Retlaw's Gencon Updates - Pict links in 1st post (upd 8/18)

[Killometer]

Originally Posted by Toad Rocket

Does anybody know how the DND community has responded to this news?

Maybe I should go find the DND forums or somethin.

They couldn't care less. A search for Heroscape on the 4e forums turns up 11 hits in the last week.

[PHippo]

Although I am very wary, almost afraid, of the direction this may take heroscape; at the same time I think that there are some good DnD minis that could be converted to scape.

For example there are plenty of skeleton figures that could be used to make up Cyprien's much spoken of undead army.

Overall I would hate it if scape went entirely to DnD minis and lost it's classic look and feel, but there certainly is a lot of good figure influence that could be taken from DnD. Just throwing my opinion into the already very full hat.

[killercactus]

Any news on the Sunday tournaments?

[Onacara]

With those curious about the quality do not judge them based on their D&D counterparts because the same plastic may not be used to cast the Heroscape figures. The D&D commons tend to be more on the flimsy side because of basically they made alot more of them then the rares so using cheaper plastic so the end cost to produce them is the same. Several miniature manufacturers cast the same figs in metal and plastic from the same molds so a Heroscape quality of plastic is probable.

[Robotech Master]

Originally Posted by PHippo

Although I am very wary, almost afraid, of the direction this may take heroscape; at the same time I think that there are some good DnD minis that could be converted to scape.

For example there are plenty of skeleton figures that could be used to make up Cyprien's much spoken of undead army.

Overall I would hate it if scape went entirely to DnD minis and lost it's classic look and feel, but there certainly is a lot of good figure influence that could be taken from DnD. Just throwing my opinion into the already very full hat.

Conversely, there are not enough Skeletons riding 'x' to form his Skeleton Cavalry from, and the existing skeleton figures vary in look so much that making a squad out of them would be insanely difficult.

The Drow have a TON of figures. Its no stretch to say that there are almost 2 Drow figures per expansion, and there are over 15 expansions. Plenty of them have an overall look and feel that could translate to creating a squad out of them. But using DnD minis to create a bunch of squads for Heroscape and make it look good would be very hard. Another problem is that the actual design of many creatures changed from 3.5 to version 4.0, and the minis themselves reflect this when they jumped from 3.5 to 4.0.

[Gypsy]

Originally Posted by Robotech Master

Conversely, there are not enough Skeletons riding 'x' to form his Skeleton Cavalry from, and the existing skeleton figures vary in look so much that making a squad out of them would be insanely difficult.

The Drow have a TON of figures. Its no stretch to say that there are almost 2 Drow figures per expansion, and there are over 15 expansions. Plenty of them have an overall look and feel that could translate to creating a squad out of them. But using DnD minis to create a bunch of squads for Heroscape and make it look good would be very hard. Another problem is that the actual design of many creatures changed from 3.5 to version 4.0, and the minis themselves reflect this when they jumped from 3.5 to 4.0.

Has anyone noticed the WotC D&D GenCon Exclusive???

Drow Assassin

Imagine That!



I know that I'm not the only one that has a Complete heroScape(X3).

About 25% of my figures have paint jobs worse than the new prototypes.

I don't whine about it, because it's a game made for 8 year olds & I purchased them, nobody twisted my arm.

If I thought they were that bad, I would have eBayed them.

I own at least 2 of every miniaturized D&D alternative games, I've been collecting all of them since their invention. If you don't care for the new product, don't buy it. There will be some company that comes out with a new game this year to contest the D&D market dominance. You can buy a whole new set of toys to complain about.

I personally think that the Powers that be, have seen GB's dungeon pics, & realized that if they didn't do something about Dungeon Crawl, some one else will.

If you already own the oldest, most referenced fantasy gaming system, why wouldn't you use that to improve your other fantasy wargame?

At least 25% of you already use D&D minis for customs. No where have I seen that heroScape is converting to D&D.

Everybody that uses Minis, uses heroScape game pieces to make their board. They needed a new master set & decided to make the terrain, Dungeons, instead of Mountains, because more people have asked for Dungeons than Mountains.

You can't change what WotC is doing, they have their reasons, until you can Buy WotC, sell your heroScape sets to a D&D player.

Problem solved!

[1moreheroscaper]

Originally Posted by J4Jandar

GreyOwl showed me this thread on the origins of hreoscape. Read 'em and weep ya big grumpies!

I don't understand why I should weep over this thread. Most of these games, or this information I have known years before Heroscape was published. I have many of these games on my shelves now. I have used Warhammer figures with HeroQuest and Samurai Sword figures with other games, but that has all be custom--at home--house rule play.

The point is about quality. The fan/consumer has a right to feel differently about a product when there is a noticeable change. I remember feeling this way about Metallica when the self titled album came out...it was produced differently from their previous albums, and by the time I listen to Load and Reload I knew my loyal Metallica days were done--I didn't need to worry about keeping up with new Metallica releases any more.

Maybe the real impression is this: using miniatures from another line is fine for customs, but for an official release it feels generic.

The upcoming game mechanics will most likely be great, but I could find them out without buying figures--that I can simply customize myself, if I really wanted to.

Truth or Grungebob said something in a pod-cast last year about wave 9 being a wave that would really tie-up some loose ends if it were close to the end of 'scape (this is not word for word by just a recollection). I guess we'll see. I really hope my feelings change and that the production quality is better by the time of release.

