AOA Returns: Initial Buying Decisions!

[chas]

Here we are, only two days away from the youtube Renegade Con on March 1. Their first new product presentation at 2 PM will be about the revival of Heroscape: Age of Annihilation. It will present three actual products for preorder, and probably say something about the program of FLGS events. A Second Wave of production will supposedly come out next summer around GenCon, where its recently been noted that this event will have a huge presence there.

With the bad taste in our mouths after the Haslab debacle, but a good feeling about how Renegade Games has handled bringing out Hasbro games in the past, here at The New York City Gang of Four, our group is guardely optimistic before the big reveal.

I've been playing with Anitar's cards since Haslab failed. My Age of Annihilation Revival Project has seen me play games based on what it revealed about AOA, from Anitar's cards (and a few of my own for the reupgraded Swarm of the Marro heroes and Kyries that were not released at all) to my own rules for Illusory Walls using old castle walls, we first "playtested" the cards a bit, and then integrated most of them into most of our regular monthly games here, which started around 17 years ago, and except for during the worst of Covid, have continued monthly and more. Most of us have been Scaping since the game first came out. So our group has already played with all of the AOA figures in their old draft versions! With that level of interest in Heroscape and AOA, what are my current thoughts about purchasing the new product so far?

I own everything in official Scape, and have cards and some proxies for all of the VC characters (C3V and SOV) as well. I have plenty of terrain, and have only lost a few pieces, mostly solid non-sparkly water hexes). In addition, I own lots of nonofficial custom pieces, such as 24 hex snow and sand terrain bought online from others. I've used miniature wooden houses bought in Japan with my samurai, and created all kinds of custom scenarios which we do in rotation every month (you can see many of them in my Maps and Scenarios thread in the customs section. All of us in the NYCG4 are well known here on the site, with some participation in the C3V and C3G commitees and our own customs. Etc. See my signature line for our own very long thread about our games here in NYC at my place. In fact, in our last game, for the first time we got to use a version of the new AOA Walls which were 3D printed by a Scaper and bought by one of our gang. He's even left them here at my place where we play so we can all use them, and now I can start building with them!

Here are a few brief thoughts about the new AOA stuff coming out, before actually seeing what will be on offer, other than screen captures of two of the boxes and what has been revealed on Anitar's No Posting thread, and so on:

The New Master Set A price of $59.95 has been rumored. And the box shows Evil Raelin mounted on her Manticore vs Zenethrax, the Dryan Lifebourne dragon, with her vines around her indicating those glyphs will be included. We also seem to have lots of Pirates vs Bears. But because the drawings show no recognizable terrain, we don't know yet what will be included.

The purchasing decisions will be considered based on the fact that this is not a faction box, but a bit of several of them. Do we go ahead and buy official Scape for the first time since 2008? Or wait another year or two for their possible inclusion in faction sets? What will we learn about future production on March 1?

We older players want the new stuff, but don't need the old terrain, but there probably will be a good chunk of it in this Master Set, with 20 AOA minis and the cards for them. While it would be nice to get new pieces that hopefully will be more sturdy than some of our old stuff, I don't need to pay a lot of money if I'm not getting any of the new terrain (trees, bushes, and Walls that we know about). And I don't need any more general basic game components like dice and order markers, although if they are still using those little half hit markers for new squad figures that will take two hits each, those will be nice to have.

I'll probably end up getting one Master Set, to help prosper Renegade's venture (retail and not crowd funded), and get to playing with official versions of them. Anitar has said recently that despite rumors to the contrary, Renegade will be using most of the AOA development that the War Council did for Haslab, and the War Council was US; fan Scapers, along with Craig Van Ness, Our Founder!

The Two Player Battle Box A small version of its box cover shows a Dryan druid type and two familiars from that faction vs three Pirates, with trees in the background. So we know most of what we will be getting in this small introductory box: these six figures/cards and a bit of terrain. The main thing for me is that they appear to be all different figures from the ones coming in the Master Set. So I'll probably want one of these also, to save waiting months later for any other issue of them.

The Terrain Set This is a big deal, as after many years of fan clamoring, we are finally getting an all terrain set. However, since we don't have a screen grab photo, we have no idea of the contents for another two days. Its been hinted that it will include foliage. Now the trees and bushes, which look different from our old palms and bushes, remind me of the last expansion for the other game Blood Rage, where they put out equivalent figures but different from those versions already produced by CMON. That is, they couldn't sell more "exclusive" figures, so this was a way to give them to their customers without violating the exclusive label. So perhaps a female troll instead of a male one, etc. Now these new Herocape foliage pieces look different, but could function the same way as the old ones. In which case, if that is all the terrain set will contain, it will be a pass for me. I want Walls, as do the rest of us. My preference would be Walls and Foliage--all the new stuff, in one package. But hey, I only game here...

