Rather surprising news buzzing around the Scapesphere.
Yes, it's true, Heroscape will be discontinued after the next expansion (due out on Nov. 16) comes out. Apparently the redirection of Herosoape into the D&D universe didn't do the trick for WOTC. Unable to find a marketing/pricing strategy that supported sales targets they ahve pulled the plug, although this is still a popular game by most standards.
Ominously for fans of some other WOTC products (I'm thinking of Axis & Allies miniatures, especially), one of the stated reasons for this decision is for WOTC to concentrate on its core products, namely Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. I wouldn;t be surprised if AAM either stops now or is ended after the 1944-5 set. Likewise I think we can see the end of the tunnel for the War at Sea line, although designer Rich Baker seems to have a commitment for a couple more sets of that one.
Showing posts with label Heroscape. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heroscape. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Heroscape's new direction
The Heroscape game seems headed in a new direction now, for good or ill.
The "classic" game was notable for its eclectic mix of combatants. The "battle of all time" would draw on warriors from just about any heroic genre -- Westerns, sword-and-sorcery, World War II, Rome, gothic, spies, etc. One of the first things I heard about the game was that it had, among the combatants, an orc riding a dinosaur! You have to be a hard hearted realist not to think that's really cool at some level.
This "world," involving five (later six) warring Kyrie lords was enough to take the game through 10 "waves" of 4-pack expansions, pluse several large pack terrain expansions and two master sets. Aside from a short-lived and noatbly unsuccessful foray into the super hero genere, this was Heroscape.
The newest Dungeons & Dragons themed master set, however, definitely alters the trajectory of the game into a much more fantasy-oriented direction. And I'm unsure whether this is a positive move, because to me it seems potentially limiting. There are now two full 4-set "waves" of D&D based squads and heroes so I think we can judge where D&D is taking the game.
The good news is that the D&D stuff is fully compatible in tone and detail with the classic game, unlike the Marvel Superhero stuff. A few new and interesting twists ahve been added to the system ("shadow" terrain, "uncommon" heroes and treasure glyphs).
The main concern is whether the game will become too tied to D&D and too fantasy-oriented. Can D&D maintain player interest over the long haul? Especially considering that there's already a D&D miniatures game out there AND that D&D, itself, in the latest version, become much more of a skirmish-type game. If you're going to go adventuring, wouldn't D&D make more sense than Heroscape?
So far there's no indication the D&D theme has hurt Heroscape, and there's been no official announcement that there won't be any more classic Heroscape, so it may be that this is just a short-lived diversion to take advantage of cross promotion with D&D and saving on production costs by reusing DDM molds. I do hope that this isn't a permanent change in the game.
The "classic" game was notable for its eclectic mix of combatants. The "battle of all time" would draw on warriors from just about any heroic genre -- Westerns, sword-and-sorcery, World War II, Rome, gothic, spies, etc. One of the first things I heard about the game was that it had, among the combatants, an orc riding a dinosaur! You have to be a hard hearted realist not to think that's really cool at some level.
This "world," involving five (later six) warring Kyrie lords was enough to take the game through 10 "waves" of 4-pack expansions, pluse several large pack terrain expansions and two master sets. Aside from a short-lived and noatbly unsuccessful foray into the super hero genere, this was Heroscape.
The newest Dungeons & Dragons themed master set, however, definitely alters the trajectory of the game into a much more fantasy-oriented direction. And I'm unsure whether this is a positive move, because to me it seems potentially limiting. There are now two full 4-set "waves" of D&D based squads and heroes so I think we can judge where D&D is taking the game.
The good news is that the D&D stuff is fully compatible in tone and detail with the classic game, unlike the Marvel Superhero stuff. A few new and interesting twists ahve been added to the system ("shadow" terrain, "uncommon" heroes and treasure glyphs).
The main concern is whether the game will become too tied to D&D and too fantasy-oriented. Can D&D maintain player interest over the long haul? Especially considering that there's already a D&D miniatures game out there AND that D&D, itself, in the latest version, become much more of a skirmish-type game. If you're going to go adventuring, wouldn't D&D make more sense than Heroscape?
