A Look at the BULK & SKULL CHARACTER PACK in POWER RANGERS: HEROES OF THE GRID

Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid is a really fun cooperative board game from Renegade Game Studios. The base game includes the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers team and classic bad guys like Pudgy Pig (not sure how he became so iconic) and Rita Repulsa. Well, there is also a growing number of expansions available for the game and Renegade has been kind enough to send a bunch out. So, I thought I would offer some input on what to expect from the different expansions to help you determine which ones you need now and which ones can maybe hold off a little longer on getting.

I’m going to start with the Bulk & Skull Character Pack. Now, if you’re familiar with the television show Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, you’ll recognize Bulk & Skull as the bullies who are always added as comedy relief. However, did you know that in the comics from BOOM! Studios back in 2016, these two were temporarily recruited by Zordon to rescue the other Rangers? Bulk became the Purple Entelodont Ranger (basically an ancient animal that’s very pig-like) and Skull became the Orange Terror-bird Ranger (the more exact name would be Phorusrhacidae). Their Zords are the mighty Baconodon and Featherdactylzord. The character designs are interesting as well with Bulk having a large gut that often makes his uniform not fit 100% and Skull’s being baggy, plus his iconic bandana is around his neck. So, how do they stack up in Heroes of the Grid?

I’m going to talk about each character individually, but I wanted to first state that both of these characters are fairly gimmicky (not always a bad thing) and appear to be designed to be used together. Yes, they can be used without each other, but I think you’ll get the most from using both of them together.

Bulk is a very interesting character. His character ability, Zord, and many of his cards revolve around dealing straight damage to enemy cards. This usually has an interesting cost attached though. His Big Bully ability requires you to verbally insult the enemy card, the Baconodon and Fight Dirty cards require you to increase the damage a Ranger takes, and Fist-Bump Strike requires another Ranger at your location to give you a fist-bump. His ace card though is his Power Bomb which lets you roll 2 dice and offers 3 shields for 2 energy. However, you then flip the card onto the enemy cards from a minimum of 12 inches up. Any card that it’s touching when it lands gets dealt 3 damage. Like I said, this deck comes across as very gimmicky and like a joke. However, I’m not going to lie, I think Bulk could be fun to play as long as you aren’t putting too much pressure into playing the perfect game. The final card I want to talk about is Cockroach Combo which allows another Ranger to discard a card to boost your 2 dice to 4 dice, but if the discarded card is another Cockroach Combo, then you end up rolling 6 dice in total. The only other copy of Cockroach Combo is in Skull’s deck.

Skull once again has some cards that feel gimmicky like Cockroach Combo, Finger Guns which requires you to use finger guns to shoot enemy cards, and High-Five Strike which requires a Ranger to give you a high-five. However, he also seems a bit more versatile and useful. His theme is luck typically tied to some kind of support. For example, Chancy Chop has you guess evens and odds and depending on how many successes you roll, if the number matches what you call, you get an energy and return the card to your hand. Fight or Flight has you flip a coin and either deal damage to an enemy card or reduce the incoming damage to a Ranger. His signature move though is Power Nap which lets you roll dice and a Ranger can then get cards back from their discard pile on the top of the deck based on the number of successes. Meanwhile, the Featherdactylzord gets cards back to the bottom of the deck from the discard. Also, his Wingman ability gets a card back from the graveyard simply for getting a high-five once per battle. The support nature of many of his cards I feel makes him a bit more useful without Bulk while Bulk’s abilities to increase incoming damage would often require a support like Skull who can get cards back.

If you’re a power player looking for optimal combinations of Rangers, I don’t know that Bulk & Skull would be a good fit although if you pick one, you’re probably adding both. However, if you’re looking for a fun night of gaming with friends and want some good laughs when you play your cards, I think they’re perfect. I unfortunately haven’t been able to try the two out due to the pandemic preventing me from getting together with my game group, but I look forward to the day that I get to hurl insults at enemy cards to wound them.