"What do we want?" "MONSTERPOCALYPSE!"

I miss Monsterpocalypse.  It has been such a long time since I've played it.  Years even, and I found my collection before I came to the US and it brought back memories.

I shared it amongst five of my friends, all taking an alignment each and chipping in on a box and splitting it six ways. Then games went wild, buildings destroyed and Carnidons screaming in terror and pain from the sidelines as they wish they were being played.

But the game kinda... ceased.  It finished off the fifth wave, and that was all since, apart from the occasional special figure at an event.

There were a few problems with the business model that a couple of my friends found were a problem. Whether they contributed to it, I don't know, but the fact that it acted like a collectible game at such a high price rubbed most of us the wrong way.

Its been a good two years since, and I've had some jonesing for Monsterpocalypse since I got here.  I left my stuff at home, and honestly I do not want to go about collecting it again since I do not have the income for it.  But I've been playing a lot of our tablet lately and it got me to thinking.

Why not make a video game out of it?  Privateer Press are already doing the Warmachine Video Game, so why not do a Kickstarter of a Monpoc game?  Earn your Hyper forms by attaining goals, form up your units and organise them on the battlefield, create animations of a Carnidon exploding from a Tank Cannon.  Form up online leagues and conquer countries from coast to coast, and giving buildings their own skins based on the current country too.

It'd be fantastic.  But alas, just another pipe dream, and something that I came up with while playing an iPad and thinking of cool games that would be played by streaming through Apple TV.  Or on a WiiU.

Gridlock

Last night we played a hilarious Monsterpocalypse game made up by rules on the spot. The new guy we have playing wanted to play a Four Player game, as there were enough of us playing that night.

So we started making up rules. Monsters only with no units, to start. We figured it would be too easy to play a game where we could just access each other. So we said we had to choose a map littered with buildings. But we also figured there was a problem with figures being able to jump over buildings and get to each other quicker than others.

Doesn't seem particularly fair. So we figured you couldn't move through buildings. They were infinitely high, and infinitely deep and you couldn't jump off or climb them.

Then I piped up with "All Buildings Have NO FLY ZONE". Which does exactly what we wanted. Choosing the map was surprisingly easy.

Earlier on we were talking about a particular map that scotty and I disliked using. He doesn't like it because people could easily disrupt his power base, and he could easily disrupt his opponents. But I remember looking at it ages ago and realised that there's no easy way to move a monster that doesn't have any skills that allow him to move around buildings across the map. So we played Killer Canals.



For those who aren't in the know: The squares with Yellow and Green borders are where you place your buildings. The dotted red and blue borders are where monsters are placed. The rest isn't important. Those are for units.

As an added silliness, we included Mega Armodax into the mix who has a ranged attack which will randomly shoot someone and shunt figures into nearby fires and buildings. we had a few reasons why he was present, my favourite was that he was strapped to an orbiting satellite and he's roaring down angrily at everyone on the map.

We also put the Privateer Press Building in the middle of the map covering 9 squares instead of 4 because the map is an odd number of sides. Since it's indestructable, and that Armodax strapped to a satellite was a bit too silly (pfft, whatever) we put Armodax on top of the building. And we can stop him from attacking next turn by attacking the PP Building. But in turn, for each building that was destroyed outside of his turn, he gained a Power Die. That was probably a bit excessive, but it was funny none the less. It added Tactics, according to Scotty.

So we had a Lord of Cthul, a Planet eater, a Guard Robot and a Shadow Sun Syndicate Ninja, being shot at by an angry Anklosaurus on a building. I think out of the large number of foundations we had, there was 1 building left not including the PP Building.

It was a good game and we may play it again.

Monpoc Irk

Monday morning I get a call from my LGS asking me to come in Tuesday Night for a Demo Game of Monsterpocalypse. Sounds good, I say. I haven't played Monpoc in quite a long time, but I'm keen to start up again. Just not against Scott.

So I rocked up there, and met the bloke. He was keen to learn and he was happy to have many things taught to him, such as explaining how rules fully interact, and I was prepared to give him that.

Now I'm a lazy person. I also have a large collection of Monpoc Stuff. So the idea of having to carry my stuff to work and then to the LGS is a trustrating one. There's at least two green bags involved in the delivery going to the only place I play it at.

So I put up the suggestion to the owner a long time ago, “Can I leave my Monpoc here? In return you can use it for the Free For All games days that I can't attend.” “Sure thing” he said. We all win, really. I don't have to cart about all my Monpoc stuff and he gets a chance to introduce more people to it.

The other day however, the store was shifted about. Stuff that he didn't need was thrown away. But the owner made sure that what didn't belong to him, namely my Monpoc, was stored away so that it could be found. The Owner isn't a dull lad, he knows his responsibilities.

But come last night, I pull out my Monpoc stuff and even tip it out of the Greenbag and look at it before thinking “... I'm missing something.”

I looked out across the vast field of green, purple, grey and tan plastic monstrosities, only to find I'm missing something just as crucial as the monsters: Units. A small white box, with the Privateer Press Stamp on the front, filled almost to the Brim with Monsterpocalypse Units. Of Tentacled Slugs, of Drill-nosed Brawlers, of Subterran Tanks and Lovecraft-ian Flyers.

Nowhere to be found.

And it's been irking me ever since. Not at the LGS owner, he was looking after them as best he can which was leaving them where they were and putting them in a safe place when he had to move them. He was extremely apologetic as well and offered to replace everything once I figure out how much it all cost, and I'm going to try and work something out with him regarding his Monpoc Stock as well.

No, what I'm annoyed at is that it's gone. All that collecting is just gone. Now, when I wanted to get back into Monpoc, I can't play using my units. I have everything else, but I just don't have any units.

On top of that, my Voltron Box is gone too. Though I think I may have that at home. I'm going to have to check on that one.

Still. Annoying. Especially when it's possible that someone may have tossed it thinking it was something else, or someone may have thought they deserved a five finger discount. I'll give em five fingers alright.

Lets make the Quantum Leap

So it's almost been a year and I've been pretty slack here. But keeping with a (mostly) Fiendish theme, and pretty much nothing happening with Monsterpocalyse until recently, I just haven't had anything to blather on about until now.

What I assume, to catch up with the times they're releasing Quantum Figures! One of whom is our very own Poster Child: Cthugrosh. I would have left this article until there was a Quantum Mechathugrosh, but I don't know how long I'd be waiting for it. And I'd have to think of a vaguely disturbing title too.

Now the way Quantum figures work is interesting. Along your stat bar you have stats highlighted in Red. This doesn't mean that the stat is shared to figures adjacent to you - Can you Imagine a Spitter with 7*1 Brawl attack? - What it does mean is that you increase those stats by your Hyper Cost.

