Power Rangers Time Force Pack and Merciless Minions 1 Review

Power Rangers Heroes of the Grid's ongoing support by Renegade Studios has been morphinomenal. The base game has a solid foundation of co-op tower defense while using the Power Rangers license to great effect. And they've successfully built on that foundation thanks to several well received big box expansions and character packs. The release of the Time Force Pack and Merciless Minions 1 does mark a new state for the game: the release of their first medium box expansion.

Power Rangers Heroes of the Grid – Time Force Pack

The Time Force Pack contains most of the core Time Force team: Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, and the Quantum Ranger. Each character comes complete with its own miniature, character card, combat deck, and zord as well as a new Megazord card. The pack also includes a sixth zord card that you can swap out if you don't want the zord associated with your color, as well as a unique double-sided Megazord token.

Power Rangers Time Force stands out in the fandom for several reasons. First, the writing and acting were exceptional during the “Post-Zordon” era of the show. It is also my favorite season bar none.

First, it must be noted that the sixth member of the team: Time Force Pink's Jen, is not in this pack. If you want the full team as well as the Time Force HQ Command Center piece, pick up the Shattered Grid big box expansion.

Time Force Red, Wes, is a support striker. His Brazen Strike hits with three dice but forces you to draw a card from the combat deck. His Chrono Break goes one step further, dealing 3 flat damage but you must mill your top card. But Wes also synergizes well with teammates thanks to his Pay It Forward Maneuver, which adds energy to the pool and lets a ranger play an empowered attack card. This ability is echoed in his Willful Strength character ability which lets you change the dice value of any teammate's attack to a similar card in your hand. Finally, there is his V-1 Blaster, a six dice attack card that can take on the ability text of any card a team mate discards. With a little communication, Wes can kick off some nasty combos.

As for Time Force Blue, Lucas brings some novel twists to defense. His Keep Your Cool Reaction adds two bonus shields to defense cards. His Chrono Thrust Attack adds an additional shield to the next defense card if it defeats a target. His Flexibility character ability allows you use the shield value of a card in your hand instead of the card revealed, which can stack nicely for some great block potential. Then there's his V-2 Blaster, which can get bonus attack dice if you reveal a card in your hand with a high shield value. But arguably Lucas' greatest utility is his Switch It Up! Maneuver, which gives a teammate a mulligan on their hand then play a card for free.

When it comes to having both control and defense, Trip, the Time Force Green Ranger might just be my new favorite. First, his Future Vision character ability lets you switch out a non Passive enemy card in the combat order with the top card of their combat deck, which can interrupt horrendous overlapping combos. His Electro Booster gains bonus damage dice when targeting enemy cards with energy drain, and his Chrono Trigger can help put lost cards back into teammates' decks. His big attack card, V-3 Blaster can forfeit damage dice to do this as well. But his stand out card has to be his Ambiguous Warning Reaction card. This is a three shield defense card that you put into your teammates' deck at the start of the battle. Not only does it help protect allies, but it also generates energy when revealed for defense.

Next is Time Force Yellow, Katie. Katie is the closest thing to a dedicated battery Time Force has. Her All or Nothing Maneuver instantly adds energy to the pool and lets a teammate play a card, but the entire energy pool gets emptied once that card resolves. Her V-4 Blaster can also sacrifice dice to add more energy to the pool. But Katie manages to be a bruiser as well. Her Ground And Pound deals bonus damage to enemy cards that have already been resolved, and her Competitive Strength Reaction lets you roll 3 damage dice when another Ranger attacks then swap out your roll results with theirs. And if you really need to finish something off, her Heavy Force character ability lets you trade energy for extra damage.

Finally, there is Eric the Quantum Ranger. His Quantum Power character ability lets you roll two dice at the start of a battle then keep the result as your Quantum Die. Every single time you roll an attack, you can switch any result with your Quantum Die. Eric's entire deck revolves around this die. Quantum Trigger adds energy based on this die. The Silver Guardian Reaction reduces damage based on this die. Quantum Cut gets bonus dice based on this die. Even Eric's big hitting card, Quantum Defender, deals bonus splash damage based on this die. Pair this with his Focused Strike attack, which can turn a single miss into a hit or a hit into a crit, and you can be a complete powerhouse with this Ranger.

