As a recent request from a Reddit user, today I’m looking at themed Turtle and Turtle Villain teams. I think it’s time that the Turtle sets got their own team builds. Brush three times a day after Pizza Pie!

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sets were a pretty big change to Heroclix; sure, WizKids has made dozens of non-Marvel, non-DC sets, but the Turtles sets were the first to be included in Modern. That’s pretty substantial and we’ve seen a lot of presence from them in competitive scene. TMNT is a pretty big deal for the game in the property selection as well. The main demographic for Clix are folks my age: just hitting their 30’s. Unlike Marvel and DC Comics which have been around for nearly 100 years, Turtles were just hitting the scene and I’m sure a lot of you were like me, growing up with these four radical dudes. I didn’t watch G.I. Joe or Transformers (I mean, I did, but not regularly). I watched Turtles. They were my jam.

I’ve mixed in the Turtles here and there, but haven’t done a full article devoted to them sans a set review for TMNT 2: Heroes in a Half Shell, so it’s time. These builds are going to be centered more around fun than they are competitive; that’s not to say that these can’t be good teams or won’t be capable of winning. There just won’t be any ID cards, resources, or non-turtles pieces which are kind of needed for competitive play. I’m also going to try and keep these on the cheaper side since the original chases are quite expensive, and Krang really doesn’t need a build (see my numerous Meta Talk articles for his team builds which are very cookie-cutter). Lastly, I’m going to build quite a few teams for each of the two categories with explanations as to what the build is.

First up, let’s take a look at the Turtles themselves. This build is going to center around the four brothers.

300 Point TMNT Ally Theme Team – Four Brothers! – TMNT/TMNT 2 ONLY

TMNT2 004 Leonardo | 60 points

TMNT2 025 Donatello | 100 Points

TMNT 002 Michelangelo | 50 Points

TMNT 001 Raphael | 50 Points

TMNT 011 Splinter | 40 Points

Build Total: 300 Points

For this approach, I wanted to pick my single favorite version of each of the four brothers, and sorted them in the order I always read them off in my head. It was really tough choosing just one version of each of the brothers, but here’s why I picked the versions I did:

Leonardo: The ability to two different dice for Blades/Claws/Fangs is huge and brings the big damage that the brothers are kind of lacking. They don’t really have the option of KO’ing in a single strike, and this Leo brings that to the table. Charge helps him get there and Indom lets him act continuously. His values aren’t as high as the Nicktoons Super Rare, but I think his kit is just the best offering.

Donatello: You’re going to need a support piece and this version of Donny is just the best. Being able to use Outwit, Perplex, or Support means that Donny can react to whatever you need during that turn. He can also reposition enemies so his brothers have an easier time getting to them so that’s a big bonus. It was between him and the TMNT2 Fast Forces version for the Defense countering, but I went with the power-picking.

Michelangelo: This guy is just tops. Being able to hand out two action tokens a turn with an 11 attack and Empower for the rest of his bros is unbeatable. Runner ups were the TMNT2 Common for Hypersonic speed, and the TMNT2 Super Rare for the 4 clicks of Probability Control. If I had more points, I would probably go with the Super Rare.

Raphael: My apologies if I offend, but there is no better non-chase Turtle than this Raph. His damage output is insane. Penetrating Flurry is nothing to sneeze at, and that 11 attack value like Mikey at 50 points is tops. The only other version of Raph that I really like is the Rare from the first Turtles set. He’s got a nice dial and ends really strong.

For the remaining points, I wanted to either run the TMNT2 Fast Forces April or Splinter, and I opted for the later due to his even point cost. It’s not like that’s a bad thing. Splinter has traited Empower, Leadership to give us more actions, and he buffs all our Turtles attacks by +1 when he’s next to them. April is really good, but I think Splinter works a little better here, especially since Donny can take on the healing roll that April brings.

How about a 400 point version to give us more options?

400 Point TMNT Ally Theme Team – Four Brothers! – TMNT/TMNT 2 ONLY

TMNT2 004 Leonardo | 60 Points

TMNT2 025 Donatello | 100 Points

TMNT2 028 Michelangelo | 100 Points

TMNT 001 Raphael | 50 Points

TMNT2 029 Renet Tilley | 55 Points

TMNT2 FF 005 April | 25 Points

Build Total: 390 Points

A lot of this build is the same with a few exceptions. I opted for the Super Rare Mikey for all those clicks of Prob Control and the ability to decimate swarm teams via Quake.

The other two changes are April and Renet Tilley. I knew that once we got to this level, we really needed a transport of some kind and you have three options; The Turtle Van which not everyone has, Fugitoid, and Renet Tilley. Sure, Renet is fairly expensive money-wise, but she’s soooo worth it. Aside from being able to taxi the brothers around, she gives the best Prob in the game. Combined with Mikey, that gives us two uses of Prob a turn on top of our theme team prob. She also brings ranged damage to a melee-heavy team which is needed.

April acts as a secondary healer, but what we really want is for her to be “KO’d”, or rather captured, so she buffs your 11 attack values (10 on Donny) to 12’s! You really can’t beat a team-wide +1 attack for 25 points. She’s also a really mean tie-up piece with Plasticity and Super Senses.

