Heroscape
| A six-man game of Heroscape using multiple Master Sets and expansion sets. A six-man game of Heroscape using multiple Master Sets and expansion sets. | |
| Players | 2 or more |
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| Setup time | 10-12 minutes |
| Playing time | 1-2 hours |
| Chance | Medium |
| Age range | 8 and up |
| Skills | Dice rolling, Strategy |
Heroscape (sometimes HeroScape) is an expandable turn-based miniature wargaming system manufactured by Milton Bradley Company, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. The game is played using pre-painted miniature figures on a board made from interlocking hexagonal tiles that allow for construction of a large variety of 3D playing boards. The game is often noted (and lauded) by fans for the relatively high production quality of the game materials, in particular the pre-painted miniature figures.
About the game
Heroscape was released in 2004. The game designers are Craig Van Ness, Rob Daviau, and Stephen Baker at Hasbro Games. This is the same company and designers who released HeroQuest and Battle Masters. The game is designed for 2 to 4 players ages 8 and older, though it can easily be adapted to more players, particularly if more than one master set and expansion sets are used. There are different sets you can buy.
The game comes with two sets of rules. The basic rules allow for simpler games accessible to younger players. The advanced rules are designed for more experienced gamers but are still very simple compared to most wargames. Each figure or group of figures has a card, called an army card, with basic game statistics printed on one side and advanced game information on the other. Advanced game information includes species, class, personality, size, special powers, and the point value of the card.
The master set that is required for play contains enough tiles to build a nearly limitless number of scenarios, but experienced players often combine sets to create larger and more elaborate playing surfaces. The master set includes grass, rock, sand, water and ruins to make the playing surface, various expansions add lava, road/bridge, trees, snow, ice, glaciers, and a castle.
Gameplay
At its essence, Heroscape is an epic battle between and among characters from multiple cultures, periods, and genres, taking place on a three-dimensional gaming surface of various elevations and terrain types. Although the game manual contains ideas for scenarios, many players combine multiple sets of terrain tiles to create large playing surfaces, and manufacture their own house rules and custom scenarios. The heroes are inspired heavily by popular science fiction and fantasy, as well as the Old West, the Roman Empire, ancient Greece, feudal Japan, the Scottish highlands, the Nordic sagas, American history, medieval Europe, classic mythology, among others. A single team may consist of heroes from many genres, with dragons, elves, robots, kyries, dinosaurs and wizards fighting alongside (and against) soldiers, vikings, knights, samurai, cowboys, agents, and more.
Building the scenario
Heroscape requires players to construct the three-dimensional playing surface for the game. Scenarios that come in the game, in master set and some large expansions, include detailed instructions for board setups, but many players enjoy designing their own. There are also separate expansions such as Volcarren Wasteland, Thaelenk Tundra and Road to the Forgotten Forest.
Two new master sets are slated for release in 2007. One called The Swarm of the Marro is due in August 2007. The Marvelscape Master Set called The Conflict Begins is due in July 2007.
Selecting armies
Each player selects one or more "units," where a unit may be a unique and distinct hero, or an entire squad of generic figures. "Army cards" that explain the various attributes and special abilities are packaged with each unit. There are four types of units in the game: Unique Hero, Common Hero, Unique Squad and Common Squad. Hero cards are associated with a single figure and squad cards are associated with a set of two to four figures. A given player may only have one "copy" of a unique unit, be it hero or squad, in his army, but there is no limit on how many copies of a common unit may be selected.
All basic game scenarios and some advanced game scenarios specify the units for each player. Most advanced game scenarios allow players to choose units based on the points values printed on the army card. Depending on the scenario, players may be required to place their team in a specific location, or they may randomly select where each player begins.
The structure of a round
The flow of play in Heroscape is broken up into rounds and turns. The terms are often used interchangeably in board games, but there is a key distinction in Heroscape with each round including 3 turns for each player.
At the beginning of the round, each player must place order markers on his/her armies. Order markers determine which armies will be used during that round and what order they will be utilized. These markers indicate the turn in which each unit will be activated, but the numbers are hidden from the table. A fourth "dummy" marker may also be placed to add some ambiguity as to which units one will be activating. The same unit may be activated multiple times in a single turn by placing multiple order markers on it.