So far there's no indication the D&D theme has hurt Heroscape, and there's been no official announcement that there won't be any more classic Heroscape, so it may be that this is just a short-lived diversion to take advantage of cross promotion with D&D and saving on production costs by reusing DDM molds. I do hope that this isn't a permanent change in the game.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Breaking in the Underdark
While a long-time Heroscape fan I hadn't had a chance to try out the new Underdark master set until today but my first impression was a good one.
I played a complete Heroscape novice, so I naturally took the weaker side, but even though I went down to eventual defeat it was an interesting fight.
We played the first scenario, which sees the heroic human fighter Tandros Kreel and his elven magic-user companion Ana Karithon racing to rescue the Elf mage Erevan Sunshadow from drowning in a cage guarded by a fearsome feral troll.
This alone was an interesting twist from the usual Heroscape scenario, which often tend to degenerate into mere smashing matches.
Tandros and Ana charged forward and were met halfway by the troll, who concentrated on the weaker Ana first. Here we made an error in play because I didn't realize that Tandros had a special ability that required him to be attacked first if he was adjacent to an enemy. The novice player also missed the special ability.
In any case Tandros bravely abandoned Ana to face the troll alone while he continued on to free Erevan. The troll dispatched Ana and followed.
Tandros was able to spring the cage on the first try, and the blubbering Erevan crawled out of the water and right into the rending arms of the troll. Having no order markers on him because he was just freed Erevan wasn't able to use his Fey power to escape and the second hero joined the first in the dead pile.
So it was just Tandros against the troll. Tandros abandoned the archery he had using up to this point for a close-range broadsword attack that quickly slew the troll, and claiming a rather Pyrrhic victory. It appears to me that the hero party needs to use Tandros to deal with the troll while Ana tries to save Erevan. I'll report how that turns out.
The battle went quickly. It probably took more time to build the set than it took to play. Next time I'll try to get more than one fight off the same map.
I played a complete Heroscape novice, so I naturally took the weaker side, but even though I went down to eventual defeat it was an interesting fight.
We played the first scenario, which sees the heroic human fighter Tandros Kreel and his elven magic-user companion Ana Karithon racing to rescue the Elf mage Erevan Sunshadow from drowning in a cage guarded by a fearsome feral troll.
This alone was an interesting twist from the usual Heroscape scenario, which often tend to degenerate into mere smashing matches.
Tandros and Ana charged forward and were met halfway by the troll, who concentrated on the weaker Ana first. Here we made an error in play because I didn't realize that Tandros had a special ability that required him to be attacked first if he was adjacent to an enemy. The novice player also missed the special ability.
In any case Tandros bravely abandoned Ana to face the troll alone while he continued on to free Erevan. The troll dispatched Ana and followed.
Tandros was able to spring the cage on the first try, and the blubbering Erevan crawled out of the water and right into the rending arms of the troll. Having no order markers on him because he was just freed Erevan wasn't able to use his Fey power to escape and the second hero joined the first in the dead pile.
So it was just Tandros against the troll. Tandros abandoned the archery he had using up to this point for a close-range broadsword attack that quickly slew the troll, and claiming a rather Pyrrhic victory. It appears to me that the hero party needs to use Tandros to deal with the troll while Ana tries to save Erevan. I'll report how that turns out.
The battle went quickly. It probably took more time to build the set than it took to play. Next time I'll try to get more than one fight off the same map.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Is Dungeons & Dragons the salvation of Heroscape?
The new master set for Heroscape that merges the Dungeons & Dragons universe with Heroscape seems to be revitalizing the Heroscape franchise.
Unlike the Heroscape Marvel master set, which fell flat, the D&D themed set has been flying off the shelves, I'm hearing from retalers and the first expansion also seems to be selling briskly.
It's likely to be a moneymaker for Hasbro, too, because they are repurposing figures that have already appeared in the Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures game. There have been something like 20 sets of D&D minies so far, each with 50+ figures so there are well over a thousand miniatures available for possible Heroscape expansions.
The long-term future of the main Heroscape line is a little more questionable. While there have awlays been some classic fantasy figures in Heroscape, a lot of the figures are also based on sci fi and historical themes which lie outside the scope of D&D, so it would seem like there will still be a need for new figures if Hasbro wants to keep the main line alive.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Heroscape Day at Arkham Asylum
I organized a Heroscape Play Day today at the Arkham Asylum comic store in Norwich today and it went rather well. Turns out there are some Heroscapers in the area, including at least one dude who has a lot more stuff than I do!
