Don't you wish your monster was Hot like Mine

Ubercorp International are a company that takes the pages out of others books. Their first productions, Cyber Khan and Gorghadratron, were interesting developments of their team.

But when all of these nerds in white coats who thought “scientists get all the chicks” studied the Lords of Cthul, they figured they would emulate it using their own technology.

Admit it. Cthul gets all the girls. And Cthugrosh, Lord of Bad Hentai High, is no exception. He pimps out, moves hoes around, tosses out the bad trash and he makes sacrifices to his own benefit. And occasionally he might gorge himself on a building. There's no surprise that there would be those who want be him, to do what he does, to be a Lord of Cthul.This is where Mechathugrosh has entered the Monsterpocalypse Arena, sporting an impressive pair of Shoulder Mounted Boom Boxes and a face mounted Gatling Schnozzle, he flies onto the field with his Imitation Cthul forces to wreak havoc for profit likePimp-Lord Cthugrosh.

However nothing is perfect and trying to insert Psychokinetic abilities into a machine is much more difficult than previously assumed, while most others are somewhat easy to imitate. To start, lets look at Cthugrosh's abilities.

Sacrifice: Crush 1 adjacent AGN unit to restore +1 Health to this monster.
Summon: Put 1 FAC unit from your reserves into play adjacent to this figure.
Telekinesis: Choose 1 unit within 2 spaces of this figure and move that unit 1 space in any direction, including diagonally.
Fling (Blast): Choose a building or enemy figure within 5 spaces of target unit and roll dice in play. If the chosen figure’s DEF is equal to or less than the number of strikes rolled, it takes 1 damage.
Power Gorge (Brawl): You gain +1 P-Die.
Flight: (Too long to give a squix.)

It's not a bad layout. You give birth to a Unit. You shoot an enemy unit and then kill another unit. You move a unit and you smash a monster. You punch something and you get extra Power Die. You drop one of your own units and heal yourself. You can Fly!

So where does this leave Mechathugrosh? He can't quite give birth. He can't think nasty thoughts of a ninja flying into a building and come out with results. He can't exactly get some sort of enthusiasm out of tearing down an apartment complex. And I don't think he can snack on a friendly unit, since production costs would fly through the roof for the UCI, and that would just make a mess of the décor inside him.

Time for some Human Ingenuity. Starting from the top:

Restoration: If this monster occupies a space with a power zone, restore +1 Health to it.

I can see little cables reaching down underneath and sucking juice from a Power Zone. Because I reckon that by poetic license, Mechathugrosh doesn't actually get destroyed in the Monpoc world. He just runs out of Juice and then sits there staring at his treads. However, give him a few minutes on a power zone and BOOM! He's back up and running like crazy! Only a fool would leave him on a Power Zone for too long.

So that's our Pseudo Sacrifice. That topped with a UCI Repair Vehicle makes for a regeneration rate that is more cost efficient than Cthugrosh's “Sacrifice + Meat Slave” combo. So he's got a 1 up on Cthugrosh.

Moving on to the next ability, we have Summon. Summon drops a Lords of Cthul Unit next to Cthugrosh for him to play willy nilly with. Cthulubites to Weaken and Distract; Meat Slaves to Incubate and hatch when they take one for the team; Snatchers to prepare for a Murderous Reproduction Cycle next turn; Spitters to give a Red Radar for his Blast Attack; Tanglix to stop units next to him from getting away; Task Masters to be motivational to nearby units next turn; Corruptors for Overload and Flank. There's a variety of different uses. What does Mechathugrosh have to match up?

Transport: Put 1 AGN unit with Cargo from your reserves into play adjacent to this figure.

Ooo, interesting. It's a good imitation. Now it says figures that have the “Cargo” ability. How many figures in UCI have Cargo? Well... Thats limited to the Mecha Task Master. It's a good thing it's not limited to Faction then, but to Agenda.

Ah, Shadow Sun Syndicate. Giant Nano-bot Ninjas coupled with smaller Ninjas that Karate Kick, Fire Laser Rifles, or drive unique fighter and bomber planes or super fast Hover Vehicles firing Powerful Turrets or Transporting their own Cargo. Cargo like the Sun Drone, the Shadow Gate and C-Type Shinobi. Ah choices choices. Sun Drone to secure Buildings and gain extra Power Die. C-Type Shinobi or Mecha Task Master to plonk down on a Power Zone, and prepare for Blasting next unit turn. Or drop a Sun Gate and gain the red ability of...

