Thursday, August 22, 2024

10 Questions About The New Era of Heroscape


While I wasn’t able to attend GenCon and the events celebrating the return of Heroscape after fourteen years, I did have the privilege of receiving review copies of the first wave of releases… and so, it’s time to answer some questions. 

Luckily for you, gentle readers, I’ll be assisted in this by my two sons – both who grew up playing Heroscape and are now gamers in their own right. Braeden is 23 and Collin is 19… and between us we have 50+ years of experience at the game.

Over the last month, we’ve had the opportunity to play 12+ games with the newly released material.

Before we get started, let me note for those of you who’ve been living under a gaming rock for 20 years that Heroscape is a miniatures skirmish combat game played on a board constructed out of plastic terrain pieces. 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. And it’s one of my favorite games…

What exactly did Renegade Game Studios release for Heroscape this summer?

While the pre-orders are shipping out now and those who attended GenCon had access to the new stuff, the rest of the gaming world has to wait for the street date of the wave one release – August 29.

There are actually five items in this release:
Note: since this piece originally ran on the Opinionated Gamers website, Wave One of Heroscape is sold out at the publisher level. Distributors still have copies, as will your friendly local game store. There is a reprint on the way of the Wave One boxes that should be available by the end of 2024.

Braeden playing Heroscape this summer (pre-Age of Annihilation)

I’m new to Heroscape. Are these boxes a good way to get started playing?

The three of us are probably not the best people to judge these releases for newbies – I bought my first Master Set (Rise of the Valkyrie) within days of it being released in 2004 and both of the boys have been playing since they were able to read the cards. 

But Collin & I anticipated that problem, so we started playing the new material by itself – first the Battle Box and then the Master Set, then combining them together. The last few plays we finally began to add in “classic” Heroscape figures and terrain.

The short answer is pretty simple: yes, these boxes work as an introduction to Heroscape. The Battle Box is an excellent “let’s see if I’ll like this” set with six unique characters and enough terrain (including Laur trees and wellspring water tiles) to give you the flavor of the bigger game system. The larger Master Set offers a great variety of figures (including the first squads of the new system) and possible scenarios.

The terrain box is not strictly necessary, but I like the additional variety that it adds to battlegrounds you can create. 

If I was a new player, I’d probably want both the Battle Box & the Master Set… combined, these have a similar impact to the original Master Set. (Yes, I know that Rise of the Valkyrie had 30 figures – 6 squads & 9 heroes – and that these two boxes only have 26 figures – 3 squads and 14 heroes. They are not identical – but as far as creating a playable set separate of any additional expansions, the two boxes work like the original Master Set did.)

An important note for both newbies and old skool Heroscape players: all of the heroes and squads in the Battle Box and Master Set are unique – meaning you cannot field more than one of them per army. If you want more terrain, your best bet will be to wait for the Lands of Terrinoth and Waters of Terrinoth boxes in wave two this fall.

Braeden: Wholeheartedly agree on getting both the Battle Box and the Master Set. New players will get a really cool spread of figures to play with (including the awesome giant vine dragon), but old players will have lots of new things to try out including some figures that allow for new synergies with figures we’ve played with for years. Personally I can’t wait to see polar bears fighting alongside Templar Cavalry, or battling the yetis for control of the glaciers. 

Collin: Agree on both of the above views about getting both the Battle Box and the Master Set. While the Battle Box is a good “let’s see if I like this” box, in my opinion, battles on the scale of 3 figures per player don’t exactly capture the grandiose, free nature of Heroscape that got me hooked on it. However, I find MOST of these six heroes almost a necessary purchase with the master set. (Except for Killian Vane III, my sworn enemy who I hate vehemently.) Without the characters in the battle box, a couple of the master set figures are left not quite purposeless, but close.
The "awesome giant vine dragon" Braeden mentioned attacking the Frostclaw Paladins

Are these good purchases for those of us who’ve been collecting Heroscape for years?

This question is a little bit more up my alley. I own at least one (and often more than one) of everything from the original run of Heroscape (2004-2010). 

I think the new boxes are excellent additions to my collection. In some cases, they lean into a character trope the original run never managed to get to (pirates!); in others, the characters are the heroes we never knew we needed (armored Lawful Good polar bears?! Sign me up!) The terrain works with my old terrain and in a number of cases (which we’ll get into in a minute, I promise) the new characters connect with older figures to make them work in new and better ways.

I know as a long-time player/collector that sticker shock on the new releases is an issue – particularly when you want the painted versions – but I think these prices are in line with what it costs to create such a game now. (Take a look at some of the other miniature-heavy board game releases on the market.)