This impressive team synergy continues with Time Force's zords. Time Flyer 1 lets you discard a card for a single four dice attack. Time Flyer 2, lets your swap your current hand with your deck. Time Flyer 3 lets you switch around any and all foot soldiers in the combat sequence. Time Flyer 4 lets you trade more energy for more damage, essentially Katie's Heavy Force a second time. And the Quantasaurus Rex lets you roll and keep two dice that can be swapped between any ranger attack, pushing Eric's Quantum Power even further. As for that zord wild card, Shadow Winger, it can instantly swap the locations of two rangers on the board. Finally, the Time Force Megazord lets you completely ignore either the Fast or the Guard keyword for every single battle in a chosen location.

In fact, utility is the best descriptor for Time Force. More than any other team in the game, each character's cards and abilities mesh so well that they can adapt to just about any situation. While they don't have any massively powerful 10-dice nuclear combos, they really don't need them when they can stay in the fight, reliably generate steady power, and make what little dice they roll hit and crit as needed.

Power Rangers Heroes of the Grid – Merciless Minions 1

Next, we have Heroes of the Grid's first medium box expansion, Merciless Minions 1. If you've played your share of Grid games, there's a chance you've gotten too familiar with certain henchmen. Or worse, you wish you had henchmen that fit different eras of the show rather than defaulting to standard Putties again.

This is where Merciless Minions 1 comes into play. First, you get two brand new footsoldiers: The Cogs from Power Rangers Zeo and the Cyclobots from Power Rangers Time Force. The pack contains 12 miniatures of each footsoldier, as well as deployment cards and two dedicated combat decks. On top of that, the pack contains four new location tiles to go with those deployment cards: Bio Lab, The Clocktower, Stone Canyon High, and Interstate Highway. Each of these locations also have new B-Side versions for more advanced players. Finally, there is a Chaos Putty combat deck, an alternate combat deck for Putty Patroller footsoldiers.

First impressions of Merciless Minions 1 is great. The Cyclobot and Cog miniatures continue Renegade Game Studio's streak of quality miniatures and playing cards. Special shout out must also be given to artist Afu Chan, whose more exaggerated artstyle helps give robotic henchmen a lot of personality in each of their combat cards.

As for the dangers these henchmen pose, they are nothing to sneeze at either. The Cogs' Clockwork Blaster and Shock Spear drain energy as well as damage. Tick Tock Kick becomes more powerful the later in the combat order it resolves, and their Passive, Some Dissassembly Required, basically revives a defeated footsoldier card. The Cyclobots alternatively are more aggressive. Cleaving Strike deals damage to two different rangers, Overwhelm automatically skips the next ranger turn, and the Forward March Guard Passive deals bonus damage when adjacent cards resolve.

Finally, as far as making classic henchmen nastier, the Chaos Putties pull that off wonderfully. Forced Frenzy causes either a lost card and damage or energy drain. Total Mayhem deals bonus damage equal to the number of panicked locations, Chaos Burst deals damage equal to the number of cards in your hand, and the Erratic Movement Passive provides bonus health.

Should I Buy Power Rangers Time Force Pack and Merciless Minions 1?

If you're a massive fan of Power Rangers Time Force, then I highly recommend the Time Force Pack. Not only is it packed with personality and inside jokes to hardcore fans, the team themselves designed fantastically. Merciless Minions 1 is also a great update for long-time fans, packing in new footsoldiers that bring their own playstyles to the table as well as more challenging scenarios. Renegade set the bar high with this first medium box expansion, here's to them keeping that quality going.

The Time Force Ranger Pack and Merciless Minions 1 Pack were provided to the author by Renegade Game Studios