Cloak: This figure cannot be targeted by blast attacks from 3 or more spaces away.

Each have their own uses, though I think the Shadow Gate is a Winnah! Having your monster suddenly disappear out of sight? That's pretty sweet. It shows Mogroth the rough end of the Pineapple. Well anyone can show that to Mogroth, but that's not the point. The Point is that Mechathugrosh has a Nifty trick to use against Blastards.

Moving on, we have Telekinesis. I remember previously discussing Telekinesis being a Blue ability on other monsters and how a regular tactic is to shift a screening unit out of the way to get into position for a Power Attack. That's fair enough. But what does Mechathugrosh have to Compensate?

Tow: Choose 1 unit within 5 spaces of this figure and place that unit in a space it could legally occupy adjacent to this figure.

Okay. So you can pick a unit within 5 spaces and shunt it anywhere adjacent to you, rather than pick a figure within 2 spaces and shunt it 1 space any direction. I'll put that as Mechathugrosh's Positive.

That completes our tour of Mechathugrosh's Actions list. So far, I've claimed Mechathugrosh to be at the advantage, with Tow and Restoration being more efficient than Sacrifice and Telekinesis, and Summon and Cargo being on equal terms due to unit availability.

Now we move onto style of Attack. Cthugrosh has two attack Triggers and only one of them really defines his style of destruction: Fling. Being a Blast Trigger he can target a figure within 3 spaces, 5 if he summons an Elite Spitter or a building with Radar has been secured. Then he targets another figure within 5 spaces of that unit, whether it be Unit, Building or Monster, and makes the same attack again. In the minds eye, I just see him waving his tentacles in the direction of a Carnidon (It's always a Carnidon) and thinking thoughts of how useful it would be if it demolished a Music Producers Building, so that a Hellfont would rise allowing more of his minions to be released.

So how does Mechathugrosh match up? Well being unable to insert Telekinetic powers into the mind of a super-computer, and "Tractor Beams" only attracts, hence the Tow Action, and usually bullets are better at making Swiss cheese than anything else.

Well the Scientists of UCI Labs took down this note and thought for a little while until someone realised that Task Masters are Mini-Cthugrosh's, and what do they do? They also have a Fling, but on their Brawl. Adding Two to a Pineapple with Hydraulics and there we have it:

Super Swat: When this figure makes a swat power attack or uses the Fling trigger, the second target of the attack can be up to 7 spaces away instead of 5.

And so Telekinesis was tossed out as an Idea along with Reverse Tractors, and the Gigantic Hand of Mechathugrosh was Born. Given the effective range mostly matches a Cthugrosh without Radar, I think we're on a good roll. Where's the fault? Oh, right. Need to be aligned with a unit. Not too much of a problem, except that it leaves you open to retaliation due to possibly being in your opponents Power Base. I'll place this as a point to Cthugrosh.

Now there's one final ability, then flight. Flight I've already said that I couldn't give a Squix about. We all know it, so there's nothing to really explain about it.

However, the last two abilities of Cthugrosh and Mechathugrosh diverge in different directions. Cthugrosh has on his Brawl the Power Gorge Trigger. This, I find, is great for first turn where he revs up his Power Base with a massive boost for turn 2. You Brawl an Office Building, a figure REALLY easy to take out, and instead of the normal 3 you gain 4. With Cranky in the position you have 5 Power Die from the Rage Advantage, and a secured Insurance HQ wouldn't hurt as that would increase it to 6 Power Die. It's like you destroyed the Imperial state, but you'd get 9 under the same Brawling Conditions.

But Mechathugrosh can't do that. The Scientists gave up on that idea, figuring that borrowed technology such as the Sun Drone from the Shadow Sun Syndicate would cover a Power Base. So they looked back at the Task Master and said "Yeah, why not."

Motivator: AGN figures that begin their advance adjacent to this figure gain +1 SPD.

So summoned units and Adjacent Monsters can be happy to know that they will get a nice little Speed boost when they travel out into the world to Wreak Havoc for Profit.

So that's Part 1 of the MC-Thugrosh figures. Next Friday: Voltron Preview!