In the Arena you have only confronted the various bandits, robots, and creatures as enemies. But with Into the Badlands they can be part of your team!
Our previous article “Miniature Skirmish Combat Comes to Borderlands” gave an overview of how the Into the Badlands™ expansion allows your existing models from the original Mister Torgue’s Arena of Badassery™ to break free of the arena to play skirmish battles. Players already familiar with Mister Torgue’s Arena of Badassery™ have only confronted the various bandits, robots, and creatures as enemies, but now they can be part of your team! You can build your dream team with any mix of characters from across Pandora and beyond.
Not all units are created equal and to represent this, they come in two flavors: disposable Fodder and Characters (who can be nightmare fuel). In this update, we’ll take a look at how you can turn some of your favorite baddies into your MVP.
FODDER
Let’s kick things off with some Fodder models. As the keyword implies, these are cheap and expendable to hire but have certain limitations. Fodder only have one Action token and can be taken out with a single wound. Fodder don’t come strapped with starting gear cards and they can’t equip any either. What you see is what you get: no upgrades, no surprises, no glow-ups.
When you Inspire Your Team, you don’t just refresh exhausted Action tokens on characters, you get to unleash your horde of Fodder. All of your Fodder models get to activate, like a tide of guns, claws, and chaos. Typically, you only Inspire when your team runs out of ready Action tokens, but Fodder flips the script. You get to send a stampede of minions crashing into your rival. This swarm tactic can be effective at overwhelming your opponent early in the game, before your Fodder is reduced to bloodstains on the battlefield.
Fodder, like any model, can always use a basic melee or ranged action to attack, even if they don’t have the required skill listed on their card. This means a Marauder can still punch you in the face when things get messy, but he won’t be very good at it.
Psycho
The Psycho is your frothing-at-the-mouth melee maniac, born to sprint screaming into danger! Their Assault ability lets them Charge headlong into battle, closing the gap with a free move before swinging their buzz axe. Once they're toe-to-toe, things get even bloodier.
Their Battery ability cranks the carnage up to eleven, stacking on extra wounds whenever they land a savage Crit. This isn’t just Fodder, it’s a screaming missile made of meat, rage, and bad decisions!
Marauder
Marauders may look like just another gun-toting goon, but don’t underestimate these trigger-happy Fodder. Their ranged attack is solid on its own, but it’s their Hit and Run ability that turns them into slippery nightmares. Every time they fire, they get a free move, letting them duck, dive, and scurry right out of your crosshairs before payback can catch up.
Sure, a single wound is enough to drop a Marauder like a sack of skag meat, but if they keep darting into cover and zig-zagging out of your Path of Attack, suddenly they’re way harder to pin down. Think of them as cockroaches with guns: annoying, fast, and way harder to squash than you’d like.
Kamikaze Claptrap
Kamikaze Claptraps are programmed for maximum carnage! With Exterminate, they can roll into melee with a free move, making every single Action token count like a mini-explosion on wheels. When these death-bots are taken out, they detonate, dealing one wound to any fool nearby. Master the art of Kamikaze Claptraps, and you’ll find they’re often more dangerous dead than alive, being able to zip in, wreak havoc, and leave a smoking crater in their wake.
CHARACTERS
Now it’s time to meet some characters, the real stars of the show! These aren’t your cheap, one-and-done Fodder minions. Characters come loaded with starting gear listed on the bottom of their card. At the start of the game, you’ll draw from the gear decks and arm your team however you like. Just remember that Fodder can’t equip gear. Sorry, grunts!
Sure, Characters cost more than Fodder, but they bring the firepower to back it up: extra Action tokens, devastating abilities, and serious staying power. When these badasses hit the battlefield, you’re not just playing the game, you’re dominating it.
Badass Psycho
The Badass Psycho is a wrecking ball of rage! His Raging Assault tears through enemies, stacking extra wounds on Crits without mercy. But the real terror comes from his Hugs Time! ability that locks down enemies within RED, keeping them from moving anywhere.
Your rival wants to run away from your melee attacks? Not happening. Try to escape a Kamikaze Claptrap detonation? Forget it. Need to get closer to the scenario objective? Nope. One well-placed Badass Psycho can shatter your rival’s plans and dominate the battlefield for a turn or two, leaving chaos and screams in his wake.
Claptrap Partisan Rifleman
These robotic snipers prove that even a trashcan on wheels can be deadly accurate. With a Ranged skill bonus of 2 and Rapid 2 attacks, the Rifleman spits out enough hot lead to make their targets regret showing their face.
Thanks to a Reflexes skill of 2, they can juke and spin their way out of incoming fire. And if that fails? They’ve got a YELLOW Shield token for backup, giving them one last layer of defense before they explode into sarcastic one-liners and spare parts. Small, scrappy, and surprisingly dangerous, these sharpshooting bots are not to be underestimated.
Alpha Skag
The Alpha Skag’s ability to Pounce turns it into a living missile of fangs and rage! It surges into melee with a free move that obliterates the gap in a heartbeat. If the dice explode into a crit, the Alpha dishes out an extra wound to crank the hurt up to eleven.
With an impressive 3 Melee and 3 Reflexes skill. What’s even more impressive, is that its Enraged Brood ability allows friendly Skags within RED range to use its monstrous skills instead of their own. This turns a lowly Skag Pup into a slaughterhouse. This is a great defensive and offensive buff, since the 3 Reflexes make the whole pack harder to gun down with ranged attacks.
Medic Bot
The Medic Bot is a hovering battlefield lifesaver! The ability I Can Fix That performs triage on models with only one or more RED Action tokens, letting you patch up your heroes before rivals land a killing blow. No more watching your heavy hitters get wiped out at the worst possible moment. Medic Bot keeps the chaos under control so your badasses can keep unleashing mayhem.
Thanks to its starting gear, you draw two cards from Zed’s Meds deck, increasing the odds of grabbing shields for added staying power. Medic Bots don’t just keep your team alive, they keep your strategy running at full throttle, one healing at a time.
Into the Badlands expansion lets you take your favorite models from Mister Torgue’s Arena of Badassery™, from expendable Fodder and chaotic Psychos to sharpshooting Claptraps and Medic Bots. Turn these former enemies into awesome allies who can dominate the skirmish battlefield with melee mayhem, ranged destruction, crowd control, and lifesaving support. Next article, we’ll unleash even deadlier baddies onto the battlefield so get ready for chaos, carnage, and pure Borderlands-style mayhem as we talk about Vault Hunters and how their skill trees operate outside of the Arena!
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Into the Badlands is a whole new way to play with your Borderlands®: Mister Torgue's Arena of Badassery™ cards and miniatures you do not want to miss out on this!
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