Front Page

Content

Authors

Game Index

Forums

Site Tools

Submissions

About

KK
Kevin Klemme
March 09, 2020
35152 2
Hot
KK
Kevin Klemme
January 27, 2020
20833 0
Hot
KK
Kevin Klemme
August 12, 2019
7420 0
Hot
O
oliverkinne
December 19, 2023
3978 0
Hot
O
oliverkinne
December 14, 2023
3504 0
Hot

Mycelia Board Game Review

Board Game Reviews
O
oliverkinne
December 12, 2023
2078 0
O
oliverkinne
December 07, 2023
2584 0

River Wild Board Game Review

Board Game Reviews
O
oliverkinne
December 05, 2023
2255 0
O
oliverkinne
November 30, 2023
2498 0
J
Jackwraith
November 29, 2023
3018 0
Hot
O
oliverkinne
November 28, 2023
1973 0
S
Spitfireixa
October 24, 2023
3695 0
Hot
O
oliverkinne
October 17, 2023
2625 0
O
oliverkinne
October 10, 2023
2462 0
O
oliverkinne
October 09, 2023
2291 0
O
oliverkinne
October 06, 2023
2507 0

Outback Crossing Review

Board Game Reviews
×
Bugs: Recent Topics Paging, Uploading Images & Preview (11 Dec 2020)

Recent Topics paging, uploading images and preview bugs require a patch which has not yet been released.

× Talk about the latest and greatest AT, and the Classics.

New Heroscape? With the Magic the Gathering label?

More
05 Mar 2015 18:21 #198891 by MacDirk Diggler
Ok. Getting beyond a flat map with 2D terrain and being full of unpainted mini's being at least 50% less cool than Heroscape.....

I spent the day in conversation with an old friend who also has all the Heroscape and came to some new conclusions.
1. Heroscape stuff just went up in value. If this hits big, heroscape terrain in particular will be like gold.
2. I don't need to buy any of this. I can proxy/print the cards and play it use my heroscape stuff.
3. Somebody (likely at heroscapers.com) will come up with cards for all the heroscape figures to be ported over into this game.
4. Or I can homebrew my own amalgam of the 2 games.

Bottom line..... this is awesome news if you have several tubs filled w heroscape plastic in your garage.

Some reason to temper enthusiasm....
I already own a great version of this game. Comparing it to heroscape may be a mistake despite the pedigree. It is likely to play very similarly to..........................................................



MAGE WARS.
And like Mage Wars it's weakness will be that you need to have other players committed to the system making their own builds, otherwise it will be like playing Mage Wars against a book you created or M:TG against one of your own decks.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
08 Mar 2015 15:35 #199043 by Colorcrayons
Some reasons to like Planeswalker Arena:

* If you don't own any Heroscape, but want to try it without breaking the bank, as $30 is incredibly reasonable.
* If you like the M:tG game, Heroscape, or both and are curious as to how the two elements combine.
* If you desire a new twist on the fundamental Heroscape gameplay. Summoning squads within range of a planeswalker, modifying the gameplay with spells cast from hand.
* If you desire a far more portable Heroscape option that doesn't require a footlocker (or more) to store and transport the game in which can be far easier and quicker to set up.

Personally, the more I think about this, the more chuffed I am to buy and play it. There is a lot of design space for WotC to explore with this amalgam of the two games. It's more than just lining two or more armies up for battle then rolling the usual buckets of dice. This could potentially add strategy into the game in the long run if you could tweak the deck you draw from. Perhaps you can from the start if you buy multiple base sets? Perhaps that's one reason for the low price point? How would they expand the game? Blind buy or themed fixed component sets? The potential is actually rather exciting. I have no Heroscape sacred cows.

It sucks about the lack of prepainted figs, and the lack of terrain. Terrain has always been terribly managed in how it was offered in Heroscape, since it can play such a crucial role in making games more tactical and better looking. I just hope this gets addressed somehow in the future, by making terrain sets available as stock expansions, rather than temporary blips in the games lifecycle. I really wouldn't mind a set that came with a dozen single space rocks and a half dozen triple space rocks. I'd buy more than a few, and I'm sure old 'Scapers likely would too.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Gary Sax

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
09 Mar 2015 14:55 #199126 by fastbilly1
I hope they dont go blind buy. I will gladly buy two starter sets on launch, but blind buy expansions are so 90s.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
09 Mar 2015 15:19 #199132 by Space Ghost
If it is going to mirror MtG, then I would bet they go blind for the boosters/expansions.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
09 Mar 2015 19:03 #199149 by Colorcrayons
Blind buy seems to be making a rather large comeback. Along with a lot of apologists aggressively lockstepping behind the choice by some companies (namely wizkids) as their distribution model.
I want to state that I absolutely abhor blind buy, as I agree the model is dated.
But, Ive seen some compelling arguments as to why it is a good idea for a product itself. (just not for the consumers at large)
Reduced SKU's make it a popular choice for retailers since shelf space is a premium, and helps bring it into big box shops.
You get a lot more variety in units offered.