So he set up a self-made battlefield that he and two other guys fought over in a massive 700-something point 3-way slugfest.
Over on my side we stuck with an almost straight-up Clashing fronts scenario on the Table of the Giants battlefield from the first master set, where I taught the game to two new players. One had bought the original master set years ago but never played it, the other was totally new to it.
I modified the scenario slightly, taking a 500-point army while they each has 300-point forces as a team, so it was 500 vs. 600 points. It turns out this might have been a little too generous.
The gentleman with his own set used some of his own figures, the Deathwalker 9000, the Zettian Guards and Raelin. His teammate drafted troops from my Jandar forces, taking the Kyrie squad, a ninja and the Omnicron snipers.
I also selected a Deathwalker 9000, Marcu, the Shades and four squads of zombies.
The first half of the battle went fairly well for me. I picked off one of the Zettians with my first shot from the Deathwalker and the other one didn't see much action after that. My Deathwalker dueled with the Omnicrons and occasionally the other Deathwalker, but they were ratehr distracted by the horde of zombies shambling forward, grabbing glyphs and providing benefits in speed, range and initiative fof most of the first 6-7 turns. One zombie shambled onto the summoning glyph and sumoned Raelin into a zombie ambush from which she emerged as a zombie.
Eventually the Omnicrons and Deathwalker pciked off enough zombies to reduce them to near ineffectiveness and this is where things started to go bad for my troops. The shades and Marcu swooped in, but Kimiko was tough to take out. My Deathwalker finally finished off the last of his Omnicrons and the Deathwalker, too, but the enemy's Kyrie reserve road in like the proverbial cavalry and chopped up my Deathwalker, and then finished off the shades, the last of the zombies and Marcu, too.
While not emerging victorious, I had a good time and there was considerable enthusiasm for scheduling another Heroscape Day next month.
So he set up a self-made battlefield that he and two other guys fought over in a massive 700-something point 3-way slugfest.
Over on my side we stuck with an almost straight-up Clashing fronts scenario on the Table of the Giants battlefield from the first master set, where I taught the game to two new players. One had bought the original master set years ago but never played it, the other was totally new to it.
I modified the scenario slightly, taking a 500-point army while they each has 300-point forces as a team, so it was 500 vs. 600 points. It turns out this might have been a little too generous.
The gentleman with his own set used some of his own figures, the Deathwalker 9000, the Zettian Guards and Raelin. His teammate drafted troops from my Jandar forces, taking the Kyrie squad, a ninja and the Omnicron snipers.
I also selected a Deathwalker 9000, Marcu, the Shades and four squads of zombies.
The first half of the battle went fairly well for me. I picked off one of the Zettians with my first shot from the Deathwalker and the other one didn't see much action after that. My Deathwalker dueled with the Omnicrons and occasionally the other Deathwalker, but they were ratehr distracted by the horde of zombies shambling forward, grabbing glyphs and providing benefits in speed, range and initiative fof most of the first 6-7 turns. One zombie shambled onto the summoning glyph and sumoned Raelin into a zombie ambush from which she emerged as a zombie.
Eventually the Omnicrons and Deathwalker pciked off enough zombies to reduce them to near ineffectiveness and this is where things started to go bad for my troops. The shades and Marcu swooped in, but Kimiko was tough to take out. My Deathwalker finally finished off the last of his Omnicrons and the Deathwalker, too, but the enemy's Kyrie reserve road in like the proverbial cavalry and chopped up my Deathwalker, and then finished off the shades, the last of the zombies and Marcu, too.
While not emerging victorious, I had a good time and there was considerable enthusiasm for scheduling another Heroscape Day next month.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Playing surfaces for collectible and expandable miniatures games -- a review: paper
One of the things I don't care for about collectible and expandable miniatures games is that you have all these really nice-looking miniatures moving around on cheap paper battlefields for the most part.
The notable exception is Heroscape, of course, where the terrain gets pretty much equal billing with the miniatures and is one of the distinctive aspects of that game.
And the truncated Navia Dratp also featured an actual mounted playing board as standard equipment.
