Gabrielle Kinney also known as the Honey Badger, is a clone of a clone of the original Wolverine and a relatively recent addition to the X-Men, so let’s check how she does in MCP.
As a 2 threat, Honey Badger’s stat line is a nice mix, the healthy side has a comfortable 5 health (down to 4 on her injured side), but her defenses leave a little something to be desired. Size 2 and medium move on a 35mm base is pretty standard.
Claw Slash servers as Gabrielle’s builder and it is solid. A 5 dice attack with a wild trigger is on par with the majority of 3 threats so having a build be that good on a 2 threat is excellent. It will help her build power better than most other 2 threats to use on her toolkit.
Hamstring is a 5 dice spender, costing 3 that can Slow and Bleed on damage, and get a Medium advance on a wild trigger. While it’s a little expensive, the wild trigger is very strong and if she manages to deal damage it can significantly limit the model it damaged.
Too Dangerous to Ignore is, in my opinion, one of the two key reasons to play Honey Badger. Being able to redirect an attack going into a crucial model into a 2 threat is generally great as it helps protect either more expensive models, models carrying objectives or crucial activations. A relevant point, as opposed to Bodyguard type effects, Too Dangerous to Ignore requires Honey Badger to be within R2 of the attacker to use it.
Anklebiter is, I think, the other ability that makes Honey Badger shine. When she stands within R1 of an enemy model, they get -1 defense die (to a minimum of 1). This, especially combined with Incinerate, makes almost every model in the game extremely fragile. While it doesn’t help her attack other models, it can make your offensively inclined character significantly more effective. It does come with the significant downside of not being able to interact or hold objectives.
Lil Sis is the complementary ability to X-23’s Big Sis, if X-23 would be damaged, Honey Badger can move medium towards the character that damaged X-23. Because she has access to a taunt, if both characters are on the table, it’s worth keeping in mind as you can use this ability to put Honey Badger in range for Too Dangerous to Ignore or Anklebiter.
Finally, Honey Badger gets Healing Factor 1, which helps her stay alive a little longer but more importantly, gives her access to X-Ceptional Healing, meaning that given enough power, she can always take at least 2 hits, hopefully away from more important characters.
I also have to bring up Honey Badger’s signature Tactics Card, Jonathan the Unstoppable.
Jonathan gives Badger a way to still have some form of scenario presence at the cost of two power and a tactic card, but it’s a tool that can help mitigate her biggest downside.
Overall, Honey Badger is a pretty interesting character with a solid toolkit. Taunt and access to X-Ceptional Healing help her divert attacks from important models, Anklebiter is a very strong tool to get rid of resilient enemies. While she can be a pretty strong model, Honey Badger’s impact is very dependant on her positioning and has to be manoeuvred thoughtfully to be as effective as she can be.
Thanks for taking the time to read this review and as usual, don’t forget to have fun!
