The city is under attack! Nefarious masterminds and supervillains are coming out of the woodwork. It's up to the world's greatest heroes to stop them! Only by combining their skills and powers will they be able to prevail. That's the story behind Hour of Need, a new cooperative comic-action board game that's up on Kickstarter now.

From the campaign:

Hour of Need is a cooperative game of comic book action inspired by the costumed heroes that many of us grew up with. Using the Modular Deck System (MDS), also featured in Street Masters, Brook City, and Altar Quest, the game features incredibly modular gameplay using several different types of decks. Hero decks, villain decks, and issue decks can all be mixed and matched to create countless combinations of unique play experiences.

Each hero in Hour of Need is represented by a highly-detailed miniature, as well as each villain and their associated lackeys.

Each hero in Hour of Need is defined by their unique deck of cards, representing their crime-fighting abilities. While each hero has their own playstyle, all hero decks share something in common in the form of heroic feats which make certain cards multi-purpose—do you want to play a card for its ability, or keep it in your hand to use its “toughness” heroic feat icon to protect yourself from damage? Managing your hand is crucial in avoiding crises!

Villain decks are the primary opposition in Hour of Need. During the villain turn, each player draws a villain card and resolves its icons—these will spawn minions in scheme panels, trigger special villain abilities, or spawn perils & lackeys on the map. Additionally, villain cards feature “Showdown” effects that are resolved whenever a villain is attacked by a hero—if the heroes can first reveal the villain!

Like any good comic book series, Hour of Need tells its stories through issues—issue decks, in this case. Each issue deck is accompanied by an issue board that sets the scene for the conflict. The issue deck details the overall story and special rules for the game. Whether the heroes are attempting to thwart a bank robbery or prevent advanced weaponry from being stolen, the issue deck will provide the villain with their overall goal, which the heroes must prevent in order to win!