They’re widely regarded as some of the best models in MCP. Their kit comes with plenty of spare and alternative parts, with fully poseable arms so that you can stick yours together however you wish. But what are the Sentinels like to actually play? Let’s get stuck in with their leader, Sentinel Prime Mk4!
First things first, the numbers. Defenses of 3/4/4 leave much to be desired. But a health pool of 10 certainly makes up for that. Wilds count as 2 on mystic attacks here which is cute, but it rarely came up in all of the games I played with them. The biggest weakness here is that 3 physical defence makes them extremely vulnerable to not only the most common attack type in the game, but also terrain throws.
I often didn’t take Brace For Impact with these guys, because only a few characters in the game can throw them into each other (which is devastating when it happens by the way), but I very often wished I had.
Plasma Blast Mk2 having only five dice doesn’t look like much at first, until you realise it can be increased to 8 dice by spending 3 power. An 8 dice builder means you’ll quite often get the power you just spent refunded…and thanks to Power Matrix, Sentinels are consistently overloaded with power.
However…when it comes to spending power, Sentinel Prime MkIV is one of the best at it thanks to Pattern Analysis. This is the best part of Prime’s kit, no doubt about it. Re-rolling up to 3 dice, at Range 4, with a large base, any amount of times per turn makes him the ultimate support model. Whether it’s other Sentinels or a monster you’ve decided to splash in his team (mine was usually Thor, Hero Of Midgard), Prime is one of the best “let me give you a little helping hand” models in the game.
Suppression Protocols is great, but Prime really wants to be spending his power on Pattern Analysis instead.
Restraint Cables also deserves a shout out here. All Sentinel attacks are Range 3, so this can help you pull your unwilling targets back in line before you start blasting.
I don’t often bother going into detail on the injured side of cards – but this one is definitely worth diving into, as things start to go a bit downhill for old Prime here.
Power Matrix (the superpower that gives him an additional 2 power at the end of his activation) gets replaced with Overloading Power Core. Now while Prime can suffer a damage here (and on a side where he now has less overall health), it actually offers an interesting change for when you might want to activate him.
On his healthy side, activating Prime early in the round works well because he can do a couple of builders, gain 2 power at the end of his activation thanks to Power Matrix and be all charged up ready to hand out re-rolls for everyone else. The change that Overloading Power Core brings means there’s a chance he’ll be powered up during the Power Phase instead, allowing you to activate another character and still benefit from the Pattern Analysis re-rolls.
Leadership
Mutant Hunters is widely seen as one of the weaker leaderships in Marvel Crisis Protocol – but I’m here to tell you…it’s fine.
I also think it’s pretty thematic. You only get power for Dazing enemy characters, not KOing them, because in my mind the Sentinels are government funded; they’re the police. so they’re not here for violence. They just want to take you in…unconscious. Is that a stretch? Probably.
Gaining power equal to the threat of the characters you get an early Daze on can feel pretty great. Prime can use that power to help you get more Dazes and it could potentially turn on Restraint Cables for all Sentinels; it essentially helps you snowball a bit.
The weakness comes from the fact that it essentially stops working after Round 3 or so, after you’ve injured the opponents team. You don’t get anything for KOing enemies, so the value drops off after a while.
Tactics Card
This. Card. Is. Amazing.
I like to pretend that this is the leadership. A once per game ability that enables Prime to really turn the tide of battle.
Sentinel MkIVs have 7 health on their healthy side – and the ability to do an impressive amount of damage on their injured side at the cost of damaging themselves further. Online and Operational can be played during anyone’s activation, so you can go ham with a Sentinel MkIV and then get fully refreshed to their healthy side right after. It’s great – and had it’s cost halved from 8 power to 4, so look out for that if you’re grabbing this card fresh from the box.
Affiliations
You’d be surprised at how many people turn to Sentinel Prime MkIV as a splash in other affiliations. He’s a large base, meaning he works well with a Midnight Son’s bump (Blade’s leadership) or Storm hop (Storm leadership). But the main reason you’re likely to see Prime stomping around the table outside of Sentinels are his re-rolls from Pattern Analysis.
In particular, Cyclops is a big fan of this. His leadership relies on people dealing reliable damage as it only triggers when 1+ damage has actually been dealt. Not only can Prime help with this, but throwing a couple power his way can bring Restraint Cables, potentially making it easier for the rest of the team to get hits in.
So long as you’re alright with the absolute break in theme of splashing a mutant hunting sentinel in with a bunch of robot fighting mutants.
Final Thoughts
Compliments about the Sentinel models come as quickly as complaints about their leadership does. But after playing 50 games with them (all to chase that sweet sweet Longshanks badge), I’m here to tell you that while there are plenty of problems, Prime is absolutely a shining gem in the middle of all of that.
