Welcome to Sentinels Spotlight! This series’ goal is to explore each of the unique decks available for play in Greater Than Games’ cooperative superhero card game, Sentinels of the Multiverse. This series will strive to introduce you to the hero, and then give you an overview on their deck – what it is made up of and some basic strategies so that you may sit down at the table and choose the deck that is the best fit for your play style.
Despite the cost in American lives, the Civil War did quite a bit to advance military hardware and doctrine. The Ironclad Project was one of these advances. But there were additional successes with the project beyond the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia. The YS-1200 Exo-Chassis was developed out of the project and used in World War II, allowing a single man to do the work of an entire squadron. Development on the project continued, until 50 years later the Personal Armament Exo-Chassis YS-1300T – or Bunker suit – was given to Lt. Tyler Vance to utilize in the government’s Freedom Five initiative, where Bunker joined Legacy as its second member.
Bunker is one of the ten hero decks included in the base set of the Sentinels of the Multiverse and carries a Complexity Rating of 2, making him slightly more difficult to play than some of the heroes, but notably less complex than either of the two we have talked about so far.
Bunker is all about his equipment cards. He has a dizzying array of weapons and other equipment cards that he can get on the table in order to increase his damage output or make himself more survivable. His main power Initialize lets him draw a card, and he will use it early on to build his hand size and get the necessary cards on the table.
Bunker’s big thing is his three Mode cards. These special Ongoing cards all do different things for him at the table in different phases of the game. Only one Mode can be active at any given time. Recharge Mode allows Bunker to draw an extra card during his Draw Phase, but he cannot play cards or use powers. He also reduces damage dealt to him by 1 while this Mode is active. Turret Mode allows him to use an additional power during his turn, but he cannot draw or play cards. He also increases damage he deals by 1 while this Mode is active. Finally Upgrade Mode allows him to play an extra card each turn, but he cannot use any powers while the Mode is active. Bunker may destroy a given Mode at the beginning of his turn, or by playing a different Mode card. Much of his game will be spent moving between these three Modes based on what he needs at that given point. His final Ongoing, Ammo Drop lets him draw a card whenever a villain card is destroyed, even if a Mode card says he cannot. It’s important to note that this applies to any time a villain card is destroyed – not just by Bunker. If an ally destroys a minion or destroys a villain ongoing, Bunker gets to draw a card.
Bunker has seven different pieces of equipment that he can get on the table. Heavy Plating reduces damage dealt to Bunker by 1, letting him tank better. Flak Cannon and Grenade Launcher give Bunker additional powers that can be used to deal projectile damage to a target (and multiple targets in the case of Grenade Launcher). Gatling Gun allows Bunker to deal a target projectile damage at the start of his turn at the cost of discarding a card at the end of his turn. Omni-Cannon is his “big boom” card. At the start of the turn, you may put up to 3 cards from your hand beneath this card. As a power, you can destroy all of the cards underneath Omni-Cannon to deal a single target damage equal to two times the number of cards destroyed this way. It’s expensive, but it can deal a lot of damage if used properly. Auxiliary Power Supply is an interesting piece of equipment. It gives Bunker a power to draw 3 cards in exchange for destroying the card. Alternatively at the start of the turn, this card can be destroyed in order to use an additional power – which in my opinion is the better use of this card, especially when coupled with Turret Mode, allowing Bunker the use of three powers for one turn. Maintenance Unit is easily the weakest of the equipment cards, giving Bunker a power to heal himself for 2 hit points. But, if there is no other source of healing on the table, it can be useful for helping Bunker to tank more.
Bunker’s deck includes several one-shots as well. Adhesive Foam Grenade gives him some environmental control, stopping environment cards from being played for a turn. External Combustion allows Bunker to deal each non-hero target 3 points of fire damage in exchange for taking 2 fire damage himself. Coupled with Ra’s Imbued Fire and Flesh of the Sun God power, coupled with Legacy’s Galvanize power makes this card capable of clearing the field rather quickly, dealing each non-hero target 5 points of fire damage, while Bunker himself becomes immune to the backlash. Decommissioned Hardware allows Bunker to put one equipment card from his trash back into play. This is great for getting cards like Auxiliary Power Supply or anything discarded to power Gatling Gun or Omni-Cannon. One notable combo I’ve seen is to have Turret Mode active. Pop the Auxiliary Power Supply for the extra power at the beginning of your turn, giving you three powers. Then at the start of your next turn, destroy the Turret Mode, and then play Decommissioned Hardware to pull the Auxiliary Power Supply back into play.
Bunker pairs well with heroes that allow him to deal more damage or draw more cards. Legacy’s Galvanize power coupled with Bunker’s Turret Mode allows him to deal withering damage to targets. Visionary can help to get cards into his hand with Enlighten, but the forced discard there makes it less than ideal. However, her Twist the Ether card is incredibly useful to Bunker, not necessarily for the damage type shift, though that is incredibly useful for targets that are immune to projectile damage, but for the damage increase. Mental Divergence can get a critical Mode card back on the top of his deck should he need it. Omnitron-X can allow him to get equipment cards into play with his Timeshift power. And we already discussed how Ra can make External Combustion an absolute nightmare with no downside for Bunker.
Bunker’s main nemesis is the villain known as Freight Train. Like Absolute Zero’s nemesis Proletariat, Freight Train is not able to be fought on his own, but is instead included in the Vengeance expansion of the game. However, Iron Legacy from the Shattered Timelines expansion also functions as a nemesis for Bunker.
Bunker Deck List
Adhesive Foam Grenade x3
Ammo Drop x3
Auxiliary Power Source x3
Decommissioned Hardware x3
External Combustion x3
Flak Cannon x3
Gatling Gun x2
Grenade Launcher x3
Heavy Plating x3
Maintenance Unit x3
Omni-Cannon x2
Recharge Mode x3
Turret Mode x3
Upgrade Mode x3
That has been Bunker. Next week we look at one of the newest heroes in the game, Captain Cosmic!
Ben Erickson
Bunker’s nemesis is actually punnishly named /Fright/ Train, as in he causes fear.
I’m a big fan of Bunker, though he’s one of the hardest-hit heroes when facing an equipment-wrecking villain like Omnitron (though maybe not quite as bad as Zero). He’s got a slower start than a lot of heroes, especially if you don’t get the right mode cards early in the game, but once he gets rolling and with some support from less direct heroes, he’s capable of one of the higher per-turn damage outputs in the game. Also, depending on the villain in question, Ammo Drop can be amazingly great or almost worthless. It shines brightest with villains that have lots of minions, like Citizen Dawn or Warlord Voss, while decks like Iron Legacy that revolve around one-shots and ongoings (which are typically hard to remove) make it a much less interesting ability.
Using the aux power supply to get an extra power from Turret Mode can be great, but since each power can be used only once per turn, you need three powers on the table to really take advantage of it. And Initialize doesn’t count, because why would you blow the power supply to get just one card when you can pop it for three? (Well, I guess because you’d get a single card in addition to two powers instead of one power and three cards — but still.)