Draft Points

Faust · #1 January 5th, 2007, 02:25 PM

Hi, guys. I am new to the game of Heroscape, but I have pretty large collection already, so I have quite a large playing area with a lot of units to choose from.

My question is this...How do you determine how many points to start with when drafting armies? I mean, the rule books recommends 400, but that seems low, especially when playing on scape that includes several expansion sets as well as the master set.

Is there an official rule for how many points you can use, or do you guys have any suggestions or general rules-of-thumb that you go by when determining the limit?

Thanks.

P.S. Yes, I do know how to use the "Search" functionality, and I did, but didn't come up with anything cut-and-dry, nor do I have hours to sort through all of the topics. Thanks again.

netherspirit · #2 January 5th, 2007, 02:26 PM

As many as you want.

Cavalier · #3 January 5th, 2007, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faust

Hi, guys. I am new to the game of Heroscape, but I have pretty large collection already, so I have quite a large playing area with a lot of units to choose from.

My question is this...How do you determine how many points to start with when drafting armies? I mean, the rule books recommends 400, but that seems low, especially when playing on scape that includes several expansion sets as well as the master set.

Is there an official rule for how many points you can use, or do you guys have any suggestions or general rules-of-thumb that you go by when determining the limit?

Thanks.

P.S. Yes, I do know how to use the "Search" functionality, and I did, but didn't come up with anything cut-and-dry, nor do I have hours to sort through all of the topics. Thanks again.

Welcome to the boards, Aldin will be along shortly with a laurel wreath for you

.

There is no hard fast rule and army size. About 500 seems to currently be the favored size for tourneys and such.

I know you said you don't have time to sift through all of the search results, but this has honestly been discussed in detail many, many times. The reason you didn't find a cut and dry answer is becasue there is not one. It is mostly a matter of preference.

Aldin · #4 January 5th, 2007, 02:37 PM

Welcome to the boards, faust!

On behalf of our drafty and point-driven community I extend to you a laurel and a hearty handshake.

As noted above, the new 'rule-of-thumb' seems to be leaning toward 500 point armies for tourneys. Other than that, go with your preferences. One thing to note is that the higher your point total is, the more valuable high priced units can be in an army. This is due to the ability in a bigger army to properly support these units and also to the difficulty inherent in controlling a massive variety of units with only three turn markers.

~Aldin

netherspirit · #5 January 5th, 2007, 02:38 PM

More points also means a longer game.

Cavalier · #6 January 5th, 2007, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aldin

Welcome to the boards, faust!

On behalf of our drafty and point-driven community I extend to you a laurel and a hearty handshake.

<snip>
~Aldin

See, I told you he would

~Cavalier, who always enjoys Aldin's welcome posts.

Faust · #7 January 5th, 2007, 02:39 PM

Thanks for the quick responses guys. It didn't seem like there was an "official" rule for point limits, but I just wanted to be sure. My friend and I were thinking an 800-point limit would be appropriate, but maybe we will shrink that just a bit, or maybe I'll just go get that 2nd master set sooner rather than later

Thanks again for the advice, and for the warm welcome!

QBakies · #8 January 5th, 2007, 02:40 PM

It really is a matter of personal preference but 500 seems to be a fairly well accepted general point value. Persoanlly I prefer larger battles (1000+ battles) which are more suited for multiple MS/expansion maps. There is a good thread on this you should check out if you are interested in larger scale stuff.

Draconious · #9 January 5th, 2007, 02:46 PM

Well.. start with the 400, and add 50 for every expansion set and master set of terrain you add to the feild

Snotwalker 8000 · #10 January 5th, 2007, 02:51 PM

randomize your draft points every game.

For example, you could start with a 400 point floor, roll the 20 D, multiply the role time 10, and add it to the 400 points. So you play armies ranging from 410 up to 600 points, randomly rolled every time.

(eg. you roll a 15 on the 20D, so you add 150 points to 400... 550pt game)

If you like larger games, start with a base of 500, or 600, or whatever you prefer... I've found that randoming the draft point between 410-600 helps to change up the army combos more... For one game you can afford to include SuBakNa in your Marro army... for the next game rolled at 10 fewer points available, you can't quite fit him in. Random draft points are the only way to go. (outside of tourneys)

dnutt99 · #11 January 5th, 2007, 03:01 PM

Personally, we typically go 600-800 points. I'm a builder of usually large and complex boards so play time can range anywhere from 2.5 to 4 hours. I've scaled down the maps here recently so it usually saves about 45 mins. Try to keep that in mind before the draft to see what type of playing mood you may be in.
Army point total + size/complexity of map + speed of figures = game time!

Some people have been known to draft until there are no units left and battle it out with EVERY fig. they own, ...

Eclipse · #12 January 5th, 2007, 03:30 PM

500 is usually a good number for an average game. Moving up to 800 or 1000 is fun when you want a good long, multi hour match on a large board. Anything higher than that and the Order Markers start to break down, IMO. Rather than get a large epic conflict, you get several 400 point games. I'm really hoping Hasbro releases a new system for 1000+ armies sometime in the future, though there's some pretty solid fan made rulesets that already exist.