But for the most part the standard has been to provide rather flimsy paper maps, usually poster-sized and poster-quality, that simply can't stand up to the normal wear and tear of multiple folding, let alone play. Among the games that come with this sort of playing surface are Lord of the Rings Tradeable Miniatures Game; HeroClix, Axis & Allies miniatures, A&A War at Sea, Star Wars, Dreamblade and Dungeons & Dragons miniatures.
Suitable playing surfaces are also an issue for more traditional miniatures games like Wings of War, Check Your 6, the Admiralty Trilogy and the Flames of War, but the traditional solution was for players to spend the time and effort to create their own terrain, not just armies. Still, there are some portable solutions for the problem of providing suitable battlefields to go with your miniatures from these lines as well.
I'll look at some of these next week, but first let's look at what's provided by the manufacturers as standard equipment.
In most cases the base game includes one or two poster-sized or smaller battlefields -- usually printed on both sides -- providing at least two and sometimes four basic battlefields. In some cases, such as Axis & Allies there are more maps of a smaller size, but in this case the maps are geomorphic, meaning they can be combined in various configurations to create more battlefields.
Generally the artwork is pretty decent for these sort of maps, although there are some exceptions. For example, the early HeroClix maps were very amateurish. Most of the time the maps look pretty good.
Another good thing about the paper maps is that they tend to be relatively inexpensive. Most of these miniatures games use quite large battlefields compared to typical boardgame standards.
The most serious drawback of the paper map usually becomes apparent right away -- the creases from folding the map. This can be corrected by folding against the crease to make the maps lie flat, but this begins the process of destroying the maps. In most cases the paper used to make the maps can't go through this sort of folding more than a half dozen times before you start to see tears. It's better to store the maps rolled. I use mailing tubes. This does result in the maps being curled, but it's less destructive to flatten out the curve than folds.
Some players go so far as to laminated their maps, but I think this is too expensive for general use. Most laminated maps are stored flat, but this takes a lot of room.
Of the games I have, I've stuck with paper maps only for Axis & Allies, Miniatures, D&D miniatures, Heroclix and LOTR:TMG. In each case the need to have many different battlefields available has required that I settle for paper maps. In some cases there's no alternative, but D&D minis do have some cardboard battlefields available and the are a couple of vinyl maps for Hero clix out there as well.
Some of the other games, however, due to their subject matter, don't vary the battlefield as much and here there are some more options. Among them are Dreamblade and A&A War at Sea. I'll look at them next.
The notable exception is Heroscape, of course, where the terrain gets pretty much equal billing with the miniatures and is one of the distinctive aspects of that game.
And the truncated Navia Dratp also featured an actual mounted playing board as standard equipment.
But for the most part the standard has been to provide rather flimsy paper maps, usually poster-sized and poster-quality, that simply can't stand up to the normal wear and tear of multiple folding, let alone play. Among the games that come with this sort of playing surface are Lord of the Rings Tradeable Miniatures Game; HeroClix, Axis & Allies miniatures, A&A War at Sea, Star Wars, Dreamblade and Dungeons & Dragons miniatures.
Suitable playing surfaces are also an issue for more traditional miniatures games like Wings of War, Check Your 6, the Admiralty Trilogy and the Flames of War, but the traditional solution was for players to spend the time and effort to create their own terrain, not just armies. Still, there are some portable solutions for the problem of providing suitable battlefields to go with your miniatures from these lines as well.
I'll look at some of these next week, but first let's look at what's provided by the manufacturers as standard equipment.
In most cases the base game includes one or two poster-sized or smaller battlefields -- usually printed on both sides -- providing at least two and sometimes four basic battlefields. In some cases, such as Axis & Allies there are more maps of a smaller size, but in this case the maps are geomorphic, meaning they can be combined in various configurations to create more battlefields.
Generally the artwork is pretty decent for these sort of maps, although there are some exceptions. For example, the early HeroClix maps were very amateurish. Most of the time the maps look pretty good.
Another good thing about the paper maps is that they tend to be relatively inexpensive. Most of these miniatures games use quite large battlefields compared to typical boardgame standards.