After order markers have been placed, each player rolls a twenty-sided initiative die. The highest roller takes the first turn and play passes to the left.
The player with the highest initiative roll begins his first turn by revealing which unit contains his first order marker. A turn usually consists of moving and then attacking. For squads, each figure in the squad is moved before any may attack. The number of hexes that each figure may move is listed on its card. Typical movement amounts range from 4 to 7 and normally moving one hex costs one point movement. Certain types of terrain are dangerous (eg lava) or impassable (eg glaciers), or slow (eg snow) or speed (eg roads) movement. Moving up, but not down, in elevation also costs additional movement points. Some figures special abilities, such as flying, may also affect movement.
After movement has been completed, each surviving figure in the unit may attack any figure within its range and line of sight. Melee units are those with a range of one, and ranged units typically have a range of four or more.
The number of dice rolled for offense is listed on the army card, but may be improved by various bonuses, including terrain bonuses, elevation bonuses, or special abilities. The attack dice contain skulls on three surfaces giving a 50% chance at scoring a hit for each die. The defender likewise calculates how many defense dice he may roll, based on his unit's natural defense value and any other bonuses (terrain, elevation, special abilities, etc). The defense dice contain only two shields, giving a statistical advantage to the attacker.
If the defender rolls a number of shields equal to or higher than the number of skulls rolled by the attacker, nothing happens. If the amount is lower, the defender receives a wound marker equal to the difference. Once a unit receives a number of wound markers equal to its total life points, it is destroyed and removed from the playing surface immediately. Heroes usually have multiple life points; squads always have one life point per figure in the squad. In the basic rules version of the game the wound marker system is not used, and each unit simply has one life point, but hero units usually have exaggerated defense to compensate.
Various abilities by specific units may modify these rules to some degree (e.g., the samurai may counterattack and actually do damage while on defense), but this move/attack/defense flow is typical of a turn.
Once the player has finished all of his attacks, play passes to the left, and that player then reveals his first order marker and takes his turn. Play continues in this manner until the final player has completed his first turn, and then play resumes with the first player, who reveals his second order marker and takes a turn with that unit. This process is repeated for the third order marker, and then the round is completed. Sometimes a player will lose a turn if the unit he had placed an order marker on was destroyed on a previous player's turn.
Victory
The conditions for victory vary with some scenarios involving quest-like goals and others simply being the last player with any surviving units. Time limits, round limits, and points for first to or holding certain locations are all common.
Generals
There are six Valkyrie Generals on the world of Valhalla (the planet where Heroscape takes place):
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Utgar whose army is fighting to take control of the mysterious wellsprings and use their incredible power to take control of all of Valhalla. Utgar's army consists of Marro and Orcs along with Soulborgs and Undead and a scattering of other creatures and beings. He is often allied with fellow Valkyrie Generals Einar and Vydar, but fights alone in Swarm of the Marro. | |
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Vydar is most typically aligned with Utgar and Einar, though he is a member of the new alliance in Swarm of the Marro. http://www.hasbro.com/heroscape/default.cfm?page=faq. His army consists mostly of humans and soulborgs. | |
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Ullar who is allied with Jandar. His army consists almost entirely of elves, vipers, Shaolin Monks, a Giant named Jotun, and a Dragon named Charos. Ullar joins the new alliance in Swarm of the Marro. | |
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Jandar is one of the Valkyrie Generals in the Heroscape Universe. He and his army fight to stop Utgar from misusing the wellsprings and their incredible power and to prevent Utgar and his army from conquering all of Valhalla, the universe and possibly time itself. Jandar is allied with Ullar and possibly leads the alliance in Swarm of the Marro.
