Suggestions for the C3V

[Scytale]

Originally Posted by OCDJ-scaper

I’m really interested in constructing a Druid and/or a beast master of sorts. I’m having issues with points and with limited wording necessary to get the affect I’m looking for mid game. I realize that requires play testing but any advice would be appreciated for the smoothest approach prior to first play test. I don’t want them to be priced more than 200 and would much prefer them to be within the 100 to 190 range more suitable for c3v instead of c3g. I’m looking into expanding the elves with these or perhaps making one of them a gnome. I run pretty competitive games with my friends and most of our customs can be pretty OP. So I’m looking to dial back and find some more balance. Furthermore, I want to reel them back a bit from C3G and get them back to the roots and I feel the best way is to expand with customs for standard theme play.

I wrote a bunch of HS Codex articles a while back that may be of help to you.

The Good, the Bad, and the SoV-Worthy
Where Rules Don't Bend
Faction Creation
Make It Fun
The Question of Balance
Dripping with (Not Too Much!) Theme
Simply Creative
The Epitome of Play
Criticism: Giving and Taking
Design Fundamentals
Getting the Most Out of Your (Playtesting) Time
Designing for SoV Approval

Also, I designed a beastmaster faction that I'm pretty proud of. It may give you some ideas and guidelines.

[OCDJ-scaper]

@Scytale thanks man, I appreciate it and I took a gander and I really dig your stuff. I’m planning on something similar but for me it’s more along the lines of does he start with the horde of beasts? Or should he call them like Iskra I think it’d be cool thematically to literally call to an animal and spawn it within 6 spaces like it’s running into combat from the wild. However, with that in mind do you only call the animal that’s specific to that environment or just whatever as long as it hasn’t been summoned? I lose sleep over this stuff lol.

[OCDJ-scaper]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Your friends sound awesome.

Thanks bats, I love that they put up with my shenanigans and hobbies.

[OCDJ-scaper]

Originally Posted by Sherman Davies

I once posted some advice on determining reasonably accurate point costs. You can read it here. Hope you find it helpful.

Dad Scaper has a thread dedicated to helping people word their customs. That one is here.

Thank you it definitely gives me more insight and confidence in that I agree with the cost being the last step and not to let it hinder the creative juices (it definitely does for me and a few buddies when debating character builds though lol) my issue is because we haven’t printed anything off, we and by we I mean usually me can’t seem to stick to pricing as playtesting becomes an endless battle when stacking up to new introduced characters we make. And after a few run throughs with the character switching wording to buff or nerf characters for whatever the case may be. I think by continuing to explore the forums will I be able to be confident enough in putting my foot down on finalization of figures and not looking back when they don’t stack up to someone or someone whines that the pricing of their figure is unfair compared to both the pricing and capabilities of someone else’s.

[OCDJ-scaper]

Originally Posted by Knox

Those are awesome, but $55 for 4 units seems quite steep by VC standards. That said it'd definitely be doable since that's basically an entire large wave in 1 box

I’ve been wanting to do ogres for what feels like forever now! Yes I think the expansion of goblin and integrating them with ogres would be frickin awesome if you like these you should check out the goblin hucker if you haven’t already. I hear the issue of cost for these figures but I mean what ya gonna do ya know? Inflation and cost of living is stupid high right now and all of the old original customs made are about the same ballpark if not way more at this point as the days go by. So why not go for it at any pace necessary it’d be a shame not to touch these figs in my opinion.

[UtahScott]

Goblin Hucker, you say? the D&D Monster Menagerie 3 mini is 1) as pricey as the Gargantuan Skeletal Dragon, and 2) almost impossible to find. There's a resin Siege Ogre from Lord of the Print that many people offer, but it's way too big on a 75mm base and is three times the cost of the GSD. (MomentumMiniatures on Etsy did it at 50%, though, which might work for 'Scape, size-wise) However, I found this Shapeways 3D model, and estimate he might be the size of Pel. Would the C3V crew have enough 3D printing members to give this one a go? Doesn't look like too bad of a paint job...

