Since 2019, I’ve been a devoted fan (and playtester) for the Unmatched: Battle of Legends game system – and been part of epic face-offs between so many different heroes in so many diverse locations. (There are – if you’ve acquired every bit of the Unmatched output from Restoration Games – currently 34 different locations and 70 different heroes that can be set against each other.)

In the last few weeks, eight more heroes (well, actually seven, but I’ll explain that in more detail later) were added to the Unmatched multiverse. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) and their villainous adversaries appeared as a part of the second Unmatched Adventures set… as well as Bruce Lee vs. Muhammed Ali. Those two boxes each added two new maps – including (no surprise here) the Thrilla in Manila. 

Unmatched for the Uninitiated

I’m well aware that some of you have not had the opportunity to play the wonderful goodness that is Unmatched – so, a short primer on how the game works is in order. (Yes, I know, some of you have played before. A lot. You can skip to the next heading.)

Unmatched is a skirmish battle game, driven by card play and fought on a variety of boards. On your turn, you get two actions:

• Maneuver – draw a card from your personal deck & optionally move your fighter(s)
• Attack – play a card face-down to initiate a melee or ranged attack 
• Scheme – play a Scheme card from your hand for its effect

You win by reducing your opponent’s hero to zero hit points.

If this sounds a lot like Star Wars: Epic Duels, you’re not wrong. That 2002 mass-market game is the forefather of this amazing combat system. (If you want more detail, I did a deep-dive into the differences in my original Unmatched review.)

Unmatched Adventures: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

What’s In the TMNT Box?

The first thing you’ll notice when opening the TMNT box is that there’s a lot of stuff packed into it: multiple card decks, miniatures, plastic counters, and a number of punchboards in order to create hit trackers and various other bits for the game. There are also three rulebooks: the Core Rules (which teach the basics of playing Unmatched), the Set Rules (which go over the special rules related to the four new turtle heroes), and the Adventure Rules (which teach how to play the cooperative adventure game).

Once you’ve gone through the assembly process, you’ll have 4 playable characters (each with their own sidekick), 2 boss monsters, 6 minion monsters… and the card decks for each of those. In addition, you will have a deck of initiative cards (including variant Allies and Henchmen) and a deck of Technodrome Traps for Krang.

Finally, there’s a good bit of other tokens/bits – Foot Clan markers, , Dimension X markers, Mouser and Rat tokens, the threat marker, the Doomsday Machine tokens, the Die of Ultimate Destruction, and the like.

Come meet the crew!

The Heroes

• Leonardo – his Team Tactics power allows him to move any fighter (even enemies) a single space at the beginning of his turn… and having Master Splinter as his sidekick means the two of them can deal out some damage.
• Michelangelo – April O’Neil is the weakest of the sidekicks… but Michelangelo’s Pizza Party power makes him draw a card every time he schemes or attacks – and limits him to a three card hand. (There are thankfully ways to return cards from his discard pile to his deck.)
• Raphael – his Anger Issues power works for both him and his sidekick, Casey Jones – if they attack and lose, they gain an extra action.
• Donatello – His Inventive power gives him three tuckable cards that up his power – and those tuckable buffs apply to both him and his sidekick, Metalhead.

The Boss Monsters

• Shredder – he uses his legion of Foot Clan soldiers to occupy and eventually take over New York – and their presence makes him even more powerful.
• Krang – his dream is to suck our world into Dimension X through the use of his Doomsday Machines and Technodrome Traps… and many of his powers are determined by rolling the Die of Ultimate Destruction.

The Minions

• Bebop & Rocksteady – this classic TMNT duo are all about villain support – they’ll do a little damage themselves but their primary role is making sure the boss is doing well.
• Baxter Stockman – he uses his Mouser robots to cause players to discard cards… and his one big attack is keyed off the number of cards in his target’s discard pile.
• Wingnut – he is the king of chaos… moving both himself and other fighters around the battlefield and actively working to screw up our heroes plans.
• Leatherhead – this maniacal gator is close to a boss in his own right. He’s able to push the threat track as well cancel effects and ignore card values when he’s fighting.
• Slash – his fury grows as the battle continues – symbolized by Fury cards being added to his deck (and powering special effects on some of his other cards).
• Rat King – another minion with tokens… this time, it’s rats who swarm our heroes and reduce their defense value.

Game Play

The starting point is that pretty much everything from the hero (player) side works just like normal Unmatched. There are specific exceptions (dealt with in the rulebook) but it’s an easy variant to jump into if you’ve played Unmatched before. 

The player(s) have an overriding objective: get the villain (boss) to zero health before they accomplish their nefarious scheme. Alternately, loss comes if the boss finishes their four-step plan (take over most of New York or suck the world into Dimension X) OR if all player fighters are defeated (both heroes and sidekicks).

