Metagame Evolution

[Jexik]

Evolution of the Tournament Metagame: A Brief History

Here are a few ground rules outlining my thinking before going forward:

1. Heroscape is awesome, fun, and competitive. These ideals can coexist peacefully.
2. This largely assumes the standard tournament structure that requires a player to use the same premade army all day. Drafting changes things a lot.
3. I suck at Heroscape. I make no claims to be the best, but I like to observe others and play the game. I've also only been playing since last July, and I went to my first tournament in October. If I make any false claims, call me out on my BS.
4. This is largely theoryscape, but it is empirical theoryscape. I watch how and what I play. I watch what the top players play. I listen to and watch how people react to an ever-changing game.

Heroscape: BCE (Before Common Era- I forget who thought of this, but it is quite an effective way to describe the ‘good old days;’ I’ll cite it as soon as I find it).
Metagame-defining units: Krav Maga Agents, Sgt Drake Alexander

For many of you, this time began in late 2005, or whenever you first picked up your RotV master set. Things were simpler, and the units seemed pretty balanced. Early games with Deathwalker 9000 would lead people to believe that he was massively overpowered, or a complete waste of 140 points. In the end, people would decide that he was pretty unreliable. The Zettian Guards and the Viking brothers seemed to be the worst of a good bunch, but the Marro Warriors, Airborne Elite, Krav Maga Agents, Sgt. Drake Alexander, and Raelin the Kyrie Warrior rose to the top.

Due to the fact that uniques were all that there was, it was largely an offensive game. Ranged units that could attack more often and weaken enemy units first were all the rage, and units that could counter or support ranged units were also important.

2006 AS (Anno Squadscape)
Metagame-defining units: 4th Massachusetts Line, Krug

With the releases of Wave 1 and 2 , Heroscape became much more involved. Rise of the Valkyrie was great, but the addition of common squads changed the game forever. Range was still king, but it wasn’t entirely necessary. Wave 1 brought a diverse group of effective bonded squads, and even some living projectiles in the vipers. If there was ever a time to worry about Power Creep in heroscape though, it was with the release of Wave 2, Utgar’s Rage. 4th Massachusetts line, especially combined with Marcus and Romans stomped all over the competition, most notably in a series of 400 point tournaments in Dallas. Knights of Weston breathed new life into the Champions of RotV, but their slow movement and slightly high point cost at the time prevented them from being quite as favored as they might have been. Minions, although expensive, fared remarkably well against the hero and unique heavy armies of the less experienced players of the time, as well as some of the larger squad-based armies. Krug and Swog Riders turned the Arrow Gruts into an exceptionally powerful force as well, and they ultimately won GenCon.

With Orm’s Return, Jandar’s Oath, and Zanafor’s Discovery, players found a plethora of interesting choices for drafted games, but the situational nature of many of these figures, coupled with cheaper alternatives in Waves 1 and 2, prevented many of these figures from gaining early acceptance. Gladiatrons and Gorillinators were both waiting for future releases to be complete, and Armoc Vipers and Aubriens helped revive Ullar’s hopes of tournament glory, but only temporarily.

Sample armies of the period:
UPC-DFW
2x Roman Legionnaires, Marcus Decimus Gallus, 2x 4th Massachusetts Line, Me-Burq-Sa 390
spider’s gencon winner
3x Arrow Gruts, Krug, 3x Swog Rider, Raelin the Kyrie Warrior 395
neo’s 2nd place gencon
3x 4th Massachusetts Line, Airborne Elite, Raelin 400
ry’s 3rd place gencon
Krav Maga Agents, Tagawa Samurai, Raelin, Marro Warriors, Me-Burq-Sa 400

The Dark Ages, or “Special Education” (Gencon 2006 until Gencon 2007)
Metagame-defining units: Deathreavers, Major Q9

This was largely a transitional period where not much really happened and heroscape releases slowed down. Wave 5 and Raknar’s Vision came out, and people bickered over which units would change the game the most. Many complained about Nakita Agents and the Ninjas of the Northern Wind, or perhaps the Kozuke Samurai, but it slowly became apparent that not only was Q9 excellent for handling these squads, but also for the Gorillinators that the Nakitas were supposed to revive.