Let’s take a look at a less restrictive build in terms of the roster. This time, I’m not focusing on just the four brothers but the keyword in general.

400 Point TMNT Ally Theme Team – TMNT/TMNT 2 ONLY

TMNT2 026 Leonardo | 100 Points

TMNT2 021 Karai | 80 Points

TMNT 017 Leatherhead | 80 Points

TMNT2 029 Renet Tilley | 55 Points

TMNT 002 Michelangelo | 50 Points

TMNT2 012R Irma | 25 points

Build Total: 390 Points

I wanted to focus on some of the other TMNT Ally pieces and some of my favorites are those that get buffed and buff one of the four brothers.

Karai is really strong, especially within the 2 Turtles sets. With Running Shot, Precision Strike, 11 attack, and Outwit, she brings a huge missing piece of the Turtles puzzle which is a strong ranged game. When she’s next to Leonardo, they both get a +1 to their attack value, meaning Karai now has a 12 attack for only 80 points. Her STOP click is just monstrous and has the potentially to overkill.

I wanted a good Leonardo to go with her, and I opted for the Rare from TMNT2. Not only does this Leo have charge with an 11 attack, he has and 18 with Defend meaning he can buff Karai to keep her alive longer since she just has Energy Shield/Deflection to keep her safe. He’s also got Leadership like many other Leo’s, but it’s increased by 1 for each adjacent friendly character and since he’s 100 points, he can pull tokens off of anyone on our team.

The second non-Turtle ally I went with was Leatherhead. This guy has really solid values for his points and with his Invulnerable on top dial, he’ll tank for you; I guar-an-TEE it (props if you get that). Like Karai, he gives out +1 to attack for him and Michelangelo, so that’s yet another character with a 12 attack. He does lack Charge opting for Sidestep, but I really dig the Battle Fury to counter Shape Change. His Death Roll can be really nasty and will for sure help position people into Karai’s range.

For a good, cheap Mikey, I again opted for the common from the first set. There’s just no reason to not use this guy. With his now 12 attack value thanks to Leatherhead, he’s going to token you down and there’s nothing you can do about it. With his free positioning, you can leap over the foe after combat and get next to Leonardo to ensure he picks up that 18 defense.

Renet makes an appearance again as she’s just too good not to include. Sure, she won’t be able to carry Leatherhead thanks to Battle Fury, but she can carry the other three along with the last piece, Irma. Why Irma you might ask? Well that’s easy; she’s a cheap source of Perplex which is really nice to have, either buffing attack values to 13’s, defense values to 19, increasing Charge range, or bumping damage. Perplex is never a bad thing.

I think this team could really make for some nasty play and has a lot going for it. If your opponent doesn’t take out your Turtles quickly, the friendly buffs are going to end up drowning them out. I would have loved to put the TMNT Fast Forces Casey Jones or the TMNT Casey Jones on a team as they’re both dynamite pieces, but I couldn’t fit them. If you really wanted to, you could drop Irma on the last team and add the TMNT version for only 5 additional points.

Of Course, We Can’t Skip The Villains!

Although the Turtles don’t have the widest range of iconic villains like their Heroclix comic book counterparts in Marvel and DC, they have a pretty big fan base. Shredder is a pretty sweet villain, and Krang has done his fair share of messing with the meta-game. We also see big pieces like Rat King and Armaggon, and who could forget the Mouser swarm teams that replicate when paired with Krang-buddy Baxter Stockman? Let’s see what we can do with the villainous side.

300 Point TMNT Villain Foot Clan Theme Team – TMNT/TMNT 2 ONLY

TMNT 021 Shredder | 80 Points

TMNT 015 Alpha One | 60 Points

TMNT 006 Foot Soldier (Sai) | 30 Points

TMNT 007 Foot Soldier (Nanchaku) | 30 Points

TMNT2 009 Foot Soldier (Twin Katanas) | 30 Points

TMNT2 008 Foot Solider (Shuriken) X2 | 30 Points each = 60 Points

Sideline: TMNT 006 Foot Solider (Sai), TMNT 007 Foot Soldier (Nanchacku), TMNT2 009 Foot Soldier (Twin Katanas)

Build Total: 290 Points

I figured the first Villain build should be a Foot Clan team as that’s the henchmen of the series and is really what Shredder is all about.

Of course you have to have Shredder with a Foot Clan build, and I went with the original Shredder since he’s more of the mastermind, main villain Shredder than his (in my opinion) better TMNT2 version. With self-healing or token removal on top click and his crazy-good Outwit power, Shredder is a force to be reckoned with, and with so many Foot Soliders, he’s going to be one tough cookie to get to. Empower is nice as it’ll buff all your Foot.

Alpha One is the only stand-out Foot Soldier in this build, and there’s two main reasons. One, he has Leadership to up you to 5 actions a turn, and two, he can displace enemies within 5 squares so your Foot can go HAM on them. He’s also got pretty decent stats for 60 points and Indom to boot, so he’s a pretty good piece for our swarm team.

