"You like these guys? I was into them before anybody."

That line, badly quoted from "Repo Man" always comes to mind when I think of Heroscape. Yea, I know it's ridiculous to think it's true, but it is the first big game I've managed to get on while it was on the ground floor. Since then, it's been a lot of fun watching the community's reaction to it as it hovers in the hot 100, and as the files section fills with numerous pics of homebrew terrains. So tantalizing...

And so here I am, nearly a year after first buying it, and mere hours before breaking it out again with some friends, and I guess I just feel like it's time to take a look back.

There's plenty of indepth reviews of Heroscape out there, written by those much better at reviewing than myself, so this review is just the basics, aimed at those who have seen the master set on their local Wal-Mart shelves for the last year, and for some reason, are hesitant to pull the trigger.

Your mind is so full of questions, my friends. I can sense them already...

So, uh...what is it?

Well, Heroscape is a simplified hex based, minitures battle game, set in the mystical world of Valhalla, where the discovery of the Wellsprings has opened the door for warriors from all time and space to to battle how you see fit. What, you have a better idea?

What's the deal with all the plastic hexes?

Well, as you've probably seen, Heroscape takes place on a 3-D battlefield that you build yourself. The Master set comes with 80-some terrain pieces of varying sizes that are fitted together and stacked. There's even "water" hexes that are half the thickness so that they are recessed into the board when placed, making it look like the water is actually sunken into the landscape. The game comes with a scenario booklet that contains the "recipies" for 5 distinctivly different battlefields; From long narrow ones with rivers down the side, to larger, vaugly circular, arenas fit for mega matches. The directions are literaly from the ground up, and easy to follow. You also get two L shaped "ruins" that add some more potential for cover, as well as some visual flair. And there's also a handful of flat, hex-shaped pieces called "glyphs," which represent "hot spots" and such; they will give players various bonues to defense or attacking power as long as you have a player standing on one of them. There are other glypths which provide one time only powers once landed on, like healing or a massive "curse" that sweeps the table.

In a nod to the more creative, there are even two "dummy" glyphs that have no actual powers, but are used for various purposes during scenerios, most generally as "maguffins" that players have to search for or transport. (Some of my favorites!)

Isn't that a hassle to build the board every time you play?

Yea, a bit. One of my fellow players has resisted buying the game for this very reason. Personally, I find that putting the board together appeals to that anal retentive part of me that used to follow lego directions to the letter.

Does it take a long time?

Um, depending on how good you are with your hands and the directions, it could take about 10-15 minutes, i guess. But keep in mind that when I do it, im ususally jabberjawin with my friends who are gathered around the table, so if you put it together ahead of time, then it might not take as long.

What about all those minitures?

They are every bit as cool as they look on the box. Now I'm no expert on mini quality, so there might be other games out there with better figures. But for a mainstream game, this is top notch stuff, with all sorts of variety; including samirui, robots, vikings, soldiers, agents, and even odd, alien creatures. And yes, there are two BIG figures, including that golden dragon that was a large selling point, and his lesser talked about brother, a mini T-Rex with a pike wielding orc on the back.

With all those cool figures, is the game meant to be collectible?

Nope. There are no rare figures. So you dont have to worry about fighting to get the figures you do want. In addition, the figures are divided into two groups (Unique and Common). Each player can have only ONE of each particular unique figure or squad of figures on their team. All of the figures in the Master Set are Unique, so no matter how many master sets a Heroscape fan goes out and buys, he cant have two Dragons on his team. Most of the boosters are common, so you can have more than one set of those.

Wait, people are buying more than one master set? Do I need to do that?

Probably not. There's more than enough figures here to keep you occupied for a long time, and since you cant have multiple uniques on your team, most people are buying many master sets just to get more terrain tiles to build bigger battlefields. If you feel like doing that, go ahead, just seems kind of over the top to me. At best, if you get your friends into the game, they will go get a master set too, so you can build a bigger battlefield without having to drop another 40 dollars.

What about the boosters? Do I have to rush out and get those?

