With the possible exception of Magic: The Gathering, which seems immortal, there comes a time in the life cycle of every collectible game when it "dies." That is, it's discontinued by its maker, official company support comes to an end, tournaments and sponsored or "sanctioned" events are no more and the would-be collector/player is faced with the question of "now what?"
It's in the nature of collectible games that they're much more dependent on the continued support of the game maker, a steady flow of new material and some sort of tournament style venue for play. This is much less true for other types of games. Indeed, an ordinary boardgame can "live on" almost indefinitely once published. A good example are the old Avalon Hill games Dune or Up Front which, due to licensing and rights issues, seem highly unlikely to ever see print again despite proven long-term popularity. It's hard for new players to break in, sadly, but both games have a devoted fan base and the existing copies of the game (undoubtedly carefully treated) will see many more years of play despite the demise of official support.
On the other hand, collectible games that, even though popular, fail to meet market goals and are discontinued by their game maker leave the collectors and players who sank their treasure into the game in a quandary. While it's possible that demand for their collection will increase eventually (because, after all, no new ones are being made) over the short term so far the usual pattern has been for the bottom to more or less fall out of the market for most games.
The lack of official support means the end of tournament play, which is problematical for games that are highly competitive. The lack of official sponsorship means that playing opportunities will quickly dry up and opponents will be hard to find.
Finally, the end of the line usually means that the game is still incomplete in important ways unless it's had a long run. There may be pieces, powers, factions and aspects of the game that are left high and dry because the planned follow-ons will never materialize.
So what now?
The answer will vary depending on the game and the collector, but here's how I see what's in MY collection and how I answer that question.
Axis & Allies Miniatures:
This game system hasn't been declared officially "dead" yet, but there's been no announcement of when the next set (Late War) is scheduled to appear and in my opinion there's a good chance it will never come -- or if it does, it will be the last expansion. This game has had a good long runs, however, and there aren't too many critical holes in the lineup. This game is much less dependent on the tournament scene than most collectibles because a large part of its market is made up of purchasers who are buying it purely for collection or to use the miniatures in other games. Wisely, the miniatures are easily usable in other games and with the scale change in the second half of the run are mostly compatible with other military miniatures. I expect to keep these and find them useful while playing other games and for the occasional game of AAM, itself.
Axis & Allies War at Sea Naval Miniatures:
This is not dead yet and it looks to have several more sets of life in it, BUT as a history-based line there are natural limits on how long it can go on, as opposed to a fictional setting. There's already been some trouble filling out the Axis fleets because they simply weren't very big. As an expedient some what-if ships have already appeared and some ships that appeared earlier in the series are being reissued but at some point the well will run dry. Like its AAM, however, A&A War at Sea miniatures can easily be used with other wargames and while it's a unique scale, the line has gotten large enough that it includes nearly every important ship from th war and if it goes on for 2-3 more sets there's not going to be naught but odds and ends left out. This is a real keeper. The War at Sea game is a good lite wargame (rather better than the land game, in my view) and is always be useful for more traditional gaming as well.
Dreamblade:
Dreamblade is both quite dead and yet still pretty popular. While the plug was pulled a little early (after just four expansions after the base set) the existing universe of product is just big enough to make it a workable game for the long haul. This game has been hurt by the collapse of the tournament scene, so opponents with their own sets are scarce, but if you own a big enough collection (I have a few hundred figures) so that you can provide a drafting pool then you can get some reasonable gaming in. I've had some success getting people to play. It's really a pretty good game, fundamentally, so I expect to keep it for occasional play. The game pieces aren't really usable for any other purposes, though, which is limiting.
Heroclix:
This game was 'dead" and then resurrected in a new incarnation. From what I can see, there's less vitality in the new version, but there's still some life. It's no thanks to me, however. I bought and played the game when it was WizKids. largely because it was the most gaming action I could find locally for a while, but when that sanctioned game scene evaporated I cut way back on my collection. I now have about 200 or so, left, mostly DC and I can't see re-entering the tournament scene by buying new product. For me what I have will have to last me as fodder for casual play. The game isn't bad, but it's also not one of my top interests. It's another game where the pieces aren't really usable for other purposes and I haven't been ale to generate much interest in scenario-based play in my local area. Nearly everybody who plays this seems only interested in playing it competitively -- and I'm not getting back into that scene. So this game's future on my shelf is very much up in the air. I've been chipping away at the edges of the collection through eBay sales for a while and if I ever have to move this is probably the first or second collection to go en masse.