For the Foot Soliders, I went with 1 Sai, 1 Nanchaku, 1 Twin Katanas, and 2 Shuriken. Sure, only two of our soliders can bring others in from outside the game (and since they don’t specify they must also be Robots, you can bring in the human ‘ninja’ versions from TMNT2), but the newer foot are really strong. The Sai and Nanchaku have the same powers as the common Raph and Mikey, so they were auto-includes. As for the Twin Katanas, he brings the 2d6 blades pick that the common Leo has from TMNT2. The only abstract pick is the Shuriken Foot. The reasoning here is pretty easy; if they hit, they grant a -1 to attack and defense which the foot greatly need. I don’t see anything inherently bad about reducing defense values for only 30 points. If you really want, you could field all robot foot and hope to bring in the human foot with them, but it’s risky.

How about a bigger villain team that’s more about Shredder and the named dudes rather than random dudes:

400 Point TMNT Shredder & Friends Villain Theme Team – TMNT/TMNT 2 ONLY

TMNT2 016 Bebop | 80 Points

TMNT2 017 Rocksteady | 80 Points

TMNT2 012 Irma | 60 Points

TMNT2 018 Shredder | 50 Points

TMNT 013 Baxter Stockman | 30 Points

TMNT 005 Mouser X5 | 20 Points each = 100 Points

Sideline: TMNT 005 Mouser X3

Build Total: 400 Points

I really like Bebop and Rocksteady; they’re incredibly tanky for their points with three clicks each of Invincible and alternating ranged/close powers making them pretty versatile. When Shredder is on the map, they also pick up Willpower and if all three of them are together, they can really amplify each other’s damage on attacks. With Regeneration at the end of their dials, they’ve got some real staying power.

Irma is full points in this build as she’s actually a villain here with an impressive STOP click. Acting as a tie-up piece and Perplexer early game, she shifts into a pretty nasty close combat piece once she hits click 4.

Shredder got upgraded to his ultra-aggressive TMNT version for this build. He’s got stupid high stats for his point cost, can remove tokens from both Bebop and Rocksteady if he lands his Leadership roll, and has some real potential for damage with Blades. My favorite thing about this Shredder is his Thermite Grenade; when he’s KO’d from an attack, he deals 3 penetrating damage to all characters within 3 squares on the same elevation, making him a deadly melee piece to take down.

Baxter and his Mousers round out the end of our team, bring 5 of his creations to the game. Sure, the don’t do much in terms of raw damage, but they do tie people up and Baxter can keep creating more when they’re KO’d. Since they’re tiny, everyone else on the team can just carry them around to make sure you don’t run out of actions. He’s also got Ouwit to help your damage stick. My favorite aspect about him is since Irma is a Robot, he can heal her passed her STOP click to ensure she basically never dies in one turn unless she’s focused.

Finally, let’s do the same as we did for TMNT Ally and take a look at a less restrictive build where the full keyword is open and no preconceived teams are planned.

400 Point TMNT Villain Theme Team – TMNT/TMNT 2 ONLY

TMNT2 024 Rat King | 100 Points

TMNT2 014 Chien Khan | 75 Points

TMNT 020 Mousers Swarm X2 | 60 Points Each = 120 Points

TMNT2 018 Shredder | 50 Points

TMNT 013 Baxter Stockman | 30 Points

TMNT2 012r Irma | 25 points

Build Total: 400 Points

I wanted to include some villains I haven’t talked about in this article, so I went with Rat King and Chien Khan. I’ve talked about Rat King extensively as he’s had his own team build, so he shouldn’t be a stranger to you. He’s incredibly strong for his point cost, so he was a must-include piece for me.

Chien Khan is a pretty cool melee piece. He doesn’t start off too strong, although the Leadership is greatly appreciated on these teams. Mainly, you’ll want to push him onto his second click to pick up Mind Control and Prob, giving you two sources to mess with your opponent with. The main reason we’re playing Chien though is for his last 3 clicks where he can summon that colossal Noi Tai Dar, Great Oni bystander. That thing is disgusting. He also has Blades and Steal Energy on his last two clicks, and if he KO’s someone while on those clicks, he heals 2 after actions resolve. He’s got some real staying power.

The Mouser Swarms are really deadly, bringing Sidestep, Flurry, penetrating damage, and two STOP clicks, not to mention their Indom. The main reason we’re playing them though is their ability to destroy 3 adjacent walls or blocking terrain, which gives Rat King more maneuverability. With all these aspects combined, they’re a steal for 60 points. Although Baxter can’t pump more them out like he can with regular Mousers, he can heal these guys back above their STOP clicks making them even harder to deal with, and his Outwit will be usefull.

Irma makes an appearance at lower points to just bring Perplex much like the TMNT Ally build. Perplex is never a bad thing.

You may notice the heavy hitter Armaggon missing from all three of the builds. Let’s just say there’s a good reason for that.

I hope you liked this second reader-request article here on Clix Fix. What TMNT teams have you developed? I know the Turtle Van does a lot for the bro’s, but I didn’t want to include a piece that’s a little difficult to pick up. Have you had success with anything similar to these builds? Sound off in the comments below!

See you guys next week as we get closer to the end of the year, and closer to Deadpool and X-Force!