Braeden: This is the advantage of having a dad who buys a lot of fancy board games. All I have to do is drive 2.5 hours home for the weekend and try all the new stuff. Something something, General Grievous- “These will make a fine addition to his collection”

Collin: However, the disadvantage to having a dad who buys a lot of fancy board games is that you inherit that addiction and spend a hefty chunk of your summer paychecks on old Heroscape lots off of eBay to prepare yourself for college. As a prospective buyer of new ‘Scape, the sticker shock is pretty real. I’ve played with and adore almost all of the new figures, (sans my arch nemesis Killian) and I’m still leaning towards pulling the trigger, but $225 for the master set and $65 for the battle box (painted, of course) is still a tough pill to swallow, seeing that you can still find secondhand copies of old master sets for less than $300 these days. A price I’m still willing to meet, but the promised continuation of support for Renegade’s reboot is sending my wallet into cardiac arrest.

You just mentioned that the painted figures are expensive. Are they worth it?

If you are talented at painting miniatures, the painted versions are definitely spend-y… but for those of us whose artistic skills peaked at finger-painting in kindergarten, it’s a cost I’m willing to bear.

As for the paint jobs, they are as good or better than anything previously in the Heroscape line. There are a few figures over the years whose paint jobs I adore – example: Sonlen, from the Swarm of the Marro Master Set – and the quality of the new boxes is equal or better than that.
Raelin has gone over to the dark side (aka Utgar).

It’s all well and good for you to talk about prices – but you got these boxes as review copies. That’s not cool.

That’s not a question – but it’s a legitimate frustration when you read a review by someone who got the game(s) comped to them.

So, if the review copies hadn’t come through, I had/have money in my gaming budget that was earmarked to buy the painted versions of the Wave 1 releases.  

Collin: Hi there, it’s me again, son that 100% doesn’t have a crippling addiction to Heroscape. My dad may not have to pay this price because of his review copy, but I sure will. Am I slightly jealous of my dad? No. I’m VERY jealous.
Collin beating me playing with the new Heroscape Master Set

Are the new terrain pieces (wellspring, Laur trees, new style ruins) good?

There’s been some online griping about the new trees… but I haven’t felt like they were a problem. (See the picture of the latest board I built for Collin & I farther down in this post.) 

The wellspring tiles are a clever way to create new objectives for battles – objectively, they’re just sparkly white water.

The new ruins system has chunky posts with a hooked system for hanging “walls” between them. They look great (in part thanks to the wash that helps the detail stand out) and can be used in a variety of ways. My only quibble is that I’d like a wall piece that is long enough to go across a hex rather than just down the spine.

Braeden: The new walls are really cool – their expandable nature will allow Renegade to add more pieces to them later on.

Collin: The walls are a lot of fun to mess around with, although at the moment I don’t feel as if I can build big castle walls like I want to – even with more than one master set. As of right now, they feel like very customizable versions of the old ruins from Rise of the Valkyrie, rather than a reimplementation of the Fortress Terrain. I’m curious to see how they expand the system further. As for the Jungle Trees, those pieces are designed in such a way that they’re slightly frustrating for me to use. They’re very workable, they just don’t sit 100% flat on top of another piece when there’s stuff connected to it, and that bothers me, but not enough to call heresy as people I’ve seen on the internet have been doing.

I read somewhere that they changed some of the point costs for older figures. What’s that about?

Re-costing heroes & squads has long been a discussion topic amongst Heroscape players. The most egregious mis-costing in my mind is still Taelord the Kyrie Warrior (though the appearance of his daughter, Loviatak, in the new Master Set makes his “posse” – the Minions of Utgar – a more viable option). 

For tournament play, the Renegade team re-costed the following figures:

RISE OF THE VALKYRIE
  • Raelin the Kyrie Warrior
    • Increased from 80 to 125 points.
  • Marro Warriors
    • Increased from 50 to 105 points.
  • Grimnak
    • Increased from 120 to 160 points. 
CREST OF THE VALKYRIE
  • Sir Gilbert
    • Increased from 105 to 160 points. 
UTGAR’S RAGE
  • Me-Burq-Sa
    • Increased from 50 to 70 points. 
  • 4th Massachusetts Line
    • Increased from 70 to 100 points.
DEFENDERS OF KINSLAND
  • 10th Regiment of Foot
    • Increased from 75 to 95 points.
THORA’S VENGEANCE
  • Deathreavers
    • Increased from 40 to 60 points.

