Skeletor and his cronies have infiltrated Castle Grayskull, and He-Man and his friends are there to stop them. Only this time you have the power! Or, if you’re playing Team Bad-guy (AKA the Evil Warriors), the Havoc Staff and Hook Attachment.
Masters of the Universe: Battleground is a tabletop skirmish game where the heroes of Eternia battle the villains of Snake Mountain within the ruined halls of Castle Grayskull. The starter box contains maps, cards, tokens, and miniatures representing the ruins (some full walls, some partial walls and some platforms) and the combatants. In the starter box, the Masters of the Universe characters include He-Man, winged Stratos, Orko, tough-guy Ram Man, and Man-at-Arms. For the Evil Warriors minis, you get Skeletor, Tri-Klops, Evil-Lyn, Trap Jaw (and his swappable combat attachments), and Mer-Man. Each character has the powers and gear you’d expect, and each is keyed to abilities they can use in their battles. (And yes, as we’ve all suspected, Evil-Lyn is, in fact, smarter than Skeletor).
Before the battle starts you build your force with 100 points, using your points to buy not just your combatants, but also their gear. Each character has a different number of weapons, armor, and trinkets they can outfit themselves with. Some of these items are unique and can only be carried by a particular individual; only He-Man can wield the Sword of Power and only Trap Jaw can use the Hook Attachment. Fans of the animation from the ‘80s will find a lot of fun call-backs here, like the explosive Wheel of Infinity, while fans of the toys will appreciate being able to outfit the characters in Battle Armor.
Battles take place on hex-maps. The terrain set-up is picked from play-tested maps from the Battleground Book. Play is done via alternating activations, one character at a time. To activate a character, you play either a Fate or Glory Card on them. You start the game with 20 Fate Cards, with five in your hand, plus a pair of Glory Cards. At the start of each turn, both players secretly pick a Fate or Glory Card from their hand, and both reveal their cards at the same time. The card with the highest Initiative Number (found in the upper-right of the card) goes first. In addition to deciding who goes first, the card dictates how many Action Points (for doing things like moving and attacking) and Mana Points (for activating special powers) the character has this round. Fate Cards will also give you special rules, like bonuses to some actions or extra Mana Points. Some really good cards that grant lots of Action and Mana Points might include handicaps that limit what your character can do, or give you penalties to certain actions.
Glory Cards work similarly, except they also grant special conditions that, if you complete them in this round of combat, earn you Victory Points. At the end of the round, when all characters have activated or a player has run out of Fate Cards and can’t activate more characters, Fate Cards are shuffled back into the deck, while Glory Cards are removed from play.
Actions and combat are dictated by pools of six sided dice. Each character has a score in Strength, Toughness, Mind, Power, and Perception, and these scores range from 1 to 5. Most of He-Man’s scores are a respectable 3, but his Strength is 5. Skeletor, by contrast, has a 5 in Power (which is used for magical attacks), Strength of 4, but a Perception of 2 (which is why he never seems to notice when Orko is running around at the edge of the battlefield, ruining his plans). Stratos has a Toughness of 2 but a Perception of 5, which means he’s not so good at taking punches but he’ll be really good at spotting when the Evil Warriors are up to something nefarious. Mer-Man is nicely balanced with a 4 on Perception and Strength, but has only a Mind score of 2, something that won’t surprise any fans of the cartoon.
The score tells you how many dice you roll. Target numbers are often 4 (giving you a 50/50 chance for a success on any die). However, powers, equipment, buffs and debuffs, and positioning can change both the number of dice you roll and the target number.
Battles usually go four rounds, and victory goes to the player with the highest total Victory Points at the end of the battle. If you take out one of your opponent’s characters, you get Victory Points equal to how many points that character and all their gear cost. You also gain Victory Points by capturing objective markers and by fulfilling the requirements of Glory Cards.
Masters of the Universe: Battleground has a surprising amount of depth in it for a game based on a cartoon from the ‘80s. It combines the usual fun of army-building and tactics with elements of area control, making positioning an important aspect of the game. It’s an excellent introduction to miniatures wargaming, but grognards with many years of wargaming under their belts will find this game has some actual heft to it. Fans of the cartoons, old and new, as well as the toys, will find a lot to enjoy here as well, from the cool minis to call-outs in the gear and abilities of the characters. Expansions for the game allow you to take the fight to the ancient past of Preternia and battle a cyborg Tyrantisaurus, and add characters like She-Ra, Glimmer, Leech, and Scorpia. If you’re ready to battle for control of Castle Greyskull, mount your zoom chariot and head to your local Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy® today and find out how you can get your hands on Masters of the Universe: Battleground.
