noob here! what should I buy?

[dancingisforbidden]

I'm really excited about trying out this game. It's just really tough to figure out which sets to buy. I'll be starting with 2 player games and hopefully move up to 3 if I have enough pieces.

Please let me know which set to buy and maybe a couple recommendations on expansions. thanks!

[Cavalier]

At this point, since it is out of production, buy what ever you can find.

Master sets in order of recommendation:
RotV: Rise of the Valkyrie (long out of print, hard to find for a good price, but the best there is)
SotM: Swarm of the Marro
BftU: Battle for the Underdark (Currently the easiest to find, but not as good as theother two)

Special consideration: If you like Marvel Super Heroes, get M:tCB Marvel: The Conflict Begins

Expansions: See HS, Buy HS!!!

[ForeverWar]

Dancing-

I am fairly new. I have found Rise of the Valkryie and Swarm of the Marro to great. With RotV alone I was able to play a 2 vs 2 game with smallish 300 point squads. There are enough tiles to make pretty good maps. It's a great standalone product for a beginner. If you watch ebay it is possible to get one for less than $50, which is still a good deal for what you get.

SotM seems a little smaller and has fewer figures, but could still serve as a standalone entry into the game to see if you like it.

Putting both sets together, I have a good amount of tiles and pieces for all sorts of battles.

From there, it's a matter of how much more you want to invest in pieces and terrain.

[Ghostship]

I just got RotV for 27$ on eBay, and the seller had another lot of tiles for $20. With combined shipping I'm at about 1.5 sets for $75.

I plan on getting Marvel and Fortress of the Archkyrie from a local specialty toy store. Now I have to research how many additional figures to buy so two or three people can battle.

I'm assuming that there are articles for this. Reading through the power rankings and strategies is daunting. A noob starter guide must be here somewhere.

My challenge will be convincing traditional board gamers to play. Or even harder, my wife. I need to know my stuff so their first experience is a good hit. Then they can find me when they want more.

[armiller2015]

Very briefly: Everything associated with Heroscape.

A little longer: Wave 1 is my favorite, and I think many other peoples as well. It has many fun units to use, and each pack is like a little army. You have a RotV, so thats a very good start, and Wave 1 and RotV work well together. Go for 3x common packs. You can find Wave 1 in many places, here's one link: http://www.housemousegames.com/mapr.html
Waves 5 and 8 are both good to have, and can be found fairly easily, so look around a little.

Waves 11, 12, and 13 are all D&D themed, so I'm not sure if that appeals to you, but if it does, HouseMouse has them as well. Wave D1 is a definite, for me at least, and has many competitive and fun units that work well with Classic 'Scape.

I would also recommend Auggies Games if you are looking for more specific units: http://www.auggiesgamesonline.com/Heroscape_c_32.html

Hope this helps! And welcome to the site!

[Ghostship]

How are the waves split up?
I notice that there's usually four packages in a wave. Similar types of figures are spread over a few separate retail packages(of course, sells more).

I also notice the auggies and the buffet, have gathered similar units into sets where the would have been in different packages, correct?

When you say 3x common units, what do you mean? Three of the same package?

[flameslayer93]

Originally Posted by Ghostship

How are the waves split up?
I notice that there's usually four packages in a wave. Similar types of figures are spread over a few separate retail packages(of course, sells more).

I also notice the auggies and the buffet, have gathered similar units into sets where the would have been in different packages, correct?

When you say 3x common units, what do you mean? Three of the same package?

Yes, Yes, and Yes!

[MegaSilver]

Originally Posted by flameslayer93

Yes, Yes, and Yes!

Last is actually no.

Ghostship, for commons it is best to have at least 3 of the same squads when you play them.

[Ghostship]

Are the common units packed three together?
A local specialty toy store can order wave 1, wave 8, wave D1, Wave D3, for $60 per wave. Is that worth it, or do I need to be saying, "I need three of pack X, from wave Y"?


In that I notice elementals, and phantom knights. Popular units?
Of course I can't spend $240 on expansions. Would probably have to get just one.

Doh, there's dual set on ebay now with Volcarren Wasteland in it. I can see the tiles and figures in the pic even though they're not called out. I think I saw a deathreaver too. Alas, it's out of my budget already. Up over $115 plus shipping. Shipping keeps me out of it. Someone buy it.

[screwDriver]

Originally Posted by Ghostship

Are the common units packed three together?
A local specialty toy store can order wave 1, wave 8, wave D1, Wave D3, for $60 per wave. Is that worth it, or do I need to be saying, "I need three of pack X, from wave Y"?

In that I notice elementals, and phantom knights. Popular units?
Of course I can't spend $240 on expansions. Would probably have to get just one.

Common squads may come in 2, 3 or 4 figures. Each Wave comes with 4 Booster packs. Each Booster pack can either be Heroes (uniques), common squads, unique squads, uncommon heroes. Some stores (including eBay sellers) sells by Wave while most of them also break them down to booster and even to single units (1 unique hero/squad, 1 common squad or 1 uncommon hero/squad). You don't need to buy a whole Wave or a whole booster pack if you only want a certain unit. In other words, you can don't have to spend so much just to get what you want.

Check out these sites:
Auggie's
Cool Stuff, Inc.
Miniature Market
Troll and Toad

[AMIS]

Get Wave 1. It's an amazing wave and with the ROTV you have, you can make some amazing armies from it.

Wave 8's decent and D1 and D2 aren't bad at all, but I'd go Wave 1.

Swarm of the Marro's a solid set (it's the one I started with). And the fortress set is cool but can make for very uneven match ups.

[MegaSilver]

Originally Posted by Ghostship

Are the common units packed three together?

No, they are not.

One squad can be made up of two, three, or four figures, depending on the unit. A booster that has squads in it come with one squad's worth of figures for that unit (except for the Zombies of Moridan which has two). Oftentimes there will be two different squads per pack.