I've often found that people who are new to the game need permission to be awesome. There's a mental roadblock many folks have to doing the crazy, but amazing, thing. Since those sorts of actions are required to survive in this game I find that handing Kimberly to a new player is a good idea, as there is an immediate pay off that is flashy, explosive, and quite deadly to the target. Welcome to the single highest damage dealing character in the game! Kimberly is a force of nature. She rains hellfire on all who oppose her. ALL HAIL THE ALL MIGHTY BABA YAGA, KIMBERLY! Kimberly is, by far, the simplest character in the core set. She is incredibly useful for her energy generation and the ignoring of Guard. She isn't the deepest character but she isn't meant to be. Point. Shoot. KILL.
Kimberly's ability to assign one damage anywhere she likes looks nice, and it feels nice, but it is definitely the hardest part of playing her character. There's this pause, as the player feels a bit overwhelmed. They want to throw it where it feels good, but dice are involved in the follow-up; they don't know if their guess will work out or not. And there are times when it feels like Kimberly's ability whiffs, because it is a set up for something down the line and it may not pan out. There's a surprising amount of skill required for this ability, as you have to size up the other players' hands and figure out where they're going to be playing cards and trying to hit the one card that needs the shove the most. It is also the one part of Kimberly's kit that gets hijacked the most by asshole
Take Aim is a card that is to be played, immediately, all the time. There is literally no reason not to play the card if Kimberly is going to be attacking. Extra energy with a reroll? Yes PLEASE. The results from cards like Take Aim are often quite spectacular, particularly if you play Take Aim off of MMPR Red's Team Tactics. And, if you're particularly in need of energy, you can finish off the string of energy gains with Flying Kick, which means the hit may actually be pretty strong for two dice and you get the extra energy from it!
Kimberly's other asset is her ability to ignore the Guard ability. Now, I don't think this ability is as all that good with minions, mostly because of the minion cards are not all that worrisome. In fact we usually find ourselves deliberately taking hits from minions so that way we can get a better ramp up. So in minion fights Kimberly isn't as good as she looks. But in monster and boss fights? Boy, you can't go wrong with having Kimberly in your team. There are times when everyone else whiffs and you have nothing else... and Baba Yaga is all you have left. It may just be that one card that you can't kill, and the group needs a pick-me-up after a long run of failures. Out of all the characters in the base set I would bet you that Kimberly is the one who has the biggest chance of landing that last big, all-necessary, shot.
The Pterodactyl Zord is one of the most useful zords in the game. You just can't argue with two free energy, especially when you're trying to get a power weapon's combo going. And, depending on how your group spends energy, you'll find that the gift just keeps on giving, especially as your group banks the energy and passes it forward to the next battle. There's not a whole more to say about this zord. It's stupidly useful, no matter the situation.
Kimberly's simplicity is belied by her incredible capacity for damage. She runs in, generates energy, deals large amounts of damage to a target, and doesn't need all that much support to do it. Unlike Zack or Rocky, who both need substantial help to pull off their tricks, Kimberly can do her own thing and be alright. She's simple, deadly, and awesome. All hail Baba Yaga!
A kind thanks to Jonathan Ying for answering all my questions, comments, and concerns. He was very gracious.
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