While Dice Masters has been around for quite some time I had never actually played it until recently. My interest in the game increased dramatically when I saw the TMNT and Heroes in a Half Shell boxed sets. Figuring now was the time to get in on the DM action I emailed WizKids to see if they’d send over a set. They were kind enough to shoot me over a Heroes in a Half Shell boxed set and I was off to the races.

Dice Masters feels very much like a Deck Builder, except you’re rolling dice to earn resources to buy new dice, activate cards, and put out combat units. Dice move through various pools as you spend resources, attack the other players, and block incoming attacks. It’s a great game and I’m sorry I didn’t start playing it sooner.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Dice Masters: Heroes in a Half Shell boxed set comes with enough dice, cards, boards, and bags for 4 people to play the game. For $35 it’s a great way to get into the game, especially if you’re a TMNT fan. This set, unlike the previous TMNT set that focuses mostly on the new cartoon, has 8 different characters with artwork from the original cartoon. Being a Dice Masters game, this set can be combined with any other Dice Masters sets.

For an in-depth look about how to play the game, check here.

I’ve become an instant fan and am now ready to pull the trigger on the other TMNT boxed set. Maybe even some Marvel or Yu-Gi-Oh boosters…or dice lots on eBay.

I may have a problem.

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WizKids has a packed booth at Toy Fair with lots of items from their Dungeons & Dragons line on display as well as more Heroclix items and some standalone games.

The first thing that grabbed my attention was the wall of unpainted Dungeons & Dragons miniatures. In the first wave of miniatures (this month, $2.99 each), sixty different miniature packs are available with some coming in with multiple figures. Also planned: Pathfinder miniatures! (No date or price on those as of yet!)

But if you like painted miniatures, they’ve got you covered with the Adventurer’s Campsite as part of the Icons of the Realms’ Monster Menagerie II line. This $50 box comes with a painted covered wagon, two saddled horses, three treasure chests, two kegs (of course), and all the little things: sacks, camp fires, bedrolls, spellbooks, scrolls, bags of holding…

And just released the day of the show, Assault of the Giants. This newest entry into the line of D&D boardgames comes in a standard edition for $80 or a premium edition with fully-painted miniatures for $130.

Coming soon in Heroclix are two new lines: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Return and Marvel’s Deadpool & X-Force. TMNT will come in blind bags for $3 each. Deadpool & X-Force will be available in a brick of boosters for $130, which is probably your best bet at obtaining that Deadpool riding the unicorn ultra-rare piece (one is available in approximately every four cases).

Recreating a classic oversized comic book I had when I was a kid, the Heroclix Superman vs. Muhammad Ali set comes with a boxing ring, the greatest, and a Superman wearing boxing gloves. Debuting in March, this set will retail for $50.

Three new games were also shown: The Banishing, Tower of London, and Tournament at Camelot. Relasing in March, the Banishing is a difficult strategy cooperative game where you’re banishing creatures. Tower of London is a zone control game available in April. Tournament at Camelot, a May release, is a trick-taking game with box artwork inspired from illuminated manuscripts. All three games will retail for $20.

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The TMNT Dice Masters set is coming in May, and I have to say I’m more excited about this release than any other I’ve seen yet. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Box Set contains everything 2-4 players need to play:

• 44 Custom Dice
• 38 Cards
• Two Dice Bags
• Complete Dice Masters Core Rulebook

The set will be $34.99, and is compatible with all other Dice Masters releases. I have to say that I love that Leo, Raph, Mikey, and Donnie are all rocking their original red masks on the box art. It’s a bit strange, though, since the (excellent) Nickelodeon cartoon is still so popular. Either way I’d be happy, as long as it wasn’t the new movie versions.

Along with the Boxed Set you’ll also be able to snag a playmat and dice bags for $19.99 and $14.99 respectively.

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Well now, there’s a lot of stuff on Kickstarter this past week. Let’s have a little looksee, shall we?

John Wick’s 7th Sea Kickstarter campaign launched this morning and it funded within minutes. The Restoration Era roleplaying game returns to the land of Théah, a world that looks an awful lot like our Europe of 1668, but different. It’s The Princess Bride, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Three Musketeers wrapped up into a roleplaying game of derring-do. $20 gets you the PDF of the main game, but $40 gets you PDFs of all stretch goal books plus the first edition books. (Full disclosure: I’m doing layout on the quickstart adventure for the campaign.)

The storyline of the Sentinels of the Multiverse game comes to an end in OblivAeon, and Greater Than Games has returned to Kickstarter with a huge game-ending campaign! You can get a copy of the last expansion for just $39 plus shipping, or you can add on $15 to get all the variant hero cards (with all new artwork ) you didn’t get from earlier Kickstarters, pre-orders, or convention appearances. Or up your pledge again to get shiny foil versions of every hero card! Or even more to get the collectors case to store every single expansion in one mighty mega-box!

IDW Games has launched the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shadows of the Past board game and if they send a review copy to us, we’re probably going to fight each other to see who gets to play it first. It’s a story-driven adventure for players to fight their way through some of the comic book’s keystone moments. Stretch goals include hero packs based on April O’Neil, Casey Jones, and splinter; TMNT sculpts based on the original look of the turtles; and mousers! All this for $90 (or $150 for the earlier versions of the turtles).

Jeff Siadek of Gorilla Games has a Kickstarter campaign for Battlestations: Second Edition. This update to the classic game that’s a little bit of a roleplaying game and a little bit of a board game has your crew on a modular space ship taking on one of hundreds of missions — official and fan-made. Zoom out to the star map where your ship encounters other ships, zoom in to what’s going on board your ship — or the enemy ship. It’s a crazy fun ride. Think Star Trek meets Space Hulk. Get the game in PDF format for $20, get a physical game with miniatures and all sorts of goodness for $90.

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WizKids Games announced their partnership with Nickelodeon to produce several games based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The first two games will be TMNT-branded HeroClix and Dice Masters games, both of which are scheduled for release in 2015. The announcement made at Origins 2015 indicates that additional TMNT games will be coming from WizKids.

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