That's pretty sweet. You get a bonus to whatever stats are highlighted and you can take names AND chew bubblegum! Cos with stats like these, who would stop you? Quantum Cthugrosh has a stat bar that is almost completely Red. Sweet! 6 Move is pretty good; 5 Defence is not too bad considering he still has 6 health; 7*2 Brawl? An extra Boost die certainly doesn't hurt at all; Same goes for his 5*1 Blast Attack, and his 6*2 Power Attack.

Now his Range is a special case. He starts off at Short range, so 2-3 spaces away from him. That's a pretty short attack. But any long time player of the Lords of Cthul will know that there should always be an Elite Spitter nearby. Or any general player will know to field a Radar Array. So that'll extend it to long range, making it 2-5 spaces away. Quantum then extends the range by the number of spaces equal to the Hyper Stat! Sweet!

So pretty much, his stat line does not change from his Alpha form. Now lets look at his hyper stat! Drum Roll please, Trumpets, streamers and confetti cascade around a small podium with a Khadoran Anvil with a number in the middle, and that number is... 1! Woo! We're Number One! We're Number One! We're Number...

Wait a minute. One? Okay, okay. So the stat increases aren't significant, except in the case of boost die. Any Boost Die are good Boost Die, as I always say. But there's one other condition that I haven't mentioned yet. And that's how to keep the Quantum Effect Active.

You would think that if you had stats that were increased by the hyper stat, you would just make it a permanent thing, and just get rid of these Red highlights. No, the purpose of the Red Highlights is that you gain the benefits to X Stat on the condition that you have more than 5 Power Dice in your pool.

So while it's not a significant effect the Quantum is applying, it can still change the way you play when you're at full P-die whether it's to conserve your P-die by using that extra B-die or A-die to your attacks, or to make a massive attack. But in saying that, a cost of 1 for going into hyper? It's unheard of!

Speaking of attacks, lets see what Quantum Cthugrosh has on offer ability-wise. He has his regular features for a hyper form, Flight and Terrify. Not bad abilities, with their own drawbacks. Though I don't think Terrify has a drawback. Flight certainly does, because factions like GUARD have a massive prejudice against Figures with Flight. So that's probably why his other forms have Jump, because he learnt his lesson before. Hmm...

His last skill is Reach, the ability to attack something 2 squares away. Experience with this ability has never failed me. There have been moments I put myself adjacent to a figure, but the options that Reach presents can change the game. The best part though? It's Blue.

So all figures in your army gain the ability to not only attack something from 2 spaces away, but also figures with Flight. So while Spitters don't have any use for it, figures like the Task master, the Tanglix, the Snatcher, even the Mollok Brutes and Berserkers, can take advantage of it. The number of times I've been one space away from being within range sometimes frustrates me. So now I get to Frustrate my opponent by being that one space within Reach.

Back to the Principal of Fiend High, we look at his Attacks. So Alpha Cthugrosh has a habit of multiplying his units. He'd just spend an action die and place a unit next to himself. It was a great Army producer and given a few turns, you'd outnumber your opponent in no time.

His Blast Attack would help too. Fling targets a unit and chucks it 5 squares into another figure. That makes for a potential range of about 10 squares for a Blast Attack.

That's better than Mogroth! Funny that.

But Quantum Cthugrosh deviates from the Norm. He still remains a Blastard, but he doesn't Fling anyone. He definitely doesn't make anyone Overload. He has taken lessons in Evolution at the Tower of Corruption College, and learnt Transmutation.

Now I've talked about Transmutation before with the Tower of Corruption. You shoot an enemy unit and replace it with one of your own units so long as it can legally be placed there. It takes up the Summon action from Alpha Cthugrosh and combines it with his Blast Attack!

That's not enough though. Alpha Cthugrosh usually Summons and makes an attack, two actions in one turn. That sort of thing should not be abolished, else the figure would be unappealing. So that's why the lucky bugger has Blitz.

Blitz: Once each turn, advance this figure up to 2 spaces even if it has advanced this turn. You can roll another attack of the same type against a different target with Dice in play.

So two attacks, both of which Transmutate enemy units into friendly units.

So double the Firepower. Double the Unit Generation. And then add another third to his Movement. This guy is working all on the up and up. So where does he faulter? Well, aside from the downside of having the same stat line as Alpha Cthugrosh until he gets more than 5 P-die, he doesn't do much else. His 5 skills and triggers are all he has. No Actions, No Reactions, No Advantages. That's all she wrote.

Gameplay wise, he's still as good as Alpha Cthugrosh. He moves, he blasts, he brings out a new unit, and then uses his second attack to either Shoot a Monster, or Transmutate another unit. As the old saying goes, “The More the Merrier!”

Alternating Universes

So one of the common questions about the Voltron set is whether or not you can cross the two games over. Voltron is a stand alone set, but yes: you can bring Voltron into Monsterpocalypse, but not the other way around.

Why? Well imagine a Carnidon being deployed in space.

Okay, I may be getting a little silly there. How about something that makes more sense, like Sky Sentinel and G-1 strike fighters. It makes much more sense, however I believe it would unbalance the match by having the Speed 8 Strike fighters careen across the field towards the enemy who are at a disadvantage since the G-1's will be under the effect of Wing Leader.

But you get them onto the Monsterpocalypse fields and you have the same mix up unless you mix up your forces. They need to mix up forces and...

Sidenote: I'm sitting at harrys diner and I've seen- now 5- caravans/Winnebago’s go down Newmarket road. I'm not sure what to think.

The Voltron gear needs to mix up their forces so that they have something without flight. Securing zones on a map is always nifty,and sometimes important, and the Galaxy Garrison Cruisers and Skull Ships are unable to do that themselves.

Well fair enough. The Subterran Uprising make a good mix with Lo-tron. I remember the first few episodes of Voltron and the first Robeasts came out. One of them had drill bits for nipples. So perfect match!

Mixing with the Lords of Cthul however offers a situation that I haven't explored before today: Multi-Morpher-Monster games. Mathematically, 10 action die between 8 figures is ridiculous. It would be more if one of the Pentamorphers didn't have Quick. Then there's the shenanigans. Monsterpocalypse Morphers have more skills and triggers, and actions that can disable or disrupt things quite nastily. And then there's the red abilities that they share! Players with a Voltron set are not only behind on tracking tools, but are behind on rules!

For all those Voltron players: A red ability means you can 'share' it to an adjacent figure of the same Agenda. It gives them that ability to use where appropriate, but they only have the ability while adjacent to the figure sharing it.
Other colours for abilities are Blue and Green. Blue is given to all figures of the same agenda to the figure with the blue ability. Green is a building speciality and are given to all figures in your force so long as your figures are securing the building.

