Starting to Play

[lpeters82]

I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Luke, but I go by lpeters82 on pretty much any online forum. I'm decently new to gaming in general, but have a group that plays mostly entry level or social games. After years of seeing Heroscape in top-10 lists, I finally decided to give it a try. I lurked here for a bit and ended up deciding to purchase RotV, RttFF, and FofA off of eBay. Everything was complete in box and I paid $144 shipped. By all means tell me if I got a great deal or screwed up, based on sold listings I think I did pretty good. I was thinking that would be a good start, but going forward I'm probably just going to pick up singles or small collections of figures or items that I'd like to add to the game. Knowing what I have does anyone have any suggestions? In general are things fairly balanced? I'd actually like to try to keep things decently simple for my guest so they don't have to be Horoscope experts to be able to compete. Do you think I should create a few balanced armies or would that take the fun out of choosing their own army. Looking at the forums it seems like it might be a good idea to pick up lots that include several of the common squads. When picking up things for my group, how do I try to keep things balanced? I don't want one strategy to be significantly "better". Should I researched 3-4 different strategy types and try to buy figures around those? Sorry for all the questions.

[Sherman Davies]

Welcome to the site!

I would say that $144 (shipping included) for RotV, RttFF and FotA seems a bit on the high side, but not enormously so, not to mention I don't know how much of that was shipping. You should be able to find better deals in the Sales & Trades section of this site.

Any asymmetrical game with point costs is going to have some inevitable imbalances, with some units being better* than others, but considering how many different units Heroscape released, I think it's a remarkably balanced game, all things considered. *By better, I mean "more useful in a wider variety of situations."

I would suggest you hold off on using the castle set at first, at least until your group is a little more familiar with the game and you get a second RotV set or another one of the Master Sets.

With only the RotV units to choose from, I'd suggest you and your group play small games of 300-400 point armies, less if there are more than two players.

[HEROSCAPERMTL]

Welcome to the site! No need to apologise for the questions, we're happy to help.

As for the price you payed I would say It wasn't too bad (pretty decent as far as eBay prices go) but it definitely wasn't an amazing deal. Now that you have some decent terrain, your best bet going forward is to try and pick up some more figures, heroes or squads, to expand your army building choices. But don't hesitate to pull the trigger on anything if the price is right. The best place to buy and sell Heroscape stuff is right here, in the sales and trades forum.

You have a nice base to start with and definitely can use to learn/teach the game. You might want to start with smaller pre-made armies for your guests so that they can learn the basics first. And once they get that, you can teach them the art of army building. As for balance, I wouldn't worry too much about that now. Once your group gains experience and Understands which Units/strategies are superior, then balancing out armies and countering strategies will come naturally.

I hope this answers some of your questions, don't hesitate to ask more.

[lpeters82]

Thanks guys. In terms of the shipping question it was about $35 in shipping fees. I also liked that they actually came in the boxes. To start with that will be nice as they will actually fit in with other games. However, it's looking like if this is a hit though we will eventually need to switch storage option anyway.

So in terms of armies, I haven't done a tone of research; but based on theme I tend to gravitate towards the orcs. I've been trying to make a list of figures to be on the lookout for and so far I've written down Arrow Gruts, Swog Rider, and Krug. I kind of like the idea of armies with bulk common units with 1-2 bigger figures. I think that helps to give a sense of scope and scale.

[Tornado]

Welcome!

To increase your map making options I would buy Magic: Arena of the Planeswalker (2 master sets and an expansion). I believe you can get all 3 for around $30.

These have cardboard map 'bases' that allow you to quickly and easily create the first level of a map and allow your remaining map pieces to go much further.

I would then use the figures for proxys and print off any and all cards cards you want to play.

I agree to start small. We ran 400 points early. I would also avoid capped castle walls.
I encourage the use of road and uncapped walls make for great LoS blockers. Battlements can be used in interesting ways as well to help overcome limited terrain.

I would consider custom terrain. There are tons of ideas and tutorials on site.

Check out C3V and SoV! They have nearly 100 more fully compatible and high quality cards that help to fill out some factions and even create some new ones.

[wriggz]

Originally Posted by Tornado

Welcome!

To increase your map making options I would buy Magic: Arena of the Planeswalker (2 master sets and an expansion). I believe you can get all 3 for around $30.

These have cardboard map 'bases' that allow you to quickly and easily create the first level of a map and allow your remaining map pieces to go much further.


Check out C3V and SoV! They have nearly 100 more fully compatible and high quality cards that help to fill out some factions and even create some new ones.

Quoted for truth. Seriously pick of the Arena of the Plans walker. the cardboard sheets are worth it on their own.


The Best Expansions for a Group that is casual is the First wave (it was reprinted so it is not too costly). You can build some fun thematic armies and all the powers are fairly simple.


The HOSS (Star wars Customer) and C3G (superhero customs) are also loads of fun and you often pick up those mini's for a buck a piece.

[Dad_Scaper]

That seems like a reasonable price, shipped. Certainly you can get $144 out of fun out of all that great plastic goodness, and that's what counts.

You write about having a single guest coming over to play. I don't think you can really go wrong, but maybe play one of the RotV scenarios. Then you know for sure it's balanced. Also, don't knock the order markers. They're the most challenging adjustment, coming in from the outside, but they make the game special.

As for Arena of the Planeswalkers, I've seen it for $5 on store shelves. No harm in getting it, though you have lots of terrain with the stuff you already have.

Let us know how it goes, and welcome to the forum.

[lpeters82]

I just ordered two copies of Magic: Arena of the Planeswalker. Perhaps I could have saved a few bucks in a store; but I'm pretty happy with ~$10 each shipped to my door. Not sure I'll used the rest, but the terrain seemed like a great idea. I saw some custom boards somewhere; but these seem better and are cheaper. Maybe I'll just give the figures to my girls to play with. They can be combined with Polly Pocket until they are ready for the game

[lpeters82]

So what would you guys suggest as the next step for adding figures. Should I just look for cheap stuff to try out or target specific figures.

[Dad_Scaper]

Whatever interests you the most.

For now, you have no squads of commons, and that's something that changes how the game is played. So I'd look particularly for those, in sets: 4 squads of Romans, 3 squads of Warforged, 5 squads (ok, that's a lot) of Deathchasers, whatever. Find the things that look best to you.

[Tornado]

I would proxy figures and find out what you like to play and buy those figures or do not.

There is really no reason you have to have the official figures for casual play.

We used to have a huge stack of black and white cards we used and whatever figures we could scrounge up.

Keep your eyes open and snag up any deal you see. Good luck!

[chas]

Glad to meet you. The Heroscape community is very welcoming and helpful. There is usually networking going on all over the country.

So don't forget to check out Heroscape Community: Meet Other Scapers, and post up where you are. Also Heroscape Community:Events to see if anything is going on nearby with other Scapers.