Heroscape impressions and opinions.

Anybody have any impressions or opinions of Heroscape?

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/11170

Official link (Slow)
http://www.hasbro.com/heroscape/

It actually looks pretty interesting.
Its a miniatures game in a box with dynamic hex terrain. It appeals to me because its cheap(40$), has pre-painted miniatures(plastic) and a pretty diverse hex terrain set that models elevation and rivers and such.
The setting is interesting because it has a variety of units that usually don't mix in wargames(modern soldiers against samurais against mechs and dragons and such).
It's also designed to not be ubercollectible(like heroclix). But will have army expansions.

I know SlyFrog has a copy he mentioned in another thread.
I was just wondering if anybody that has it or has played it could chime in on some of the pros and cons.

Ooh, spiffy. Uh, please keep it away from me though. It may not involve costs of Warhammer/WH 40k proportions (may God have mercy on my soul), but the last thing I need is to get sucked into another boardgame/miniatures frenzy. I''ve kicked that habit. No . . . really.

That''s kind of nifty.

Did anyone notice the list of stores carrying the game (list here)? That''s an odd selection for the game, in my opinion. I''m all for exposing the genre to impressionable youths who have honed their wheedling skills to a killing edge in Walmart and similar stores, but I fear they may be missing the mark there.

Anyhoo, will have to keep an eye out for a set. Thanks for the heads up!

That one is on my Xmas list. I just picked up
Betrayal at House on the Hill. Hopefully I get a chance to play it in the near future!

Check out www.heroscape.net, lots of great pictures. The miniatures are fantastic looking, but the best part is the terrain. Lots of conversions going on for Heroclix and Star Wars figs too.

And the game is very good too!

Talisman was and is still the best boardgame...

Warhammer Quest was kind of spiffy also.

"phragged" wrote:

Warhammer Quest was kind of spiffy also.

Yeah, some friends and I were actually really into that in college. It was more open ended and persistent than Talisman, plus you got to play with miniatures. It was a good use of all those Warhammer minis I had. My Witch Hunter kicked ass! I''ve actually been wishing I could play that again. Or even a computerized version could be interesting.

Or even a computerized version could be interesting.

I''ve been kicking around the idea of doing it for a while now. I have all the game components digitized.
So in 10 years I should have a finished product

It is miniatures light. A man-to-man (well, maybe man-to-dragon-to-space alien) system that has a very light rule set (if you are used to Avalon Hill, GMT, etc. type games) that basically consists of:

If LOS to enemy figure good;
and
If number of hexes to enemy figure is less than or equal to range of friendly figure;
and
Friendly figure owner desires to attack;
then
Roll attack dice in number equal to friendly figure strength;
and
Roll defense dice in number equal to enemy figure armor;
and
Subtract successful enemy figure armor results from friendly figure hit results;
then
If results positive, reduce amount from hitpoints of enemy figure.

There are some special rules that come into play for the figures, and some terrain effects on movement. There are also ""glyphs"" that give special powers.

All in all, if you like minis, it''s not a bad game to pick up so long as you don''t think you are getting WarMachine, WH40K, or something similar in terms of complexity of the ruleset.

Depending on your personality, it may be [b]good[/b] that you are not getting that level of complexity.

I am bordering on returning it; it''s not a bad game, I just have too many, and think I very much prefer Duel of Ages, which has a similar but more complex and vibrant feel (but doesn''t have the pretty minis).

Hmm, sounds kind of like Titans, but with minis instead of little cardboard pieces.

You mean Titan, the old Avalon Hill game? I have that, I don''t think it is much like Titan. Maybe more like a really dumbed down Battletech, with vastly simplified weapons and damage systems, and different creatures and time period humans than giant walking mechs.

By the way, anyone who loves the Avalon Hill game Titan really owes it to themself to take a quick look at this site:

Computer Titan

A question for the boardgamers: Say the game was replicated faithfully on the PC with full multiplayer support. Would you still buy the boardgame?

"SlyFrog" wrote:

You mean Titan, the old Avalon Hill game? I have that, I don''t think it is much like Titan. Maybe more like a really dumbed down Battletech, with vastly simplified weapons and damage systems, and different creatures and time period humans than giant walking mechs.

By the way, anyone who loves the Avalon Hill game Titan really owes it to themself to take a quick look at this site:

Computer Titan

Yep, that''s the one. I meant it sounded similar in the ""rolling buckets of dice but otherwise simple combat"" sense, not really anything else. I guess I should have been more clear.

A question for the boardgamers: Say the game was replicated faithfully on the PC with full multiplayer support. Would you still buy the boardgame?

Yes.
But I would probably buy the pc version also if for no other reason than it''s easier to get a bunch of people together online.

"Paladin" wrote:
"SlyFrog" wrote:

You mean Titan, the old Avalon Hill game? I have that, I don''t think it is much like Titan. Maybe more like a really dumbed down Battletech, with vastly simplified weapons and damage systems, and different creatures and time period humans than giant walking mechs.

By the way, anyone who loves the Avalon Hill game Titan really owes it to themself to take a quick look at this site:

Computer Titan

Yep, that''s the one. I meant it sounded similar in the ""rolling buckets of dice but otherwise simple combat"" sense, not really anything else. I guess I should have been more clear.

No, it was pretty clear, and what you said makes sense from that angle. Titan is a pretty cool game itself if you take the time to get into it. It''s really a deep game; the strategic board is where the real thinking is.