The boosters do add a lot to the game, and there are some real wicked new troops to add, but to be honest, like I said above, there's plenty of fun in the master set alone, and now that I think about it, every time we play, about half the troops that people pick come from the master set anyways...(heck there's a couple I get REAL tired of people relying on over and over again.) I've seen games that are money pits, Heroscape isn't one of them. Simply buy what you feel like you need.

How hard is it to locate the boosters?

Experiences vary. One of the factors that almost kept me from buying this was that I generally dislike having to hunt around heck and high water to find boosters for any game. I live in an area where game stores aren't all that common, after all. But, since like the master set, the boosters are sold in Wal-Mart's, Targets, etc, I figured that it couldn't be THAT bad.

To be honest, just going by my experiences, I've had about a 95% success rate in terms of finding the boosters (as of this writing, I'm still hunting for Wave 7, which may not have hit retail yet). And keep in mind, that's all from searching in Wal-Mart alone! Now, you may have to hunt from one to another to get the ones you want (just offhand, there are 8 I can think of near me within driving distance), but they're out there.

And an aside: While they are semi-widely available, I'd should mention that once a set is gone, they generally don't reappear, at least not in my experiences, although wave 6 boosters have been on the shelves of my local stores now for about six months (the only time this has happened).

Aren't I too far behind to get started?

If you are a completist, and you just HAVE to have everything, it may be a drag to find EVERY booster out so far, although according to official word the boosters are set to never go "out of print." As of this writing, HS has just released Wave 7, so you've got a ways to go if you want to get caught up, but just about every set is floating around somewhere, mostly online from ebay or other gaming sites. You may have to pay a bit more for them, but keep in mind, since nothing in this game is "rare" in the collectible sense, you probably shouldn't run into anything too garly in terms of markup.

And some of the bigger expansions, such as terrain packs and sets of huge figures are a lot eaiser to find on the shelves since most people only bought one of them anyway.

But, as mentioned above, there's MORE than enough included in the master set to keep you busy for a long time in terms of creative possibilities, and unlike the boosters, I've seen at least one copy of the master set in just about EVERY big box store I've been in in the last three years.

So, how do i play?

Well, I wont go into the chapter and verse of the rules, but here's the rundown...

1. Pick a scenario (or create your own). The book that comes with the game has about 10 or so different scenarios, ranging from simple "beat the other player" to "find the hidden object" quests or "defend the hill" brew-ha-ha's.

2. Players go through a "drafting" procedure which is a fair way of picking figures for your team. Players most commonly take turns selecting from the pool of refrence cards, totalling the point value of each card selected up until they reach the limit that the scenario says you can have. Players then place their chosen troops in the designated "starting zone." Figures are either "Heroes" (one singular, powerful troop who can take more than one hit) or "squads" which are a group of several smaller, weaker troops who move and attack all at once.

3. Heroscape is carried out in a series of rounds. At this point all players select which figures, or squads of figures, will move that round. A player can "activate" 3 heroes or squads each round. They do this by placing four markers on their refrence cards; markers with hidden numbers one, two, and three on them. This locks in who and in what order you are moving people. There is an extra maker, labeled with an X that is used as a dummy marker to throw other players off, since they can see where you are placing your markers, just not what numbers are what.

4. Players roll the 20 sided dice and whoever rolls highest wins inititive and gets to reveal their first choice. That player moves with the chosen hero or squad, and then attacks with them, if they wish. Then, going clockwise around the table, the next person reveals their first choice. This sequence goes around three times, until all players have moved and or attacked with all three choices. This ends the round, and then everyone starts over.

5. On a turn, each figure has a card of stats, mostly including numbers for movement, range, attacking, and defense. When activated, you move your figure or figures. Then, if you wish attack, check to see if the target is in your range, and then roll the number of attack dice equal to your power. Attack dice are 50/50 in terms of hits. You count up the number of "hits" you roll. The defender rolls the number of defense dice on their card. They add up the number of "shields" they roll and subtract them from the hits rolled aginst them. Unlike the attack dice, defense dice are only 25% chance of rolling shields (actually, it's about 33% - check the comments below). Any remaining hits become "wounds" aginst the defender. Squad figures are killed after only one wounds, although the squad stays active until all troops in the squad are killed. Hero figures however can take multiple wounds before they die, and place a red "wound marker" on their card when ever they get hit.

