GTM HeroScape AoA Previews!

[TurtleKing99]

Originally Posted by clancampbell

So bait and switch much? They said we'd get painted minis and that it was crucial to the Heroscape brand. Oh but you got to pay extra for that.

Why wouldn't it cost extra? I like having the cheaper unpainted option.

[Toa Matoro]

Yea, I'm no apologist for renegade or anything- the painted were a bit more than I wanted, but I see it more as a "you can pay less for no paint if you want" than the other way around. They couldve just gone for only painted...

[Manatee]

I'm very much in favor of painted figs, but I'm glad they gave us the option.

[randum]

I think they need to better indicate that the figures are unpainted on their pre-order site. There's a picture that says they're unpainted and very tiny print on some others, but it needs to stand out more. The title should say it and the pictures of the miniatures aside from the box picture should be of unpainted figures. Guaranteed, there will be people who are misled.

[ozzy-scaper]

Wow - shipping to Australia is $135 USD for the master set alone… My excitement just got smacked by reality.

[Myriadite]

I really like that they have the option between painted / unpainted, and even more than that, the option between battle box and master set. Those are a lot of good options for customers.

Originally Posted by ozzy-scaper

Wow - shipping to Australia is $135 USD for the master set alone… My excitement just got smacked by reality.

Wait, the shipping is $135 USD by itself, in addition to the $125 for the master set???

[Just_a_Bill]

Originally Posted by Myriadite

Shorts on a Marro.... I'm not sure how I feel about that.

I'm sure how I feel: I don't like it. A Marro pirate who hates Utgar and wants revenge on him, but still works for Utgar and wields the general's personal cutlass? With literally no gameplay tying into the revenge storyline, this feels like just a lazy attempt to mash up marro with pirate and call it a day. The character bio is so awkward too, trying too hard to make the case that there are different clans so there's literally no responsibility to respect the Marro canon. "So don't give us any crap that this one is wearing pants and has the wrong Class for a name that ends in -NA" seems to be the message.

The figures I love the most are the historical units, and then the Marro who are the unique, ubiquitous, well-designed heart of Heroscape villainy. But we get next to nothing in these categories -- this New Scape is almost entirely fantasy, almost like a new D&D/Magic knock-off -- and the one Marro is a dorky thematic mess.

You want a Marro that wears pants and hates Utgar? Then make him a defector that has somehow broken off from the hive mind (a mutation perhaps?) and put him in, say, Jandar's army. Thematically a reverse Sir Hawthorne, if you will. Now you've got something new and interesting that doesn't give the middle finger to classic Scape, and even the pants wouldn't be so jarring if the guy is developing his own sense of individuality, becoming a bit humanized, and working with a bunch of other people who don't just let their crotch-parts float in the breeze.

It's so frustrating when designers just mash a couple of ideas together and don't do the work to flesh out something that makes sense and write a bio with some craftsmanship.

The first new official Marro in years, and it's this dorkfest. What a wasted opportunity.

[Nukatha]

Originally Posted by Just_a_Bill

I'mThe character bio is so awkward too, trying too hard to make the case that there are different clans so there's literally no responsibility to respect the Marro canon.

(Just quoted one line to not make my post seem longer).
I appreciate the consistency accross the various Pirate units. They aren't serving any particular Valkyrie, and so the card linking them to their original summoner is fine by me.
Plus, there are a bunch of Valkyrie-specific synergies that should still exist when using them with their actual kinsmen.
They're kind of like Mercenary cards in Summoner Wars V1, where a bunch of them clearly belong to a particular race, but are their own thing. (Obviously not a perfect comparison, given Mercs have their own faction symbol). But consider how well Duggle fits into a Deep Dwarves deck with his Magic-costing ability, or the later additions of the dual-faction 'alliances' cards, or the entire Farrah Oathbreaker deck where the included Mercenaries also have specific faction symbols representing their origin and current loyalty. Something like that would be nice here.
The bios really are half-baked and should be expanded/rewritten (and run past a designsted Loremaster to at least maintain consistency with Thormun's journals and past bios).

[Just_a_Bill]

Originally Posted by Nukatha

The bios really are half-baked and should be expanded/rewritten (and run past a designated Loremaster to at least maintain consistency with Thormun's journals and past bios).

They also should've been proofread for typos before unveiling the pre-order campaign. Launching with obvious mistakes shows that quality control was not a priority.

[Hahnarama]

IMO the Bios are half baked because there is no one under the new regime that cares about the game like the OGs did. There are no CVN, Rob, Colby, Jerry or the like to pour their heart n soul in the Bios and the flavor text.

Never again will we see really COOL stuff like the Nhah Scrih cultists mentioned.

[Nukatha]

Never again will we see really COOL stuff like the Nhah Scrih cultists mentioned.

Never is a strong word. I remain ever a cautious optimist. Renegade could, right now, hire or assign someone to get the story straight, they know exactly who they could talk to.


Also, pardon me, but wasn't a bunch of the AoA design crew from here, and Craig included? To quote Craig directly regarding the AoA Haslab (from which nearly all elements of the Renegade project are drawn:

The war council, which are heroscapers, designed almost all the cards. It allowed me to focus on the many other things that need to get completed. The rulebook is similar to Swarm of the Marro with a few added things. Most of the newness in the rulebook will come from the terrain rules, battlefields and scenarios.

I did create the cards for the 2 new Revna Kyrie which I am excited for people to play.

I don't have a full story, not being part of the War Council, but Renegade is in the unique, temporary, position of having a year or so of product nearly ready for fabrication, having already been playtested and approved by original creators and most devoted players. The story probably didn't get as far along, but the notes were likely at least passable, and Renegade could have made an honest mistake of thinking them finalized like the sculpts and unit stats/abilities.

[Hogg]

I'm interested to see what Renegade produces beyond the AoA stuff that was preexisting. We have seen them tweak the names a little, and we have seen some marketing material that was likely produced by a different team, but we haven't seen any really original game component design. I wonder what that will look like and when it will start to come out.