More to come .... .
Showing posts with label Heroclix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heroclix. Show all posts
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Star Trek Clix
WizKids has won the license to produce a line of Star Trek clix miniatures games. Apparently there will be two different games, although both will use some variation of the patented clix system.
One will be a star ship combat game with pre-painted miniatures. The other is billed as a "euro-style character-driven game. The announcement does not indicate whether these will be "collectible" games or simple expandable games, a fact that will play a big role in my interest.
The clix mechanic is not necessarily linked to the collectible marketing scheme, so I hope they avoid going down that road. I won't get involved in another collectible game. It would be nice to ave a good and accessible starship combat game and the clix mechanic has potential.
The character-driven game is a much harder sell for me and I doubt I'll get into it even if it's not a collectible.
Neither game will be compatible with previous Clix games.
One will be a star ship combat game with pre-painted miniatures. The other is billed as a "euro-style character-driven game. The announcement does not indicate whether these will be "collectible" games or simple expandable games, a fact that will play a big role in my interest.
The clix mechanic is not necessarily linked to the collectible marketing scheme, so I hope they avoid going down that road. I won't get involved in another collectible game. It would be nice to ave a good and accessible starship combat game and the clix mechanic has potential.
The character-driven game is a much harder sell for me and I doubt I'll get into it even if it's not a collectible.
Neither game will be compatible with previous Clix games.
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.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
HeroClix lives
Well, it took a long time, but apparentlythe Heroclix game will live on.
Something called NECA is buying most of the Wizkids intellectual property from Topps.
Something called NECA is buying most of the Wizkids intellectual property from Topps.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Arcane Legions demo report and review
A demo copy had been languishing at The Citadel for a few weeks, so I offered to go ahead and take the demo kit and run a game. It's hard to have hard and fast opinions based on a single incident, but my initial impression is that this game is going to have a hard time breaking out. The game is from the founders of WizKids and brings together elements reminiscent of such varied predecessors as Heroscape, Warhammer, DBA and of course Heroclix. The premise is variation off our historical world where some sort of magic force sweeps through in the last few decades before the common era. Three great empires vie for dominance in this world" The Roman empire under Octavian, a Greco-Roman-Egyptian empire under Cleopatra and Mark Antony and the Han Chinese empire with a strong contingent provided by Japan. It's a "mass combat" game, in other words an army-fighting game rather than a skirmish-level game. It's also a collectible game, with all the features and drawbacks of that sort of marketing. In this case the common units are made up of unpainted soldiers (although some shields are painted) while the uncommon and rare heroic and magical creatures are painted. The key game concept is the basing system. Each piece has pegs which can fit into holes on a plastic base. Which holes are available, however, is determined by a card that overlays the plastic board. As a further variation, there are generally more open holes than pieces in the unit. The precise capability of a unit is based on which holes are occupied. For example, look at this card for a Han Chinese unit called Escort for an Immortal: 
Some holes are marked with a red die image. If occupied, that entitles the unit to one red attack die. Other holes depict a white defense die, and for each of those occupied by a piece the unit gets to roll a defense die. Combat involves rolling the appropriate number of attack and defense dice and comparing them with each defense die that equals or exceeds the attacking die cancelling it. If there are an excess of dice of one color or the other the excess are compared to "phantom" dice that are an automatic "2." So, for example, let's say the Escort for an Immortal attacks (with 6 red dice) an Egyptian unit that has just 2 white defensive dice. If, for example, the attack die were 6-6-5-3-1-1 and the defense were 6-3 the results would be as follows: The Defending 6 cancels one attacking 6, but the other attacking 6 is matched by a defending 3 and therefore hits. The attacker's 5 and 3 each exceed the"phantom" 2 and hit, but the phantom dice block the two attacking 