Since this is a 3-D board, there are little tweaks that are taken into effect, mostly involving elevation. If your figure's base is at least ONE level higher than the attacker of defender's BASE, then you get a ONE dice bonus when attacking or defending. In the unlikely event that your troop is TEN or more levels above your attacker or defender's TOTAL HEIGHT NUMBER (all figures have a stat for this on their card), then you get a two dice bonus.


Also, climbing up subtracts from your movment power (one additional movement point for each level you are stepping). Stepping into water ends your movement. Stepping down is free, although you MIGHT take "falling damage" if the drop is too steep.


In addition, there's rules for "engagement." If you land next to an enemy, you are considered to be "engaged with them, and MUST attack them if you choose to attack someone on your turn. You can break the engagement at any time just by stepping away, but the figures you step away from get a free one die "swipe" at the figure who is running away, an attack that CAN'T be defended.

The one bugaboo some people had originally was that there are no rules for cover. When attacking with a ranged attack, you must litterally be able to SEE the target. 90% of the time, you won't have to measure anything. But in some instances, you may have to actually stand up and get behind the figures to "eyeball" it. Thankfully, the refrence cards features helpful diagrams that show you where you can measure LOS from on a figure (usually it's head) and where on each figure is a valid "hit zone."

So, the only real way to hide in this game is to be COMPLETLY tucked behind terrain or a real BIG figure, since all an attacker needs to hit you from afar is an arm or leg to shoot at.

Now, I dont have a problem with that, since the simple matter of adding additional rules for "cover" would potentally lengeten the game considerably, and the name of Heroscape is simplicity.

So, how do all the different figures fit in?

EVERY figure, Hero and Squad, has a unique special ability. Here's where the game starts to sing, in my opinion, since the cool mini's wouldn't mean squat if they didn't do something. All those robots and dinosaurs aren't just window dressing for greater or lesser attack powers; Nope, some of these suckers are game changers, and even the ones that aren't can play some crucial roles when used properly.

Well, if they are THAT important, don't you think I could have rundown of what they all do? I mean, geez, it's part of the reason I'm considering buying this thing.

All right, all right. Man can the other side of my brain be a real jerk. Here's your rundown, but I'm keeping it basic, OK? My little notes at the end are just my opinion in regards to their strengths and weaknesses, so experiences may vary.

The Heroes:

Mimring: He's the big dragon. He has a range of one, although his special ability allows him to breathe fire. He also flies over terrain and other figures, and is allowed to just land where he wants. Pros: A ranged attack of four is one of the best in the game. Cons: Low defense, his body is one huge hit zone (even the wings), and his is the only ranged attack that you have to "aim" with, since it only goes in a straight line.

Griminak: My personal favorite, he's the dinosaur, who has a Chomp ability that can instant kill an adjacent squad figure, and has a one one in four shot (using the 20 sided die) of doing the same to an adjacent Hero. He also gives a bonus to any Orcs you may get in a booster. Pros: Didn't you hear me? I said INSTANT KILL. Cons: He's going to be a big target, and his standard attack power is weak.

Deathwalker 9000: A mushroomed shaped, gunmetal grey robot. He has an "explosion attack" which is one die weaker than his normal attack, but that will affect groups of targets standing next to each other. Pros: Insanely high defense, and a base ranged attack of four. Cons: Only one life point, so if ANY hit gets through, he's a goner.

Ne-Gok-Sa: He's an alien warlord of sorts who has a one in 20 shot of permantly taking over an opponent's Hero or Squad. Pros: Stealing troops could be a gamechanger. And his high defense makes up for the face that his ability will most likely not pay off. Cons: One in twenty, folks.

Finn and Thorgrim: Two viking brothers, each can give a bonus to adjacent figures (one does attack, the other defense) and if they are killed, their "spirit" will provide a permanent bonus to any hero or squad. Pros: Solid utilty units if used right. Cons: Keeping your troops adjacent is always a pain the way I see it, and some players want more "exciting" powers when they play.

