Cheer Up Heroscapers!~NEWS FLASH!

[drewcula]

My guess is that FFG would be one of the few companies to have a competitive bid in the Heroscape line. They did buy R. Knizia's 'Lord of the Rings' from Hasbro back in 2000.

And FFG is top quality. Of the hundreds of dollars invested in their product line - my only complaint has been the occasional spelling error. They need a few new proof readers / editors over there...

And not that I'd want to see the recycling of molds with another company, but FFG has just released a figure for each Arkham Horror investigator. Coupled with the new cosmic horror minis in their 'Mansions of Madness,' and 'scape could have a sweet Lovecraft vibe. Again, I'm not necessarily supporting this idea.

... But Heroscape Arkham Horror sounds fine to me ...

[clancampbell]

I hope another company does come in and continue in scape's awesomeness!

I'm not a fan of FFG, as they really screwed up a game I loved. However, if they got scape, I'd be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and give it a whirl. They seem to love George RR Martin's series of novels A song of Ice and Fire, and have a CCG, an RPG, and a board game based of of them. It would be interesting to see some of my favorite Martin characters in scape, but I wonder about the logistics of that. Limited squads, pure fantasy, all the same issues with D&D.

Privateer Press is a good company, but I wonder if they'd want competition from another mini's game within their own company. War Machine/Hordes is their baby.

We shall see. I'm kind of optomistic with this news!

Long live HEROSCAPE!

[Pygon]

Originally Posted by beisaic

At very least, they could do Wave 4, Tundra, and Lava reprints. Then I'm good for life.

This would make me very happy.

The reprints I mean. You being happy, well, that's ok too.

[dok]

I should preface this by saying that I'm very happy to see any movement on this front.

THAT SAID, any sale of Heroscape by Hasbro is going to be pretty complex, intellectual property-wise. I really don't see WotC giving up the rights to the D&D sculpts, given that they are linked to one of their "core brands". My guess is that they may license out the Heroscape brand name to another company to issue new releases, but hold onto their existing IP, at least with respect to the recent releases.

I don't really know what I'm talking about - I'm neither a lawyer nor an industry insider. I'm just pointing out that even I can spot some complications here. Still, good news, all told.

[freudianslip27]

Isn't it crazy to think that all Hasbro (or another company) would have to do is reprint a few past waves and the rarer expansions and everyone would be so happy. That would get any company well past the first year! It would also continue to grow the brand!

Matt

[RabSheila]

Originally Posted by Margloth

It would be interesting to hear the design team weigh in on this, though I doubt they can

I doubt they can either. That said, when I first saw Truth's title for his announcement "The Death of HeroScape?" on the front page I wondered why he had the question mark. Maybe because of this news?

[DBC]

Originally Posted by freudianslip27

Isn't it crazy to think that all Hasbro (or another company) would have to do is reprint a few past waves and the rarer expansions and everyone would be so happy. That would get any company well past the first year! It would also continue to grow the brand!

Matt

Yes, please.
Give us a year with mostly/only re-prints. My wallet would be so happy!

But you are right. It would probably make most people happy.
A new distribution model with figures always available would go a long way to keep Heroscape floating.

[Cigarman]

Negotiations do not mean a signed contract.

Also, a licience would probably mean increased prices, as a smaller company cannot get the economies of scale that WOTC gets to keep prices down.

I suggest we continue with plans for the "Send a Hex- Bring it back!" protest on November 16th, unless something drastically changes on the HS front between now and then.

Also, can we get a mention about the planned protest on the Podcast? That would be great.

Thanks,
Cigarman

[xraine69]

Would I mind a price hike on Scape product for it to survive??? Heck no, as long as it is available, I can save the money to get what I want. I have paid an average price of $10-$13 a booster since it was released. $15-$20 is resonable.

[GreyOwl]

Read this to get an idea of why it's difficult for mini manufacturers to make money.

[Remi]

Oh please give us re-prints...

[Rich10]

Originally Posted by dok

any sale of Heroscape by Hasbro is going to be pretty complex, intellectual property-wise. I really don't see WotC giving up the rights to the D&D sculpts, given that they are linked to one of their "core brands". My guess is that they may license out the Heroscape brand name to another company to issue new releases, but hold onto their existing IP, at least with respect to the recent releases.

The license for the D&D sculpts could be a limited license to reproduce existing sculpts for a modest royalty. This would likely be similar to Hasbro's license of the Marvel trademarks. I have seen lot of similar examples and it shouldn't be a difficult legal issue.