So what does a sensible player do? They use less figures. He plays with four of his more preferred morpher figures and run with them. Maybe even add the guy with Quick. Shenanigans can still run rampant with Hypering up and dropping form, and you can get some wicked combos in like the Green Tentacle (I forget its name) with the Rhino Robeast doing a combination of Beatback and Toss. That can mess something up if done right, such as Beatback into a friendly figure then toss into a nearby building that has spire or a hazard. With the way I've played Morphers, building devastation doesn't really happen until I or they Hyper Up.

So to get the best kick out of Voltron or Lo-tron being on the field of a Monsterpocalypse battle, definitely get a handful of Monsterpocalypse figures. And if you have them of the same agenda, even better! They're cheap as chips and just as tasty.

Now all the Voltron-set players have to do is grab a few buildings! Our local group is very lenient and we have buildings to spare. And you only need two to play, so get a box set!

Tuesday: Hiatus

Goldmember

Like a Parody of a James Bond Film, we new have a Robot covered in Gold. Granted he's not as sexy as Jill Masterson, but that really depends on your perspective. Now that we're done fantasising, lets get to the topic: Mega Voltron.

As with Lo-tron, Voltron was a robot of many forms of Super Damage. He had Weapon Master on his Brawl and Super Smash, a potentially extremely dangerous attack with the only penalty of the prerequisites for Smash. In the year of playing Monsterpocalypse, there hasn't been many times I've seen a figure get Smashed. To boot, when Voltron made a Power Attack, he shifts a unit into a new position.

Mega Voltron tones down a little, as he doesn't have a definite form of Super Damage but he has more options for Super Damage. To start, we have his brawl attack. Rather than Weapon Master, a flat Super damage, he has Lightning Attack.

Lightning Attack: Once each turn, this monster can roll a second attack of the same type with dice in play against the same target monster.

So two attacks in quick succession against the target, using his Brawl Attack of 7*3. This has been known to get rather dangerous. Slugbutt (AKA: Grindix-Birvikaan) has Lightning Attack along with Synchronised Move. With the Red ability "Overload" from the Lords of Cthul Corruptor, he could get two attacks with Super Damage on the target.

Note: I will have to check up on this because I believe there is something somewhere about Super Damage only being applied to an attack once.

I'm not sure what Red abilities Guard and the Elemental Protectors have but with a little planning ahead they could pull off some really powerful combos, just like other factions. I'll have to consult Scott about it. He might even have some tips about Flak!

Ow! Stop it Scott.

His other form of Super Damage is exactly where one would expect: The Power attacks. His previous Incarnation was limited to Super damage on his Smash Attacks, quite difficult to pull off in our gaming group here in Brisbane. Mega Voltron however is much more... generous to his Power Attacks.

Crunch: If this monster’s attack rolled 1 or more super strikes, it does super damage.

Any Power Attack, performed with his 7*4 stat, has the potential to deal super damage. Smash, Body Slam, Throw... even the very unappreciated Headbutt. So long as there's a Super Strike rolled. Now rolling his maximum action dice of 7, adding his 4 boost die and the minimum of 1 Power die, he rolls 12 dice with a reasonable chance of rolling 1 Super Strike.

But lastly there's his third trigger. Rather than go with the traditional Power or Brawl Attack, Mega Voltron has done something similar to Mega Lo-tron has and added something to his Blast Attack. Raising his Blast stat to 8*3, while still at short range, gives some thought to the ability of his Lion Head Attack.

Multi-Shot: Choose up to 2 other enemy units in the blast attack range of this figure. Those with a DEF equal to or less than the number of strikes rolled take 1 damage.

Now I've known Multi-Shot to be an annoying ability as it allows the attacker to disrupt more than just the target. With Mega Voltron's Short range, it won't exactly bring empires to ruin, however it will do enough damage to someone's power base to make them think twice before moving there and potentially suffering a hit.

But that's Mega Voltron for you, an all round gold guy with a jack in all trades.

Friday: Alternating Universes!

So Jealous Right Now

Stoopid Comic-Con getting stoopid Mega Lo-tron before anyone else does. It should shut it stoopid face.

*Kicks dirt*

Nah, I don't have anything against Comic-con except that they're receiving Mega Lo-tron as a promotional deal for the Voltron Set! (Lucky Blastards) As a special promotion to Comic-Con, they released the information for Mega Lo-tron on Monster Insider.

And so I've yoinked it off the site and now I'll do my usual ramble on whatever tangent I have on the Welch's Mascot. That's right he's big and he's purple, as all evil beings tend to be, and he's got some nifty new tricks.The only things that have stayed the same are Reach, Flight and his 6 Health. Everything else has changed slightly. His Attack stats have all changed to match 7*3 so no major proficiencies are present. Lastly, his Speed and Defence stats have swapped, leaving him less manoeuvrable but less likely to suffer retaliation.

But his attacks have changed. No longer does he has hit and run on his Power Attacks, and Adaptable to give him Super Damage on his Swat attacks (Because Ram is unavailable in the Voltron set due to a lack of structures). Instead he receives a rather rare ability to his repertoire, and a rather cool one in my opinion.

Juggernaut: If a space this monster would move into while rampaging is occupied by 1 or more other monsters, this monster stops moving, and the other monsters suffer 1 damage if their DEF is equal to or less than the number of strikes rolled for the rampage. If this monster is in its hyper form, this attack does super damage.

So he'll crash tackle Voltron for 2 damage. Sounds good to me, especially against two morphers standing next to each other. Fortunately for the Voltron Lions, it's only 3 damage as you only apply Super Damage once.

That's not the only Super Damage he deals, though. One thing that didn't get much recognition in the Ultra forms was their blast attack. It wasn't neglected as it was still a good attack stat, but it didn't have any triggers or skills associated with it. And being of short range, there wasn't any reason to use it except to spite someone and nab that last point of damage they had. Ultra Lo-tron had the Range advantage over Voltron due to Adaptable making Swat Power Attacks tangible, especially with Hit and Run. And now Mega Lo-tron has that kick that turns peoples pants into hats.

Weapon Master: This attack deals Super Damage.

Okay, so it's not quite pants-hat quality, but you can do worse for a Blast Attack Trigger.

But the Grape Ape isn't all about Super Damage, no no. He's got his own nifty little trick just as others do, and it's not anything to shake a stick at. That's right he doesn't have a stick, he has a spikey ball on a flaccid chain. And that tends to scare people.

Power Strike: Target monster’s controller loses a number of P-Dice equal to the number of super strikes you rolled in the attack.

Much like Crunch the attack requires Super Strikes to make effect, but instead of something so plain as Super Damage the target suffers a loss of Power. So if you roll a score of 20 on 10 dice, you've drained your opponent of a second activation, or a potentially dangerous counter attack. But you've got two chances to get a roll of 20: “Almost Nil” and “Next to Bupkis”. Though hats off if it happens for you.

So that's Mega Lo-Tron for you. He's a nice Jack of Trades, and an interesting alternative to his Ultra form.