Sgt. Drake: He's a soldier who can't be hit with a normal attack if the attacking figure isn't adjacent, and he also has a grappling gun that will let him forfit movement to simply zoom up a large elevation change (up to 25 levels). Pros: Insanly high attack power of 6 meanes it's almost suicidal to attack him head on, which you almost HAVE to do thanks to his power. Cons: His defense is a bit weak, so keep an eye out if he's being activated in a round, and if he isn't, you'd better make a go for it.

Railin the Kyrie Warrior: Ahh, my lovely warrior angel with metal wings. She also flies and provides a two dice defense bonus to ALL figures in a four space sight range. Pros: Heroscape is an agressive game, and defense is always a premium. Cons: As youd expect, she's not much of a fighter on her own, so defend her or else. Take...these broken wiiiings...and learn to flyyy again.....

Sylvaris: The lone elf in the game. He can attack twice, one attack right after the other. Pros: Crazy range of 9 means he can snipe just about any enemy figure who dares to step out into the open. Cons: You guessed it, low defense, low life points.

Agent Carr: A real threat, he's a trench coat wearing, sci-fi warrior who has a Sword of Reckoning that adds four to his attack if attacking an adjacent figure, and can not only walk away from engagements without harm, but can also walk through all figures. Pros: A meelee attack of 6 is deadly (tied with Drake) and you cant keep him busy since he can just walk through weaker troops to get to your heavies. Cons: Not many, but he's a bit expensive for a sole troop, and his Life points are one notch lower than the average, so even though his defense is ok, sooner or later, he'll drop if you dont back him up, or if someone gets lucky.

The Squads

Zettian Guards: Two mini robots, the second of which gets an attack bonus if going after the same target the first one did. Pros: High defense, good range. Cons: Standard attack power is low, so if they are split up, or one is dead, or you can't get them elevated, they are so so.

Marro Warriors: Creepy aliens who can re-spawn fallen members. Almost fifty fifty chance if spawing figure is in the water, less so if trying the ever gross "dry-spawn." ugh. Not pretty. Pros; Everyone I play with seems to like to respawn, and it is cool. Cons: You have to forfit attacking to spawn, their attack power is low.

Airborne Elite: Four soldiers who aren't placed on the board at the start of the game, but can "parachute" in later in the game, meaning they can land nearly anywhere that's advantagous. Also, they have a one time only grenade power that will let them lob an attack at figures without a line of site. Pros; That drop ability can be another game changer, espically since their ranged attack of 3 plus some elevation is up there for a measly squad. Cons; Expensive, and since the drop ability is random, there's a chance they may NEVER enter the game.

Tarn Vikings; Rough and tumble warriors, after moving they roll to see if they can move again. It's possible they could rush the whole field to get to you. Pros: Relativly strong defense and attack wise, plus cheap. Cons; Barring the rush ability, they are slow.

Izumi Samuri; They can counter strike when attacked. Any excess shields rolled when attacked from an adjacent figure count as unblockable hits back to the attacker. Pros: Defensive powerhouses, enemeies need some real guts to risk taking these guys on. Cons: Standard attack is low.

Krav Maga Agents: Two men and one woman In Black. If attacked from a distance, they only need to roll ONE SHIELD to block ALL damage when attacked. Pros; Another good defensive team, plus with pretty good offensive power as well. Cons: Their actual defense is low, so if you get in close, they are goners.

And that's it. Keep in mind there are lots of little codicils in the unit abilites that I didn't cover here, so, as im prone to saying at the game table when people start whining about things they didn't know, "Read the cards people, I'm begging you! Read the cards!"

So, what is game support like?

I'd give it about a B+ or so. For a while, the offical site was well stocked with new figure info, as well as exclusive online scenearos. Then they took a substantial break, and then just recently they mega updated with all sorts of cool stuff.

Fan support is much stronger, with a couple of sites lurking around the web with PLENTY of discussion and homebrew terrains and rule tweaks (although I think the game runs just fine without any house rules).