Jandar's army is made up of the Sentinel faction of Kyries and Humans along with a scatting of Omnicrons, their leader, Dzu-Teh and a white dragon named Nilfheim. |
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| Einar is one of the Valkyrie Generals on the world of Valhalla (the planet where Heroscape takes place). His alliances switch between Utgar and Jandar/Ullar in different scenarios, however he heavily favors Utgar, despite being a member of the alliance against him in Swarm of the Marro. His army consists almost entirely of Humans with only the exception of the Einar Imperium Kyries, the dragon zelrig,empress kiova, a kyrie, and an Oni. | ||
| Aquilla is one of the Valkyrie Generals on the world of Valhalla (the planet where Heroscape takes place). Not much is known about this newest general. |
Heroscape Game Sets
Master Sets
A Master Set is required to play the game. The first master set is titled Rise of the Valkyrie. This set contains 30 pre-painted miniature figure warriors (all unique but a mixture of hero and squad), cards with the stats of the different warrior figures, a large amount of interlocking hex-based tile terrain, and the rule booklets, which include battlefield plans and scenarios for both basic and advanced games.
There are three versions of the Rise of the Valkyrie set available. The first edition is sought by some collectors mainly because it has sparkly translucent blue water tiles rather than solid blue ones in the second edition. The original edition came with two sets of six-sided dice: a set of red "attack" dice and blue "defense" dice. The second edition edition combine these into a set of unified dice that are rolled for both attack and defense. The second edition is more common and as well as different water and dice noted above has slightly different packaging and a revised rulebook. An exclusive Walmart edition released during the 2005 holiday season is identical to second edition but has three additional figures.
Multiple set purchases are common among keen players as the Master Set is the only way to obtain larger amounts of terrain tiles, which are generally used to build bigger battlefields.
A themed Master set (labeled on the Box as Game Set "The Conflict Begins") has been announced based on the Marvel Comics license Hasbro has acquired from 2007. Marvel Legends Heroscape (Due July 2007 [1]) will include 10 unique figures (Captain America, Red Skull, Silver Surfer, Thanos, Hulk, Abomination, Spider-Man, Venom, Iron Man, & Dr. Doom) and urban style terrain, and is currently available in stores.
A second Master set, Swarm of the Marro, was released around Fall 2007. It was revealed at Toyfair 07. Some of the figures include the massive Marro Hivelord from Thormun's Journal named Tor-Kul-Na, 2 squads of Wulsini looking creatures with called Marrden Nagrubs, which can heal Marro Hivelords with Hivelord Life Bonding at the cost of their life, 2 squads of heavy Marro rifleman called Marro Stingers, who's attack can be raised at the risk of killing one of the stingers, 2 squads of gun weilding Marro called Marro Drudge, who draw power from swamp water (6 squads total), two remakes of old figures (Raelin, and Sgt. Drake Alexander), the ninja Shiori, an Elven Archmage called Sonlen, Major Q10, and the Marro Hive, which is a draftable Unique Hero, having Marro revival capabilities, and a bonding type ability (A total of 7 heroes). It has a new "swamp" terrain tile type, which includes Swamp water and land.
Updates posted on Heroscape.com (click on the news link) as of 5/11/07
Expansion sets
Expansion sets have been released regularly since the game debuted. The most common expansion set releases consist of four different booster packs, each containing 4 - 7 figures, with 8 in one set. At least one pack in each series contains unique heroes and/or squads, while the other two or three contain two common army squads or one common army squad and one common hero, the exception being Wave 5. Most sets contain extra terrain hexes, and Wave 1 packs contain special power glyphs that grant bonuses in-game. These booster pack expansions are sometimes referred to as the wave expansions, as opposed to the expansions which come in larger boxes (Large Hero or Terrain).
Due to the way these expansions extend the game experience, some have referred to Heroscape as a collectible miniatures game (CMG) and compared it to games like Mage Knight and Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures Game. However, the designers of Heroscape have stressed repeatedly that the game is not collectible per se, because purchasers can see exactly what they are getting with every pack they buy. Also, Heroscape expansions are not intended to go permanently out of print, although frequent stock shortages and lapses in the availability of certain sets have made them difficult enough to obtain that sellers can often demand a premium price. This differs from the marketing tactic of CMG's, which rely on "blind purchase" (not knowing what you have until you've already purchased and opened the package) and limited availability to drive their sales.
