playing with a leader

talon_shadeslayer · #1 April 17th, 2007, 09:41 AM

ok at my house we play using the normal rules and everything but instead of fighting until everyone is dead or the round is up we designate a leader (usually our favorite character) and fight until the death of him. it makes some bit more of strategy because you have to keep him safe but the leaders tend to be good heros so they get used in the battle as much as the others. what do you guys think about playing like that

Harold · #2 April 17th, 2007, 10:13 AM

sounds cool, but heroscape is always a game of "things that shouldnt happen" , like ded throwing a 19-20 in the 3rd round or rolling frenzy 3 times in a row on your archers. i would hate to see my entire army lost because 1 figure whiffed his defence or something.

talon_shadeslayer · #3 April 17th, 2007, 10:15 AM

ya i know the feeling its happened to me when i moved syvarris(my usual leader) out to take out some ranged that my aubrian coulnt reach without return fire and then i got mauled by a group of deathstalkers

Rajj · #4 April 17th, 2007, 10:51 AM

I don't like the leader idea. I can see someone taking a 25 point figure and sticking him in back behind a ruin or something. It just seems silly.

Dredd Stev · #5 April 17th, 2007, 11:09 AM

Ever play an old RPG for sega called 'Shining Force' ? It has some similarities (strategy wise) to heroscape... anyway in those games the main Hero was the leader of the team of up too twelve other heroes and while any of the others could die in a battle and just get revived, the leader HAD to stay alive the whole game. This was kinda fun in the game because while he was easily one of the strongest heroes in the game, you had to constantly worry about him going down.

I don't think it would work as well in the world of scape. The game would kinda degrade into people picking a few hero's with lower cost and just hide them away... effectively just reducing the point value of your active army. It's an interesting idea and I have designed maps and pre-made armies (and their starting placements) with this same idea in mind, but in a standard draft em’ and place em’ battle to the death I don't think it's very practical.

bigkat · #6 April 17th, 2007, 11:24 AM

How about using the flagbearers for the leader? Think that would work?

Dictatorbilbo · #7 April 17th, 2007, 11:24 AM

I actually play this way regularly, and it works pretty well, serving the double purpose of shortening high-point games.

I have found that picking low cost figures as your leader is a bad idea- If anything gets to him/her, its over. Mid-cost figures with some staying power are often more useful. In many of the games we play this way they leaders end up fighting one-on-one. This is a bad scenario when you picked Eldgrim as your leader.

Dredd Stev · #8 April 17th, 2007, 11:48 AM

Well I guess I just don't like the idea of loosing a game because of a bad (or good) roll. Sure you could blow yer wad on Charos and set him as yer leader, and even get crazy and send him out right away... but all it takes is a 19-20 and he's Sniped or Mindshackled or turned to stone or... what else am I missing?

For me that possibility would make me take something low costed and just try and hide him away all game... a Swog comes INSTANTLY to mind as he could just take off at the first sign of trouble. Something with bonding so I could take two heroes, make one the leader and just stick him behind a ruin or iceberg or in a cave someplace and still enjoy the bonding with the other hero. That way if you do make a run for him I could just zip away and once the threat is dealt with - back to his safe house.

Codeman · #9 April 17th, 2007, 12:12 PM

OK ... my leader is one of my 18 arrow gruts ( guess which one

)

rehlers · #10 April 17th, 2007, 02:42 PM

We've talked about something similar, but I think I agree with the other comments regarding it being rather easier to whiff a roll and lose the entire game. Heroscape doesn't really provide many ways to provide defense from ranged/flying attacks, so protecting him might be an issue.

Firemaster · #11 April 17th, 2007, 04:16 PM

The way Heroscape is made does not work very well with trying to use a leader figure. Here are a couple ideas that might make it a bit more feasable:

1. Add a rule that states that the Leader figure must be a Unique hero of at least "X" number of points. 100-120 would probably work best.

2. Make it so that whoever is the leader gets a couple of boosts so that they survive a bit better, so that they become worth the risk to use. For eample, the leader figure gets +3 Life, +2 Attack, and +1 Range(If they are a ranged figure, if not, give them an additional +1 attack), and then give them an ability like, "Leader Defence: When rolling the Defence Dice for <Leader Figure>, add 2 automatic shields to whatever is rolled."

3. Make a rule that encourages the leader figure to be on the front lines, for example:

The Leader figure has to have at least one turn marker on it each round.

The Leader figure has to be within 8 Clear sight spaces of at least 5 other figures you control, or all figures you control get -1 attack dice.

Figures you control within 8 clear sight spaces of your leader figure get to re-roll one defence die once per attack.

scorpiusx · #12 April 17th, 2007, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firemaster

The way Heroscape is made does not work very well with trying to use a leader figure. Here are a couple ideas that might make it a bit more feasable:

1. Add a rule that states that the Leader figure must be a Unique hero of at least "X" number of points. 100-120 would probably work best.

2. Make it so that whoever is the leader gets a couple of boosts so that they survive a bit better, so that they become worth the risk to use. For eample, the leader figure gets +3 Life, +2 Attack, and +1 Range(If they are a ranged figure, if not, give them an additional +1 attack), and then give them an ability like, "Leader Defence: When rolling the Defence Dice for <Leader Figure>, add 2 automatic shields to whatever is rolled."

3. Make a rule that encourages the leader figure to be on the front lines, for example:

The Leader figure has to have at least one turn marker on it each round.

The Leader figure has to be within 8 Clear sight spaces of at least 5 other figures you control, or all figures you control get -1 attack dice.

Figures you control within 8 clear sight spaces of your leader figure get to re-roll one defence die once per attack.

I like idea 1. I can see where you are going with #2, but a DW9K, Q9, or Charos could just slaughter everything.