I’d do more griping about these re-costings… except we played a game a week or so ago with Sir Gilbert leading the Frostclaw Paladins which showed off his Jandar’s Dispatch power with such clarity (Collin wiped both Braeden & I out) that I’m now loath to question any of these choices.

Braeden: My initial reaction to the tournament cost changes was something along the lines of “Who cares? It’s not like we are going to do any tournament play, let’s just use the old costs”. After the aforementioned Sir Gilbert debacle I changed my view significantly. Moving forward, it is likely wise to use the tournament costs if mixing old sets with the renegade released ones. 

The great part about these changes is that it lets Renegade adjust the balance dial on these old cards to fit into the new ecosystem without having to make reprints or sweeping ability changes. They now have a knob they can turn as cards become problems, or alternatively a way to make underplayed cards a bit more likely to see play (Taelord the Kyrie Warrior being the most egregious current example). Ultimately though, if you and your game group are playing casually. I would use the costs where your group has the most fun.

How are the scenarios in the various sets?

While we found a few of the scenarios we really enjoyed (The Wellspring’s Woe in the Battle Box and Ghosts of the Past & Annihilation in the Master Set), in general the scenario books are there to give you ideas to use your own creativity. 

I’ll offer some advice here:
  • The more points you give each player to build their army, the longer the game is. 
  • The timer-based scenarios are a great idea, but are trickier to design on your own. (Figuring out how many rounds to give players to accomplish certain goals is key.)
  • It is perfectly acceptable to build a battleground, throw out a point number, and play to the death. (We’ve done that a lot.)
  • Renegade will be posting free scenarios on the website starting in September 2024.
  • There is still an amazing repository of scenarios and battleground maps on Heroscapers.com (a fan-run Heroscape site from back in the day).
  • We managed to recreate my favorite multi-player Heroscape map using only the terrain from the new Battle Box & Master Set – I’ll Dance On Your Grave. It’s originally a single Master set scenario for 2 to 4 players… and it’s SHORT. (6 rounds). It’s essentially a reverse King of the Mountain – at the end of the six rounds, the player with the most points worth of figures in the sandy pit in the middle of the board wins the game. (You’ll have to mess with glyph and ruins placement, but the idea is still solid.)
Braeden: Can’t really speak to the included scenarios, but I am gonna echo my dad’s recommendation of I’ll Dance On Your Grave (or as my brother and I lovingly call it “The Pit”).

Collin: Scenario play has never been my favorite, I’ve always been a fan of to-the-death setups, but the two new official scenarios my dad mentioned and The Pit, I’ll admit are a ton of fun.

Collin & I playing a massive battle mixing old & new 'Scape (including Ticalla Jungle) - yes, I lost.

You didn’t talk about Basic Heroscape. Why not?

Basic Heroscape has been a fixture of the game since it was released in 2004… and I have never played it. Not even when the boys were little. It’s essentially playing on the Heroscape boards with no special character powers.

If you want to play that way, the army cards have the adjusted stats and the rules are in the rulebook. Not for me, thanks – the variety of powers and interactions are an integral part of the game for me.

Braeden: Basic Heroscape is the thing I look at when my 200 point hero dies and I stare longingly at the higher health and defense values.

Collin: I would care about basic Heroscape if there were point values and heroes had more than one hit point, but since they don’t, I’ll only look at them when I accidentally put my card the wrong face up.

How does the future of Heroscape look to you?

The future looks really positive… for a variety of reasons.
  • The Renegade team was incredibly responsive to feedback as we were doing our initial plays. As noted above, there are a couple of misprints in the battleground maps – which they promised will be corrected for the second printing as well as corrected versions being uploaded to their site for folks with the first edition.
  • Did you notice they said “second printing”? 🙂
  • The information we have so far about Wave 2 (coming in October) looks like two cool new figure boxes (Kryie & Eiseneks) two boxes of terrain for (a) new players, and (b) old players who want to build MASSIVE battlegrounds.
  • A display case picture was part of an earlier Opinionated Gamers report (thanks, Matt!) which shows a number of nifty things… including more Jandar polar bears. (See below)
  • The Heroscape Battle Network is live – making tournament play much, much easier. 
  • According to Renegade, there are plans for new release waves through early 2026.
Display case at GenCon 2024 of upcoming figures (from Matt Carlson's OG preview)

Let the battles begin! (Or, in our case, continue!)

Braeden playing Heroscape MANY years ago...

Want to read more Heroscape coverage from me on the OG?
Collin playing Attacktix about the same time he started playing Heroscape

How about some stuff I wrote back in the day about Heroscape for this blog?

As noted above, I received review copies of the new Heroscape material. 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.)
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