despite those sage words, the X-Men decide that discretion is the better part of valor. Nightcrawler leaves with the gems and the X-Men go off to a corner to relax.
Well, no one had truly maxed out on points so that's when even good friends turn on each other. Some unprovoked attacks were made, some poo was flung, it was madness. When the dust settled, everyone maxed out. Fury and Winter Soldier were out (Fury injured next game, Winter Soldier back at full); Storm had barely been brought back, Rogue and Havok were out (both injured for next game, despite some re-rolls from the Avengers).
Upon further reflection, the X-Men made the right choices early, but went into cruise mode too soon...and then made some bad decisions late.
Oh well. It was a good game and I hope everyone had fun, I know I did.