Deathreavers also garnered much attention with their infamous scatter ability. This power single-handedly allowed the game to move in a new, more defensive style of play that was previously unheard of. It also wouldn’t trigger against special attacks, further cementing the popularity of Major Q9, Nilfheim, and Braxas, three heroes which built upon the failures of the Heroes of Laur- they all had reliable squad-killing special attacks in their arsenals. Sgt Drake and Samurai shed many tears at this time.

Nevertheless, old standby armies like Orcs and 4th Mass continued to see play, but the Romans started to falter as the popular point total rose ever closer to 500. Not only did this mean that you couldn’t quite fit all the Legionnaires that you wanted on the board, but it also meant that it was easier for opponents to field Major Q9 or Braxas, or perhaps both.

In wave 6, Kaemon Awa appeared as yet another excellent hero with a special attack, and in a nice medium, 120 point package. Eldgrim helped round out the viking champions nicely and even gave a slight nudge to the Tarn. Heavy Gruts helped out the Orc champions in a time of rising point values, and the undead squads have some really interesting, but unwieldy special abilities.

Meanwhile, a well played army of 'trons was a dark horse that no one quite expected, and came pretty close to winning GenCon.

I find it interesting that the top two GenCon players from the year before came with 4 or more sets of 4th Mass, but didn't do quite as well as they might have. (Tying each other didn't help either!)

Sample Armies
Mattser’s GC winner
Q9, Raelin, Laglor, Krav, Marcu, Isamu

Rÿchean’s 2nd place GC army
3x Deathreavers, Kaemon Awa, Airborne Elite, Krav Maga Agents, Marro Warriors

lonewolf's 3rd place army
3x Gladiatrons, 3x Blastatrons, Raelin

The “3 R” Renaissance (Gencon 2007- Present)
Metagame-defining units: Cyprien Esenwein, Marro Stingers, Isamu

The three R’s of competitive Heroscape are Raelin, Range, and ‘reavers. As the pool of available units continues to grow, it becomes less easy to simply grab Major Q9 or Braxas and expect only squads. Similarly, one can’t just play all 4th Mass and hope to never face Major Q9. These armies will still do well, and a handful of tournaments have even made provisions against playing tournament standby units like 4th Mass or Q9, but in an unfettered environment, armies with a good mix of offense, defense, and range seem to win the day. They might not have all three of the R’s, but most successful armies will use at least 2 of them, or use Q9 alongside a common squad backbone. Stingers and Cyprien have emerged as the new units to watch, and many players’ inexperience with handling them can often lead to success for those who pick them. Cyprien can simply ignore Deathreavers, and Marro Stingers are tough enough to hang with the Major’s special attack. Together with Isamu, some people are worried about power creep, but this isn’t anything compared to what we saw with Utgar’s Rage or Raknar’s Vision.

One common thread that I see linking many of the new good units in both SotM and Wave 7 is that they have d20 related powers, but are not entirely reliant upon them. Unlike the Anubian Wolves or Morsbane, Marro Stingers and Cyprien have tougher stats, more competitive pricing, and their odds of success are pretty high. The Stingers' ability is even completely optional. Even the next tier of units like Tor-Kul-Na, Sonlen, Iskra, and the Marro Hive do more than cause automatic wounds, summon, and rebirth figures. Similarly, Isamu's Vanish works against just about everything, and with a 55% success rate. Marcu Esenwein's power is a weakness, but it helps make him a ridiculously good bargain. This represents a shift from the convention of having dependable no d20 units like Q9 and 4th Mass, and units that die by the d20 like Sudema. This makes this new class of units less predictable than old units, but still powerful and tournament worthy. If the early card for Sujoah that we saw was any indication, I expect this trend to continue.

Sample army:
spider's NHD army (biggest tournament so far since Gencon)
4x Marro Stingers, Kaemon Awa, Raelin, Isamu, 2x Deathreavers 530

Conclusion

Raelin remains the most stalwart figure in the history of ‘scape. She does wonders simply by being in your army, even with just one or zero order markers placed on her in the course of an entire game. She will always be a cost effective, passive force to be reckoned with, and she has transcended all of the changes and new releases better than any other figure. Many early units, like Krug and Krav, while still powerful and playable, have become much easier to deal with as players learn what to do against them. With perhaps the help of new releases, and more experience, I expect the same to happen with Deathreavers, Major Q9, and Cyprien Esenwein. Some squads, like the 4th Mass, Blastatrons, and Marro Stingers, will remain an ever-present, yet manageable threat. As players worry about creating pre-made armies that can find an answer to each each of these metagame-redefining units, I expect to see armies that are more and more of a hodgepodge, much like Rÿchean's Gencon 2007 army, or spider's 2007 NHD army.