For more information on expansions, see List of Heroscape supplements.
News
A second master set has been released, titled Swarm of the Marro. This set contains the following Utgar units: Marro Stingers, Marro Drudge, Marrden Nagrubs, The Marro Hive and a new Marro Hivelord named Tor-Kul-Na. The new master set also includes 5 new heroes for some of the other Generals. There are new versions of Sgt.Drake and Raelin, who both follow Jandar. Sonlen, a new Elf Archmage who fights for Ullar. Shiori, a new ninja for Einar. Last but not least is Major Q10, another Soulborg for Vydar. The set includes swampland and swamp water tiles. See the Master Set article on this page for full details.[citation needed]
The 3rd pack of large heroes called Aquilla's Alliance will be making it's debut this fall. The pack will contain a Soulborg named Zetacron who fights for Jander, a worm like Marro named Wu-Sa-Ga who fights for Utgar, a large Dragon named Zelrig and an Ogre named Gurei-Oni both for Einar,and Sujoah, a giant insect-like creature who fights for Aquilla, the new General.
To go along with the 3rd large heroes pack, there will be a new terrain pack. The Ticalla Jungle terrain pack will feature 3 jungle trees, 6 jungle bushes and a squad of Fyorlag Spiders who follow Aquilla. They are a common squad and come with 3 figures.
There has also been some news about the next figure expansion, Wave 8 - The Defenders of Kinsland. There will be two unique packs. One pack is called Elves, and comes with 4 unique Elves. The other pack is the Hero pack named "Heroes of the Molten Sea". There will be two common packs, Militia & Wolves, and Marro Cavalry.
A prototype game box for Swarm of the Marro was unveiled by Hasbro at the 2007 American International Toy Fair. The set was available for demo play at GenCon 2007.
Fan-generated content and materials
Heroscape spawned much fan-generated content and material, including custom terrain and custom figures, which permitted fans to include elements from their favorite films, such as Space Jam, Star Wars and the xenomorph from Alien. A secondary market for such figures grew quickly, but Hasbro expressed disapproval over the market, as the reselling of unlicensed Heroscape merchandise is a violation of the intellectual property of both Hasbro and the various source materials from which the unlicensed figures were drawn.
Others argue fan-generated content actually helps to promote the game itself.[citation needed]
Inactive and defunct web sites
One of the most popular early fansites was Heroscape.net. Fans of the game, and even some of the game's designers, gathered in this community to discuss things such as game mechanics, new scenarios, rule variants and the latest rumors about upcoming expansions. The site closed after Hasbro complained about the distribution of unlicensed Heroscape-branded merchandise that was circulating through the fan community. Some fans also believed that the owner of the site wished to shut it down and move on. HeroscapeHQ.com became the landing point for displaced fans, and its administrators monitored copyright issues much more closely. This site featured downloadable fan-made modifications including some materials from the original heroscape.net site. Due to technical difficulties, however, the site owner shut it down. A site called HotLavaDeath.com, the name of which is an in joke by one of the designers about the volcano-terrain expansion set, has materialized but has had no recent activity and may have been abandoned by its authors.
Software
LandSCAPE , currently on its third version, is a free third-party software product for designing and printing battlefields and scenarios. It is web-based or downloadable (Mac OS X and Windows). This software appears to no longer be in development. It does not include data for Tundra, Castle, or any expansion newer than Collection 3.
VirtualScape is a free third-party software product that permits fans to plan, build, and view virtual scenarios in a full three-dimensional environment.(Windows)
HS Manager is free third-party software for planning armies and viewing official unit stats. It allows searching on unit details like Attack, Defense, or personality. It is web-based or downloadable (Mac OS X and Windows)
External links
- Hasbro's Official Heroscape website
- Heroscapers.com. Considered the official fan site[citation needed].
- Heroscape Codex. Fan site. On-line periodical dedicated to the game.
- HeroscapeWiki. Fan site. A Heroscape wiki.
- Heroscape display at the 2006 American International Toy Fair
- IronGamer.net Fan site. Resource for unit pictures, stats and abilities.
- Naver Korean Heroscape fans Fan site.