Let's Talk Heroscape

I can't believe I'm going down this road again, but let's hear it.

I bought two sets when the game was initially released, and though light and fun, we were heavy into BB and Mordheim at the time. Heroscape was too light. Also, I thought the building of the maps was a _huge_ pain in the ass not to mention storing it. Hell if I could get it to fit back in the box. Off it went.

Hear I am, some 10 years later and I've got a six (almost seven) year old. He digs pokemon, so I was thinking King of Tokyo so we can play multiplayer (I know they aren't the same). Due to the front page I took a peak at Heroscape prices on ebay. What happened?! Looks like I can get either master set shipped for about $50 total. The market crash on this game? For not too much more I think I'd rather have Heroscape than King of Tokyo. Not sure though, would love to hear opinions on that.

Anyway, I think we may actually have some real fun with it. I know he would love building the maps, so there's that. I'm no longer playing in weekly BB or Mordheim campaigns, so that's gone as well. Maybe it's time I gave Heroscape another look.

School me. Which basic set is best? What are the best expansions? Are the D&D or Marvel flavors compatible? Worth it? How many sets do I really need of hexes to play 4 or 5? Where do I start? Sag!

Sag just got the entire run, IIRC, maybe he'll have something to say...

Looks like Miniature Market has a few booster sets. Set 1 and 8 look appealing, the others (11, 12, and 13) look to be for the D&D version.

Best bang for your buck re: amount of terrain is the first master set. Wave 1 is nice and "self-contained"; the romans bond with the roman hero in the Wave 1 hero pack, and the orcs bond with the orc hero in the same hero pack, as well as the orc hero in Rise of the Valkyrie.

The D&D units are all compatible with "classic" Heroscape, so no problems there if you're thinking of mixing and matching.

Ebay might be an option if you're looking to buy multiples of the common squads. The nutso Heroscape completists will suggest 4 of everything, but you could get by with 2 of each common squad you're interested in. Unfortunately, a lot of the eBay prices got really crazy after the game was cancelled so some of the coolest units are some of the most expensive (like the Axegrinders), and you even have idiots trying to sell incomplete or really common sets/units for ridiculous prices.

You can also get Orm's Return for about $15-$20 and it's a good value. It comes with a couple of dragons, an ogre centaur, some big hairless alien dog thing, and a robot.

I think I'll pass on buying multiple of the same units. We likely (hopefully) won't be that serious.

I'm thinking maybe in order, not all at once:

Rise of the Valkrie
Wave 1 booster set (all 4)
Orm's
Swarm of the Marrow
Wave 8 booster (all 4)


then I'd like the 4th Mass. the cowboys, and the native americans.

How about the Marvel set? Is it fairly compatible? I like the idea of a few superheroes in the mix a la Secret Wars or something. I'm more keen on the Marvel set over the D&D stuff.

They mix in, but are a little undercosted. But they are heroes, so who gives a shit? Silver Surfer especially is the fucking bomb. We use the Marvel guys to tune the difficulty a little. My son gets those and we end up even with my cagey tactics and his flying power cosmic badasses.

We only have Rise of the Valkyrie and Marvel and it's still a ton of fun. And screw the box, please. It all goes into an under-the-bed tupperware thingy.

Start thinking like a six-year old for a moment and you'll come to the conclusion that terrain is your most important consideration right now. A kid that age is going to love the building part of the game, and likely a bit of let's-pretend aspect as well. If you can get both master sets for $100 total do it, as that will give you a big pile of toy block for the boy to work with. It's the creative part of the game. One master set is sufficient, two is plenty of terrain to keep him playing, something he can do on his own when you're away.

Second, all the expansions are about the same from a "fun" level perspective. Get pieces that your boy enjoys. If he's into cowboys get cowboys. And by the way, if you are into Revolutionary War soldiers get those too. Put your personality into the game. Squads work better in groups but you sure don't need them to have fun. For a six-year-old it's not about building combinations to grind out extra moves and special attacks to gain a tactical advantage, it's about swooping a frikkin' dragon down on a bunch of army men throwing grenades at him. You can tune your pieces over time as you and he see things you'd like.

Get the Valkyrie master set to start. Then buy more if your boy shows interest. Also, get on Heroscapers.com and look for local events, as they're a blast and they are very welcoming of kids as young as six and rank amateurs. Best gamers around. While on Heroscapers.com look for pages with titles like "The book of Mimring" or "The Book of Ornak" as they give you a great descrip of each character produced for the game.

S.

No eBay APP ID défined in Kunena configurationFantasy/sci-fi for the boy. Revolutionary war, cowboys and natives for me.

Did the game have two versions? Most I've seen have a set of red and a set of blue dice. The below auction has one set of white dice that look to have the same icons. Are these custom? Also, looks like some Epic duels figures, a few extra low walls, and the dragon wings on the back of that robot...?

Duh, I was thinking of Space Ghost, Sag. He just got the whole shebang.

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Jeff White wrote:

This is an improper set. Missing a lot of figures, others have been added in, cards appear to be missing. The wings in the background belong to the bronze dragon to the left -- Mimring.

But I'll tell you what, it's a big bunch of terrain for $39, extra dice, some odd figures from expansions, glyphs, shields, etc. This set may be worth picking up as an add-on to a proper master set. I wouldn't buy this one alone, but I'd consider grabbing it just to get the terrain.

I'll be honest -- I haven't seen a proper master set going for $50. If you see one grab it.

As for the dice -- the original dice came in red and blue, red for attack and blue for defense. They were replaced in later printings with the white dice that serve both purposes which are much easier to use. You can pick up white dice for a song (I got ten for a dollar) because a lot of people bought master sets and broke them up to sell the terrain at a profit.

Option 2 -- buy the one you linked to above and add this one -- which appears to be a complete set of figures from Valkyrie Master Set, likely being sold by someone who broke up a master set for terrain.

S.

I'll just second that Sag is absolutely right.

Also, once you have some stuff going, look on Heroscapers for custom units that are based of super cheap old CMG minis and you can bulk up some really really well developed and playtested (seriously, some of these are better than official stuff) new figures for really cheap. Similar thing with terrain features; don't buy the official trees, get a shit ton of stuff from anything else and use that. I have a bunch of aquarium/lizard stuff that I use for most of my minis stuff and it's awesome and frequently cheaply on sale.

Keep an eye out at thrift stores too. HEROSCAPE ends up there all the time. It was sold everywhere and looks like toys that parents toss come college. Harder to find now than a few years ago because of all the hoarders, but you can get lucky.

Are there any rules differences between 1st and 2nd edition I should be aware of?

No eBay APP ID défined in Kunena configurationWell I did it.

Bought 2 Rise of Valkyrie master sets for $85 delivered.

Jeff White wrote: Are there any rules differences between 1st and 2nd edition I should be aware of?

Don't think so. The only change I know about is the dice color.

S.