1s. So a grand total of 3 hits are inflicted, which will normally remove one piece from the defending stand each. Naturally, as a collectible game, this basic structure can be modified by all sorts of special abilities and the like. For example, some of the Han Chinese infantry are "terracotta warriors" who have a special characteristic of being "fragile" so nay time they take a hit in combat they take an extra hit! Movement is likewise determined by which slots with little chevrons are occupied on a unit base. For example, the Escort above has two slots that give a total of 3 movement points. One of those is marked in yellow and can only be occupied by a Hero, in this case the Immortal. If the hero occupies the starting space (shown by the small name next to the circle) then the unit gets two movement factors (plus a special ability shown by the diamond). If the hero is moved to the other yellow cicle then the unit gets an attack die AND a defense die, but loses the special ability and those twor movement factors which cannot be replaced by a common trooper. The only other movement factor space can be occupied by a common trooper, but there's no red or white die associated with it so the unit's combat ability will suffer. Naturally losses will also tend to degrade a unit's capabilities. All in all it's a clever system, although it might involve too much manipulation for some tastes. The actual movement of the bases is fairly straightforward. All distances are expressed in terms of base lengths with each movement point allowing a stand's worth of movement. Turns are handled with a special turning tool that fits into notches on the bases. Bases that come into contact with other bases or terrain "snap" into alignment with the contacted item, similar to DBA. For the most part this works well, discouraging any kind of millimeter-by-millimeter silliness and keeping the game moving quickly. The Demo includes units from all three armies but only enough bases to field two of them at a time. each demo army comprises four full-sized units (three melee and one missile) typically containing 10 figures and one "sortie" (half-base) unit which is comprised of 3-5 special magical style creatures/heroes. The orders system is pretty straightforward. Units can be given close combat, ranged combat or movement orders with self-evident consequences. They can also be ordered to reorganize, which allows a player to switch pieces around on the base and units with a special ability can get an order to activate it. Units can be given one order per turn without penalty and, judging from the Demo, it appears that the design intent is to have slightly fewer orders available than units eligible to execute them. In a distant echo recalling their earlier Clix designs, units in Arcane Legions that have already been ordered can be "pushed" and ordered again, at a cost of one eliminated figure. One aspect of the game that some will consider a feature but was definitely a bug for me was the need to assemble the figures. Not only are the common figures unpainted but they are still mounted on the sprue and many of them have separately cat shields, weapons and limbs that will require glue, even if you don't paint them. Warhammer players will be familiar with this, but as someone with little talent and less time for model-building this was not a plus. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, of course, and a couple of guys who were waiting for another game to start were willing to take a go at it. They played long enough to exercise all the movement rules and the combat system, with the final board result appearing below: 
Essentially the Greco-Egyptian army was able to close successfully with the Han Chinese was was well on its way to victory when the game was called due to the desire of the players to start their other game. Victory is assessed by casualties caused, with each full-sized unit being worth 2 points and each sortie worth 1. Dead heroes were worth an additional one, so the elimination of the Han Escort of an Immortal was worth 3 victory points to the Egyptians. Occupying the "control zones" (squares marked with stripes) was worth another 3, so the score at the end was 8 to 5. First player to 15 wins, which in the demo basically would require occupying both control zones and killing nearly all the enemy force. Altogether I consider it a mildly interesting game design, but not one likely to be a breakout hit. I think the collectibility will be a drag on interest. There's only room for a handful of collectible games in the market at any given time. It's not historical enough to lure away any Axis & Allies miniatures players and not cool enough to take away the Magic: The Gathering players. It doesn't have a license tie-in or relation with another popular game, so I don't think D&D, Star Wars or World of Warcraft players will switch.
