Does Anyone Draft Anymore?

[Sir Dendrik]

When I first started playing Heroscape we would always begin the game with a draft, people picking figures to counter each other's armies (almost always a 4 player free for all format). This was when I used to play with friends using my own collection, at a time when there were a manageable amount of figures so people could become aware of what was good against what fairly easily. I would facilitate for newer players, giving them options for what was good or what could counter the armies that other people were playing.

In later years I found a group that I would meet up with at our friendly local game store, and we all had our own collections. This meant that people would bring pre-made armies almost exclusively, with a point/figure limit being agreed upon before the game day. During this era people played a lot of 2 player head to head on tournament maps, and drafting was a lot less common. I don't think I ever had a typical draft when playing like this.

Fast forward to today, I'm back to playing with friends using my own collection, but there are just so many figures (C3V/SoV included) that it's impractical to do a draft. I usually make armies myself before the game day and people pick which of the 4 armies (4 player free for all is back) they want to play with at the beginning of the game. I did try to do a draft at a get together at a local game store at one point using only the original master set and the first two waves, and it went well, though we were drafting for like 3 separate games at once so picking counters was a little harder. My one friend drafted the Arrow Gruts after I drafted the Swog Rider, which was the only meaningful draft I remember for that day.

I'm kind of pining for the old days when drafting was the norm. It was a different game. But there are just too many figures now to make it work, and my figures are all mixed up in master set boxes so it takes me time to find anything. Picking out figures ahead of time like I did with the first two waves that day seems like a good option, but a lot of the people I play with don't know the game well enough to make decisions about what to pick. Pre-constructed armies are just so much more practical when I only get to play the game every once in a while and players aren't learning the metagame over time.

What is everyone else's experience with drafting units? Or does everyone else just play with pre-constructed armies?

[Sherman Davies]

Glad to hear you're still 'Scaping, Sir Dendrik.

The NYC Gang of Four has, on rare occasions, played scenarios with drafting from limited pools of figures. Don't think we've done a universal draft game, unless it's just been so long ago I don't remember. As you say, it can be a fun way to play but it takes a good amount of time to do a draft before the game, given how many available cards there are.

[kolakoski]

Well met!

I came up with this some time ago. 16 Card Draft. The number of cards could be increased, of course, to whatever is desired and/or feasible.

[kolakoski]

Well met!

Ninja'd!

Originally Posted by Sherman Davies

Glad to hear you're still 'Scaping, Sir Dendrik.

The NYC Gang of Four has, on rare occasions, played scenarios with drafting from limited pools of figures. Don't think we've done a universal draft game, unless it's just been so long ago I don't remember. As you say, it can be a fun way to play but it takes a good amount of time to do a draft before the game, given how many available cards there are.

The pools could be thematically created (Medieval) or for balance (taken from particular Power Rankings). We have generally done our drafts ahead of time via email, so there is plenty of time for cards/figures to be pulled out by our Little Ol' Game Master, chas.

[Sir Dendrik]

Originally Posted by Sherman Davies

Glad to hear you're still 'Scaping, Sir Dendrik.

The NYC Gang of Four has, on rare occasions, played scenarios with drafting from limited pools of figures. Don't think we've done a universal draft game, unless it's just been so long ago I don't remember. As you say, it can be a fun way to play but it takes a good amount of time to do a draft before the game, given how many available cards there are.

Glad to hear from an old 'Scaping buddy! Hope you are well.

Originally Posted by kolakoski

Well met!

I came up with this some time ago. 16 Card Draft. The number of cards could be increased, of course, to whatever is desired and/or feasible.

Hm, very cool. I will have to try this out, or at least something similar with a limited number of cards available. Maybe I can do a pool with Q9 and all of his counters in the same pool. There are 15 Q9 counters, right? /tongue in cheek

[Dysole]

Originally Posted by Sir Dendrik

When I first started playing Heroscape we would always begin the game with a draft, people picking figures to counter each other's armies (almost always a 4 player free for all format). This was when I used to play with friends using my own collection, at a time when there were a manageable amount of figures so people could become aware of what was good against what fairly easily. I would facilitate for newer players, giving them options for what was good or what could counter the armies that other people were playing.

In later years I found a group that I would meet up with at our friendly local game store, and we all had our own collections. This meant that people would bring pre-made armies almost exclusively, with a point/figure limit being agreed upon before the game day. During this era people played a lot of 2 player head to head on tournament maps, and drafting was a lot less common. I don't think I ever had a typical draft when playing like this.

