How to get people playing

[pandas]

I have Heroscape but my bros won't play it. They say it's to long and complicated. How should I ease the rules to get them to play without just playing the basic version.

[pti8]

Welcome to the boards pandas! Great to see new faces around here.

As for your question. I have the same struggle with my brother except he has played it probably 10 times before and now says its dumb and doesn't like it at all. So I'm not really sure. If they have never played it, though, then just convince them to give it a try. Give them a good army with units that he likes. Like orcs and things.

[Cavalier]

Keep your army sizes smaller. 400 pt. armies can make for some fast games.

[Einar's puppy]

I have the same problem with my mom. She's open to learning it, but just can't understand the rules. Around the boards I've heard "I really like this game because it's so easy to learn." My question is, is it? Is it easy for someone who's previous game experience is monopoly?

[Cavalier]

Originally Posted by Einar's puppy

I have the same problem with my mom. She's open to learning it, but just can't understand the rules. Around the boards I've heard "I really like this game because it's so easy to learn." My question is, is it? Is it easy for someone who's previous game experience is monopoly?

I hate to sound like I'm down on your mom, but either she isn't really interested at all or there is a problem, because no adult should have any problems grasping the rules of this game. Now if there is no interest, therefore no effort, then sure, it can be 'hard' to learn.

My 6 year old understands the rules and plays the game (not well, mind you, but he gets the core rules). My 10 year old plays. Before meeting me, my wife's gaming experience was pretty much restricted to Monopoly, Life, Clue, et al.

[nyys]

Same with my six year old. We just started playing the advanced game a couple weeks ago and he's grasping the general concepts quite well. Tactical decisions... well that's another story (he'll get better with practice).

Unless you're playing 800-1000 point games with 3-4 people at once, saying a game of Scape takes too long is crazy. A 500 point game with two people decently versed in the rules should take 45-50 minutes max. Saying the game is too complicated is like Cavalier says IMO, they're either not trying or not interested at all (not much you can do for that).

[Revdyer]

I have found that if you offer $60 to almost anyone, they will play one game with you.

[Onacara]

Originally Posted by Revdyer

I have found that if you offer $60 to almost anyone, they will play one game with you.

For $60 I may even play 2...if there are snacks

[pti8]

Originally Posted by Onacara

For $60 I may even play 2...if there are snacks

Haha I wish I could shell that kind of money out on people to play heroscape.

[Revdyer]

Originally Posted by Onacara

For $60 I may even play 2...if there are snacks

Two lobsters and a fillet mignon are NOT snacks, Onacara!

<grin>

[dtcarson]

My 6 year old boy, my wife, and my parents have all played and caught on pretty quickly. The first time my boy and I played we played Basic, but we've played the Master/advanced since then, and he understands well. He catches me sometimes ("He doesn't have line of sight!") although we both sometimes miss or don't use special talents to full effect (in part this comes from just playing with and becoming familiar with the forces.)
My parents even understood, I taught them as we played. Although they thought it was silly ("OK, this dragon can shoot flame, your army guys can throw a grenade, and these Valkyrie have these bonuses").
To make it really easy to jump into and play, maybe skip using glyphs; predetermine the map and armies (perhaps giving them choices of which army, but the army is preconfigured).
Maybe play a 2 on 1 scenario where they attack you. You should definitely help them a little as you play, and definitely don't massacre them.
There are some little details in the game rules or the armies, and some points of confusion, but Heroscape is definitely not a "hard" game. It can be hard to play *well* and strategically, since there's such diversity in the armies, but that's a hallmark of a good game.

[Einar's puppy]

It might help some of you to understand that we were playing on a train, and I gave her a macdirk and 10th Reg army.

She understands the rules decently enough, but always forgets to count height, and can't keep track of all of the powers.