P.S. it's an actual working catapult.

https://www.shapeways.com/product/2C.../goblin-hucker

[Knox]

I wanted to suggest that SoV approvals get frontpage. I think that in the 2-3 times a year that 1 design (out of dozens, from dozens of creators) gets recognized as the cream of the crop it's worth recognizing with a frontpage, and only doubly so because it's joining the VC canon.

I know when I first got into VC I did so through the front page - it took me a few waves before I realized there was more than what I saw on each front page announcement, and I'd love for SoV to get that same love.

[IAmBatman]

Shouldn't this be in Suggestions for the SoV?

[Captain Stupendous]

Originally Posted by Knox

I wanted to suggest that SoV approvals get frontpage. I think that in the 2-3 times a year that 1 design (out of dozens, from dozens of creators) gets recognized as the cream of the crop it's worth recognizing with a frontpage, and only doubly so because it's joining the VC canon.

I know when I first got into VC I did so through the front page - it took me a few waves before I realized there was more than what I saw on each front page announcement, and I'd love for SoV to get that same love.

Seems like a good idea to me; thanks for the suggestion!

[OCDJ-scaper]

Originally Posted by Son of Arathorn

A large miniature (stupid oxymoron) that looks good for any type of large expansion or just on it's own is the D&D Cyclops Crusher #13 from Dangerous Delves. Auggies has 19 for $3.49, and ebay has another 50 or so at a time for slightly higher prices, anywhere from 3 to 7 dollars. I checked MiniatureMarket, which unfortunately is out of them. Here's a picture-

To me, the blue-grey skin and wood club/mace screams Aquilla.

I’m currently in the process of using that exact mini for my cyclops expansion, did you ever finalize yours?

[Blue Trails]

I'd like to suggest Paizo's upcoming Accursed Constructs box set for C3V consideration. A quick glance shows 3 large/huge Heroes, a 2-figure Unique Squad, and 3 small/medium Heroes that could pass for Soulborgs. The initial $79.99 price tag is restrictive, though, so the idea is contingent on resale sites charging less exorbitant sums in subsequent months or years.

[Tai-Pan]

I wanted to put an idea out there for the C3V people concerning NewScape and the future of the C3V project:

You guys have done an incredible job and there are no superlatives that could be enough to describe it! For years and years you have kept HeroScape going with a) prepainted figures, b) from all three main genres of OldScape (fantasy, history and scifi), c) introduced significant new factions like Aquillas Wolves or Nottingham Brigands and even expanded on existing factions with exact thematic matches to existing factions - the Marro units are the best example and it amazes me how well they visually fit with the stuff Hasbro designed to fit together, despite being from different games. From a certain point of view, you achieved these points even better than the NewScape will (you guys never went to not-painted, despite the trend of unpainted miniatures really exploding in the last few years).

As far as the future of C3V goes, there are several possibilities as to what that project will become. The game is changing, and everyone and everything will change with it. But I wanted to highlight two aspects:

The biggest divide factor about the NewScape seems to be the fact that they are unpainted. That opens two doors for C3V (and SoV as well actually).

One option would be to expand options to include unpainted miniatures just like the NewScape is doing. There are a ton of options out there for this! I branched out and learned to paint figures starting with Arena of the Planeswalkers and have added all kinds of cool units to my HeroScape collection, often including whole factions with squads and heroes. It's a whole new world!

The other option is to stay in the niche you have now. I don't know how many holdouts there will be who won't get into NewScape because of the unpainted miniatures. But for that audience, you are their only hope! You are the biggest, bestest providers of high-quality, pre-printed expansions!

I understand that the "need" for unofficial official HeroScape may be over for many people, but depending on how you look at it, it's still very interesting (because of so many new, unpainted options) or very important (because some could see it as the only remaining viable option due to not doing unpainted miniatures).

Just some food for thought