If you like games that you can tailor make, Heroscape is just for you in this community aspect, as the possiblites are limitless in how you want to use it. It truly is a "game system" what with how you can build battlefilds and and make scenarios. I even love how they made some terrain different types (grass, stone, sand) so that you can assign special rules as you see fit (Quicksand!).

Are there many rule problems?

Well, I say no. I took a spin around one of those internet fan sites and was rather amused by the forums therin just full of guys trying to lawyer ball their way through some of the very small gaps in the wording on the army cards and in the rule book. Time after time, one of them asks a question regarding the rules, after which, someone will post the correct answer going by the rules. Never satisfied, there will be about ten posts afterwards of folk saying, "that makes sense, but I play it THIS WAY." Whatever, if you didnt like the rules, why dont you make your own game?

But that's just me. I've found that 99% of the rule problems we've had during a game we've solved just through common sense, or by really making sure we read the rules closely enough. And besides, this site proves to be useful for asking rule questions (this isn't the site i was referring to above - people here are a bit less fanatical).

There are a few bugaboos that mess with my mind occasionally, although they aren't really rule problems.

First, you'll find that moving those figures with a base that takes up two spaces can be a slight pain. They have certian rules by which they move around, and explaining to first timers may be a bit fustrating.

Second, there's a rule about actually being able to "fit" a figure on a space or in a narrow area. It makes perfect sense, and has never caused any problems, but for some reason, it's a real drag to move a huge fig into attack position only to find out it wont fit on the space. But such are the travails of a 3-D board, i guess.

Iv'e heard some talk about there being two versions of the master set. Is this true?

Yes, after about a year, the master set was rereleased with some minor tweaks.

How do I find out which version I'm buying before I buy it?

Well, I dont know if this is still true, but there is a way to tell. Flip open on the velcroed cover on the box. If there is a clear window on the box showing you one of the figures, that's the first version. If there isn't a window, it's the second version.

What are the differences between the two?

The second version of the master set only has a few (mostly minor) diffrences). First, the water tiles in the new version are opaque blue, where the water tiles in the original version were mostly transparent, with little sparklies in them. Secondly, the new set has modified battle dice (ten white dice, each one with three red "hit" symbols, and two blue "block" symbols; whereas original copies included ten red attack dice, and ten blue defense dice. Thirdly, the rule book throws in some clarifications, including more consice rules for how you handle the death order when playing with multiple common squads (not an issue if you just have the master set) and a new rule for falling damage that takes into account the possibitly that someone may build a HUGE tower that they can fall off of (the original rules would make it possible to survivive a fall from almost ANY height).

I've heard something about Onyx Vipers? What's the deal.

Well, much to mine, and many others chigrin. Wal-Mart struck a deal to release a version of the master set that includes an exclusive squad of "Onyx Vipers" which are a slightly superpowerd version of the Vipers from the "Mallidon's Prophecy" expansion set (see my review for details). They are pretty cool, so if you havent bought a master set yet, you might as well buy this version, although they arent game changers by any means, and sets of them are common on ebay at this point (for a resonable price if you hunt).

There's a second master set now? Should I get that one or this one first?

Yes, around late summer 2007, they released Swarm of the Marro, the second master set for this system. It's got about two thirds of the terrain tiles, and about 25 new figures, where ROTV has 30. It's a pretty good set, and for those like myself who feel like the amount of figures they have is wayyyy outdistancing the amount of land tiles they have around, it's great.

And while the SOTM set is a welcome addition to the Heroscape family, it's a bit monochromatic in terms of theme. While the ROTV has a wide variety of figures, ths SOTM set features mostly two thirds Marro figures (marro are the game's default "villians") with only 4 heroes opposing them, so most of the scenarios involved are going to, by nature, be "a few heroes vs. a lot of slimy marro." So I'd reccomend that if you've got a fix to get into HS, and the SOTM set is the only one you can find, go ahead and pick it up, otherwise, stay with ROTV; As far as I'm concerned, it's still the heart of this franchise.

I've heard talk that the property has changed hands in terms of ownership. What's the story there?

Ok..this one is kind of a toughie. A few months ago it was announced that the handling of the game was going to be transferred from the folks down at Hasbro to the Wizards of the Coast banner, with the supposed goal of trying to get Heroscape more into gaming stores and (sigh) away from Big Box stores like Wal-Mart or Target.