Next Tuesday: Goldmember

You could almost believe it was BP...

There aren't many uses for a Hazmat truck. You can use it to transport Hazardous Materials from point A to point B. Which, in Monsterpocalypse, it technically does. You get it from point A: The Spawn Zone, to Point B: The Target.

And for best effect, you ram it straight into point B.

The Hazmat Truck is a danger to everyone around it, with its 3 abilities that can kill everyone around and one that will kill itself because, we're here to discuss the semantics of Explosions and the Hazmat Truck.

Now there are a few forms of explosion here in Monsterpocalypse. The first is his defensive trigger “Unstable”. The image in your minds eye should be simple. A bullet fires into the side tank, and he goes KABOOM! And all units adjacent to him are blown to Smithereens, causing all other units to sidle away from him in future. Especially since it's really easy to hit the Hazmat Trucks Defence 2. A stray sausage roll in a pastry fight could cause it to spark off.

Unstable: If this figure is hit, all adjacent units are crushed. If this figure is a unit, crush it.

But that didn't discourage them from joining in on a fight. “We'll just park ourselves away from him. Surely that'll keep us safe!” they think.

Well... No. Not quite, lads and lassies.

You see, the Hazmat Truck has an effective danger zone of 10 squares when he hits, not including the target of the attack. You see, he explodes on his target and from the space he's attacking from. So friends and enemies are in quite a bit of danger from his 2*1 Brawl stat. And if they help him... Well the image in my head is that a Mollok Brute gets a Carnidon into an arm lock, and then they both stand and stare like a Deer in Headlights as they both realise what's going to happen.

Radial Attack: If target figure is hit, all other units adjacent to the attacking figure with a DEF equal to or less than the number of strikes rolled take 1 damage. If this figure is a monster, all other monsters adjacent to the attacking figure with a DEF equal to or less than the number of strikes rolled also take 1 damage.
Explosion: All monsters and units adjacent to target unit with a DEF equal to or less than the number of strikes rolled take 1 damage.

So there is really no escape for most units unless they want to have a really high base Defence, or have Reach, which means the player has crabs. Wait, that didn't come out right.

Okay, in a bit of seriousness, the Crabs of the Tritons are a good fit with the Hazmat Truck. they have Reach, so they can spread themselves out to perform the combined attack against a unit. This really only affects explosion, however, as it only triggers off units. It's easy to spread about your units thankfully so you can dodge the Radial Attack.

But lastly, and not least, what do you expect a Truck ramming into someone does? Well, it self destructs. Kinda happens when you run straight into something.

Self Destruct: Crush this unit.

And so end the adventures of the Hazmat truck. Until it gets respawned of course... At a cost of 1, and being a neutral unit, it's fun for the whole family! And by family, I mean "Whatever faction you play".

Get your fun time Suicide Bomber today!

Friday: "So jealous right now..."

I am the voice of Doom.

From days of long ago, from uncharted regions of the universe, comes a legend; the legend of Voltron, Defender of the Universe, a mighty robot, loved by good, feared by evil. As Voltron's legend grew, peace settled across the galaxy. On Planet Earth, a Galaxy Alliance was formed. Together with the good planets of the solar system, they maintained peace throughout the universe, until a new horrible menace threatened the galaxy. Voltron was needed once more. This is the story of the super force of space explorers, specially trained and sent by the Alliance to bring back Voltron, Defender of the Universe!

And now you can play it on your very own table. The pack contains all you need for two players to play on a Voltron Map, brawling over a Super Nova or over a Blazing Comet! It's all fun and games with the Great Protector, Voltron, and his Fiendish Arch Nemesis, Lo-Tron!

Now the Voltron box is not your standard starter set. In the Voltron box, you receive your pre-set figures of 5 u nits and 1 Morpher Monster, a Pentamorpher which I will discuss later, for each side. You get a double sided map specially designed for the Voltron sets. The play area is smaller than the standard Monsterpocalypse map size, but makes up for it by having ability descriptions on each side of the sheet, along with health and dice trackers.

The trackers aren't your traditional Plastic Doohickey with nubs that click across. They are 4 counters you place over rows of numbers set in your side of the Play Mat and you share the set of 24 dice provided in the box.

You play your figures as you normally would for Units and Morphers, but it's a Pentamorpher. One Morpher from each side has the ability Quick, so players who are still used to the Series 3 monsters with 4 morpher figures, there's no worry about it being overly expensive to move your monster around the board. If anything, you can spread out a bit more and have an extra boost to your flanks.

Quick: If this figure is the same FAC as your monster, this figure can advance without spending an A-Die.

Entering your Hyper Form is exactly as it was before. Pick a space where a morpher figure occupied and place a portion of your Hyper Forms base on that space. However, Hypering Down has changed for Pentamophers. The rule for standard morphers is to place the figures within the four spaces the Hyper form occupied. Pentamorphers are different.

You pick a space within the area occupied by your Hyper Form and place one of your five Pentamorphers. The remaining four Pentamorphers are placed anywhere adjacent to that figure. As far as I know, this does not change the rule for standard Morphers.

Aside from those differences, there are no buildings or standard Monsterpocalypse Maps available in the Voltron set, which is easily remedied with buying unit boosters and a Map Pack.

Shameless Plug: Fastbreak has a good stock of Series 1 Map Packs, which contain a large number of maps along with the Government Building, along with unit boosters from all series for sale.

We're ready to form Voltron! Activate interlocks! Dyna-therms connected. Infra-cells up; mega-thrusters are go!
Let's go, Voltron Force!

Next Friday: "So Jealous Right Now"

The Uprising Wants You

In todays army, we fight with order and synergy. Brothers in arms is more than just a metaphore. It's real. And we fight with a semblance of order in our regiments.

Todays topic is Force Composition. I've seen quite a few different compositions in the past. Some rampant with different units, few sticking to a particular theme. Personally, I stick to faction and vary my units into Groups.

• Mollok Brutes x3
• - Elites x2
• Mollok Berserker x1
• Mollok Mortar x3
• - Glass x1
• - Elite x2
• Groundbreaker x3

With the release of new units, I have to mix this up. I start with what I have to use, what I have, and then organise them. So I have come up with this.

• Oppressors x2
• - Elite x1
• Mollok Brutes x2
• - Elite x1
• Grinder Tank x3
• - Elite x1
• - Ral Kurrilik
• Hazmat Truck
• Groundbreaker x2
• Mollok Berserker

So I got rid of the Mollok Mortars. They can't seem to keep up in my opinion so I planted in all of my Grinder Tanks. Now they have a worse attack than the Mollok Mortars. Much worse. The tanks have 3*0 whie the Mortars have 2*1. And I'm all about efficiency. But I'm going to give them a chance. I can see how Ral Kurrilik goes too. He's good for many situations other than just shooting. Red Rage? Game on.