I'm not convinced its a great model, but WotC has done it before. They are the pioneers of blind buy games afterall. D&D minis, Star wars minis for a couple games, dreamblade, Axis and Allies from Avalon Hill/Hasbro, have I missed any? But then again, those games had prepainted minis where this seems to be predominantly unpainted. But each fig in a squad does seem to have a unique pose as is typical for Heroscape. On the other hand, we have been seeing more and more fixed product packaging from WotC, so there is certainly hope.

My gut says its going blind buy, but I hold out hope that since Hasbro/WotC are taking a chance on the Heroscape engine again, that they will try something new that will satisfy a broader demographic than the elitist "I have something that you dont" crowd, and aim for the long view rather than the short term gains. Keep that mindset with promos and not general packaging.
Perhaps a decent middle ground might be blind packaging, but only within a specific mana color. For example, I want green mana units, so I buy a green mana blind box. Makes more sense since I am at least getting something akin to what I am looking for. But that does up the number of SKU's at least 400%.

Non blind buy, I could see Mana specific expansions that add two new squads, along with 3 - 6 spell cards.
Perhaps adding a sixth, colorless planeswalker like Karn (or the awesome dragon Ugin). Amping up deckbuilding by allowing colorless cards in each deck. Put a colorless squad in a terrain pack so everyone can use them.

The vast numbers of creatures and spells is what really has me looking forward to what they will do. Angels, dragons, loxodons, elves, demons, etc. Just like old heroscape. Its like chocolate and peanut butter.

(insert more wishlisting garbage here)

But that may be awhile off anyways, since this is being released in June and news of how it will be expanded likely wont be seen until Gencon when broad release occurs.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
09 Mar 2015 19:16 #199150 by Colorcrayons
Oh, and Beebles. I want Beeble swarms for Blue.



Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
10 Mar 2015 14:37 #199205 by fastbilly1
Lets all hope for color specific blind buys as a worse case scenario then. Hopefully the game catches on enough that if it does go blind buy that there is enough demand that you can easily flip those duplicates.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
10 Mar 2015 15:43 #199208 by Sagrilarus
This may be naive, but I can't imagine this will be blind-booster. Hasbro has gotten their hand bitten on that more than a few times already, and the wind has swung very much in the other direction recently.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
10 Mar 2015 17:57 - 10 Mar 2015 17:57 #199211 by SebastianBludd
If the history of Hasbro's handling of the distribution of Heroscape has shown us anything, it's that they can royally fuck up non-blind boosters. They not only initially shipped 3 large hero expansion per large terrain expansion (that is, 3 Heroes of Laur/Raknar's Vision per 1 Forgotten Forest/Thaelenk Tundra), but they also forced retailers to buy boosters a full wave at a time, thus sticking them with hordes of unique boosters that would rot on the shelves for months. They could have alleviated some of that by short-packing the unique boosters in the cases, but I'm not aware of them ever doing that during the life of the game.

The idea of having color-coded blind boosters would be the same mistake they made with their handling of the classic Heroscape waves. As soon as one or two colors are seen as more desirable in the meta game you'll see packs of the other one or two colors sitting on shelves. All four colors will probably share the same SKU (just like the Heroscape single wave boosters did), making it impossible for retailers to order just red, or just blue, because they'll have to order a full box, resulting in a shelf full of the "bad" color nobody wants.

They either need to go full blind or not; color-coded boosters would be the worst of both worlds unless they got the balance between colors absolutely perfect.
Last edit: 10 Mar 2015 17:57 by SebastianBludd.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Gary Sax, Colorcrayons

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
10 Mar 2015 22:26 #199217 by Colorcrayons
That's a very good point, Sebastian.
Which sucks, because that points towards blind buy being the easiest, most recognizable and likely profitable route to produce expansions.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

Moderators: Gary Sax
Time to create page: 0.168 seconds