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by Onacara

With those curious about the quality do not judge them based on their D&D counterparts because the same plastic may not be used to cast the Heroscape figures. The D&D commons tend to be more on the flimsy side because of basically they made alot more of them then the rares so using cheaper plastic so the end cost to produce them is the same. Several miniature manufacturers cast the same figs in metal and plastic from the same molds so a Heroscape quality of plastic is probable.

That's certainly a piece of good news (speculation?)! Thanks, Onacara.

Originally Posted by Robotech Master

Conversely, there are not enough Skeletons riding 'x' to form his Skeleton Cavalry from, and the existing skeleton figures vary in look so much that making a squad out of them would be insanely difficult.

The Drow have a TON of figures. Its no stretch to say that there are almost 2 Drow figures per expansion, and there are over 15 expansions. Plenty of them have an overall look and feel that could translate to creating a squad out of them. But using DnD minis to create a bunch of squads for Heroscape and make it look good would be very hard. Another problem is that the actual design of many creatures changed from 3.5 to version 4.0, and the minis themselves reflect this when they jumped from 3.5 to 4.0.

Hmm, sounds like there could be some real problems maintaining common squadscape if the line goes all recycled figures. Hopefully this is just an indicator that such a move is too implausible for WotC to really consider.
But, I suppose, worse case scenario we'd just be putting the Hero back in Heroscape, because common squads would likely start becoming a much lower percentage of the game's overall figure pool. I'm not sure I'd necessarily mind that.

Originally Posted by Gypsy

If you don't care for the new product, don't buy it.

If you like this new product so much, buy it.

Originally Posted by Gypsy

At least 25% of you already use D&D minis for customs. No where have I seen that heroScape is converting to D&D.

I'm sure that statistic has a reliable source you just didn't bother posting, right?

Originally Posted by Gypsy

Everybody that uses Minis, uses heroScape game pieces to make their board.

Everybody, huh? Another statistic (100%) that I'm sure you have a reliable source for.

Originally Posted by Gypsy

You can't change what WotC is doing, they have their reasons, until you can Buy WotC, sell your heroScape sets to a D&D player.

Yep, fan reaction definitely didn't change that mountain set they came out with ... wait, what happened to that again?
The fact is, WotC does come to this site to gauge fan reaction to new product. So, to me, that means it's worth telling them what we like and don't like about what comes out.
And why the heck would I sell my old, beloved Heroscape sets just because I'm less than thrilled about this new set? You, sir, need to work on those "problem solving" abilities ...

Originally Posted by 1moreheroscaper

Maybe the real impression is this: using miniatures from another line is fine for customs, but for an official release it feels generic.

I love how everyone keeps saying custom makers use all kinds of DnD figures, so that means we should accept them. Should we accept customs in tourneys as well, then? The reason custom makers use less than ideal figures for customs is because that's what's available! That doesn't mean we always feel them to be ideal choices.
Granted, that's clearly the case here as well. These figures are not ideal choices, but they're what's available, and just like with the customs, we'd probably rather have new figures to play with that aren't ideal than no new figures at all. That doesn't mean everybody needs to be (or is going to be) all "rah rah" about it, though.

[Retlaw]

I'm back home. Sorry but I won't have any pictures to post tonight -- I will get some up later this week (I promise). I did take a few today and have some from the Saturday tournaments as well, but right now I'm just going to take a shower and then relax.

To all those I played against this week - great games. Every one of them was fun which is the main reason I play games at gencon. I lost track, but I think I ended up about 50/50 on the win/loss ratio.

To Rÿchean, thanks for all the hard work you put into organizing the tournaments, dealing with Pasttimes, etc.

To the volunteers who helped with setup and teardown, a BIG thanks. It went so much faster with all the help this year. We actually had everything packed up and had to wait a couple of hours for them to allow me to pull the van up to the loading dock (no loading before 4:00 for some reason). Last year it was after 5:00 when we finally loaded the van.

Also a thanks to Richie, Tyler, and Aaron -- my son and two friends -- who helped me unload all the terrain and figures once I got them home and take them to the basement. The boxes filled the whole back of a Chevy Uplander mini-van (seats removed) up to window height and then some, so they carried a lot of boxes down the stairs (hopefully I can get them to help carry them up next year). I took a picture of it all, so I'll post it later and you can see what they carried.

And to those that I just talked with, shared war stories with, joked with, etc. -- it was fun and I can't wait until next year!

Oh, the Unique Hero army:
Q10
Krug
Brunak
Kaeman Awa
I won the first round, but lost in the second -- it came down to Krug vs Krug and basically one final dice roll to decide the game. I love those types of games.

[PHippo]

Originally Posted by Robotech Master

Conversely, there are not enough Skeletons riding 'x' to form his Skeleton Cavalry from, and the existing skeleton figures vary in look so much that making a squad out of them would be insanely difficult.

I never meant they had to take an existing figure and simply stick it on a scape base. I would prefer they use the DnD figures as models for heroscape figures, similar to the way the samurai army is based off the old Samurai Swords board game figures.

Onacara: Thank you for clarifying about the plastic, that was the other big thing that was bothering me, along with others I'm sure, about the figures themselves (aside from paint)

[Uprising]

Originally Posted by PHippo

Onacara: Thank you for clarifying about the plastic, that was the other big thing that was bothering me, along with others I'm sure, about the figures themselves (aside from paint)

He was just speculating about the plastic. By no means does it mean it's true.

[whitestuff]

Anyone else look at the Dnd figures on their HS bases and think that there is something strange about the grass stickers? They look wrong, kinda like they have been cut out by hand...?