A question for the boardgamers: Say the game was replicated faithfully on the PC with full multiplayer support. Would you still buy the boardgame?

I would likely buy the boardgame first and then the computer game that faithfully replicates it

If you''re serious about developing something I saw something a while back that might be adaptable. There''s a free online Battletech battle simulator called MekTek (or something similar) that''s available as open-source on Source Forge complete with a hex grid and map creator. A group of friends of mine are adapting it into a tactical/strategic starship simulator. I guess it''s pretty easy to tinker around so that might help.

"phragged" wrote:
Or even a computerized version could be interesting.

I''ve been kicking around the idea of doing it for a while now. I have all the game components digitized.
So in 10 years I should have a finished product :)

Well, if there''s anything I could do that would help, let me know. I''m not sure that there is, as I have no art skills worth mentioning and can''t program :b I was pretty into Warhammer Quest though. I even did a homebrew full conversion to 40K, creating everything from Space Marine and Eldar characters, to a host of monsters, wargear, etc. It was quite a bit of work, but turned out pretty good. On the downside, I think I lost all the files in a hard drive crash years ago. Oops.

Wow, a seven year necro!
Just stumbled on the plastic 3d heroscape while poking around youtube.
After playing Ravenloft at a GWJ meetup a year or so ago, the fun of a simplified quick-playing game seems to be somewhat more appreciated these days.
I doubt I'll ever try and find the pieces on ebay. Just thought I'd necro this for thoughts in comparison to Ravenloft being such a hit.

If you're looking for something similar that's still in production, I highly recommend Summoner Wars. It uses cards rather than figurines, and there's some really interesting deck/hand management strategy involved. It plays quick and there's a lot of diversity between the factions. Plus there's an iOS version in development.

What heroscape was doing for me was tickling that toy/minis Lego/minecraft spot.

I stumbled onto it because of the mineways link. This is shapeways, a 3d printing company, way of producing physical models of minecraft terrain and player builds.

None of it, right now, for me, is actually about the gameplay. It's the modeling, customizing part of it which has locked up my brain. Part of my job. Planning and 3d modelling buildings. That's the kind of thing which gets me.

I think dannyboy had summoner wars at two GWJ meetups ago.

A lot of Heroscape stuff can still be had on Amazon. I recommend the original master set if you can find it at a less than grotesquely inflated price. The Swarm of the Marro set works as a standalone, but is more restricted in terms of what kinds of scenarios you can make up due to the specialized nature of the armies.

I recommend trying to find the Marvel master set in addition to your true master set, if only because it's awesome to field Dr. Doom and an army of robots against the Hulk and Iron Man.

The DnD version is pretty good too, but I haven't actually tried it yet You might be able to locate a copy at your friendly neighborhood board gaming shop.

I have three copies of the castle expansion set myself. I'm trying to build a castle I can actually live in.

eBay was littered with "lot"s of parts sets. NIB sets. It looked like you could get pretty well set up for around $100.

I have the Marvel set. As it turned out, I was (very) loosely acquainted with two of the sculptors for that set. They are wonderful people, so I bought the game to show my support.

I can play the Marvel game with my 7 year old. There are light rules included that we play by, so the games are really faster and more action oriented. Strategy is still important but it's not as daunting as the other miniature games I've played.

I wish cramming all those pieces back in the box was as simple.

My wife owns the main set, but was lured away from tabletop gaming by an MMO before she could open it.

Poking around reveals a rather loyal following.

Heroscapers.com is the deep end, as it were.

I'be been trying to search for a 3ds or obj file(s) for the pieces to play with in a 3d app.

MrAndrewJ wrote:

I wish cramming all those pieces back in the box was as simple.

Back in the box? Savage!

I have a set of plastic drawer boxes for the figures (one drawer per flag, and another large drawer for all the large figures), and totes for the tiles.

Of course, I have five master sets, and at least one of all the expansion tile sets and enough of the figure bonus packs that I'm embarrassed to count them. So maybe I'm not the right person to look to for guidance.

MrAndrewJ wrote:

I wish cramming all those pieces back in the box was as simple.

I find just a general plastic tub is great for all the terrain tiles. And for figure storage I use a couple of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Plano-Latch-3-...

Do you guys still play this?
I don't know why this has infected my brain so much.
I've been reading about "heroskype". I guess like pen pal chess.
Not sure for how little I could acquire a couple of sets.

Part of my interest in it is, I will probably want to play it with my sons in a couple of years, and being discontinued makes me think it will eventually disappear from eBay too.

Does it have any "classic" value to it? Like talisman? Or is it just warhammer light?

Ghostship wrote:

Do you guys still play this?
I don't know why this has infected my brain so much.
I've been reading about "heroskype". I guess like pen pal chess.
Not sure for how little I could acquire a couple of sets.

Part of my interest in it is, I will probably want to play it with my sons in a couple of years, and being discontinued makes me think it will eventually disappear from eBay too.

Does it have any "classic" value to it? Like talisman? Or is it just warhammer light?

Having never played Warhammer or talisman, maybe I'm not best qualified to answer, but I did write a blog post on it what seems like a million years ago that might serve as a comprehensive look for people unfamiliar with the game.

Pretty much everything you need to know to make you buy the game can be summed up in these words:

Dragons, minutemen and cyborg gorillas with miniguns.

If that doesn't make you want to buy the game, you can't be sold on it.