The Oppressors are a nifty choice. I find a bit of excitement out of them actually. Them, the Mollok Berserker and the Hazmat Truck. I reckon that they make for a good combo. Why? Well for an entire 10 action die, you can get off a rather nasty attack.

Spawn a Mollok Berserker, a grunt Oppressor and the Hazmat Truck. You run them all into a target. If you can't get them all on the target, use an action die to Tow the Hazmat Truck up. Then make a combined attack. They all have at least 1 boost die. If the Berserker is adjacent to all, then get another boost die per figure. That's a 3*6 die attack. Sadly, all figures will die from the explosion, but that's still really fun. KABOOM!

Groundbreakers remain to be useful for collecting power points and securing buildings, but I've only had a few cases where he was good for his flank ability. But still plays a good role. And dropping one from my usually array of figures isn't too much of a hassle.

Mollok Brutes stay. The three of them to make a 3*8 attack out of the blue makes me giggle. And being Defence 4 and Speed 5 with Jump makes them pretty reliable to get across the field to mess someone up.

But this is my choice. What compositions do other people come up with and why?

Next Week: You could almost believe it was BP...

Hit me Mogroth one more time

Okay, I'll begin by saying I'm sorry if I teased people into thinking this was about Mogroth. Frankly, I'm waiting for Quantum Mogroth to see if a completely different alternative to his Ultra and Mega fai– sorry, FORMS – can improve him.

But No, this is the final installation of the MC-Thugrosh blogpost series. That's right, the end is nigh ladies and gentlemen, and you will be so relieved once you've finished reading this post. The same sort of relief you get from passing gall stones.


Both forms keep very little from their Alpha and Ultra forms. The Blackcurrant Overlord Cthugrosh kept Jump and Terrify, while the metallic monstrosity Mechathugrosh kept Halt. Otherwise, their whole basket of tricks has flipped upside down and into something a bit more... offensive.

It has been made a point by some players that Mega Ribena King is better than his Ultra Form by offending much more than his support. His previous attacks were rather standard, and while Fling on the blast made for some great range, there just isn't enough in the way to prevent a Monster from making a Power Attack against you. So why not, remain a Blastard and just give it a kick.

Overload: If target monster’s controller has more than 5 P-Dice, this monster’s attack does super damage.

So it's a question of how your opponent wants to fight. Do they want to suffer 2 damage per Blast? Are they able? Do they want to run light on Power Die and spend more Action Die? It's an interesting question for opponents, one that is answered on a player by player basis. Quite a few will suffer the Super damage, but because they can deal more damage at the same time. Always a good reason, in my opinion.

Once again, the great imitating comedians that are Ubercorp International, kept to the same plot as Cthugrosh and made Mechathugrosh a Blastard as well making the Gatling Snout more effective. While UCI couldn't develop an item to measure power (All prototypes explodes at 9000 against the side of someones head) they decided on something a bit more reliable.

Crunch: If this monster’s attack rolled 1 or more super strikes, it does super damage.

Much more reliable on Blast Stats of 6*3. While Super Strikes are 1 in 6 chance per die, you're still rolling 9 dice before you add Power-die into the attack. Chances are good, my friend. But one thing that Mr Boomboxes has that Mr Purple Nurple doesn't, is an advantage to his attacks.

Rage: After this figure hits with an attack, gain +1 P-Die.

It's as simple as you can get, but Cthugrosh doesn't have that. He can't gain Power Die with every attack he makes. He needs to destroy a unit or a form to do that. Or he can take a hit.

Power Sink: If your opponent rolls 1 or more P-Dice in an attack, gain +1 P-Die.

One thing that's a guarantee in this game is that players who like taking multiple activations will use Power Die on their attacks. And with my group, there are a lot of Power Attacks being thrown around. So the Gigantic Gelatine that is Cthugrosh will gain a Power-Die After Power-Die each turn. While it's only 1 die, that one can change the outcome of the game. Give you that one extra space for a Power Attack throw or Smash; maybe give a better guarantee for the blast attack; or just intimidate your opponent into having a hasty unit turn to protect their own monster.

A ctivate copy and paste, and add some UCI ingenuity, and we justify the Red Stripe for Mechathugrosh.

Riled: If this figure is hit, gain +1 P-Die.

In my mind, the wonderful mind with yellow bricks roads leading to the underdome that is Cthul's playground, Mechathugrosh is pretty much what I would call the energiser bunny. It just keeps going and going and going without any energy to lose.

That's pretty much all Mega Mechathugrosh (say that 5 times fast) has to offer. The only other thing Mega Cthugrosh has is an insult to injury.

Mire: Enemy units count spaces within 2 spaces of this figure twice when advancing into them.

Units couldn't touch him, and units have a hard time getting away from him. While not as effective as Halt, the ability itself didn't exist until series 3. So spare a little liniency.

So ladies an gentlemen, now that I have finished making analogies and comparisons and innuendos about Robots and Tentacles, I bid you adieu and hope you enjoy next weeks post.

Next week: I am the voice of Doom.

But like a car crash, you can't just look away

Tuesday night was fun. Rather than the current plan of “Go to Scotts for painting” which we've done the past few weeks, I stayed at Fastbreak. It helped that I got a message from Kel asking if I was going to Fastbreak, and one from Andy asking how long I'll be there for. I almost suspected Bernadette would be bringing in cake for me again, like she did last year.

While I didn't get cake, I did bring in my Voltron Monsterpocalypse set and played a few games with Pekin, Doc, and Kel. W e got a fair few games in between us, swapping monsters over and over again. It was very fun and we tested out both maps as well.

Sidenote: one must remember that some Power Crystals on the Comet Map are on Rough Terrain.
Also: It's really hard to keep out of the way of a supernova.

We organised with Paul for a release event as well. We go to fastbreak, grab box and sit down for shenannigannery. July 16th for those interested!


Last night though, while waiting for jenny to message me, I went onto youtube and looked up the first and second episodes of Voltron. The lion one, not the vehicle one. And boy was it bad. Fair enough, it was like watching Speed Racer where everything was so cheaply done it's not funny, but the voices... oh god the voices.

Sven was really trying too hard to put on an accent. And don't get me started on Pidge. He sounds like he's chocking on a kazoo. They could've gotten a throat cancer patient with cotton wool stuffed in his cheeks to do a better job.

But I watched it until I drifted off to sleep during the last part of the second episode. I enjoyed it though, and a few memories started sparking up in the depths of my mind. It's been so long, all I could remember was Voltron himself. But now I'm slowly remembering more and more. I think. I just remember the funny door to the arena where the Robeast would enter from.

Good times. I'm going to watch more tonight as I paint some figures.

Voltron in the HIZZOUSE!

