#42: Unmatched: Battle of Legends (Mark's Top 100 - 2026)

Unmatched: Battle of Legends

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 293
• rating: 7.7
• published: 2019
• Rob Daviau & Justin D. Jacobsen

Print Status

• in print

Why It's On The List

• Take the basic card combat idea behind Star Wars: Epic Duels... add in the brilliant LOS board configuration system from Tannhäuser...and infuse the game thematically with a "mix of characters across time & reality" vibe from Heroscape... and then do a top-notch production job... and you've got Unmatched.

Tips & Tricks:

• One of the biggest issues in Epic Duels (the need of some characters to turtle for multiple turns in order to make decent attacks) is fixed here... both by better balancing the decks AND by instituting a "getting to the end of your deck" penalty.
• Each character/team has different strengths and weaknesses... you cannot play each character the same way and be successful.
• The character receiving the least love out of the gate was King Arthur... but I've managed to pull off some wins with him by playing the cards in his deck, not the cards I wish he had.
• Some of the newer boxes (and there are a LOT of them) have more complicated decks - but I'm happy to have the variety in play styles and characters.

Extras

• Due to the expiration of publication rights, the Restoration Games Unmatched vault already contains the Jurassic Park, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Deadpool sets. While Deadpool is impossible to find in retail (and have been for quite a while), the other sets are still available - so if you're interested, it's time to pick them up.
• Some quick thoughts on the various boxes - all of which are stand-alone expansions:
• Robin Hood vs Big Foot - the best introduction if you're not sure about the series... two great characters and two great maps
• Cobble & Fog - two more great maps with four excellent characters - though three of the four characters are not quite as straightforward to play
• Jurassic Park: InGen vs Raptors - my least favorite map, though both characters are fun to play. Dr. Sattler vs T-Rex contains the only large figure in the system (so far)... the dino is fun to play occasionally.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer - two more excellent maps... don't love the Buffy character in 1v1 play but otherwise a fan of this box
• Volume II - a great map and four excellent medium-difficulty characters
• Bruce Lee - a solo character (no map) that's a lot of fun to play... now rereleased as Lee vs Ali with another great fighting character.
• Little Red Riding Hood vs Beowulf - Red is tricky to play but really rewarding when you get it right
• Marvel: Redemption Row, Marvel: Hell's Kitchen, Marvel: Teen Spirit, and Marvel: For King & Country -  I like the creativity in the Marvel maps and the figures are incredible. Due to some balance issues across the set (my sons both swear that Bullseye is "way OP, dad" and I'm not sure we've ever seen Elektra win), I like these better for 2v2 play. (Note: I love the teen heroes in Teen Spirit... and I haven't seen a production copy of Brains & Brawn yet, which was a great deal of fun to playtest.)
• Houdini vs The Genie - both are fantastic characters 
• Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze! - we hated the playtest... .but Restoration knocked this one out of the park and it's one of my favorite cooperative games of the last few years (and the heroes are playable in head-to-head fights as well!)
• Sun's Origin - the map is brilliant
• Slings & Arrows - these are not beginner characters... but there's not a bad hero in the set (and the theme comes through beautifully [speaking as a former English/theater major])
• The Witcher: both Witcher boxes are really good (Steel & Silver and Realms Fall) - interesting maps, interesting characters... and I'm not even a fan of the IP.
• Volume III - we playtested this box as well... and these are the trickiest characters to play in the "volume" boxes.
• Unmatched Adventures: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - an excellent set for the cooperative version of the game... but I don't love the competitive versions of the villains (sold in a separate pack)
• Stars & Stripes - working on a review of this RIGHT NOW... my younger son & I have been waiting for these characters since we playtested them!
• My boys & I have been playtesters on a number of Unmatched sets: Vol. II & III, the Marvel boxes, Tales to Amaze!, Slings & Arrows, the Witcher boxes, Lee vs. Ali, and Stars & Stripes.
• I've written a number of reviews about Unmatched for the Opinionated Gamers site:
• a detailed review/overview of the system
• a review of the Buffy & Little Red/Beowulf boxes
• a preview of the Unmatched Digital platform (which just won a Golden Geek award on BGG) 
• a review of four more sets: Battle of Legends Vol. II, Marvel: Hell's Kitchen, Marvel: Redemption Row, and Jurassic Park: Sattler vs. T-Rex
• a review of Houdini vs The Genie (plus some news about "vaulting" some of the Unmatched line)
• a review of two more Marvel boxes: For King & Country and Teen Spirit
• and, most recently, a review of the surprisingly excellent cooperative adaption of the system, Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze!
• a review of Slings & Arrows
• a review of the Witcher boxes
• a review of Volume III
• a combination review of Lee vs Ali AND Unmatched Adventures: TMNT
• This is the second of five (5!) Rob Daviau games that will appear on my top 100 list this time around... and first of three Justin Jacobsen games.

