Greetings Fellow Clix Fans!
Welcome to the next installment of my HeroClix Figure Spotlight series! For this month’s article, I chose a piece that’s sure to get you into the Halloween spirit, Monsterex (022) from the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set!
What I Don’t Like
It’s really difficult to find something that I dislike about this piece. If I had to pick one thing I didn’t like, it would be his point value. I think 125 points is 25 points too much, even for this guy with his nine clicks. If he were 100 points, he would probably see more action on 300 point teams. For 125 points, he could have started with one click of Invincible instead of Invulnerability.
What I Like
I like just about everything that this piece has to offer. He has decent enough stats, good generic keywords, a deep dial, and great abilities. Which Monster Dominates? and Which Legend Controls? are probably my favorite special abilities in the entire game. They make him a versatile piece that can adapt to almost any situation you’re in. He has both of those abilities at the same time and they’re on his first four clicks (almost half his dial). Those abilities make him a threatening piece and also make him difficult to deal with.
Werewolf and Vampire are my preferred choices on those two abilities. If he’s got an action token and I want to do something that pushes him, I usually won’t pick Vampire if I don’t need the Flight. I’ll typically go with Frankenstein’s Monster so he gets Indomitable, and won’t take push damage. Frankie is also great if you’re using objects because he gets Super Strength and can pick up heavy objects. Gill Creature comes in handy mostly for Sidestep and Stealth. We were playing on the Wakanda map recently, and I gave him Gill Creature and Vampire to move him deep into the hindering terrain. That made it almost impossible for my opponent to get to him quickly. My opponent had one piece that could reach him, and it was left without support because of the hindering terrain. Monsterex made a meal of it!
He’s got Invulnerability and Toughness for most of his dial, then he gets Regeneration. Damage reducers are always nice to have and if he gets too far down his dial, you can retreat and try to heal him.
He also has Shape Change and four damage on his top two clicks. If he makes his Shape Change roll and he’s hidden deep in the Wakanda jungle, that attacker won’t have anyone else to go after! Four damage is nothing to sneeze at either. Monsterex can easily break off from the pack and take on an opposing piece on his own.
Favorite Build and Strategy
I absolutely love playing this piece on 300 and 400 point Monster theme teams. I don’t usually win map rolls because I only have three and four pieces, respectively, but I love my two Monster Teams.
Team Build
75 points – Batgirl (HQ 037 – Bombshell)
125 points – Monsterex
100 points – Horta (ST:TOS 035)
and/or
100 points – Rat King (TMNT2 024)
Batgirl and Monsterex are always the base of my Monster teams. For my 300 point build, the Horta and Rat King are easily interchangeable. The one I use is dependent on the type of event and the experience level of the players at the event. I usually put Rat King back in the box if there are newer players. He can be a bit of a pain to deal with and not very much fun for inexperienced players to play against. Horta is a great piece, but not overpowered or near as much of a nuisance as Rat King.
For 400 points, I use all four pieces. Each piece can usually handle themselves and that’s why I love my Monster team so much. Rat King has Perplex and Probability Control, so I try to keep him in range of everyone – or a majority of the team. But the team can survive just fine if they need to, without his Perplex and Prob.
What do you think of this figure?
Do you have a figure you would use in place of this one?
Is there a figure you would like me to Spotlight?
Leave me a comment here or on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty!
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