The most serious drawback of the paper map usually becomes apparent right away -- the creases from folding the map. This can be corrected by folding against the crease to make the maps lie flat, but this begins the process of destroying the maps. In most cases the paper used to make the maps can't go through this sort of folding more than a half dozen times before you start to see tears. It's better to store the maps rolled. I use mailing tubes. This does result in the maps being curled, but it's less destructive to flatten out the curve than folds.
Some players go so far as to laminated their maps, but I think this is too expensive for general use. Most laminated maps are stored flat, but this takes a lot of room.
Of the games I have, I've stuck with paper maps only for Axis & Allies, Miniatures, D&D miniatures, Heroclix and LOTR:TMG. In each case the need to have many different battlefields available has required that I settle for paper maps. In some cases there's no alternative, but D&D minis do have some cardboard battlefields available and the are a couple of vinyl maps for Hero clix out there as well.
Some of the other games, however, due to their subject matter, don't vary the battlefield as much and here there are some more options. Among them are Dreamblade and A&A War at Sea. I'll look at them next.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Planning another Game Day -- Heroscape this time
Pawnderings will be sponsoring another game day on Saturday, Jan. 9th at The Arkham Asylum comic and game store at 276 West Main St. in Norwich, CT. Set up will begin at 11 a.m.
We'll be playing Heroscape, the Clashing Fronts scenario from the first Master Set. Players can bring their own 300-point or 500-point armies or draft from my collection.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Heroscape meets D&D
The next base set for Heroscape is going to have a Dungeons & Dragons theme, which is an interesting juxtaposition of two major Hasbro brands. D&D is, of course, the venerable RPG originally marketed by TSR in the 70s and 80s and Hasbro already has a line of Dungeons & Dragons miniatures and, until recently, a D&D skirmish rules set to use them with.
So one might legitimately wonder if there's some redundancy here, but Heroscape, despite its RPG-like back story and aura, is essentially a simple skirmish-level wargame with little pretension for any kind of story continuity or even theme. Sure, there's a meta-narrative of the lord Jandar leading his colleagues against the lord Utgar's attempts to seize control of Valhalla, but it appears to be a very loose alliance and there's plenty of times when minions summoned by Utgar and Janadar will be on the same side fighting against other minions summoned by the same lords for the purposes of a scenario.
D&D is much more about internally consistent narratives, and while there have been D&D campaigns set in a vast variety of settings and "worlds," 30+ years of D&D have slowly built up a core D&D mythos that is recognizably different from Tolkien or other fantasy stories. So creatures from the D&D Mythos have assumed enough of a "reality" to be just as valid a summoning source as Earth, Alpha Prime or Grut.
Over at Heroscapers.com they've started reviewing the new base set, which will be more like the Marvel set than similar to the original set or the Marro-themed set. There will be just 10 figures (4 heroes and 6 bad guys) and a limited number of terrain pieces. To attract veteran players there will be some new terrain types and rules introduced, but the set is also geared toward new players by being completely self-contained.
It's hard to predict where this may take the Heroscape brand. There seem to be no plans for any new waves or follow-on sets in the existing Heroscape universe. The Marvel Heroscape never caught on -- I still see them sitting on store shelves -- so there's reason to wonder if this D&D-theming will work out. Presumably real D&D fans already are pretty invested in their existing miniature lines. Or is the hope that Heroscapers will be lured into trying more D&D products after being exposed to it through Heroscape?
I've though for quite some time that the last decade or so was an unusual state of affairs, where a combination of economic conditions allowed game manufacturers to import large numbers of good-quality miniatures from China at a low cost. We had an explosion of "bling" in games, where it wasn't uncommon to see games with dozens of painted plastic minis or hundreds of unpainted minis.
Heroscape was just one of the manifestations of that trend. The first base set had an amazing amount of stuff for the price. So much stuff that it was hard to get it back in the box. Of course getting stuff back in the box became moot as all the expansions came out. My complete set of Heroscape stuff takes up the better part of two plastic storage bins now.
So I wonder of the kind of product offering Heroscape fans got used to, such as multiples "waves" of expansions with a couple of dozen figures each, is a at hing of the past.
And maybe the new D&D Heroscape is an attempt to merge the Heroscapers into the existing D&D hobby. Time will tell.