#69: Flamme Rouge (Mark's Top 100 - 2026)

Flamme Rouge

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 288
• rating: 7.5
• published: 2016
• designer: Asger Aleksandrov Granerud

Print Status

• in print

Why It's On The List

• It's apt to compare this game to the classic 6 Nimmt card game (what with simultaneous action selection and resolution of cards)... but it's really a well-thought-out way to simulate cycling that plays in 30-45 minutes. 

Tips & Tricks:

• Looking at the track and figuring out to shepherd your "good" cards for later in the race is an important skill.
• Drafting is key in this game - holding the lead for most of the game will end up with you sputtering at the end (just like real cycling!).
• Watch for tight spots or crowded groups - you can get caught where you can't catch the leader due to the crowd rather than your lack of good cards.

Extras

• I reviewed Flamme Rouge for the Opinionated Gamers... and also advanced my theory of the Three Buckets of Sports Games.
• There are two "big" expansions for Flamme Rouge - Peloton (which adds two more teams and more kinds of road to race on) Grand Tour (which adds specialist riders and an excellent system for building tour races). There also Meteo (which adds weather conditions), a smaller expansion. I reviewed all three of them last year.
• The Grand Tour expansion absolutely brought Flamme Rouge back to my top 100 games list - it's really well done.
• I'm a little sad that Um Reifenbreite didn't make it into my top 100 games... it's a wonderful racing game but I've had immense difficulty getting it to the table in recent years.

#85: Northgard: Uncharted Lands (Mark's Top 100 - 2026)

Northgard: Uncharted Lands

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 1,272
• rating: 7.6
• published: 2022
• designer: Adrian Dinu

Print Status

• in print

Why It's On The List

• I know it's a "port" of a well-established computer game - but from my perspective Northgard combines "dudes on a map", area control, and deck-building into a really sweet mix.

Tips & Tricks:

• Exploration can be your friend - you can occasionally explore your way out of a bad tactical situation. 
• Gamers should feel comfortable adding the Leaders module to the game from the get-go... it's got a couple of twists but the asymmetric start is worth it.
• Don't add the monsters or alternate lands into your first game - they are both great modules but there's more than enough going on without throwing them in the mix as well.

Extras

• There is an expansion on the way - Northgard: Uncharted Horizons.
• I had the opportunity to be involved in some of the early playtests for the solo design that is coming with the expansion later this year. I'm looking forward to seeing/owning the finished product.
• I wrote a pretty extensive preview of the game when it first came to Kickstarter back in 2020... which includes an excellent (and appropriate) video from The Muppet Show.
• This is the second new-to-the-top-100 game on the countdown.

#88: Battle Beyond Space (Mark's Top 100 - 2026)

Battle Beyond Space

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 10,011
• rating: 6.3
• published: 2012
• designer: Frank Branham

Print Status

• out of print but not impossible to find

Why It's On The List

• Have a massive multiple armada space battle... in 60 minutes. With almost no luck.

Tips & Tricks:

• Important safety tip: I was a long-time playtester on this game... it's not my baby but it certainly feels like it.
• I do wish the colors of two of squadrons in the blue fleet weren't so dang close. I need to use a Sharpie to mark one of them.
• Like Catan, initial placement is important. You have to make wise choices based on your special power and your judgement about the relative aggressiveness of your closest foes.

Extras

• I wrote an ode to joy about the publication of Battle Beyond Space on my blog back in 2009.
• The inscription on my "thank you for playtesting" copy of the game...