I have mixed feelings about this one. While on one hand, my contact with most hard core "gamers" is pretty low (on purpose, on my part), the few I've talked to (or my friends have talked to) have spat all over Heroscape in favor of Warhammer or whatever else, so I dont have much hope that pushing this game in gamestores is going increase demand for this stuff.

And while I don't know for sure that the game is being phased out of more mainstream stores, where you could pick up Heroscape stuff while snagging some nifty crazy daisy crockery for the Ms, what kept HS a viable interest for me over the years, was that I had a reasonable chance of finding it just about anywhere I went.

So does this mean the game won't be available anymore?

Now now, hold on there. I didn't say that. I'm not in the know enough to know just what Heroscape's ultimate destiny is going to be in terms of retail availablity. Myself, I hope that it will continue to be stocked in more commmon locations (it may not be Hasbro or WOTC's fault..story says that Wal-Mart isn't seeing the growth they would like).

It's been a bit dispiriting the last few months. Ever since 2004, I've managed to find the ROTV on just about EVERY Wal-Mart Ive been too. But, recently, locations such as Wal-Mart, Target, Meijer, and yes, even Toys R Us no longer have a thing related to Heroscape...with the latter even having the once hyped, and now seemingly doomed Marvel set resigned to the clearance asile. So, I don't know what to tell you. Is it over? All signs say no, but what am I supposed to think when you can't find either this or the other master set on shelves for nearly a half-year?

And that's that. I hope I cut through some of the fog of war that may be floating around in Target, preventing you from buying it. Heroscape is quite simply, a lot of fun. Other games may be deeper, or more stratigic, or whatever else, but in terms of pure enjoyment present and future, this one is hard to beat.

Thanks for reading.

Thanks for the great article. Just what I've been looking for regarding HeroScape. I've been eyeing it for a while but just didn't know enough about it.

Now to just get it!

Wow. This is a really great review for Heroscape. Though there is one problem, but it's not that serious. With the defense die, It only has 2 sheilds on a 6 sided die. That would be 2/6, which an estimated persentige would be 33%, not 25%.

I say a second Master Set and a copy or two of the RtFF booster are required to get the most out of your mapbuilding efforts...

Doh! Thanks for the percentages correction. Math never was really my bright spot. I stood right here and counted on my fingers after reading that until i realized that indeed, 2 of 6 is not one fourth.

And yes, if you are the mapbuilding type, than you might want to pick up another master set, espically since the exclusive Wal-Mart version has those Onyx Vipers and those new dice.

But, I really wanted to get across in my review that if you're just a casual joe who sees this at their local mass marketer and is hesitating for some reason, I wanted to make clear that this game need not be a money pit, and is perfectly complete on its own.

Thanks for the addendums and suggestions, all.

I have been considering looking into this game, so really appreciate your review. One of the main reasons I have been looking at it is the build your own map. I been thinking that it would be cool to use those tiles with the Heroclix game I play. Any reasons you can see where that might not work?

Well, I'm not too familer with Heroclix (that's the game where the stats and stuff are on the base of figures, right?), and I'm not quite sure you just want to use the terrain tiles for heroclix games, or if you want to actually incorporated your heroclix figures into an actual Heroscape scenario, but if it's the former, yea, you could use the terrain hexes from Heroscape for all sorts of games.

I haven't done it yet, but I've been tempted to dig out my old Battletech game and using the Heroscape board to spice that game up a bit.

Excellent article.
Directed towards the reader that is not versed in Heroscape, and that was a great choice.
Primers that allow people to gain enough information to make an educated decision are invaluable.

Just one comment - fun IS the name of the game with Heroscape.
Fun for young and old alike.
Even guys who are more "fanatical" about discussing the minor points of the game really have fun with it.
And that's all that matters.

I was just hunting around Funagain's website and it looked like they were comming back out with a lot of the older waves of boosters. I am not for sure all that they are comming out with but you can check it out. THis is nice for me as I am looking to just get started in this game. Nice review!