Saturday was a giggly day. I play a game called Monsterpocalypse, where you get a monster, a handful of units, and you run rampant in a town as you destroy your opponents monster and units. Buildings are everywhere and you deal more damage as you throw them into buildings!

But Saturday, I got Voltron. Anyone who remembers it will remember the five lions forming into a Giant robot with a sword and a funny hat. That's him, along with his arch nemesis: Lo-Tron, a guy with batwings and a flail (“My wings are a shield of steel”).

Kel and I each got a box each to get some demo games in so we're probably going to have a practise run tonight at Fastbreak.

I'm excited.

Spray and Pray

Tanks, the classic form of artillery. They come in all shapes and uses. Long range, short range, ballistic, lightning arcs, and even AntiAircr-OW! Stop it Scott.

But these have mostly been limited to GUARD, the humanoid faction who have tanks up the whazoo. But with the Subterran Uprising coming forth they bring their own vehicles. And for lack of a better description, they're Tanks. And so we have Todays Highlight: Grinder Tanks.


I wasn't sure what to expect of these guys. There had already been a preview of Ral Kurrilik who has a unique style of play. So that means whatever he does has NOTHING to do with what the others do.

In a previous blog, I mentioned that the only spoilers available about the grinder tanks was that they have the Marker advantage. This is true, and frankly it's a great ability. The number of times it has foiled my plans for domination have been remarkable.

Marker (Advantage): If this figure participated in an attack that missed, reroll the attack roll with dice in play

But that's just the spoiler. There are two abilities that it's missing. Well, actually there's one. Frankly, one of them is Obvious: Burrow. If you have a Moleman and he doesn't have burrow, then he has Jump.

But the last ability on this guy is interesting, there's only one other figure that has it, and I keep getting an AntiAircr-OW! Scott, stop it... tank thrown at my head.

Flak: If target unit has Flight, all monsters and units adjacent to it with Flight and a DEF equal to or less than the number of strikes rolled take 1 damage.

Wow, that's... Terrible. So your target needs flight. Right, fair enough. Your target needs to have other flying units around it to be effective! Yeah... That's... That''s pretty limited to a few themed armies. Like Sky Sentinel. And... Martian Menace! And... I dunno. Seriously, there are few situations where it can take advantage of a situation. The only figure that has Flak is the AntiAircr-OW! Scott, stop it - and it has Anti-Air.

Anti-Air: If this figure participates in an attack against a figure with Flight , this figure gains +1 brawl and blast B-Dice.

The AA-Tank (OW!) lucks out at relatively poor manoeuvrability and poor blast and brawl attacks. Having 1*0 on both their attacks, the Grinder Tank gets to play around with up to 3 Action-die on either of their attacks. And they get to re-roll it. This is useful anywhere, whereas Anti-Air can only be used on the short range Blast he has. It works on his brawl, however, he can't target flying units with his brawl.

Now I see what they were aiming for. You have an AA Battery firing many MANY bullets into the sky to try and hit something and if they're cluttered together, well then the saying "Spray and Pray" is true to its word.

And with the presence of Ral-Kurrilik (Ï'm getting really good at remembering how to type his name) you can get more benefits out of it. Red Rage on him gives them that little bonus to the resolution of their attacks.

Rage: After this figure hits with an attack, gain +1 P-Die.

So you get a 3 A-die attack with a basic Grinder Tank, with a Re-Roll and extra Power Die when you hit? Game on. I'll be testing the fella out over the next few weeks so keep your hats on kids!

Next week: The Uprising Wants You

A Carnidon walks into a bar...

...and the Bartender says "You're the worst Bruce Campbell Impersonator I've ever met."

The Carnidon is a poor victim of punishment. He gets the short straw every time there's an example he could be involved in, whether it's being crushed, flung, run over or abducted, he's always there to lend a helping hand because there's nothing else he can really do.

But why? What's wrong with the Carnidon? Why does such a prestigious blog like "I Hate Mogroth" (I'm snickering as I write this) like to pick on the Carnidon?

Well frankly, it's because he's useless anywhere else. Lets have a look at his stats.

• Speed 4
• Defence 3
• Brawl 2*1

So he's a bit slow, ironic for a stat called 'Speed'. He has an average unit Defence, and his Brawl is pretty good too, they can really dig into a good brawl if they want. No blast stat, which makes sense since he's no Godzilla. So he's a Brawler. Now lets look at his abilities and see what he has to offer.

• 
  
• 
  
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Okay then. So he has no manoeuvrability, which makes getting him across the board that much harder. He doesn't have anything special when he attacks, so he has to rely on brute force. And he doesn't really disrupt anything, except maybe cluttering up the field.

There are other alternatives, like the Raptix.

• Speed 6
• Defence 2
• Brawl 2*0
• Jump
• Anti-air
• Flank

The Raptix was introduced the same time as the Carnidon. And frankly, he was a preferable option over the Carnidon. Jump to manoeuvre and attack flying units; anti-air to take advantage of flying units; Flank to support friendly units and help with their own attack.

Nobody really fielded a Carnidon unless they had to. And the only reason you'd field a Carnidon is to secure buildings. They have a reasonable defence, and with the added bonus of cover, it's not a bad option. And if anyone attacks, they can hustle and because they have a decent brawl, all they have to worry about is whether or not the target is flying.

But we here at I Hate Mogroth believe that everyone has at least 1 second job. Unfortunately it's regularly ridicule. But the Carnidon is better than Ridicule. It doesn't get its feelings hurt by someone saying "Oh that unit is crap". No, he gets physically hurt for the sake of example! He's the plastic army man in the little kids sandpit who goes on wonderful adventures where he dies over and over again. The Carnidon is happy to take the job. Recognition in a way nobody else can get? That sounds fantastic!

We don't hate the Carnidon. He's our favourite and he can only get better. And if there are more interesting situations that we can subject him to, then I can't wait.

Next Week: Hit me Mogroth One More Time

Dustbunnies Beware!

For years they have tumbled across our carpets, pretending they exist in a good Cowboy Showdown film. They hide underneath your couch, confer within your cupboard, and flee to the corners of your living room. They were chased, searched for and interrogated by every house cleaner known to man.

But now... they're being Hunted.Wait, that doesn't look right. Is that... a Hoover? Or a Godfreys? I think we'll try this again.

But now... They're being Hunted.Much better. These are the Oppressors, cleaning carpets everywhere with the greatest efficiency and with their own two hands. But this is no Share House Apartment in the middle of Brisbane Suburbia. This is War. And everything is as dirty as a Lords of Cthul Joke.

What we know for certain so far is that they have 2 abilities.

Burrow: (Skill): This figure can move through figures and treats all terrain as open terrain. It is immune to hazards while advancing.
Abduct (Action): If this figure and another FAC figure with Abduct are adjacent to the same enemy unit, crush that unit. Do not gain a P-Die for crushing it.

