'Scaper of the Month - January 2016

’Scaper of the Month: Scytale
Author: Fi Skirata


Profile:

Who are you really?
Don Zimmerman

How old are you?
38

What is your occupation?
Software Engineer at IBM.

What other interests do you have?
I’m pretty heavily into tabletop gaming. Outside of Heroscape I don’t play a lot of miniature games, but I do play a lot of board and card games as well as some RPGs. Some video gaming as well. My primary hobby, though, is anime. The walls of my basement are covered in bookcases full of anime DVDs and Blu-rays.

What’s another board game you enjoy and why?
I’ve been playing a lot of Cthulhu Wars lately. While the rules are simple and the game is relatively fast, it has an incredible amount of depth of play. And the awesome, huge miniatures add to the experience.

Who or what, is your avatar, and how did you come up with your username?
“Scytale” is a character (or possibly two characters) from Frank Herbert’s Dune series. I’ve used that username in pretty much all of the online forums and games I’ve been involved in for the last 20 years. My avatar is a picture of the character Shiro Mibu from the anime series SoulTaker. I’m not a huge fan of the show or the character, but I like the character design.


Heroscape:

When and how did you get into Heroscape?
A friend of mine saw the original TV commercials for Heroscape back when it first came out and suggested it to me. I started buying around the time Wave 1 was released. Originally I intended to get only one copy of everything, but that didn’t pan out and I ended up on the slippery slope. Now I have many boxes of terrain and at least four copies of each Common.

What is your favorite aspect of Heroscape?
Heroscape has the core aspects of miniature gameplay without the overwhelming complexity of many miniature systems. Army construction and tactical play are essential for winning, but drafting is quick and gameplay is fast.

To whom is your allegiance and why?
I always felt that Heroscape didn’t stray far enough from the familiar. Most figures are humanoid and most of those that are not are four-legged animals. I wanted to see some strange, monstrous things: Lovecraftian perhaps. I had high hopes for Valkrill, but his time was cut short. I guess I’ll go with Aquilla for giving us insects and arachnids.

Who is your favorite Common Hero and why?
The Elementals. The Heroscape designers did some really creative stuff in the D&D era. I loved the concept of pseudo-squads, which play much like squads but have more choices in army building and expanded depth of gameplay. I love how the different Elementals bring something different to the table. If I had to pick a single one, though, I suppose it would be the Fire Elemental since I like the Firestorm build.

How did you get started in C3V?
The Soldiers of Valhalla project has seen a number of Judges come and go over the years. After some good folks in the Custom forum recommended me for an open position, I submitted an entry to become a Judge and was chosen. Now, years later, I am the most senior Judge currently active and leader of the group.

Being a SoV member allows access into the C3V Inner Sanctum, but I did not become a C3V member until sometime later. One of the C3V Editors was stepping out of that role and recommended me for the position.

Is there any figure that you would change, given the chance?
Raelin (RotV). Raelin isn’t just extremely good, Raelin’s existence has a huge impact on the metagame, making it more defensive. She also favors units that don’t have to move much to be effective, namely range units. I would have preferred if the Swarm of the Marro Raelin was the only Raelin.

What is your favorite C3V/SoV figure?
I’m going to cheat and say the entire Varkaanan faction. With them the C3V developed more than just a unit, rather a whole army that played differently than anything that came before.

What helpful hints do you have out there for aspiring or beginning figure modifiers?
You don’t need to be practiced or skilled to do modding; I certainly don’t qualify as either. You just need creativity and willingness to experiment.

What is your favorite C3V special ability and why?
The Ebon Armor’s Defensive Positioning. It is simple, useful, thematically workable, and very reusable. And I’m a sucker for anti-range abilities.

What is your favorite map and why?
My favorite maps are all my own homemade ones for big epic games. Whether six-player FFAs in dense forests, volcanic islands, or ruined cities, or massive team battle castle sieges, I like ’em epic. I was particularly fond of a 3v2 siege map modeled after Helm’s Deep. The wall was three castle block pieces tall.

Community:

What do you enjoy most about Heroscapers.com?
The fact that it’s still here. Heroscape has been out of print for a while now, yet so many of us are still here, posting almost every day. We’re a dedicated bunch and proud of it.

What do you enjoy most about C3V?
The dedication of the people involved. It’s not something people outside the Inner Sanctum get to see much of, but I can say with certainty that the people working behind-the-scenes on the releases are very dedicated to creating a good product. It isn’t always smooth and sometimes opinions clash, but that just goes to show how much everyone cares about the project.

Describe your favorite Heroscape moment.
Winning a tournament with Shades of Bleakewood. I’ve never been interested in bringing a top-class army to a tournament to try to win it; I’d rather take up the challenge of using weaker units and seeing how well I can do. After a series of nail-biting matches, my teammate and I took home the medal. (Yes, his army was decent, but mine was mostly Shades!)

Is there any member of Heroscapers.com you’d really like to play against?
Between local tournaments, GenCon, and online Heroscape, I’ve had the privilege of meeting and playing against many people from Heroscapers.com. If there was someone on the site I was dying to play against, I’d challenge them to an online match!

Lie Detector:

1. I have been to all 48 States in the continental US.
2. There is a BMW in my garage.
3. I can juggle five tennis balls.
4. My cat weighs over 15 pounds.

Last Month’s Truth:
Soundwarp SG-1:

1. I’ve been peed on by a tiger
2. I have 6 toes on my right foot
3. I can whistle
4. I’ve never been outside of my homestate of Virginia

Three Fun Favorites:

Favorite Comic:
While my life is buried in geek hobbies, I have not gotten invested in comics. Mostly because if it did get involved I’d end up buying too much.

Favorite Book:
I haven’t done a great deal of reading lately, but back in high school and college I read a lot of sci-fi. I was particularly fond of Frank Herbert’s Dune series.

Favorite Movie:
Marvel’s Avengers. Marvel accomplished something amazing, proving that shared universes not only can work in movies, but that they can also make craptons of money. It also proved with certainty the power and wealth of geekdom in today’s culture. And the Hulk beating up Loki was AWESOME!


Closing:

What message do you have for the ’Scaper community?
Keep playing ’Scape. Whatever form that takes for you personally, whether games at home, local or distant tournaments, or online play, we were all brought here because we love this game. And that love is what’s keeping Heroscape alive.

Whom do you pick for the next ’Scaper of the Month?
Has Dok ever been ’Scaper of the Month? He’d be my first pick.

Thanks again for your time !

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