Heroscape
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (November 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
| Heroscape | |
|---|---|
 A six-man game of Heroscape using multiple Master Sets and expansion sets. |
|
| Players | 2 or more |
| Age range | 8 and up |
| Setup time | 10-15 minutes |
| Playing time | 1-2 hours |
| Random chance | Medium |
| Skills required | Dice rolling, Strategy |
Heroscape (sometimes HeroScape) is an expandable turn-based miniature wargaming system originally manufactured by Milton Bradley Company, but is now manufactured by Wizards of the Coast, both subsidiaries 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.
Contents |
[edit] About the game
Heroscape was released in 2004. The game designers are Craig Van Ness, Rob Daviau, and Stephen Baker at Hasbro Games. Hasbro's subsidiary, Milton Bradley also developed HeroQuest and Battle Masters. Heroscape is designed for 2 to 4 players ages 8 and older, although it can easily be adapted to more players, particularly if more than one master set and expansion sets are used. There are additional expansion sets that can be purchased (see: Master Sets and Expansion Sets, below).
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, trees, snow, ice, glaciers, swamp, jungle, a castle, a bridge and more.
[edit] 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, and 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.
[edit] 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 (lava, lava rock, and obsidian guards), Thaelenk Tundra (ice, snow, glaciers,and dzu-teh [yeti]) and Road to the Forgotten Forest (roads, bridge, trees, and dumtef guard). Ticalla Jungle (jungle trees and fylorg spiders) was supposed to be available in early 2008, but was delayed during the transition of making Heroscape a Wizards of the Coast product instead of a hasbro product and is now expected to come out some time before GenCon. Desert expansion may come out with desert tiles and repainted glaciers.
Two new master sets were released in 2007. One called The Swarm of the Marro was released on August 2007, and the Marvelscape Master Set called The Conflict Begins which was released on July 2007 and contains five heroes and five villains from the Marvel Comics universe. The Marvel edition is fully compatible with the regular Heroscape figures.
[edit] 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 or more 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.
[edit] 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 round 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 8 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 (in 1st edition) 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. In the second edition the defense and attack dice are combined into one, with three chances for attack, two chances for defense, and one chance for a blank rolls.
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 number is lower, the defender receives a number of wound markers 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; 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 inflict damage while defending), 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Generals
There are six Valkyrie Generals on the world of Valhalla (the planet where Heroscape takes place):
- Utgar, whose army is fighting to take control of the mysterious wellsprings and use their incredible power to conquer all of Valhalla. Utgar's army consists of Marro and Orcs along with soulborgs, undead, the dragon Mimring, and a scattering of other creatures and beings. He is currently the only evil general.
- Vydar, who is currently aligned with Jandar, Ullar, Aquilla, and Einar. His army consists mostly of humans and soulborgs. The former Heroscape website showed that he had been allied with Utgar, but new pages of Thormun's journal showed Sentinels going to ask for Vydar's alliance. Vydar makes no mention of having been allied to Utgar, and although he is skeptical and annoyed at Jandar's alliance attempt, he seems to hate Utgar for reasons of pollution.
- Ullar, who is allied with Jandar, Vydar, Einar, and Aquilla. His army consists almost entirely of elves, vipers, Shaolin Monks, a giant named Jotun, a Gryphillin named Theracus, and a dragon named Charos.
- Jandar, whose army fights to stop Utgar from misusing the wellsprings and their incredible power and to prevent him from conquering all of Valhalla, the universe, and possibly time itself. Jandar is allied with Ullar, Einar, Vydar, and Aquilla, and leads the alliance of good generals. Jandar's army is made up of the Sentinel faction of Kyrie and humans, along with a scatting of Omnicrons, their leader, Dzu-Teh and a white dragon named Nilfheim.
- Einar, who is allied with Jandar, Ullar, Vydar, and Aquilla. His army consists almost entirely of Humans with only the exceptions of the Einar Imperium Kyrie, the dragon Zelrig, Empress Kiova (a Kyrie), and an Ogre named Gurei-Oni. Even though einar has the most disclipened army, Thormun's Journal shows that Einar's warrior Shiori, who helps other heroes to infiltrate the Marro hive, was not going on Einar's orders, but was running away because she didn't want to follow anyones athority.
- Aquilla, who is a new and mysterious general. Little is known about her except that she is allied with Jandar, Ullar, Vydar, and Einar, all fighting against Utgar. Aquilla's army is made up of a Shaolin Monk master, spiders, and Sujoah, a large, flying insect.
[edit] Heroscape game sets
[edit] 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.
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 based on the Marvel Comics license Hasbro has acquired from 2007. Marvel Legends Heroscape includes 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. Booster packs (not available yet)will include The Sandman, The Human Torch, Beast, Bullseye, Doc Ock, Punisher, Black Panther, Skrull, Invisible Woman, and The Thing.
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 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, whose attack can be raised at the risk of killing one of the stingers, 2 squads of gun wielding 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 (the largest figure to date, at 17 levels tall and covering 6 hex spaces), 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.
[edit] 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 3 - 8 figures. 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).
There are 8 waves of expansions so far:
Wave 1. Malliddon's Prophecy.
a. Grut Orcs b. Snipers and Vipers c. The IX Roman Legion d. Heroes of Bleakwoode
Wave 2. Utgar's Rage.
a. Drones and Minions b. Knights and the Swog Rider c. Minute Men and Wolves d. Heroes of Barrenspur
Wave 3. Jandar's Oath.
a. Gorillas and Hounds b. Kilts and Commandos c. Monks and Guards d. Hereos of Nostralund
Wave 4. Zanafor's Discovery.
a. Soulborgs and Elves b. Greeks and Vipers c. Lawmen and Samurai d. Heroes of Trollsford
Wave 5. Thora's Vengeance.
a. Soulborgs b. Gladiators and Agents c. Warriors and Soulborgs d. Ninjas and Samurai
Wave 6. Dawn of Darkness.
a. Shades and Orcs b. Archers and Kyrie c. Zombie Horde d. Heroes of Durgeth
Wave 7. Fields of Valor.
a. Riflemen and Spearmen b. Templar Knights c. Vampire and Fiends d. Heroes of Elswin
Wave 8. Defenders of Kinsland.
a. Militia and Wolves b. Marro Cavalry c. Elves d. Heroes of the Molten Sea
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.
[edit] News
The 3rd pack of large heroes called Aquilla's Alliance was released June 13, 2008. The pack contains a Soulborg named Zetacron who fights for Jandar, a worm like Marro Hivelord 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 is a new terrain pack. The Ticalla Jungle terrain pack features 3 jungle trees, 6 jungle bushes and a squad of Fyorlag Spiders who follow Aquilla. They are a common squad of 3 figures.
There is also the next figure expansion.It came out in stores in early June. Wave 8 - The Defenders of Kinsland. There are 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 are also two common packs, Militia & Wolves, and Marro Cavalry.
[edit] Fan-generated content and materials
Heroscape spawned much fan-generated content and material, including custom terrain, like jungles made out of aquarium plants, battle boards, ruins, buildings, and sci-fi terrain. Also created are custom figures, which permit fans to include elements from their favorite films, such asStar Wars, Hellboy, and the xenomorph from Alien.[citation needed] 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]
[edit] 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)
[edit] External links
- Hasbro's Official Heroscape website
- A free quarterly online magazine for Heroscape fans by Heroscape fansHS Codex
- Heroscapers Largest Heroscape Fan Community Website
- Roguescape Heroscape Fan Custom Terrain
- Wikia's HeroScape wiki