#97: Friday (Mark's Top 100 - 2026)

Friday

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 583
• rating: 7.1
• published: 2011
• designer: Friedemann Friese

Print Status

• in print

Why It's On The List

• The first of two solitaire games on my top 50 list... this is an inventive use of the deckbuilding mechanic as you are Friday from the novel Robinson Crusoe... trying to keep Robinson alive and get him ready to face down the pirates. 

Tips & Tricks:

• I used to be really good at this game... actually won once on Level 3 (there are four levels). Those days are gone - I haven't defeated both pirates on Level 1 in my last 10 games.
• The rules for the various powers are a little tick-y... you need to make sure you read EXACTLY what they do (and do not do) in the rulebook.

Extras

• This is an extremely portable game - when I'm traveling to speak, it's easy to throw in the suitcase and beats the heck out of watching HGTV in a hotel room.
• If you get a chance to play a game with Friedemann, take the chance... even if it's not one of his games. He single handedly made our game of Mord im Arosa into a laugh riot a few years back.

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.)

Heroscape: Yet Another Love Letter

I know, I know… some of you are tired of reading my reviews that wax eloquently about my deep & abiding love for all things Heroscape. I apologize in advance – this isn’t going to be a substantial departure from my previous missives.

Once again, let me note for those of you who’ve been living under a gaming rock for 21 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 spring?

There are six items in this wave (released TODAY, February 24!):

• Rising Tide: Knight Primus Adelbern & Ordo Borealis (Army Expansion)
• Rising Tide: Hellforge Mandukor (Army Expansion)
• Rising Tide: Sonlen & Halushia, Scion of the Wild (Army Expansion)
• The Swamps of Valhalla (Terrain Expansion)
• The Snow Fields of Valhalla (Terrain Expansion)
• Thyraxis Dragoon (Spring 2025 organized play promo figure)

The Rising Tide release has a second wave coming in April 2025 as well.

I’m new to Heroscape. Are these Wave 3 boxes a good way to get started playing?

Much like Wave 2, the Wave 3 army boxes are excellent additions to a Heroscape collection – but by themselves don’t contain enough figures to act as a starter set. The terrain boxes are a great way to expand your ability to build maps but don’t contain any figures. In addition, none of these releases come with order markers, battle dice, or rulebooks.

The Wave 1 releases (the Master Set & the Battle Box) are the place to start if you’re new 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.

My recommendation to new players: buy the Master Set & Battle Box, followed by the Lands of Valhalla terrain box to let you build bigger boards. From there, you’ll want to look at armies you want to fill out (polar bears, nudge, nudge) and other kinds of terrain you’re interested in.

An important note for both newbies and old skool Heroscape players: all of the heroes and squads in the Battle Box, Master Set, and Army Expansions (through Wave 3) are unique – meaning you cannot field more than one of them per army. This is a money saver for those of us who were used to buying 2-3 copies of each blister pack of squads in order to be able to field sufficient numbers of zombies or Blade Gruts or Granite Guardians.

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) as well as Wave 1 and Wave 2 of the new era of ‘Scape.

While there are a number of classic Heroscape thematic groups that I enjoy – it’s always fun to field an elf army or a bunch of secret agent types with some Gorillanators – I’ve come to love the newest burgeoning group: the heavily armored polar bears. Knight Primus Adelbern & Ordo Borealis are perfect additions to the Frostclaw Paladins from the Age of Annihilation set… in fact, put all of them together and you have a nearly 500 point team that can both deal and absorb a lot of damage. The Ordo Borealis squad’s ranged capabilities combined with their slightly beefier hit points (for a squad) work really well when they, like Obi-Wan Kenobi, have the high ground. (My apologies for the gratuitous Star Wars prequel reference.)

The Hellforge Mandukor is an excellent addition to the Eisenek warriors introduced in late fall 2024. He/it (not sure?) combines nicely with the Iron Lich and the Necrotech Wraithriders. His Blast Furnace power means that he needs to keep away from his teammates – but he’s absolutely brutal against squads. (Thankfully, figures with Lava Resistance aren’t affected – so I’m wondering what a fight between him vs. Brunak & some Obsidian Guards would end up.)

