I've got two of the master sets and a number of expansions. It's a great little game, though sadly I haven't pulled it out in a long while. :/ And, of course, another draw is the idea of using the tiles to build evocative outdoor battle scenes for D&D. It's not something I've ever done, sadly.
The terrain does take a while to set up, so it's not something I'd recommend putting together in the middle of the game if you were to do that... On the bright side, it's also very sturdy once put together and you could easily set it up ahead of time on some stiff board and just keep it aside.
How's it play? Is is something done an an hour or many hours? It is complicated? I haven't had time to break out the rules yet, just look at the pretty pieces.
The rules are simple, the combat is streamlined, but it definitely has depth. Plays pretty quickly, as well.
There are two types of units; heros and squads. Squads are like groups of 4e's minions; several pieces which share the same stats but each die if hit. Heroes are single units which can take a certain number of hits.
Every unit has a point cost. The way I usually play is we set up all the units, then take turns drafting pieces with some point total in mind (e.g. 500 points).
A turn goes something like this (going from memory, so may get something wrong).
Roll for initiative-- straight d20 roll, some units give bonuses. Only time you roll the d20.
In initiative order, players take turn placing their four order markers. The markers are labeled 1, 2, 3 and X. The X is a decoy. You may put multiple markers on a single unit's card, if you like.
After all markers have been placed, the initiative winner reveals his first marker and moves and attacks with that unit. Then the other player does the same. Same process for markers 2 and 3, and then you roll initiative for next round.
Line of sight is done via looking behind the unit's head and seeing if he can actually see his target. Each unit's card has sillouhettes which show both where the line of sight is measured from, and what portions of the unit are valid for confirming line of sight (e.g. an archer's bow might not count, so if that's all you can see you can't hit it).
After taking into account all abilities and statistics, the attacker rolls so many red dice and the defender rolls so many blue dice. All dice are six-sided; the red dice have 3 skulls and 3 blanks. The defender dice have 2 shields and 4 blanks.
Each shield cancels one skull. Any leftover skulls are applied as damage. In the "minion" units, a single skull will kill a piece, in the hero units you put damage markers on their cards.
Heroscape terrain makes for wonderful battles. I've used it for two scenes so far:
an ice cave and
a castle with a bridge leading up to it
Next will be a volcano!
__________________ Anyway, to cut a long story short I threw a and a which beat his and a , another double followed by a double and a double . After he'd thrown a and a I threw a and a .
Heroscape is a completely wonderful game I've sadly not played in about 3 years.
It's great at the base level, and you can spend many, many hours playing with different armies, different maps, and different scenarios. There's a wealth of customization.
It's also insanely expandable. I have, I think, 4 Master Sets (maybe 3, I forget) and quite a lot of the expansion pieces. The minis are fun, there's huge variety, the rules are fairly simple, and it's a blast.
I hope you enjoy it. It's a good way to spend a few hours with some friends.
As well as a great squad level battle game, the battlegrounds make great terrain for DnD exterior battles. Though watch the heights so falls are level appropriate ;-).
__________________ Anyway, to cut a long story short I threw a and a which beat his and a , another double followed by a double and a double . After he'd thrown a and a I threw a and a .
The only sad and proven fact the first person to go first usually wins the game, because his first move will move and kill something, you follow up with one less piece or squad sometimes, his second move will move and kill something, you follow up with one less piece or squad and so on.
That being said, I culled and well had a small hand in developing an advanced set of rules that play in particular like DND minis but more more involved. For example, instead of the order markers so that a first initiative person goes first and most likely wins the game, roll a d20 for each army card, on a 20, the army card character may move again at half his speed or he gets a free attack. On a roll of 1-4, that particular army card cannot move or attack and can only defend (replacing the x marker). There are rules for charging, jumping, running, weather, terrain and nice leveling system very compatiable with heroscape. If anyone wants these just send me an email at piscesman20@livemail.com will be glad to send as an attachment to anyone.
Here is some links also enjoy Heroscapers - truth
I did have the main link to the official site but misplaced it, I want to say www.hasboro/heroscape.com but don't quote me on that, someone else may know it offhand better then me.
