New Heroscape? With the Magic the Gathering label?

Good post, (Jeff?) White.

On the one hand, I actually was (am?) excited about playing a Magic board game, with the planeswalkers and creatures from the card game; I like the idea of grafting the color wheel onto a board game, and it's fun, for me, to see recognizable creatures, cards, and abilities in a different context.

On the other hand, as Jeff White said: when matched directly against HEROSCAPE?!? Forget it, Heroscape's theme is WAY cooler. I actually have a hard time imagining buying this, given that I've got a pretty sizeable Heroscape collection. I know *exactly* which one will be more fun for my kids and will spark way more creative play as toys.

If Heroscape didn't exist or I didn't have a ton of it, I'd be really excited about this.

the hardcore Magic players I know are very much into the fluff. They talk about the different worlds and characters much more than I would imagine was possible.

And while HS may have made a lot of money, it all depends on whether or not their designers, graphic artists, playtesters, and so on can make something that's even more profitable. I believe the same happened with Dreamblade which - I think - sold quite well, but just not well enough.

Funny thing is, I think the Heroscape theme is lame. But this one is even lame-r!

mads b. wrote: the hardcore Magic players I know are very much into the fluff. They talk about the different worlds and characters much more than I would imagine was possible.

Yes. I've played Magic since 1994, I've never delved into the story lines, but I certainly know the plot points. It's true, HS is cooler, but playing as these characters is really appealing to me because I know who they are.

I'm excited about the prospect of this possibly being a hit and more planeswalkers being added, I'm excited that maybe if it's a hit there will be some kind of organised play because wizards already has the infrastructure in place, and if it bombs horribly I'm excited to use these characters in HS, D&DAS, and Warhammer Quest.

Mr. White makes some good points, but I think he overlooks Mr. Barnes' primary thrust -- Hasbro removes the first three digits from their sales numbers on their spreadsheets. "Success" is measured strictly in units and dollars from their perspective, and Heroscape wrung itself out. I bought a lot of expansions at K-Mart in the bargains bin. The closest I've seen to a perfect game, but it was done. You could argue they shouldn't have gone into Dungeons and Dragons material at the end of it which is an odd fit at best.

The take-away from that is that there's still a fundamentally strong core mechanic that can be used for other purposes (plus the pieces interlocking, buildable map though that seems elementary in the snapshots), and retheming to Magic seems to be a reasonable choice. My guess is that the game isn't a straight port, but Hasbro is using a known-success to create a new revenue stream, one that cozies up to Magic.

So here's a question I'll throw onto the table -- is MtGeroscape intended as the second purchase, or the first? Is the idea to get Magic players to buy the tabletop game as a follow-on, or is it to provide an introduction to Magic for young players? I could see it either way.

S.

Well after that video I'm a little less enthused, since it seems clear that the terrain is in no meaningful way meant to approach the level of Heroscape interactivity. I still think the game looks cool, but if it's not going to really amp up the terrain aspects, it just reminds me that I have 5 sets of Dungeon Command crying to be played.

Which also makes me think that this is probably the final nail in the Dungeon Command coffin.

THe game is a year out. The terrain could change. If they've got gameplay ironed out, maybe that's the last thing they're working on.

Dungeon Command is pretty badass, though.

Sagrilarus wrote:

So here's a question I'll throw onto the table -- is MtGeroscape intended as the second purchase, or the first? Is the idea to get Magic players to buy the tabletop game as a follow-on, or is it to provide an introduction to Magic for young players? I could see it either way.

Nothing says it can't be both.

With my armchair understanding of Wizards' business practice; I anticipate a Kaijudo Strategy Board Game in 2019.