Why Heroscapers should buy Magic:Arena of the Planeswalkers

[lefton4ya]

Why Heroscapers should buy Magic:Arena of the Planeswalkers

Please read the above Blog, comment there or here. I will only quote my summary here.

Originally Posted by lefton4ya

...
I am not saying that MtG:AotP is better than Heroscape, just that it should be an alternative at every Heroscaper’s house. In short, Magic the Gathering: Arena of the Plansewalkers can be set-up quicker than Heroscape, is easier and more appealing to get your friends who never played or are only casual Heroscapers to play with you, adds some new strategy if you want to change things up, and is a cheap addition to your collection if you combine the two games.

Agree or disagree? Did I convince you to buy? If not, why not (again money is not a real option as even if you are short on $, you could sell one Heroscape set to pay for 3 MtG:AotP sets)?

[jedilou]

You convinced me!
I was able to find the sets very reasonably on eBay.

Thanks for the prompt!

[Hendal]

already have it, but to me it is HS with extra hoops and whistles to deal with. The start is wonky to me, it is easier to set up and tear down, but it is not a replacement for HS , at least for me.

[lefton4ya]

Yeah, honestly, I am not sure I like the spells part of the game, as it makes it more "swingy" to me - not due to luck of draw, but due to the spells changing things more drastically. I think if there were enough players playing competitively (and not doing reverse-the-whip / mirror mirror matches) then deckbuilding would be what would determine the best players, and I guess I do not have the mind of a deckbuilder, even though I enjoy theoryscaping army builds. I think those that enjoy both deckbuiklding and Heroscape would like MtG:AotP a lot more than any others. But I do like that I have gotten a lot more newbies to play it than I would to play Heroscape. Then once they like that, I can move on to Heroscape.

FYI, Current Amazon prices are crazy (they sometimes change every few min, so this is as of this post):
Master Set: 12.88
Battle for Zendikar: 6.94
Shadows Over Innistrad: 9.47
All 3 = 29.29 (free shipping with $25 order for Prime members)

HasbroToyShop (on eBay, not their site) prices are even crazier:
Master Set $5
Shadows Over Innistrad $5
-> Free shipping on orders over $14.99 - just order 2+ of at least one of the sets!

You can get 2 master sets from HasbroToyShop and Zendikar from Amazon for $16.94 total! That is cheaper than one Heroscape figure pack goes for these days.

[Hendal]

must resist buying more at that price, hard to resist, he he. It really does not feel like a deck building game to me, but I have only 1 game picking cards verses taking the preset armies

[TREX]

I have 2 of each set. It allows for multiple players to have the same cards when deck building. Especially if you have a dual colored planeswalkers. You could even just buy the sets for cheap minis. I prompted a buddy of mine with nominiatures to buy a set of each to assemble a warband for frostgrave and have all the wizards and monsters as well.

[gibby64]

I bought 3 of each at that price point... since it looks like it is going out of print i'll probably flip 1 set in 3-4 years... the other 2 i'm playing with. I don't see any real reason to have multiples of each since there isn't any squad building.

[lefton4ya]

There has been a lot of discussion on the C3V poll Using Magic: AotP figures in Heroscape? that may lead to a whole C3V wave or even “Master Set” or at least a few figures from Magic:AotP sets. Buy them while you can cheaply. Right now the cheapest place is for $5 at bargain outlets stores such as Five Below, Big Lots, and Ollie’s - check your local stores.

Originally Posted by NecroBlade

... Arena of the Planeswalkers sets (currently under serious consideration for customs by the C3V) will be on sale for $5 each at Ollie's starting Friday!

[chaoserver]

Even if you're just using the figures for customs its pretty cheap and worth it. As for its actual rules yeah its clunkier but we've had some fun mixing someone playing a AOTP army among a game of Heroscape. Painted the minis are great too.

[DoomCarrot]

I do not like how much less streamlined the game is. Wording on certain army card (or whatever they are called) can be very vague and confusing sometimes.

It is almost as if they tried to replicate the rules of heroscape, but with a different game, and it just resulted in a somewhat clunky start. Hopefully things get ironed out as the game progresses and it becomes its own confident game.

Also, I am not huge on how there is so little terrain. I get that it helpes with the set up/clean up, but cmon.... We got almost as much terrain in the bottom of a wave booster back from heroscape lol.

[chaoserver]

Well Doom you can just play on a Heroscape map, but in its original form I agree, it loses ALOT by abandoning the map building element of Heroscape.

[OEAO]

Most every point you made was geared towards ease of entry/ good for new players. Why should I, as someone who has played HeroScape for 12+ years, buy a new game that is like HeroScape minus the variety?