Some holes are marked with a red die image. If occupied, that entitles the unit to one red attack die. Other holes depict a white defense die, and for each of those occupied by a piece the unit gets to roll a defense die. Combat involves rolling the appropriate number of attack and defense dice and comparing them with each defense die that equals or exceeds the attacking die cancelling it. If there are an excess of dice of one color or the other the excess are compared to "phantom" dice that are an automatic "2." So, for example, let's say the Escort for an Immortal attacks (with 6 red dice) an Egyptian unit that has just 2 white defensive dice. If, for example, the attack die were 6-6-5-3-1-1 and the defense were 6-3 the results would be as follows: The Defending 6 cancels one attacking 6, but the other attacking 6 is matched by a defending 3 and therefore hits. The attacker's 5 and 3 each exceed the"phantom" 2 and hit, but the phantom dice block the two attacking 1s. So a grand total of 3 hits are inflicted, which will normally remove one piece from the defending stand each. Naturally, as a collectible game, this basic structure can be modified by all sorts of special abilities and the like. For example, some of the Han Chinese infantry are "terracotta warriors" who have a special characteristic of being "fragile" so nay time they take a hit in combat they take an extra hit! Movement is likewise determined by which slots with little chevrons are occupied on a unit base. For example, the Escort above has two slots that give a total of 3 movement points. One of those is marked in yellow and can only be occupied by a Hero, in this case the Immortal. If the hero occupies the starting space (shown by the small name next to the circle) then the unit gets two movement factors (plus a special ability shown by the diamond). If the hero is moved to the other yellow cicle then the unit gets an attack die AND a defense die, but loses the special ability and those twor movement factors which cannot be replaced by a common trooper. The only other movement factor space can be occupied by a common trooper, but there's no red or white die associated with it so the unit's combat ability will suffer. Naturally losses will also tend to degrade a unit's capabilities. All in all it's a clever system, although it might involve too much manipulation for some tastes. The actual movement of the bases is fairly straightforward. All distances are expressed in terms of base lengths with each movement point allowing a stand's worth of movement. Turns are handled with a special turning tool that fits into notches on the bases. Bases that come into contact with other bases or terrain "snap" into alignment with the contacted item, similar to DBA. For the most part this works well, discouraging any kind of millimeter-by-millimeter silliness and keeping the game moving quickly. The Demo includes units from all three armies but only enough bases to field two of them at a time. each demo army comprises four full-sized units (three melee and one missile) typically containing 10 figures and one "sortie" (half-base) unit which is comprised of 3-5 special magical style creatures/heroes. The orders system is pretty straightforward. Units can be given close combat, ranged combat or movement orders with self-evident consequences. They can also be ordered to reorganize, which allows a player to switch pieces around on the base and units with a special ability can get an order to activate it. Units can be given one order per turn without penalty and, judging from the Demo, it appears that the design intent is to have slightly fewer orders available than units eligible to execute them. In a distant echo recalling their earlier Clix designs, units in Arcane Legions that have already been ordered can be "pushed" and ordered again, at a cost of one eliminated figure. One aspect of the game that some will consider a feature but was definitely a bug for me was the need to assemble the figures. Not only are the common figures unpainted but they are still mounted on the sprue and many of them have separately cat shields, weapons and limbs that will require glue, even if you don't paint them. Warhammer players will be familiar with this, but as someone with little talent and less time for model-building this was not a plus. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, of course, and a couple of guys who were waiting for another game to start were willing to take a go at it. They played long enough to exercise all the movement rules and the combat system, with the final board result appearing below: 
Essentially the Greco-Egyptian army was able to close successfully with the Han Chinese was was well on its way to victory when the game was called due to the desire of the players to start their other game. Victory is assessed by casualties caused, with each full-sized unit being worth 2 points and each sortie worth 1. Dead heroes were worth an additional one, so the elimination of the Han Escort of an Immortal was worth 3 victory points to the Egyptians. Occupying the "control zones" (squares marked with stripes) was worth another 3, so the score at the end was 8 to 5. First player to 15 wins, which in the demo basically would require occupying both control zones and killing nearly all the enemy force. Altogether I consider it a mildly interesting game design, but not one likely to be a breakout hit. I think the collectibility will be a drag on interest. There's only room for a handful of collectible games in the market at any given time. It's not historical enough to lure away any Axis & Allies miniatures players and not cool enough to take away the Magic: The Gathering players. It doesn't have a license tie-in or relation with another popular game, so I don't think D&D, Star Wars or World of Warcraft players will switch.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
WizKids site is down
While the good news is that there seems to be some movement on the licensing for Heroclix, the bad new is that WizKids has tired of maintaining its supporting Web presence for the game and it is down.
This is unfortunate because most of the fans sites associated with the game are also gone. For example, I had tracked my figure inventory with MyHeroClix.com's database. It was quite useful.