And... here are some little rules that I’ve thought of and conglomerated after numerous discussions on these forums. Tournament directors and attendees should be conscious of these factors and how they affect what people will play.

Thirteen Tournament Postulates

1. As time goes by, previously unbeatable armies will look less impressive, not only because of new and better alternatives, but also because people will have learned how to counter strategies and popular units of the past.
2. As time goes by, more people will begin to have access to “everything,” and their collections will increase in size. Saying that ‘no one will play that many Blastatrons or 4th Mass’ etc... will not be safe to say any more unless expressly prohibited by the tournament regulations.
3. People will also start to play more ‘good’ units, either because they read strategy articles, or they remember how they lost to Major Q9 or Deathreavers.
4. An increase in point total will encourage the use of heroes, heroes and squads devoted to killing heroes, and expensive units in general.
5. A decrease in point total encourages the use of cheap squads, unique squads, heroes that improve those squads, and heroes that are especially good at killing squads.
6. Increasing the number of starting hexes increases the strength of squads, and lengthens the amount of time required to complete a game.
7. Decreasing the number of starting hexes shortens games and strengthens heroes.
8. Extremely flat maps, and maps that extensively feature LoS blockers and/or roads will improve melee performance.
9. Maps that make easily accessible relative height advantages will improve walking ranged units.
10. Maps with height that is difficult to acquire will improve the Airborne Elite, and flying units, especially dragons.
11. Introducing Marvel to classic Heroscape tournaments would shorten games, reduce the effectiveness of Q9 and the KMA, and increase the effectiveness of many neglected hero-killing units and d20 users.
12. Marvel would also make games more lucky and swingy.
13. Most glyphs support squads, especially common and ranged ones, although Thorian and Wannok are notable exceptions to this rule. For a more comprehensive analysis of the effects that certain glyphs have on games, go here.

[ParaGoomba Slayer]

Interesting read.

[Nooblar]

Excellent analysis, as always, Jexik! You may "suck at HeroScape" but your eye for these patterns is uncanny. I'll definitely be using this article to help formulate my army for the next Austin tourney!

[Messenger]

Great write up.

One major event you skipped, however, was the release of the Flagbearers. There was TREMENDOUS anticipation of these guys. Many thought there would be great unbalance caused by their release, even to the point of restricting them. Craig VN mentioned that they were the most difficult units to assign point values. Looking back we can see the clear winners are Sir Gilbert and Laglor, but for a while there was a great fear of Ornak!!!

[rdhight]

Great post. One event I'm curious to see on your timeline is the release of the road set. What "age" did it come in?

[Junge Roman]

Yeah, the road and castle sets changed map making dramatically, and thus changed the "metagame."

The flagbearers were also a big phenomenon.

This was a good read, though I'll have to digest some of your conclusions for a while.

[keglo]

Excellent post. Thank you Jexik.

[Revdyer]

Nice article, Jexik. I would add in Syvarris, though, as one of the BCE stars who still has a place in some very competitive armies.

[Sherman Davies]

Excellent article, Jexik - especially coming from someone who wasn't there for most of it! It seems like the old timers agree with your assessment of how the game has developed, so you're probably right on.

[Heroscape Elffy]

Most of that is probably true...I wasn't here for most of it. But who is KMA?

[Revdyer]

Originally Posted by Heroscape Elffy

Most of that is probably true...I wasn't here for most of it. But who is KMA?

Krav Maga Agents

[Kahrma]

Originally Posted by Jexik

6. Increasing the number of starting hexes increases the strength of squads, and lengthens the amount of time required to complete a game.

I'd also speculate that increasing starting zone size benefits melee units. Melee troops tend to be less expensive (per figure) than Ranged units, stat for stat. Outnumbering your opponent is one way to make sure your melee troops actually survive to engage with enemy range. Larger starting zones give you this flexibility - smaller starting zones restrict it.

Tournament point totals have risen from the original "standard" of 400, reaching close to 600 in the past year. Starting zone size, however, has remained at 24. I think this is one more reason ranged troops are so dominant.