The only sad and proven fact the first person to go first usually wins the game, because his first move will move and kill something, you follow up with one less piece or squad sometimes, his second move will move and kill something, you follow up with one less piece or squad and so on.
[citation needed]
There are many things wrong with that statement.
First, it presumes you can even reach your opponent on the first turn. It's been a long time since I've played and an even longer time since I played using the pre-made scenarios, but I seem to recall the battlefields tending to be large enough that it was not feasible to attack an opponent's unit on the first turn if that unit is still in the starting area.
Second, it presumes that it's possible to kill a unit on the first turn. A member of a squad? Sure. A hero? Much less likely. Losing a member of a squad isn't so bad, you should still have 2-3 more.
Third, it presumes that you always attack the unit the opponent was going to use next. If you get lucky and destroy my archer, that doesn't bother me too much if my robots are going next. They can hit you just as hard as you hit me, and potentially kill one of your units. In fact, if you killed my archer and I had the X order token on him, you haven't impacted my turn at all.
Takes a little longer to assemble a board then I like. It does seem once I become more familiar with the pieces and maybe find a way to organize them it will go faster.
Played my first real game today using just basic rules. The squads held the advantage with sheer numbers. All units in the game were hand to hand so that might have had something to do with it. Dice luck was something else. THe guy who lost ended up losing because rolls of 7 and then 8 defense dice came up with zero shields.
While we didn't do it because it seemed cheesey; with only slow units left the side with the faster units seems to be able to just run around and let the rounds run out assuming he would win in that case.
Takes a little longer to assemble a board then I like. It does seem once I become more familiar with the pieces and maybe find a way to organize them it will go faster.
Played my first real game today using just basic rules. The squads held the advantage with sheer numbers. All units in the game were hand to hand so that might have had something to do with it. Dice luck was something else. THe guy who lost ended up losing because rolls of 7 and then 8 defense dice came up with zero shields.
While we didn't do it because it seemed cheesey; with only slow units left the side with the faster units seems to be able to just run around and let the rounds run out assuming he would win in that case.
Board assembly does take a while if you do the stuff in the book. Personally, I prefer to just do it freestyle. Just build up the board however you want, with a very rough eye towards keeping it semi-symmetric.
Running around sounds like a valid tactic... You could always counter by corralling him (i.e. set up network of units forming a soft wall and enclose him such that he can't move out of your range). Speed is an advantage, after all, and it's silly not to take advantage of it.
Must say, I'm rather surprised no one took any ranged units, particularly when they saw their opponents going exclusively melee...
That was the basic game that has set units. So, no unit choice there.
In another game where we did make some choices in units a group of ranged combat guys took the high ground and slaughtered the other groups. It was hot dice verse cold dice that game.
I want to go through all the scenerios they have first just to see what they are doing with the game. There will be plenty of time for crafted maps later.
Attacking does have it's advantages. A few good placed ranged shots can decimate the other team. Floying ranged combantants have been fun as well. Having done a lot of army buying type fighting yet. Right now we are mostly using the basic rules and the scenrios in the book and those armies.
I'm on the third one which has each team use 3 single combantants. The glyphs are flipped over and reprenets finding a plant. But we don't know which ones we need so it is racing around the map hoping to find the right one. All the wwhile shotting at each other. I think the map would be a bit better if it were not so long. I do like the use of water and high ground on it.
I'm just getting into this game as well. I don't plan on using the basic rules, though... I'm going straight for the "Master" rules (on Heroscapers the consensus seems to be that if you're 11 years old or more there's no reason to bother with Basic).
I have to say, I ignored the game a long time because it seemed like it was aimed at kids. Then when a serious gamer was telling me how great the game is, I decided to give it a try. From what I've read so far, I think it will indeed be fun.
__________________ "I despise all weavers of the black arts. Speaking of which, can you pass the gravy?"
In my defense I started with the Basic rules because I'm reviewing the game.
I've been playing using the master rules today and it has been great. There is a lot of strategy involved. I like that many of the single units need multiple hits before they go down. It has really added a lot of fun to the game.
I have the original Master set and have played it a few times with friends. I love it. I am a wargamer and find that HeroScape is good to get non-gamers into a wargame situation.
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It's a good way to spend a few hours with some friends.
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