Greetings HeroClix Fans!
It’s time for our first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles HeroClix Team Building exercise, featuring characters from the recently released Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles HeroClix set! Today’s 300-point force features two members of the TMNT with a pair of allies. First up, let’s bring in Michelangelo from the 2012 animated series!
Michelangelo comes in at 60 points and has the standard movement, attack, defense and damage symbols. His dial is highlighted by an Improved Movement ability, a trait, and a pair of special powers. Michelangelo’s Improved Movement ability, Most Acrobatic of the Turtles, lets him ignore elevated and hindering terrain when he moves. His trait, Most Unpredictable of the Turtles, prevents opposing characters from using Probability Control to reroll attacks made by or targeting Michelangelo. As for Michelangelo’s special powers, Spin Attack and Most Endurance of the Turtles are found in his attack and defense slots, respectively. Spin Attack lets Michelangelo use Quake, and when he does, hit characters are given an action token after actions resolve. Most Endurance of the Turtles lets Michelangelo use Combat Reflexes and Willpower.
Helping out Michelangelo is the temperamental mutant alligator with a fierce hatred of the Kraang, Leatherhead! Leatherhead has a point value of 80 and has the standard attack, defense and damage symbols, along with the Swimmer speed symbol. Leatherhead’s biggest assist to Michelangelo comes from his trait, Don’t You Hurt Michelangelo!, which modifies their attack values by +1 when they’re adjacent to one another. Keeping Leatherhead close to Michelangelo to gain that +1 attack bonus shouldn’t be too difficult since the former has Sidestep and Charge to move around as needed. Sidestep also works with Leatherhead’s lone special power, Death Roll, which lets him spend a power action to move up to three squares using Improved Movement: Ignores Characters. Death Roll then lets Leatherhead make a close attack that targets each opposing character in or adjacent to those squares. Hit characters are dealt 2 damage and knocked back 2 squares. Potentially, Leatherhead could start adjacent to Michelangelo then move and attack using Death Roll. Characters Leatherhead hits could then potentially be knocked back to Michelangelo for a follow-up attack.
The third member of our force is Donatello, who comes in at 60 points and has the standard movement, attack, defense and damage symbols. Early in a match, Donatello can help Leatherhead and Michelangelo by modifying friendly or opposing combat values through Perplex, then later contributes by healing his teammates with Support and sharing his high defense values with Defend. When it comes to offense, Donatello adds to the fight with his special power My Bo… Converts to a Naginata, which lets him hit opponents with close attacks up to three squares away as if they were adjacent. Additionally, My Bo… Converts to a Naginata lets Donatello use Blades/Claws/Fangs to deal up to six clicks of damage, but only if he’s attacking a non-adjacent character.
Finally, our Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles team building force is complete with the addition of Metalhead! At 100 points, Metalhead is the highest-pointed character on our force and he has the standard attack and damage symbols. He can also shoot two targets up to six squares away. Metalhead is also a flier and has the Indomitable defense symbol so don’t worry about pushing damage. Metalhead’s dial is filled with standard powers but his best contribution on this force requires that you keep Donatello nearby to use Metalhead’s I Built Him, and I Have the Remote trait. At the beginning of your turn, you may remove an action token from Metalhead and give an action token to an adjacent friendly character named Donatello. With the right setup, Metalhead can act on consecutive turns as long as Donatello is adjacent at the beginning of your turns so he can take action tokens. Keeping Donatello adjacent shouldn’t be difficult as Metalhead has Sidestep and Running Shot in his speed slot and can also use the Carry ability to tote Donatello around.
Ideally, you’ll want to split your force into two pairings: Michelangelo/Leatherhead and Donatello/Metalhead. Donatello’s late-dial Support and Defend powers make him a character you’ll want to keep away from the front line of battle. That shouldn’t be an issue, thanks to his My Bo… Converts to a Naginata special power which lets him make close attacks to opponents up to three squares away.
In terms of themed play, all four characters share the TMNT Ally keyword. As a bonus, these four take their inspiration from the 2012 Nickelodeon animated series.
That’s all for today’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Team Building. Until next time: Keep calm, carry on, and booyakasha!