I think at this point that I'm just about done with collectible games of any sort.
I'll be maintaining my Axis & Allies Miniatures and A&A War at Sea so long as Hasbro continues them, but there's no way I can be persuaded to get into any new collectibles - ever. Aside from the aggravation of the collectible format, which I had more or less come to terms with, the fact of the matter is that a collectible game is too dependent on continuing company support.
I have literally dozens of boardgames from long-defunct manufacturers that I get plenty of playing enjoyment with. I can find opponents. I can haul them out anytime. Some games become more or less obsolete because of shortfalls in the game itself, but almost never solely because the game is out of print. I can easily get in a game of Up Front, for example. I can play old SPI games online at Hexwar.com.
But with collectible games it appears to be a truism that being discontinued is a death sentence, even if the game is pretty good. Perfect examples of this are Navia Dratp and Dreamblade, which were both pretty good games that still have fans but seem to be in terminal decline. I mostly got into HeroClix in the first place because there was a local group that gathered every Sunday for competitive play. I wasn't all that competitive, but I enjoyed playing. But since company support ended that group simply disappeared. No company support, no play.
Company support, on the other hand, is basically a bonus for regular boardgames. Sure, tournament support is nice, but it's hardly a requirement. There are games still being played competitively at the World Boardgame Championships that are no longer in print. And many that are in print don't get significant company support. Except for brand-new games that are getting support for marketing purposes, company support is not a mandatory element for continued play. Indeed, there are some notable games that have been published by a whole series of publishers over the years -- Acquire, Cosmic Encounter, Diplomacy for example -- without any detrimental effects on their popularity.
I'm done.
This is unfortunate because most of the fans sites associated with the game are also gone. For example, I had tracked my figure inventory with MyHeroClix.com's database. It was quite useful.
I think at this point that I'm just about done with collectible games of any sort.
I'll be maintaining my Axis & Allies Miniatures and A&A War at Sea so long as Hasbro continues them, but there's no way I can be persuaded to get into any new collectibles - ever. Aside from the aggravation of the collectible format, which I had more or less come to terms with, the fact of the matter is that a collectible game is too dependent on continuing company support.
I have literally dozens of boardgames from long-defunct manufacturers that I get plenty of playing enjoyment with. I can find opponents. I can haul them out anytime. Some games become more or less obsolete because of shortfalls in the game itself, but almost never solely because the game is out of print. I can easily get in a game of Up Front, for example. I can play old SPI games online at Hexwar.com.
But with collectible games it appears to be a truism that being discontinued is a death sentence, even if the game is pretty good. Perfect examples of this are Navia Dratp and Dreamblade, which were both pretty good games that still have fans but seem to be in terminal decline. I mostly got into HeroClix in the first place because there was a local group that gathered every Sunday for competitive play. I wasn't all that competitive, but I enjoyed playing. But since company support ended that group simply disappeared. No company support, no play.
Company support, on the other hand, is basically a bonus for regular boardgames. Sure, tournament support is nice, but it's hardly a requirement. There are games still being played competitively at the World Boardgame Championships that are no longer in print. And many that are in print don't get significant company support. Except for brand-new games that are getting support for marketing purposes, company support is not a mandatory element for continued play. Indeed, there are some notable games that have been published by a whole series of publishers over the years -- Acquire, Cosmic Encounter, Diplomacy for example -- without any detrimental effects on their popularity.
I'm done.
HeroClix stirs
A short blog post from WizKids last week says that the licensing issues are close to being worked out. http://wizkidsgames.blogspot.com/2009/06/news-from-topps-june-18-2009.html We shall see
Saturday, May 30, 2009
And more Heroclix
Interesting. Checking out the HCRealms site there's word that there may be a new release from Topps! this summer?!
http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=257498
My guess is that Topps wants to keep the property alive enough to have vaule for a sale.
http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=257498
My guess is that Topps wants to keep the property alive enough to have vaule for a sale.
More HeroClix
It's not all gloom and doom for HeroClix, though. This fab site is still active: http://www.hcrealms.com/
Myheroclix.com is no more
It appears that the Heroclix database site MyHeroClix.com has shut down. Given the uncertain status of Heroclix this isn't a surprise.