If you don't know what Burrow is, then you've been playing the wrong faction. It's on par with Jump, in that it can stand on water but can't attack Flying Figures. Well fair enough, but Abduct doesn't restrict on whether a figure is flying or not. It needs two Oppressors adjacent to a unit and “POP” goes the Carnidon.

The images in my head of this change between figures and factions. The first appearance was from the Martian Menace, running from the classic “Flying Saucer Abducting Cattle” method where a bright shining light suddenly levitates the poor bovine into the confines of the saucer.

The other faction I can think of that has this ability is within Terrasaurs, specifically Pteradax. One of his Hyper forms has Blue Abduct. Now, it's not so much Abduct as tearing someone part as part of a feeding frenzy. Carnidons can do something! Now if they could only get adjacent to an enemy unit...

But now we have the Oppressors, fat people with hardware designer masks and suction fists. The image in my head isn't pretty. Its like a “Hoovers & Godfreys Tug-o-War Match!” using real people-slash--slash-machines-slash-animals-slash-alien vehicles-slash-spam-slash-alien beings-slash-tentacle demons-slash-fish-slash-spam-slash-etcetera. Winner has the largest intact piece.

I'm shuddering right now. Imagine hosing out the compartment...


Now that I've finished shuddering for the last couple of days and gotten my hands on the actual figure, I can now tell you about his last ability and his stats. Yes, the fella has a final ability which is actually really useful.

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.

Ah, Tow. This is an awesome ability. Place a unit right next to you for a combined attack? This goes well for his 2*1 Brawl. And with such a long range, the figure can be on the opposite side of the board and so long as he gets close he can get suckered into doing something! (hehe, I made a Pun).

Using this, you can boost their Brawl Attacks even more! They start with a Brawl of 3*1 and if you get the trio, including 1 Elite, you get 9*6 to your attack. Tow in a Mollok Berserker to add in Berserk and you have a 9*9 attack. Most likely there will only be 3 Action Die in the attack, but that's Maths for you. I prefer my other option involving the boosting the towing and boosting of a HazMat Truck.

So there you have it. They Sucker punch whoever is in their way andnothing is going to stop them.

Next Week: Spray and Pray

My milkshakes bring all the Spawn to the yard

Welcome to Part 2 of the Mecha/Cthugrosh debate, where we delve into the discussion of "Is Newer Better?" and our particular victims of argument are the Lords of Cthul and Ubercorp International, and their Fluorescent Monsterpieces.Now if there is one thing I've learnt, it's that only a 10,000 year old Demon lord slumming in the depths of the ocean, or a Pimp, can get away with wearing a Pink Suit and get away with it. And when you're both, you make that suit full-body-spandex and leave a bit for eyes.

The downside to being a 10,000 year old Demon is that the saying "Old Dogs can't learn new tricks" is actually rather apt. Sadly, the old Gerry can get a bit Senile as well and he forgets things along the way. Sacrifice, Telekinesis, Power Gorge (Brawl) and Fling (Blast) all remain the same, but Summon is completely missing.

Where did Summon go? What did get get in place of Summon? How will I get get a Meat Slave placed in front of me to prevent Power Attacks?

Well I don't know. He just stopped procreating for no reason. Oh, that's what the problem is: Menopause.

Now that I've gotten myself into trouble, we'll see what else has changed and what he has gained. Which applies to his last two abilities.

Jump: You really want me to type this out?
Terrify: Enemy units cannot advance adjacent to this figure. (Not an exact quote)

So Jump is a step down from Flight. Figures with flight can't be targeted by Brawl attacks unless they have Flight, Jump or Reach. As a penalty, figures with 'Anti-Air' have a bonus to hit against them. Jump however is exactly the same as flight but can be targeted with any kind of Brawl Attack but nobody has a bonus to hit. So Cthugrosh can still run about willy nilly ignoring figures so he can pimp slap from wherever he wants. The downside? A Carnidon can try and hit him.

But wait, what was that? He has Terrify? Meaning units, such as the Carnidon, can't advance to Brawl him? HA! No peon can go up to Cthugrosh and ask the going rate. He only deals with big clients who know no price.

And a good client is one that can understand, see from a business mans point of view, though has a different point of view because not everyone is the same.

Mechathugrosh understands Cthugrosh on his own level. But the question remaining is whether a new Generation of Neon Orange Coats can beat the Old Dogs in their Pink Suits.

The Men in White Coats, the UCI Scientists of Biological Emulation, thought to keep with their trends and rolled a few abilities over to Ultra Mechathugrosh. Tow, Transport and Motivator all remain as things that can not really be changed. He can always roll out a Mecha Task master whenever he wants, and give them a chance to reach something faster. if not, he pulls them towards him and lets whatever minions are already there deal with it.

The best part of using Tow?

Halt: Enemy units that begin their advancement adjacent to this figure can advance only 1 space.

So any figure that gets Towed adjacent to Mechathugrosh gets thrown into a Weakened Tractor. Ever heard the saying "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer?"

Which leaves the poor Carnidon more impotent than he originally was. That's all nice and dandy. But how about some Smackdown? We'll start on the approach.

Now in the last post with Mechathugrosh, I mentioned that he can Pimp Slap a unit 7 spaces across the field. Particularly, I mentioned that he has to align with a unit to Power Attack Swat. This was Incorrect. You don't need to align with it, it just needs to be adjacent. For that I apologise. Now Ultra Mechathugrosh makes up for it by changing the way he pimp slaps.

Burrow: This figure can move through figures and treats all terrain as open terrain. It is immune to hazards while advancing.
Weapon Master: This monster’s attack does super damage.

So the image in my mind has Mechathugrosh Brawling someone as he jumps out of the ground. And this happy snappy is in a Motivational Poster with the lines:

SURPRISE PIMP SLAP!
Did you order a side of...

Ah Internet Pop Culture, how you amuse me.

I think the white coats of UCI are a little... well oblivious on the methods of the conventional pimp. A Conventional Pimp doesn't believe in "If you want the job done right, do it yourself". It's pretty much a level of blasphemy if you're a big time Pimp.

But if you're just starting out, only learning how to move your business around, you have to make an example. Instead of letting your lackeys take on the trash, you have to bring them in and say "What do you say to a man who owns a pig farm?"

Mechathugrosh does have to take matters into his own hand. And with that, his Pimp Slap has to make an impression. And to make an impression, it has to be a massive amount of damage as part of a sudden event. Popping out of the ground and slapping someone as hard as possible is a probably one of the best ways of putting someone in their place.

Now the debate remains of which is better? Well that depends on your perspective.

So each party takes a different style of play. Ultra Cthugrosh is much the same as his alpha, where he heals and throws everyone about from a distance. His Blast attack thriving at an effective 10 space range gives him little protection as he sits back amongst his units that he sacrifices to heal himself.