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I don't want to speak specifically for the rest of our gang, but generally, one other guy now has Walls similar to the new ones already, and one other is mainly interested in getting them as far as new product goes. Another has gotten rid of his physical collection and won't be buying, since he can play with whatever I get here anyhow. The other two of the five of us are somewhere in between.

The Pirates and the Dryans are probably the two most popular of the new AOA factions, and everybody loves the Bears. Someone just pointed out that the Bugs and Cyborgs have fewer figures than the other new factions, and would be easy to present in Faction Boxes, which have been discussed. So perhaps they will be offered that way. Wave Two next summer will probably include more new characters, as in store games and tournaments are played all over the country. And Renegade has noted that it will also have a presence in Europe, which probably means the Essen Con next Fall.

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So far we've been discussing the new revival in the News section of the site. Feel free to post your thoughts here as well! Along with Anitar and others, I've been pretty active here in this AOA site section. Its certainly a good place to continue our thoughts if people want to do that.

And if anyone else in or near NYC would like to join our games, we're always open to guests passing through, or meeting new local players. We are Chas, Sherman Davies, Taeblewalker, Kolakoski, and Thrasher Darkrai. All looking forward to the new era in Heroscape! For our group activities, see my signature thread below.

I'm sure I'll have more thoughts after March 1, and so I'll probably be posting again then. I'll be checking out any new threads that pop up, as well as Sir Heroscape's series of youtube videos. Together, We All Are Heroscape. As its been for a long time now. Welcome to our new partner, Renegade Games. Good luck!

[wriggz]

There is no way the master set is 59.99 that was a place holder of the power ranger core box. If the master set is less than a 100 I will be shocked.

I'd also be weary of "I don't need more terrain". The plastic is getting old and is brittle. If you want to play for another 20 years might be good to update.

I'm willing to bet I have one of the most extensive collections in Canada so I will have to get all the new stuff as a matter of pride.

[nyys]

Originally Posted by wriggz

I'd also be weary of "I don't need more terrain". The plastic is getting old and is brittle. If you want to play for another 20 years might be good to update.

I could probably take that challenge. I have enough where if I broke 5 pieces every day for a year (unless is was all 24-hexers, then no, that would be bad ), I'd still be fine. And since I'm well past the days of hosting tourneys, I'll likely only ever have 3 maps worth of terrain set-up at any one time here at home. I'll be skipping any terrain packs that only contain grass/rock/sand.

For me it's terrain types I may not have as much as I'd like (or new ones) and LOS blockers. I'm hoping the mold for trees has changed (assuming there will be more), having some variety in the forest will look great!

[chas]

Note that this is a duplicate post to one I also put in one of the threads in the News section. Apparantly most of the conversation about the Renegade Reveal is going on in Discord and various servers, and I don't go there.

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I won't be buying anything until at least the new Wave 2, which will be revealed in June and available in the Fall. The problem is that the price of the two combat sets is mostly in old terrain and basic game components I don't need.

I like the new painted figures and their old style cards a lot. But you get only 8 sections of the new Walls in the Master Set. And only 3 new trees and no bushes in The Two Player Box. The Terrain Set is only foliage: slightly different palm trees and bushes that work the same way as the old ones, of which I have plenty. The Wellspring Water is a D20 roll to lose 1 Wound or, on a really bad roll, lost 2. Its only in the Battle Box for now.

The things I'd like to see most in Wave 2 would be:

1. Faction Figure/Card Sets.

2. A Terrain Pack (they said elsewhere that there would be another one at least in Wave 2) with the new stuff only, in greater quantity: Walls, Foliage, and Wellspring Water.

I wish Renegade the best of luck. But as an old collector and gamer, I feel like they left me out of their product for now.

[Myriadite]

As a Canadian, to order just the unpainted Battle Box from Renegade's website and get the promotional Sgt. Drake, it costs $110 CAD with shipping. That doesn't include any duty fees.

However, if I preorder the unpainted Battle Box from Board Game Bliss, it is $58 CAD including shipping.

I am really hoping that the promotional figures are truly attainable later like Renegade said, because that difference is palpable.