It's too bad, because it was rather useful for tracking your collection and warbands.
Another useful Heroclix related site, WhoClix, is also gone, apparently a casualty of the sudden shutdown of AOL on Oct. 31 of last year.
The WizKids site is still up, although apparently inactive. There are no new posts.
It might be wise for HeroClix fans to get what they need from the site before it disappears.
It's too bad, because it was rather useful for tracking your collection and warbands.
Another useful Heroclix related site, WhoClix, is also gone, apparently a casualty of the sudden shutdown of AOL on Oct. 31 of last year.
The WizKids site is still up, although apparently inactive. There are no new posts.
It might be wise for HeroClix fans to get what they need from the site before it disappears.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Reviewing collectible games from a wargamer's perspective: Heroclix
One of the more successful collectible miniatures games, Heroclix was going quite strong, with dozens of expansion sets and more than a thousand figures when Wizkids suddenly plled the plug in late 2008.
There are efforts afoot to resurrect the game line under a different publisher, but what will emerge from that effort, if anything, and how compatible it will be with older stuff is impossible to say. It may or may not be a dead game.
Heroclix is a superhero-themed skirmish level wargame. Each figure generally represents a super being, although there are a few that represent a pair such as Batman and Robin and there are some minor characters that are represented by cardboard tokens. Locally they were called "POGS" because they resembled those toys, but I don't know how widespread that was.The key feature of the game is the patented dialable plastic base on each figure. As the figure takes hits from damage the dial is "clicked" to show new values which often include new or different superpowers. It's a neat idea and it fits the superhero theme well, although attempts to port it to other genres such as mecha, Halo, horror, fantasy and sports have had mixed success.
Because it's about comic-book style combat between super beings, tactics definitely take second place to interactions between powers and the metagame of selecting figures.
Being a collectible game it also suffers from the generally unsettled rules common to that sort of game and the problem of deep-pocketed players having access to better figures.
All-in-all I don't think there's much to interest wargamers in this line, unless they also have a strong interest in comic books.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Trying to revive Heroclix
Looks like there's someone trying to bring back the discontinued game. http://www.saveheroclix.com/
Monday, January 19, 2009
Heroclix has a future?
Perhaps, if this report is correct: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/13924.html
The gist of the report is that Catalyst and Pinata have joined forces to bid for the Heroclix line.
The gist of the report is that Catalyst and Pinata have joined forces to bid for the Heroclix line.
Monday, November 10, 2008
So what happens to HeroClix now?
Topps announces it's closing up shop on HeroClix: http://www.wizkidsgames.com/wk_article.asp?cid=41914
So where does that leave the HeroClix community in the future?
The precedents aren't good. It seems that collectible games need the injection of fresh product in order to stay alive and played.
While there are examples of long out-of-print board games that keep getting played such as Up Front, this doesn't seem to happen often with collectibles.
I think HeroClix has a big enough universe of figures to be playable indefinitely, but without organized tournament play I wonder if players will lose interest. Or will scenario-based play now become the preferred way?
Crossposted from BoardgameGeek
So where does that leave the HeroClix community in the future?
The precedents aren't good. It seems that collectible games need the injection of fresh product in order to stay alive and played.
While there are examples of long out-of-print board games that keep getting played such as Up Front, this doesn't seem to happen often with collectibles.
I think HeroClix has a big enough universe of figures to be playable indefinitely, but without organized tournament play I wonder if players will lose interest. Or will scenario-based play now become the preferred way?
Crossposted from BoardgameGeek
Breaking news No More WizKids!!!!
Topps is discontinuing WizKids immediately!
http://www.wizkidsgames.com/wk_article.asp?cid=41914
Among the things this will likely mean is an eventual end to HeroClix and HeroClix support, although the company said it will continue to support December store events and brick redemptions for a short while. The company said it will look into partnership agreements that might keep HeroClix going, but I'd be skeptical of success given current conditions.
Given the sharply increased cost of bits from China along with the retail weakness in the economy there may well be some more news like this.
http://www.wizkidsgames.com/wk_article.asp?cid=41914
Among the things this will likely mean is an eventual end to HeroClix and HeroClix support, although the company said it will continue to support December store events and brick redemptions for a short while. The company said it will look into partnership agreements that might keep HeroClix going, but I'd be skeptical of success given current conditions.