Each player is assigned a player number (1 through 4) and an initiative card of that number is included in the initiative deck. In addition, each boss and minion starts with a card in the initiative deck… which is thoroughly shuffled and dealt out one at a time to trigger player and bad guy turns. 

Note: the boss & minion initiative cards may have immediate effects (activating the bad guy) as well as end of round effects (that are triggered in the order the cards were revealed.) Some of the bad guys also have multiple cards that are added to the deck as play proceeds, making them more and more difficult to deal with. (Dadgum Slash…)

In general, bosses and minions will attempt to close with the nearest hero or sidekick and attack. Just like the original Unmatched design, the player will choose a card to play (or choose not to play a card) and then flip over the top card of the bad guys deck. Damage ensues as well as particular effects – all of those are resolved just like basic Unmatched.

Your objective is to defeat (kill, eliminate, embarass, etc.) the Boss. If you manage to do the same to some or all of the minions, great – but it’s not necessary. (I did not say it was a bad idea – leave them alone and they will hound you to death.)

Variety Is the Spice of Life

Just in case you don’t think the game has enough variety, there are Ally and Henchmen Initiative cards that ramp up (Henchmen) or lessen (Allies) the difficulty. In general, we’ve found the game easiest as a solo game – particularly with a character with big attack values. On the other hand, the game becomes trickier with more players and more minions.

After 5 plays, we’re 2-3. One loss was a near thing, while the other two spiraled out of control quickly. So far, the difficulty level of the big bosses seems pretty similar. I would note that Leatherhead and Baxter Stockman are particularly difficult minions to face.

Final Thoughts on the TMNT Box

I have to admit – my younger son & I were early version playtesters of the Tales to Amaze! box for Restoration Games. We were not impressed and found the prototype at that point to be a bit clunky and not particularly fun.

And this is why development/playtesting is so important… because the final product of both the Unmatched Adventures boxes are incredibly enjoyable to play and are worthy additions to a line of games I love.

If you enjoy Unmatched, don’t let the “cooperative” nature of the Unmatched Adventures boxes (both Tales to Amaze! and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) put you off. If you’re a cooperative fan, give this a try – even if you’re skeptical of its origins in a fighting game. The quality of the production and the smoothness of gameplay is really something special.

Shredder vs. Krang

The team at Restoration Games also create an add-on box of card decks & dials so all of us could play with the villains from the TMNT box as “heroes” in regular competitive Unmatched play. Each villain has his own 30 card deck and also uses items from the TMNT box.

• Shredder – Along with his loyal sidekicks Bebop & Rocksteady, Shredder deploys Foot Clan markers onto any board which allows this team to attack any opposing fighter directly adjacent to a Foot Clan soldier.
• Krang – Doomsday Machines power some of Krang’s cards – and affect his movement speed. More importantly, many of the effects in Krang’s deck are resolved by rolling the Die of Ultimate Destruction to figure out the power of the effect.

So far, we’ve found a lot to like about Shredder as a playable character – wisely placing Foot Clan markers turns him into a ranged character that requires some finesse to deal with as his opponent. Unfortunately, we haven’t had the same experiences with Krang – the Die of Ultimate Destruction coupled with the reroll power of deactivating a Doomsday Machine seems to be a bit overclocked on the power scale. 

Now, we’ve only had a couple of games with these playable versions of the villains, so our read on how well they work (or don’t work) may be wrong. I will note that this small box has no effect on the TMNT villain versions of their characters and that both villains are perfectly tuned for cooperative play in Unmatched Adventures.

Lee vs. Ali

Bruce Lee was the first “single hero” pack for Unmatched – and quickly became incredibly difficult (and expensive!) to find. (I mean, REALLY expensive – there was a couple of years where the average price for a copy of the Bruce Lee box could easily run you over $150.) Granted, Bruce was a great figure/hero – his ability to chain attacks due to gaining actions meant he could pummel opponents into submission… but also gave him a weakness of blowing through his hand and/or decking out before he managed to win.

The new Lee vs. Ali box makes Bruce available again – with his deck unchanged from the original release but with a nifty new mid-kick figure. (This means that those of us who have both boxes can have a Lee vs. Lee battle royale!)

The box also includes Muhammed Ali – who has two possible status: Float Like a Butterfly and Sting Like a Bee. Float gives him reach as well as powering effects on some of his cards, while Sting adds +2 to the value of his attacks. His status changes after time he attacks and wins a combat. 

The two maps in the box (the aforementioned Thrilla in Manila and Tsing Shan Monastery) are both excellent two-player maps that cleverly use the theme of the locations to affect the way the spaces connect. 

Personal note: I playtested an early version of Ali… and this published version is better. (Once again, Restoration Games rocks the development process.)

I’d rank Lee vs. Ali up there with Robin Hood vs. Bigfoot as an excellent introductory box to the game.

I received review copies of Unmatched Adventures: TMNT, Shredder & Krang, and Lee vs. Ali.