Greetings HeroClix Fans!
Welcome back for another exciting preview for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles HeroClix: Heroes in a Half-Shell set! Today we finish previewing the Fast Forces Pack that joins the second Gravity Feed set, adding more than 30 characters from the 32 years of TMNT history, based on both the comics and animated TV series. If you missed the TMNT HeroClix: Heroes in a Half Shell Fast Forces – Part 1 article, you can find it here. The last three characters in this Fast Forces, representing the Turtles and their allies from the original 1987 cartoon, are Michelangelo, Donatello, and April.
Each of the Turtles in this pack come in at 75 points, all share the TMNT, TMNT Ally, Animal, and Martial Artist keywords and a few other features that give Krang a headache. Even though they are mutated into human size, they are still turtles and are most at home near water as evidenced by their Aquatic movement symbol that lets them get around the sewers unencumbered. They all start off with similar defense powers; Invulnerability, moving into Toughness. The last shared feature is the trait “’Clang’? Did You Say ‘Clang’?” that modifies their attack value by +1 when attacking only characters 75 points or less, and modifies their damage values by +1 when attacking only characters with the Robot keyword. That covers their basic ninja training skills, let’s get into their individual fighting styles.
Michelangelo is pretty laid back for a nunchuker, which is part of what makes him a bit unpredictable at times. In this case, that’s represented by his Shape Change that later turns into Probability Control. Defensively he departs from Leonardo and Raphael a little by putting some Combat Reflexes in between his damage reduction clicks. Offensively, with a pair of fast swinging nunchuks, he can do a lot of damage with Flurry. Choose his targets carefully though, for when you want him to deliver a Pizza To The Face to prevent a single opposing character he hits from using any attack powers until your next turn. To finish his dial and keep the Foot Clan goons from getting away, or so he can skate away to finish his left over pizza, Michelangelo has a few clicks of Plasticity.
Every team needs its brain, and Donatello has it where it counts. He splits his mental efforts between Outwitto start with and Perplex on the back half of his dial. Though he lacks a move and attack option, he does have Leap/Climb to get him wherever you need him to get the most out of his damage powers. On defense, he departs from his teammates and has Energy Shield/Deflection instead of Combat Reflexes. His teammates find his attack special very useful. Trash Can Over The Head prevents a single character that Donatello hits from using any defense powers until your next turn. That’s two ways to cancel or otherwise prevent an opponent from using their powers. Donatello is one smart amphibian!
Our last character in the Heroes in a Half Shell Fast Forces Pack is one of the first humans the Turtles befriended as a TMNT Ally was Reporter, April O’Neil. At 25 points, April only has a two-click dial with Plasticity, Super Senses, and a damage special power, I’ve Got Pizza Guys, that lets her heal one adjacent TMNT keyword-possessing character of one click for free or all adjacent TMNT keyword possessing characters of one click by giving her a power action on both clicks. As if that wasn’t enough, April also has the We’ve Gotta Save April trait that adds to her utility at the risk of running up the opponent’s total score. Whenever she would be KO’d by an opposing character’s attack, you instead put a Rescue token on her card and place her on the attacker’s card. Friendly characters with the TMNT Ally keyword get +1 attack value when attacking that character. When a character is KO’d with April on their card, you can place April in the square they last occupied on click #1. At the end of the game, the opponent scores 25 points for everyRescue token on April’s card.
That’s all the characters you get in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles HeroClix: Heroes in a Half Shell Fast Forces Pack, so what might a team of them look like?
Let’s try this:
75 Leonardo
75 Donatello
75 Michelangelo
50 Casey Jones
25 April _
300 total points
TMNT Ally Keyword
+5 to initiative bonus
3 uses of Themed Team Probability Control
You get 3 actions per turn at 300 points, but can stretch that to 4 on certain occasions with Casey Jones’ Rules Are For Suckers trait. Run April up into the fight to be the nosey investigative reporter and to tie up an opponent, practically forcing them to ‘capture’ her so all the rest of your team can get +1 attack from We’ve Gotta Save April. Donatello Outwits characters and prevents use of defense powers when he hits, while Leonardo and Casey Jones add to close combat damage, each with Empower, making Michelangelo’snunchuk Flurry extremely bad for the opponent’s health, which is able to deal up to 10 damage, in the right conditions, with successful attacks. It’s a little close combat heavy so you’ll want a map that either prevents long range lines of fire from being drawn or a map that hinders enemy movement. Of course, the Sewer Indoor map from the first set’s OP kit or the Turtles Lair Indoor map from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles HeroClix: Mouser Mayhem! Starter Set are perfect for getting the most out their Aquatic movement symbols, as the water terrain that goes around most of those two maps acts like a moat and will hinder the movement of any regular size character with the plain boot symbol.
That’s all for today, HeroClix fans! Set your local pizza shop on speed dial, you won’t want to waste any time when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles HeroClix: Heroes in a Half Shell Fast Forces Pack and Gravity Feed hit streets in a few weeks! Also remember to pick up the TMNT Dice and Tokens Pack that has a pair of TMNT themed 6-sided dice and 6 poker chip style tokens with Turtles art on them.
Until next time, Cowabunga dudes!