Given the sharply increased cost of bits from China along with the retail weakness in the economy there may well be some more news like this.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Heroclix Alpha restores bystanders to bystanding
HeroClix Alpha strips the Heroclix system down to its essentials, for an overall mixed result. It gets rid of the concept of "pushing" actions, which simplifies things for teaching purposes. although at some cost in tactical subtlety.
One welcome change I'd like to see ported over to the mainstream rules are the revised victory conditions. In regular tournament HeroClix battles are won by points scored, with each KO'd figure worth its build points. In HeroClix Alpha victory is achieved by the first player to KO five opposing characters.
One of the things this does is restore bystander tokens to their secondary status. I've noticed that many tournament players include a few bystander tokens and use them aggressively to tie up enemy figures, block lines of fire and otherwise take suicidal risks. While valid game tactics, it really seems out of sorts with the theme. I mean, sticking Martha Kent in front of Superman is just wrong. But hey, if Franklin Richards gets blasted by Kobra, so what? He's only worth a few points.
Under the Alpha rules, in contrast, bystander tokens are a source of weakness. A KO is a KO, and it's obviously a lot easier to pick off a one-step Joe Chill than a 10-step Batman. Bystander tokens, if used at all, will probably be kept in safe spots, which seems a much more appropriate place for Mary Jane Watson.
One welcome change I'd like to see ported over to the mainstream rules are the revised victory conditions. In regular tournament HeroClix battles are won by points scored, with each KO'd figure worth its build points. In HeroClix Alpha victory is achieved by the first player to KO five opposing characters.
One of the things this does is restore bystander tokens to their secondary status. I've noticed that many tournament players include a few bystander tokens and use them aggressively to tie up enemy figures, block lines of fire and otherwise take suicidal risks. While valid game tactics, it really seems out of sorts with the theme. I mean, sticking Martha Kent in front of Superman is just wrong. But hey, if Franklin Richards gets blasted by Kobra, so what? He's only worth a few points.
Under the Alpha rules, in contrast, bystander tokens are a source of weakness. A KO is a KO, and it's obviously a lot easier to pick off a one-step Joe Chill than a 10-step Batman. Bystander tokens, if used at all, will probably be kept in safe spots, which seems a much more appropriate place for Mary Jane Watson.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Are boardgames relics? Or the future?
In some ways, boardgaming as a hobby has never been better. There's an active community online. The quality of the games, both from the standpoint of physical presentation as well as game play, have never been better.
Yet the cheesiest, most poorly-done video game sells more copies in a few days than the best-selling boardgames do in their total runs.
Personally I find video and computer games less fulfilling to play than boardgames, but to be honest I have to concede that there are probably generational factors at work. I don't think computer games -- or computers period -- can ever be as central to my life as they will be to my children's lives.
But I also wonder at the long-term staying power of computer entertainment, at least in its explicit sense. The trend in other computer uses seems to be to embed the computer to enhance everyday objects and make them easier to use. Cars, for example, have computer chips running a lot of functions -- invisibly to the driver.
I wonder if, down the road, the same may be become true for boardgames. Will there be a market for combining the computing power of games with the quality components possible with a physical game. Heroclix, for example, is a clever way of creating a mechanical "computer" of sorts for game play. What might be possible with an embedded computer chip?
Yet the cheesiest, most poorly-done video game sells more copies in a few days than the best-selling boardgames do in their total runs.
Personally I find video and computer games less fulfilling to play than boardgames, but to be honest I have to concede that there are probably generational factors at work. I don't think computer games -- or computers period -- can ever be as central to my life as they will be to my children's lives.
But I also wonder at the long-term staying power of computer entertainment, at least in its explicit sense. The trend in other computer uses seems to be to embed the computer to enhance everyday objects and make them easier to use. Cars, for example, have computer chips running a lot of functions -- invisibly to the driver.
I wonder if, down the road, the same may be become true for boardgames. Will there be a market for combining the computing power of games with the quality components possible with a physical game. Heroclix, for example, is a clever way of creating a mechanical "computer" of sorts for game play. What might be possible with an embedded computer chip?
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