The final set of figures for this February release in the Rising Tide arc contains two very interesting heroes: Halushia, Scion of the Wild and Sonlen (an elf archmage). Those of us who’ve played Heroscape for a long time have incredibly fond memories of the original Sonlen and the tiny dragon riding on his shoulder. As time has passed, Sonlen now rides dragons… and continues to fight for Ullar. His healing powers are beyond nifty – they can even be used if he flies over a friendly figure – and when he’s fighting in close combat, his dragon joins him in battle. Halushia is a centaur (well, the Heroscape lore folks call him a “Dryan”) who has a ride-by special attack that lets him plow through groups of enemies and inflict damage. He also is able to use the trees and bushes of Valhalla to reduce the defense of enemy figures when they are near them. Both are excellent additions to the Ullar cause.

I do have some requests of the Renegade team:

• more polar bears, please
• more Eisenek (we’re not quite at the point where you can field an entire Eisenek team)
• more beasts (Halushia is the third figure that can control small & medium beasts… but so far there are only the two beasts from the Battle for the Wellspring box)
• more classic characters in new forms (for example, what does Agent Carr look like now?! Or Taelord?)

Are the new terrain pieces worth it?

Now, let’s talk about the terrain boxes. Both the Swamps of Valhalla and the Snowfields of Valhalla add terrain types that will be new to recent converts – but are “old skool” to those of who’ve been playing a while. Swamp terrain originally appeared in the Swarm of the Marro big box while snow & ice came in the Thaelenk Tundra sets. Both sets contain a large amount of “thin” terrain (swamp water & ice) – including some in the new 3 hex configuration (which I like a lot). Both sets also have two “obstacles” – two snow-dusted evergreens for the snowfields and two red-leafed bushes for the swamp. This is also the first time we’ve had 24 hex snow pieces, which makes it much easier to create large snow-filled boards.

While I wish there had been a bit more terrain pieces in each box (and more trees & bushes!), I get that putting a larger set together would have hiked the price to an unacceptable level. As it is, new players who want to build swampy or snow-filled boards will need to spring for a second box.

For long-time players, the terrain pieces generally match the same pieces from the original game – with the exception of the ice pieces. Hold on – I’m not actually complaining about this. I like the old ice pieces but I think the new ones work well and are not a glaring change from the original Tundra sets.

“Old” ice on the left, “new” ice on the right.

How are the scenarios in the various sets?

There are no new scenarios in the boxes for this release.

How does the future of Heroscape look to you?

I’m still very excited about all the new stuff… and it’s causing us to bring out the older stuff as well & create massive battles (and a great deal of fun)!

• We continue to expose new players to Heroscape… and the response is overwhelmingly positive. (A few of them have even started collecting ‘Scape themselves.)
• The second part of the Rising Tide story arc is only a couple of months away – which includes three more army boxes and an official paint set.
• Renegade continues to support in-store and competitive play with organized play sets, the excellent Battle Network site, and a series of very cool promo figures.
• Keep an eye open – I’ve covered the RenegadeCon release and the info dump about this summer’s Heroscape offerings (the story arc is “Boiling Tensions”).

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.)

This post originally appeared on the Opinionated Gamers site.

It's Still Personal: Mark's Five & Dime Games for 2024

Hey, campers... I may have stopped collecting the Five & Dime stats for everyone else - but I haven't stopped collecting my own!

Here's my own personal Five & Dime list (the games I played 5+ and 10+ times in 2024).

As always, I include only face-to-face games and games played with human opponents over apps/online. What that means is that games that I play only solo via an app or website (examples: Next Station: London, Ascension, Draft & Write Records, etc.) are not counted. (All three of those would be 50+ plays if I did.)

Games with an asterisk [*] were on my Five & Dime list last year. Each asterisk indicates another year... and each plus sign indicates five years! Believe it or not, there's actually one game that has been on this list for 14 years [++****].

