As someone who was born in the late 80s and grew up in the 90s, to say that I was a fan of Power Rangers would be a gratuitous understatement. From the toys to pajamas, bed sheets to Halloween costumes, I devoured everything that those teenagers with attitudes adorned. Fast forward a couple of decades—okay, more like a few—and those colored spandex-wearing heroes still hold a precious place in my heart. So when I first discovered and tried Renegade’s Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid board game, it quickly shot up to become one of my favorite titles in my tabletop collection.
This cooperative skirmish game lets anywhere from one to six players team up to tackle a set of villains rampaging around historic locations from the various seasons (and comics) of Power Rangers, while battling mobs of weak enemies like Putty Patrollers. I adore all of the expertly detailed plastic minis of the Rangers (each sporting a plastic matching their Ranger color) and the enemies as they move around the board, as well as how every Ranger—and every version of that Ranger—has unique abilities and decks of cards they use. It all just makes the whole experience incredibly replayable, with a really good balance of challenge while not bombarding players with overly complicated mechanics.
Now, after numerous expansions and more Rangers and villains than I can count being added, the curtain is finally closing on this wonderful game with Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid – Eternal Rangers, launching today on Kickstarter.
The official statement from Renegade Games:
“The Heroes of the Grid game first launched on Kickstarter in August of 2018. In a matter of hours the game surpassed its $100,000 goal and proceeded to unlock 27 stretch goals. Three further campaigns, over 50 product releases, and five years later Renegade has decided to end the game with a fourth and final Kickstarter celebrating the community around the game and giving them the tools to continue to expand the game on their own.
Since the announcement of the campaign in October of 2024 the team behind the game has talked about 18 new figures in the core box, lots of stretch goals, and bringing some of Power Ranger’s biggest and baddest monsters and enemies to the field with this last expansion.
The name Eternal Rangers doesn’t come from a pre-existing Ranger team but instead comes from the idea that this being the last Renegade release does not mean that it’s the end of Heroes of the Grid entirely. Backers will receive the tools to expand and keep the game alive at their tables, including customizable templates for cards, rules guidance from the design diary of Jonathan Ying, and guidance on how to make not only custom Rangers, but custom monsters as well.
With the campaign only running from January 28th to February 27th fans and retailers are encouraged to back as soon as possible. Everything in the campaign is 100% Kickstarter exclusive and won’t be sold on the Renegade Games webstore or through classic retail distribution. “
It’s bittersweet that this game is coming to an end, but I am still excited by what the team has in store. From the cards that have been shown off already, I’m eager to try out new Ranger variants such as Grace Sterling as Mighty Morphin Red or the Pink and Green versions of Olivia Hart. But perhaps the most exciting aspect of this final expansion is that we will be given rules and templates to create our very own Rangers and villains to play going forward, turning Heroes of the Grid into a community-driven experience. I can’t wait to see all the creative and unique Rangers that players will come up with, completing teams that Renegade wasn’t able to, or teams based around the Super Sentai originals.
Fans can take solace, at least, in knowing that only Heroes of the Grid is ending, and Renegade’s Power Rangers: The Deck-Building Game and their Power Rangers Roleplaying Game series are both continuing, with the Through the Shattered Grid TTRPG sourcebook due out in March. In the meantime, let’s celebrate the great run that Heroes of the Grid has had and give it a morphinominal sendoff with Eternal Rangers.