So one might legitimately wonder if there's some redundancy here, but Heroscape, despite its RPG-like back story and aura, is essentially a simple skirmish-level wargame with little pretension for any kind of story continuity or even theme. Sure, there's a meta-narrative of the lord Jandar leading his colleagues against the lord Utgar's attempts to seize control of Valhalla, but it appears to be a very loose alliance and there's plenty of times when minions summoned by Utgar and Janadar will be on the same side fighting against other minions summoned by the same lords for the purposes of a scenario.
D&D is much more about internally consistent narratives, and while there have been D&D campaigns set in a vast variety of settings and "worlds," 30+ years of D&D have slowly built up a core D&D mythos that is recognizably different from Tolkien or other fantasy stories. So creatures from the D&D Mythos have assumed enough of a "reality" to be just as valid a summoning source as Earth, Alpha Prime or Grut.
Over at Heroscapers.com they've started reviewing the new base set, which will be more like the Marvel set than similar to the original set or the Marro-themed set. There will be just 10 figures (4 heroes and 6 bad guys) and a limited number of terrain pieces. To attract veteran players there will be some new terrain types and rules introduced, but the set is also geared toward new players by being completely self-contained.
It's hard to predict where this may take the Heroscape brand. There seem to be no plans for any new waves or follow-on sets in the existing Heroscape universe. The Marvel Heroscape never caught on -- I still see them sitting on store shelves -- so there's reason to wonder if this D&D-theming will work out. Presumably real D&D fans already are pretty invested in their existing miniature lines. Or is the hope that Heroscapers will be lured into trying more D&D products after being exposed to it through Heroscape?
I've though for quite some time that the last decade or so was an unusual state of affairs, where a combination of economic conditions allowed game manufacturers to import large numbers of good-quality miniatures from China at a low cost. We had an explosion of "bling" in games, where it wasn't uncommon to see games with dozens of painted plastic minis or hundreds of unpainted minis.
Heroscape was just one of the manifestations of that trend. The first base set had an amazing amount of stuff for the price. So much stuff that it was hard to get it back in the box. Of course getting stuff back in the box became moot as all the expansions came out. My complete set of Heroscape stuff takes up the better part of two plastic storage bins now.
So I wonder of the kind of product offering Heroscape fans got used to, such as multiples "waves" of expansions with a couple of dozen figures each, is a at hing of the past.
And maybe the new D&D Heroscape is an attempt to merge the Heroscapers into the existing D&D hobby. Time will tell.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
More on Heroscape Wave 9
First off, here's the official press release: http://ww2.wizards.com/Company/Press/?doc=20090402
Among the features/creatures mentioned are dwarves, which will be a welcome addition. Any game that has elves and orcs, not to mention dragons, really ought to have dwarves as well.
Among the features/creatures mentioned are dwarves, which will be a welcome addition. Any game that has elves and orcs, not to mention dragons, really ought to have dwarves as well.
Heroscape lives!
So a Wave 9 will be coming out this summer, it appears.
That's excellent news, and rather unexpected in some quarters, although I always expected the game to continue. I think the reset under WOTC took some time and I also think there wasn't a big rush, due to the economic difficulty. Hasbro wasn't going to spend anything extra to do it fast.
That's excellent news, and rather unexpected in some quarters, although I always expected the game to continue. I think the reset under WOTC took some time and I also think there wasn't a big rush, due to the economic difficulty. Hasbro wasn't going to spend anything extra to do it fast.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Game nght at church
We had a game night at my church, and I'll post photos soon, but it was rather successful.
We had a number of old favorites and classics of course, such as Scrabble, Sorry, Yahtzee and cribbage. But I was also able to introduce some newer stuff to several comments like "I've never seen that before" such as Lost Cities, Hive and Heroscape.
We also had games of dominoes, Oh-Wah-Ree and Abalone hit the table.
Fluxx was also a big hit, I think it's a perfect game for an outing like this, being fun, easy to learna nd very quick to play.
We had a number of old favorites and classics of course, such as Scrabble, Sorry, Yahtzee and cribbage. But I was also able to introduce some newer stuff to several comments like "I've never seen that before" such as Lost Cities, Hive and Heroscape.
We also had games of dominoes, Oh-Wah-Ree and Abalone hit the table.