If you're curious, here's the games that have been on my Five & Dime list for 5+ years

• Race for the Galaxy (14 years)
• 7 Wonders (9 years)
• Jump Drive (7 years)
• Unmatched: Batlle of Legends (5 years)

Dollars

• Memoir '44 143 **

Dimes

• 7 Wonders: Architects 21 **
• Heroscape 21 
• Race for the Galaxy 19 ++****
  
• Legendary: A Marvel Deck-Building Game 17 *
• River Valley Glassworks 16
• Unmatched: Battle of Legends 15 +
• Wild Tiled West 15
• Let's Go To Japan 14
• The Red Dragon Inn 14 *
• New Frontiers 13
• Path of Civilization 13
• Terraforming Mars 13
• Jurassic World: The Legacy of Isla Nublar 12
• Faraway 11
• Jump Drive 11 +**
• Can't Stop 10 ****
• Cartographers: A Roll Player Tale 10
• Distilled 10
• Heat: Pedal to the Metal 10 **
• Stonespine Architects 10

Nickels

• Captain Flip 8
• Dune: Imperium 8 ***
• Lockup: A Roll Player Tale 7
• Lost Ruins of Arnak 7
• Pirates of Maracaibo 7
• 7 Wonders 6 +****
• A Gentle Rain 6
• Ancient Knowledge 6
• Dead Reckoning 6 **
• Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters 6
• Minigolf Designer 6 ***
• NEOM 6
• The Artemis Project 6
• Ark Nova 5 **
• Dungeonquest 5
• Everdell 5 **
• Fast Food Franchise 5
• Final Girl 5
• Imperium: Classics/Legends/Horizons 5
• Next Station: London 5
• Pioneer Rails 5
• Return to Dark Tower 5 **
• Roll Player Adventures 5
• Super Mega Lucky Box 5
• The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-earth 5
• Ticket to Ride 5
• Twilight Inscription 5
• Voidfall 5
• Xia: Legends of a Drift System 5

Just Missed (with 4 plays)

A caret [^] denotes that they were on the Five & Dime list last year... and a pound sign [#] marks games I'm pretty sure will return in 2024. A dollar sign [$] indicates that the game was on the "Just Missed" list last year.

• 52 Realms: Adventures
• Blueprints of Mad King Ludwig
• Clank! Catacombs ^#
• DC Comics Deck-Building Game ^
• Draft & Write Records
• Fantastic Factories
• It's a Wonderful World ^
• Monumental
• Mountains out of Molehills
• Scribbly Gum
• The Taverns of Tiefenthal
• Thunder Road: Vendetta ^#

After All These Years

These are games that fell off the list... after years of repeated play. I felt compelled to say a few words at their passing.

• Res Arcana
• My primary opponent graduated college and is working on a masters degree.
• Sentinels of the Multiverse: Definitive Edition
• This is really about the boys not being at home any more... since I don't own this edition.
• Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition
• As much as I enjoy this mash-up of Terraforming Mars & Race for the Galaxy, I'd rather play the original board game and my game room is set up to make that easier to do.
• Trails of Tucana
• Lots of good roll/flip'n'writes out there now... this one just got crowded out this year.

Another Wave of Heroscape (And Questions!)

When Wave 1 of the new era of Heroscape released in August, my sons & I put out a rather long post to answer a plethora of questions about Heroscape: Age of Annihilation. I thought it fitting that we continue the format to preview/review the Wave 2 material that is being released this month.

Once again, 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 fall?

There are five items in this wave:

• Revna’s Rebuke: Kyrie Warriors (Army Expansion)
• Revna’s Rebuke: Iron Lich Viscerot and Necrotech Wraithriders (Army Expansion)
• Lands of Valhalla (Terrain Expansion)
• Waters of Valhalla (Terrain Expansion)
• Cornelius Breech (National Heroscape Day promo figure)

I’m new to Heroscape. Are these Wave 2 boxes a good way to get started playing?

The Wave 2 army boxes are excellent additions to a Heroscape collection – but by themselves don’t contain enough figures to act as a starter set. The terrain boxes are a great way to expand your ability to build maps but don’t contain any figures. In addition, none of these releases come with order markers, battle dice, or rulebooks.

The Wave 1 releases (the Master Set & the Battle Box) are the place to start if you’re new 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.

An important note for both newbies and old skool Heroscape players: all of the heroes and squads in the Battle Box, Master Set, and Army Expansions (through Wave 2) are unique – meaning you cannot field more than one of them per army. 

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) as well as Wave 1 of the new era of ‘Scape.

Giving Ullar two additional Kyries – particularly these two – strengthens a number of the older figures (Saylind, Atlaga, the Protectors of Ullar). The Revna Kyrie is a powerful tag-team partner with Misarex (released in Wave 1). Glinerva the Kyrie Warrior can not only protect her fellow Aquilla warriors but almost any who fight by her side. Finally, the Vydar Kryie (Queen Qhyrion) is a beast of a warrior in her own right – and a welcome addition to any army.