Fast forward to today, I'm back to playing with friends using my own collection, but there are just so many figures (C3V/SoV included) that it's impractical to do a draft. I usually make armies myself before the game day and people pick which of the 4 armies (4 player free for all is back) they want to play with at the beginning of the game. I did try to do a draft at a get together at a local game store at one point using only the original master set and the first two waves, and it went well, though we were drafting for like 3 separate games at once so picking counters was a little harder. My one friend drafted the Arrow Gruts after I drafted the Swog Rider, which was the only meaningful draft I remember for that day.

I'm kind of pining for the old days when drafting was the norm. It was a different game. But there are just too many figures now to make it work, and my figures are all mixed up in master set boxes so it takes me time to find anything. Picking out figures ahead of time like I did with the first two waves that day seems like a good option, but a lot of the people I play with don't know the game well enough to make decisions about what to pick. Pre-constructed armies are just so much more practical when I only get to play the game every once in a while and players aren't learning the metagame over time.

What is everyone else's experience with drafting units? Or does everyone else just play with pre-constructed armies?

OHS, OST, Classic League and Scapecon I know have all run draft or draft like events. They tend to come in the form of either a preset draft pool (sometimes set by tournament organizers, sometimes a combined pool of both players) or a pod draft (2-4 pods from each player with each player drafting 2 pods from the larger pool).

I love draft so much and it's easily my favorite format. Usually when playing casually with friends I help them build stuff so they can have a fun time with armies. Draft is harder for live tournaments due to the time limits involved but I still love them.

I actually made a set of rankings (that I actually need to revisit and see if I have new opinions) regarding draft formats (linked in my signature)

~Dysole, with so many thoughts on drafting as a format

[nyys]

I haven't drafted in forever, but would love to have a a Scape day where we do exactly that. With the number of units out there between classic and C3V/SoV a pre-set pool would have to be the way to go IMO.

Depending on the size of the draft pool I may even hold the draft online leading up to said game day to save on time. Though at the same time there's a lot of fun to be had having it 'live.' Probably the best bet to have the best of both worlds would be to set the draft pool at least a week ahead of time so that your players can familiarize and strategise ahead of the draft (will also help move things along so it doesn't take more time than necessary).

[Retlaw]

When we've done large games/maps (usually teams of two with 4 teams, so 8 people), we've used a hybrid draft. We pre-assemble a pool of smaller armies (~ 1/4th of the total point allotment for a team) and then draft armies from the pool. Each team gets a total point allotment that can be split between the team members (e.g., if the total team points was 1200, one player could have 550 points and the other 650 points, but must total 1200 - usually they end up pretty close to each being 600pts each). Draft order is determined by D20 roll and the second round draft is reverse from the first (i.e., 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1).

[ThrasherDarkrai]

I think drafting is still a popular format, but it's changed quite significantly from the halcyon days of Scape where everyone just drafted from a single large collection. It's much more common nowadays to draft preconstructed armies or individual "pods" of units (which is what OHS, and now OST, do for online Scape games), simply because there are so many figures to choose from now. Drafting from a pre-set pool is also pretty common, for similar reasons (kevindola's actually running an online tournament right now where players draft from a different randomized pre-set pool each round; looking in from the outside, it seems to have been a very successful experiment).

[Dysole]

Originally Posted by nyys

I haven't drafted in forever, but would love to have a a Scape day where we do exactly that. With the number of units out there between classic and C3V/SoV a pre-set pool would have to be the way to go IMO.

Depending on the size of the draft pool I may even hold the draft online leading up to said game day to save on time. Though at the same time there's a lot of fun to be had having it 'live.' Probably the best bet to have the best of both worlds would be to set the draft pool at least a week ahead of time so that your players can familiarize and strategise ahead of the draft (will also help move things along so it doesn't take more time than necessary).

Scapecon used chess clocks and I think that was cool. I didn't actually participate in that one since I just missed out on qualifying for it, but it sounds like it worked well.

~Dysole, informationally

[Garenex]

My experience early on was very similar to yours, when my collection was smaller and available time was greater. We would set out all of the units and draft our armies. Then I had about 12 years where my collection was kept in tackle boxes and the cards were in a big unorganized stack and drafting would have been near impossible, without a lot of setup. Now my collection is displayed on shelves, so it is actually feasible to draft now.


I'm happy to see drafting come into the competitive scene in the form it took at ScapeCon 3. It adds a whole other level of skill to the game, one that was at least neglected for a long time.

Also, the fact your armies are meant to be drafted is something that is easy to forget, in light of the more niche units.

[Ericth74]

The C3G side uses drafts often.