Heroscape: Heavily Armed Woodland Creatures and the Stuff of Nightmares

Actually, there’s more nightmare fuel than adorable animal warriors in the trio of April 2025 figure releases for Heroscape – but all three sets bring something interesting to the table. (OK, to the table covered in that cool interlocking Heroscape terrain.) This is actually the second part of the Rising Tide wave – if you’re interested in the first part, you can check out my review from earlier this year.

A quick reminder for those of you playing along at home: Heroscape is a miniatures skirmish combat game played on a board constructed out of (incredibly cool) plastic terrain pieces. (Seriously: folks who play with other minis systems have used this 3D terrain because it works so well.) Since the theme is a battle for dominance in world where the Valkyrie Generals can recruit warriors from multiple times & dimensions, there is a wild mixture of heroes & squads – aliens & Matrix guys & Braveheart & dragons & robots & kung fu monks & gorillas with guns, to name a few. More recently, the good folks at Renegade have added polar bears & space pirates, to name a few more. And it’s one of my favorite games…

With that out of the way, let’s take a closer look at the three new figure sets… and a quick glance at some promo figures.

Oathbound Phalanx and Oathbound Legionnaires

When I used “the stuff of nightmares” in the title of this review, this is primarily what I was talking about. Not only does the Oathbound Phalanx look like something from a very bad dream… it also has some powers (when paired with the Oathbound Legionnaires) that make it a truly frightening enemy on the battlefield.

Overhead view – Sonlen is in serious trouble.

The Phalanx can use its “Break the Link” power to drop any or all of the Legionnaires on its army card. Additionally, the Legionnaires are bonded to the Phalanx and get a turn after it has a turn. Legionnaires on the army card can also be used to absorb attacks… and gathering them onto the Army card lets them unleash a powerful All As One special attack.

The Oathbound Legionnaires – all four of them – have their own power tied to the Phalanx. In lieu of attacking, they can rejoin the Phalanx (being placed on the Phalanx army card.) Coupled with their Climb ability and using Disengage to skitter away from powerful foes, their symbiotic relationship with the Phalanx makes them a formidable opponent.

You’ll notice that the Phalanx isn’t actually a ball (see the overhead picture above). He’s flatter than I thought he would be – though his figure doesn’t fit well between tight obstacles. Of course, he makes up for that with the absolute freakish nature of his powers to shed & gather Legionnaires.

Of the three sets, I think this one probably has the most utility in building out Heroscape armies. In our last game, my son Collin used the Eisenek figures to soften up my team and then shredded me with the Oathbound crews.

Collin, during the softening up phase of our last game.

Wing Commander Tuck Harrigan & Vorid Glidestrikers

I think it’s only fair to note that Tuck Harrigan and the Vorid Glidestrikers are not only cute woodland creatures with advanced weaponry, but, like Liam Neeson in TAKEN, they possess a “very particular set of skills”. Both the Glidestrikers and Tuck do not start on the battlefield – instead, they fly in during the battle. Tuck does so based on a 20-sided die roll, while the Glidestrikers do so one at a time as order markers are revealed on their card. Additionally, Tuck’s arrival allows him to take order markers from teammates that haven’t been revealed yet – giving him multiple turns to attack from wherever he chose to land on the board.

The Glidestrikers and Shiori trying to fend off the Oathbound assault.

All of these Vorid creatures are slightly harder to hit from range – but they don’t have big attack or defense numbers. Their usefulness is derived from their ability to capture high ground points and glyphs at appropriate moments in the battle.

I think I sorely misused them in our last battle – I would have been much better off waiting until Collin’s forces were spread out where the “flying sniper” virtues of these figures would have been much more powerful.

I’m a big fan of the Vorid figures – and I’m looking forward to the Tanuki Tricksters and Air Marshall Zed Nesbitt (who is releasing a month ahead of schedule in May!) to join the ‘team’.

Queen Maladrix & Festering Honor Guard

The final set of the April 2025 releases is yet another devotee of the Valkyrie General Revna – yes, the same evil dude who recruited the Eisenek and some seriously spooky Kryie. Queen Maladrix and her Festering Honor Guard (which would be an excellent punk band name, btw) bring a new twist to Heroscape – the ability to infest living enemies with utilizing the remains of her dead Honor Guard members.

The Queen & her Festering Honor Guard threaten Shiori.

Much like the Oathbound Phalanx & Legionnaires, you’ll want to recruit the Queen and this squad as a pair. Their various powers are tightly linked:

• Bonding allows the Honor Guard to take a turn prior to the Queen
• As mentioned, the Queen can infest adjacent unique heroes with the dead figures of her Honor Guard
• That parasitic infestation can potentially kill the hero, leaving a revived Honor Guard in its place
• If the Queen is destroyed, the Honor Guard has a Motherless Rage which gives them +1 to their attack value

Sending the Honor Guard out into battle – knowing some of them will die – and following up with Queen Maladrix using her double attack power coupled with the ability to infest… yikes. I look forward to giving her another try soon!

Extra Credit: Sgt. Drake, Shiori, and the Thraxis Dragoon

Sgt. Drake is not loving the presence of the Festering Honor Guard.

Those of you who’ve been reading my voluminous writing about the new Heroscape (links below for those who are interested) already know that Renegade Game Studios solved one of the issues with the original Hasbro run of Heroscape – the difficulty in finding promo figures. (I checked on a Heroscape resale site last week – my Master Win Choo promo figure is going for – wait for it – nearly $300. A single figure. What the heck?!)

What Renegade has done is promise to release promo figures through general distribution once the event(s) they are connected to are finished. They have already released three of those figures:

• a new version of the classic Heroscape hero, Sgt. Drake (seen in the picture above)
• a new version of Shiori, the purple-clad ninja (seen in previous pictures in this article)
• Cornelius Breech – part of the space pirate group (sadly, I don’t have him… yet)

The next figures that are coming are the Thraxis Dragoon (seen in the picture below), Major Q11, another new version of Raelin, and a mole with a drill named Decker the Burrowbreaker. At least some of these newer promos will come unpainted – as did the Dragoon. (You’ll notice he’s painted now – a talented gentleman from my FLGS did a great job with him for me.)

I really appreciate this way of taking care of those of us who don’t get to major conventions and/or play in many store tournaments.

Thanks to Nathan, a painted Thraxis Dragoon works to escape Sgt. Drake and his jet pack.

Closing Thoughts

The new set of figures (and promos) are all welcome additions to my Heroscape collection – and offer some interesting decisions when you’re drafting armies, depending on the terrain (Maladrix is going to have a tough time with tight spaces) and objectives (the Glidestrikers will be huge in landing on tough to reach glyphs).

Obviously, this isn’t where you should start if you’re just jumping into Heroscape and the battles of Valhalla… but I’m impressed with the creativity in each set.

As noted above, I received review copies of the new Heroscape material – Wave 1, Wave 2, and Wave 3. Back in the day, I did receive some promo figures, a couple of Volcarren Wasteland boxes, and a wave of figures as a “thank you” for my work as a playtester. (I also received a very cool Heroscape T-shirt which fit 42 year old Mark but isn’t as kind to 60 year old Mark. But I still have it hanging in my closet.)