The Army box with Eisenek warriors is a powerful one-two punch. The speed of the Necrotech Wraithriders is supplemented by bonding with Iron Lich Vicerot and his ability to inject them with a vile substance that enhances their powers. It’s also important to mention that they look really cool on the battlefield as well. 

All of the figures in wave 2 are useful – both in armies created solely with “new era” characters and “all time” armies. Our games with them have shown some weaknesses (don’t let your Kyrie get trapped by a horde of smaller figures) and some amazing strengths (the aforementioned Vile Injection power). 

Collin: As someone who grew up with classic ‘scape and has a small collection of old figures, they’re definitely a LOT of fun to play mixed in with old sets. The Kyrie box especially has a lot of synergy with various figures throughout Heroscape’s history. Most notably, Mielki can provide defense for Ullar kyrie, of which only one exists in new scape figures.

As for the big metal crab and his roly-poly companions, they’re solid figures to add to your collection, but as of right now they primarily synergize with themselves.

Are the new terrain pieces worth it?

The addition of 3 hex water pieces allows for easier creation of very interesting boards – hopefully illustrated by the pictures added here of two boards I built using only the terrain pieces from Wave 1 and Wave 2. (The first of these boards is actually an older Heroscape map originally intended for two Rise of the Valkyrie master sets – the current available terrain is more than adequate to rebuild a close facsimile of the original design.)

It’s nice to have the 24 hex sand tiles as well… particularly when you’re looking to give a map design a particular feel. (This second board is one of my own creation – which actually worked pretty well.)

I did some quick figuring (spreadsheets are our friends) to compare the number and types of tiles in the “classic” sets vs. the “new era” sets… and while the original sets had a few more pieces:

• Rise of the Valkyrie 85
• Swarm of the Marro 75
• Age of Annihilation 74
• Battle for the Underdark 34
• Battle for the Wellspring 31
• Lands of Valhalla 63

…the new sets compare favorably when you count the actual number of hexes:

• Rise of the Valkyrie 359
• Age of Annihilation 330
• Lands of Valhalla 300
• Swarm of the Marro 232
• Battle for the Underdark 145
• Battle for the Wellspring 117

How are the scenarios in the various sets?

There are no new scenarios in the Wave 2 boxes. 

How does the future of Heroscape look to you?

The future looks really positive… for a variety of reasons.

• The Wave 3 announcement last week had six army boxes (in two waves – February 2025 & April 2025) along with two more terrain boxes and an official paint set.
• There were a number of very positive hints during the Game Designer Roundtable at RenegadeCon about future development.
• Wave 1 sold out pre-orders for certain boxes direct from Renegade… taking them to a second printing.
• The Sgt. Drake promo figure is now available through Renegade.
• New players exposed to Heroscape in our orbit have quickly become fans… and began purchasing their own sets!

Collin: There’s a LOT of exciting things coming, give me more robots and polar bears!!!!

Let the battles continue! (Or, in our case, happen even more often!)

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Want to read more Heroscape coverage (written by me!) from the Opinionated Gamers site?

• Heroscape in New Hands: The Renegade Con Panel (October 2023)
• The Gates of Valhalla Swing Open… Again: The Return of Heroscape (March 2024)
• Heroscape – Wave 2: The Story Continues to Unfold (June 2024)
• 10 Questions About The New Era of Heroscape (August 2024)
• Heroscape – Wave 3: The Rising Tide Raises All Boats (October 2024)

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

• Heroscape for Beginners (and Robo) (November 2009)
• I’ve chronicled a number of our massive battles – complete with pictures!
• Defeating the Marro Invaders + Heroscape Update (October 2007)
• Battle Royale + Battle Royale: National Heroscape Day + The Battle is Over (October 2008)
• Marvel vs. the Citizens of Valhalla (April 2009)
• Arena of Doom (December 2010)
• In November 2010, I wrote a goodbye letter to Heroscape when Hasbro ended the line…

As noted above, I received review copies of the new Heroscape material – both Wave 1 and Wave 2. 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.)