The downside? He has an average health of 5. The lowest and most common health there is in the game. With the commonality of Buildings with Hazards dealing extra damage, having the Sacrifice action isn't exactly going to save him from Power Attack Throws. His Defence 7 will make it difficult, but his survival still stands at 2 turns including a Ritual Sacrifice, three if a meat slave is used in between. If the scenario has no hazards you can take damage from as you collide with it, then he can last for about 4 turns, more with Meat Slaves.

Ultra Mechathugrosh is not the same. Their stats are exactly the same except Mechathugrosh's defence of 6, and his regeneration is nothing in comparison. Which is where he makes up for it in Super Damage.

So which is better? Full-Bodied Pink Spandex? or Neon Orange?

Next Friday: A Carnidon Walks into a Bar...

Big In Tokyo

Today is the day that Fastbreak gives my group and I our Big In Tokyo set. We'll tear open the boxes like kiddilywinks at Cthulmas. It's very exciting. We grab a case each and divide the winnings amongst ourselves, getting both of our Monsters for the series and a handful of units for everyone to play with.

I'm quite excited as from my bag of goodies, I finally get to see the Grinder Tank and the Oppressors. AKA: Cousins of Cranky, and the Bagless Vacuum Cleaners. Through spoilers released by Privateer Press, we know that they have some nifty rules.

Grinder Tank
Marker (Advantage): If this figure participated in an attack that missed, reroll the attack roll with dice in play.

Oppressors
Burrow (Skill): If you don't know it, you're in the wrong faction.
Abduct (Action): If this figure and another FAC figure with Abduct are adjacent to the same enemy unit, crush that unit. Do not gain a P-Die for crushing it.

That's all we know. No stats, no other abilities (though it's assumed the Grinder Tank has Burrow as well) and I have to wait until tonight when I open up the stuff and examine the gear. I may even talk about the new buildings in Big In Tokyo! instead of Jibber Jabbering about copycats.

So Next Tuesday: Dustbunnies Beware!

Voltron: Defender of the Universe

A little while ago I wrote about Lo-tron, a nemesis to Voltron who lives with a rather lame name, and I delved into the previews of their 5 piece morpher. Three figures and their Ultra have been previewed insofar, along with the two Maps featured in the Voltron Set.

So since Lo-tron has been previewed, lets move onto Voltron, the real star of the show. Only three lions have been previewed, just as Lo-tron was: Blue Lion, Green Lion and to form the head: Black Lion.. And as with Lo-trons Morphers, each figure is unique in it's own way by taking different roles.We begin with Blue Lion, disappearing into the sky with his wonderous colour, he takes on a support role with his abilities that aren't flight.

Power Gorge (Blast): You gain +1 P-Die.
Motivator: AGN figures that begin their advance adjacent to this figure gain +1 SPD.

While his blast attack isn't particularly special at 3*1, Power Gorge gives a great benefit. attacking a unit yields 2 Power Die. Considering the low defence of units, this is a good idea for attack alternatives.

Motivator is a nifty addition to the Morphers. With Green Lions Speed of 6 spaces, it can slingshot him into a scrum of units so he can support them.Green Lion is an interesting Morpher. He's not proficient in anything but moving. His Brawl is 3*1, which is only slightly weaker than the others at 4*1, but it's good enough to set off his Brawl Trigger.

Synchronized Move (Brawl): Choose 1 allied unit within 2 spaces of this figure and advance that unit up to its SPD, even if it has already advanced this turn.

Now on a normal Monster, I could see the benefits. You attack and you can shunt a unit in the way to prevent Power Attacks. In a scenario play, it can definitely be good. But Scenario play will be a topic for another blogpost. So there's plenty of movement. And to boot, he does it for free.

Quick: If this figure is the same FAC as your monster, this figure can advance without spending an A-Die.

So the movement of 6 spaces, 7 with Motivator, can mean you're thrown across the 13x13 square field without even thinking twice about it. And when he does realise he's on the other side of the field, he can decide if he wants to step and spend some action die.Players that I've encountered have been more keen on offensive power, though, and ability to disrupt as such. That's where we form The Head! Black Lion stands to offend with this two triggers.

Toss (Brawl): Place target monster in a new location up to 4 spaces away from its current location in a straight line in a direction chosen by the attacker. You can place the target only into unoccupied spaces or spaces occupied by buildings and/or units.
Crunch: If this monster’s attack rolled 1 or more super strikes, it does super damage.

Yes, he's more than a few harsh words. With his average attack stats of 4*1 each, all he really needs is to combine his attacks. Toss has always been a very annoying ability but that's because I like playing Ulgoth who can't be Power Attack Thrown normally.

That is our merry band of Morphers for Voltron: Defender of the universe. And as per tradition in Pop Culture, one must make a drinking game. Whenever someone Hypers up to Voltron, they have to say "And I'll form.. The Head" or they take a shot. And when they make a Brawl Attack with voltron, they have to say "Form Blazing Sword!" or they take a shot. And whenever Lo-Tron is destroyed, they have to say... dangit, I forgot the line. I'll take a shot.

We couldn't think of more at the time, but I'll be sure to post them all up when we've figured them out. Suggestions are welcome!But now we move onto the Robot Himself: Voltron. In all his Multi-Coloured Glory and Blazing sword formed, he stands proud amongst the field of battle to smite his enemies into oblivion. And because it's Blazing-freakin-Sword, he has to be good with it.

Weapon Master (Brawl): This attack deals Super Damage.
Reach: This figure can make brawl attacks against and participate in combined brawl attacks against target figures within 2 spaces and can attack figures that have Flight .

That's right. He can attack figures that have Flight. Why? Well frankly it's because he's big. And swinging about his Blazing Sword at 8*4, he's bound to hit something sooner or later. So why not do it in a very large area of attack space?

Now Voltron isn't just going to use his Blazing Sword. That just gets predictable. If someone's waving their sword around in your face, you don't just let it, do you? No. you grab a hold of it and surprise them with a different manoeuvre.

So why not try a Power Attack?

Synchronised Move (Power): Cannot be squixed re-typing it.
Super Smash: This monster’s smash power attacks do super damage.

I mentioned before the Sync-Move (Yes, I am getting Lazy) is good for normal monsters. It can line up a unit to prevent Power Attacks against the monster in the following turn. Unless they have something to get them out of the way, like Telekinesis or Tow.

With Blazing Sword Formed and a small need to barrel into people as hard as possible, Voltron makes for a simple but good monster. He won't exactly take over the Universe, but that's because he's too busy defending it from others, like Lo-Tron and the Lords of Cthul.

It'll be interesting if they release the vehicle Voltron. Who wants to play a 15 figure Morpher?

Next Friday: "My Milkshakes bring all the Spawn the Yard"

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!