Fluxx was also a big hit, I think it's a perfect game for an outing like this, being fun, easy to learna nd very quick to play.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
National Heroscape Day
I wasn't able to attend any of the scheduled events, but i did the next best thing by playing a couple of games with C.K. at his house.
While I had a good time, I can't say I had a very successful outing.
We played two game using a map set up from one of the download sites. It was a pretty straightforward battlefield just using the basic set terrain. Essentially it was a flat battlefield with a steep and fairly high hill on my left and a small knoll with a glyph on the right. Running down the middle of the battlefield from the high ground and around the glyph's knoll was a stream.
Our first contest was a straight-up 450 point fight to the death. And die my army of elves did. I had a handful of elven wizards backed by some elven archers against a force of knights, a Soulborg and a dragon. All were wiped out with no real damage to C.K.'s force. The Elves suffered from not having any real heavy hitters and pretty weak defenses to boot. They had quite a few special abilities, but nothing that could turn the tide.
The second battle was a 600-point battle. I went with a Vydar largely Soulborg army while C.K. went with a pure Marro host. Things went decently well at first. I was able to use my range advantage to pick off a large portion of his forces while just losing one Major and a few squad pieces. Unfortunately his Marro drones got into close combat range and a good turn of fighting and a key initiative loss led to my force being mauled.
Enjoyable game, but I suffered a bit from not having played in a little while.
While I had a good time, I can't say I had a very successful outing.
We played two game using a map set up from one of the download sites. It was a pretty straightforward battlefield just using the basic set terrain. Essentially it was a flat battlefield with a steep and fairly high hill on my left and a small knoll with a glyph on the right. Running down the middle of the battlefield from the high ground and around the glyph's knoll was a stream.
Our first contest was a straight-up 450 point fight to the death. And die my army of elves did. I had a handful of elven wizards backed by some elven archers against a force of knights, a Soulborg and a dragon. All were wiped out with no real damage to C.K.'s force. The Elves suffered from not having any real heavy hitters and pretty weak defenses to boot. They had quite a few special abilities, but nothing that could turn the tide.
The second battle was a 600-point battle. I went with a Vydar largely Soulborg army while C.K. went with a pure Marro host. Things went decently well at first. I was able to use my range advantage to pick off a large portion of his forces while just losing one Major and a few squad pieces. Unfortunately his Marro drones got into close combat range and a good turn of fighting and a key initiative loss led to my force being mauled.
Enjoyable game, but I suffered a bit from not having played in a little while.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Heroscape as a wargame
Back in the early 60s Milton Bradley published a line of American Heritage games that were the gateway for a lot of young Boomers to the idea of wargames. Some were light wargames like Dogfight, some were merely war-themed games like Hit the Beach!, but they primed the interest of young people like me so that we were ready for the more serious Avalon Hill wargames when we discovered them.
These kind of gateway games are important if there's going to be a future for board wargaming. People aren't going to start with ASL -- or even Target Arnhem.
So Hasbro's commitment to the Heroscape system is a positive development. Not only is it a neat game, but it's a great gateway for board wargaming. Only a fraction of the kids that might try it will graduate to more serious fare, but that's always been true.
Make no mistake, Heroscape is definitely a skirmish level wargame, and a rather clever one at that. While dressed up with plenty of sci fi and fantasy elements, it doesn't ignore more prosaic combatants. Sure, there are ogres, vampires, orc and elves, but there are also eighteenth century musketeers, World War II paratroopers, crusader knights, samurai and ashigaru warriors, vikings, Romans and Thebans.
There's just enough there to pique the interest of some young minds for something more.
These kind of gateway games are important if there's going to be a future for board wargaming. People aren't going to start with ASL -- or even Target Arnhem.
So Hasbro's commitment to the Heroscape system is a positive development. Not only is it a neat game, but it's a great gateway for board wargaming. Only a fraction of the kids that might try it will graduate to more serious fare, but that's always been true.
Make no mistake, Heroscape is definitely a skirmish level wargame, and a rather clever one at that. While dressed up with plenty of sci fi and fantasy elements, it doesn't ignore more prosaic combatants. Sure, there are ogres, vampires, orc and elves, but there are also eighteenth century musketeers, World War II paratroopers, crusader knights, samurai and ashigaru warriors, vikings, Romans and Thebans.
There's just enough there to pique the interest of some young minds for something more.
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