Power Rangers SPD Ranger Pack and Merciless Minions 2 Review

Renegade Game Studios continues to support their deep but rewarding co-op board game, Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid. The game has demonstrated both polish and reverence for the different eras of the show through numerous expansions to the core game. Everything from classic MMPR to the Hasbro era to the Boom! Studios comics continuity. Now, with the Power Rangers SPD Ranger Pack and Merciless Minions 2, the space police of the Disney era have their time to shine.

Power Rangers Heroes of the Grid – SPD Ranger Pack

The SPD Ranger Pack contains the core team of SPD's B-Squad: Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, and Pink. Each character comes with their own miniature, character card, combat deck, and zord. The pack also contains two new megazord cards: Deltamax Megazord and the Delta Squad Megazord.

Power Rangers SPD is a beloved series by the fanbase. It was ambitious for its time, delivering strong character performances, as well as an epic tale of conquering empires and moral complexity. Thankfully, a lot of that creative spark fans love is present in how the team plays in Heroes of the Grid.

SPD Red, Jack Landors, is the most support oriented Red Ranger in the game to date. This is because his cards either allow extra cards to be played, or become more potent when more cards are played in a single turn.

Hybrid Magnum deals flat damage then lets someone play another card. Attack of Opportunity gains extra attack dice if another ranger played a card during a battle. This synergizes with It's All Coming Together, which generates energy based on how many rangers have played a card in a single combat round.

Pair this with his Phantom Leader ability, which lets you immediately play a card when certain criteria are met, and Jack can enable not just some great synergies, but energy for the team.

SPD Blue, Sky Tate, is a bruiser tank. Barricade can reduce incoming damage for two teammates. This can be combined with Barrier Break, which deals damage to enemies if incoming damage is reduced. This is similar to Sky's Barrier Field character ability, which can reduce incoming damage as well. Even Tactical Shot attack card reduces damage as a side effect.

Next is the quirky SPD Green, Bridge Carson. Bridge's deck focuses more on energy management. Bridge's Setup Strike reduces the cost of the next combat card by 1, his Psychometry character ability reduces energy cost by 2, and his Deltamax Booster which can reduce cost by 3.

Not only can this teammates to pull off some strong attacks, it works with Bridge's Green Crash reaction card, which generates energy and deals damage to enemies if a card's cost is reduced below zero.

Following that is SPD Yellow, Z Delgado. Z is the closest thing to a dedicated assault character for SPD. This is thanks to her deck's ability to replicate dice rolls. Double Team is a maneuver that lets a teammate play an attack card and duplicate the result of one of their dice. Did you roll a crit? Now you have two of them. Her character ability, Replication, works similarly.

Lastly, there is Z's Deltamax Riot. This is a four-dice attack where you can duplicate the result of any dice from the attack twice, then add it to the next attack card played. Simply put, Z feels like a one-woman army when all of these effects come together.

Finally, there is SPD Pink, Syd Drew. Broadly, Syd's killer feature is how she can convert dice results. Fist of Iron is attack that lets you turn a miss into a crit. Syd's Transmutation character ability can do the same, albeit with a bit more cost. But Syd's ace in the hole is her Deltamax Burst, a reaction card that can convert up to five combat dice results into crits.

If you liked how the Light and Darkness expansion's Mercury Ranger messed with dice results, then Syd pushes that concept even further.

Overall, the SPD Rangers are a very versatile team. They are similar to the Time Force Rangers in terms of playstyle. Most of their power doesn't come from high damage dice but through coordination, and smart risk management.

There's also a greater emphasis on crowd control. The team's shared card, Deltamax Fire, targets footsoldiers, and their Deltamax Megazord deals bonus damage whenever a footsoldier is defeated.

But the team does have some weaknesses. First and foremost, the team can burn through resources if not managed properly. Each team member's character ability costs energy, which can backfire in the midgame. All of the maneuver and reaction combos can lead to you running out of cards if things go bad.

Both of these factors can lead to the team barely hanging on in the late game, depending on your choice of tiles and command center. Finally, the team struggles against tankier bosses and monsters due to their lack of high damage attacks and underwhelming reroll abilities.

Interestingly, some of the SPD Team's weaknesses are covered by one of their own: the SPD Shadow Ranger Commander Crueger. If you think SPD needs some extra firepower, then seek out Ally Pack 1 when you can.

Power Rangers Heroes of the Grid – Merciless Minions 2

Accompanying the Power Rangers SPD Ranger Pack is Merciless Minions 2. This pack contains three new footsoldier miniatures. 8 Krybots and 4 Blue Head elite footsoldiers from Power Rangers SPD, and 12 Tyrannodrones from Power Rangers Dino Thunder. The pack contains deployment decks, combat decks for each footsoldier, and four new location tiles: Kat's Lab, Piggy's Cafe, Reefside High, and The Arcade.

Overall, the Krybots and Blue Heads contrast really well against the SPD team. The Krybots are aggressive. Shell Shock deals a lot of damage for a footsoldier card. Underworld Shots removes cards from the bottom of the deck, which can spell disaster for your team's defense. And Cannon Fodder and Overload Burst deal solid flat damage across the board.

If these footsoldiers are ignored, they will bruise your team.

The Blue Heads can apply serious pressure. Troobian Tactics is a Fast card that instantly activates two Krybot cards, guaranteeing 4-8 damage depending on your luck. Two-Pronged Strike not only deploys more Krybots to the board, but forces rangers to lose cards.

Headhunter is a brutal attack aimed at the lead ranger. Then there's Under Pressure, a passive card that increases energy cost for any once-per-battle ability. That includes the SPD Team's character abilities.

As for the Tyrannodrones, they veer towards resource drain and reducing your team's offense. Hardened Scales is a fast card that drains energy and removes a die from the next ranger attack. Wicked Spines is a Guard card that deals damage when it is defeated.

But the cruelest card is Foul Tactics, a Fast, Guard, and Passive card that makes it so you cannot roll more than two dice for an attack.

All in all, Merciless Minions 2 is a great addition to Heroes of the Grid. The Krybots and Blue Heads together are a potent blend of damage and drain. Shoutouts to Marco Zuffranieri and Jeanne Torres, whose artwork and layouts pack each card with menace.

Special mention must be given to the Tyrannodrones. Not only are they fierce footsoldiers, their playstyle is reminiscent of their creator, Mesogog from Villain Pack 4. If you ever wanted to play out a proper scenario of Power Rangers Dino Thunder in Heroes of the Grid, Merciless Minions 2 provides the tile and the footsoldiers for it.

Should I Buy Power Rangers SPD Ranger Pack and Merciless Minions 2?

If you're a huge fan of Power Rangers SPD, then I highly recommend the SPD Ranger Pack and Merciless Minions 2. The henchmen and ranger team are translated wonderfully to Heroes of the Grid, as well as provide extra support to the Dino Thunder team. Both of these packs are must-buys.

The SPD Ranger Pack and Merciless Minions 2 Pack were provided to the author by Renegade Game Studios. All photographs were taken by the author.