Correspondent photo / Sean Barron Rob Zura of Campbell looks over a set of gaming cards while preparing for a Marvel Crisis Protocol Initiation League tournament Sunday at Infinite Realms, The Game & Hobby Shop in Girard. The competition consisted of three 90-minute rounds.

GIRARD — For Larry Kirby, the battle unfolded and was perhaps best defined and carried out with numbers: nearly a dozen characters, eight specialized cards, up to six pieces of terrain, a 9-square-foot fighting area and an alternate universe.

“The cards show how to set up the tables, score and guide you through the game. Sometimes the objectives can hurt you or heal you,” he said.

Kirby was among the Avengers who were on the front lines developing and implementing strategies to battle one another — the main piece of warfare that took place during the first Marvel Crisis Protocol Initiation League tournament Sunday at Infinite Realms, The Game & Hobby Shop, 812 N. State St.

The tournament was a tabletop hobby miniatures game set in the Marvel Universe that consisted of three 90-minute rounds. Beforehand, participants painted, assembled and collected an expanding line of plastic miniature pieces that represented a variety of iconic characters mainly from Marvel comic books and movie series, Kirby said.

After assembling and placing on the table terrain pieces such as trash bins, cars, buildings, vending machines and lamp posts, players’ primary objectives included knocking opponents’ characters off the board and performing various rescues, all while trying to “race to 16 points,” he said.

Placement in the tournament was determined by a win-loss ratio, followed by total points scored. A final match was to be played in case of a tie.

Participants were required to bring 10 such characters to the competition. Examples of benevolent and heroic characters at Sunday’s gathering included Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, the Incredible Hulk and Black Panther; among the malevolent ones were Baron Zemo, Ultron, Red Skull, Cross Bones and MODOK.

In addition, competitors brought eight tactic cards that, in part, provided options for offensive and defensive moves and ways to “heal” characters; measuring sticks and range rules with numbers on sticks to move the pieces; and eight-sided dice that could be used to govern attack and defensive moves and successes, Kirby explained.

“It’s a back-and-forth fight, pretty much,” he said. “Everything on the board is interactive.”

“Complex,” Rob Zura of Campbell said in describing his first effort to play the game. “I’ve been a Marvel fan since high school and that was about a million years ago.”

Zura added that he began to build his Marvel collection in the early 1990s and estimated that it includes at least a few hundred comic books.

First-, second- and third-place finishers earn 50 percent, 30 percent and 20 percent of total entry fees in store credit, respectively, Kirby said.

Infinite Realms also offers open play times for engaging in the interactive game. Those interested are invited to visit the business 6 p.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays, Kirby said.