The "I'm new here" Thread!!!

[Rew]

Hi all. I took the plunge today and bought my first sets online. I'm a complete noobie and realize I am buying into a game which has slightly stalled right now. Despite this I am excited to try and corrupt/convert some of my friends to the 'Scape.

Below is a large story about how I found Heroscape, my small insights as a first time buyer, and general ramblings that won't be read.

Look forward to chatting with some of you here.

ciao!

Rew


-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
"How I found Heroscape and Learned to Love the Bomb"

I remember bumping into "Heroscape", its bright odd box, on shelves at my local game store and Toys R Us throughout 06 and 07. I think I even picked up the Valk. starter set looking it over but eventually didn't purchase it because it just looked a little odd and uninteresting as far as what I imagined the game play would be. I think I also felt a little embarrassed for being attracted to it at the age of 30 something when clearly the game was marketed to a much younger crowd.

This weekend something unusual happened as I crossed paths with Heroscape again.

My wife and I were wandering around our local game store looking for something new to play. Nothing really jumped off the shelves at us. I think even a Marro set, was at the store we were in, but I completely overlooked it. Weird fetus brain creatures aren't high on my "that will be fun to play" list (Sorry Tor-Kul-Na!). After not finding anything that we really desired, we went home and played a round of Carcassonne, because placing tiles and my wife calling cloisters "monkships", is always good fun.

After that little game round I jumped on Funagain and BoardGameGeek to browse the current game offerings. Through looking up games of old and new I somehow surfed my way to Heroscape. I started looking over the reviews and game information. Memories of seeing the game around, on the shelf, nagged at the corners of my mind. My jaw dropped when I saw some of the online pictures. That did not look like the game I saw in stores. Custom battle fields based on build-able hexes and deeper complex battle set rules for more advance play. You are marketing this to 8 year olds? Ok, fair enough, but ... uhhhh ...

... I'm interested. (the exception of weird fetus brain creatures still standing)

I started to deeply research Heroscape at this point. I spent a good chunk of today reading Heroscapers, listening to the podcasts, and bathing in Heroscapeness. I kept teetering on the verge of buying. "Will my wife play Heroscape with me?" Maybe. "Will friends play with me?" Maybe a few times. "Is Heroscape going to last much longer?" My magic eight ball lies, and really, who can say. (shrug)

So, with these things weighing on my mind, I was having a hard time getting the nerve up to purchase online. It's not that I don't like e-commerce, but that there seems to be a bigger barrier to ordering online than buying in the flesh for me. What to do? What to do? Well, if I can find some 'Scape at a retail store I'm sure that will give me an impulsive itch to buy. Let's go hunt!

Off to Toy's R Us: the place I remember seeing the most Valk starter set copies at. Now, when store employees tell you they have one copy of something, on discount, in their inventory, you are obviously going to trust their, rock-solid, fail-proof, high-tech., inventory tracking system whole heartedly. Yes, so, with the chances of finding a Heroscape game set here looking slim we decided to try and hunt for it anyway. Why not, right? We are already here.

Wouldn't that be magical: to find that one last in store copy, of edition one Rise of the Valkyrie, hidden behind "Candy Land" and "Pretty Pretty Princess: Sleeping Beauty Edition"? Imagine it: a consumer victory and a new game all in one.

We rummage through the game shelves, poking between brightly colored game boxes. Each isle and retail shelving dead space brings a small twinge of hope. Alas, it was a needle in a haystack of poorly inventory controlled needles. We leave TrU and at this point I'm thinking, "Bah, Heroscape is fading. I'm probably not going to be able to find much of it except online."

Back home to read more Heroscapers.com and ponder some more. Magic eight-ball reads "Outlook Not Good." There seems to have been some good activity in 2008 for Heroscape, but the macro economic factors of today, and it switching over to WotC have me a bit nervous about the future of the game.

Cost, space in my tiny apartment, future of the game, and people to play with concerns are all taking their toll. I've pretty much convinced myself Heroscape probably isn't a wise buy for me at this point. (sigh)

And that's when it happened. A sign from Valhalla.

The sign came in the form of "penguins with machine guns." I hear voices whisper to me, "buy it. buyyyyyy ittttt..." in Scape Talk 2/2/07 where Craig and Truth talk about the origins of the game. Very simply: Hero Quest and Battlemasters are mentioned as big brothers, or influences, to Heroscape.

I'm sold.

Hero Quest gave me the ability as a pre-teen to GM a D&D like game for my three younger sisters. Yes, my sisters. We played the heck out of that game. We even bought and played through one of the expansions. I remember making my own dungeons as well. Later we got Battlemasters and played quite a few games of that. What beloved and cherished memories those are for us: dungeon crawls and huge mat based army battles.

I price some sets out and finally decide what to get and who from. One secure transaction later and in three days or so this week I should have a bunch of worhtless plastic at my door. Worthless plastic that brings joy, but worthless plastic nevertheless.

I think the moral of this story is that really if you work hard enough you can convince yourself to buy just about anything. It takes a bit of dedication and it helps if you have copious amounts of fan based media about the item you want to buy, but yes, even you can do it.

Hopefully by this weekend I'll be ready to play a round or two with one of my friends and his kids.


-- Rew's Gaming Background --

I grew up with a touch of D&D (sounds like a disease!), Risk, Hero's Quest, Battlemasters, and also really enjoyed making my own board games for my sisters and I to play (mostly I'd make board game versions based on Nintendo/PC game themes. Castlevania the board game was probably the best one I did.)

My wife is an avid card, dice, and board game player. We play baord games two to three times a month but should really play more.

Current games we play are Carcassonne, Monopoly, Zilch (like liars dice), Trivial Pursuit, Clue, and a whole host of card games. Also we are both big fans of action RPG computer games.

I painted a few 40K figures, in my high school years, but could never for the life of me get involved enough to learn to play it. I've always wanted a table top miniatures war-game that was more accessible and Heroscape looks like it is the game to have: deep enough but not something I have to spend a fortune on, or spend a huge amount of time painting and crafting the armies, and it doesn't have game play that involves newtonian calculus problems in order to figure out who's turn it is next. (least I hope not, I don't have the rule book yet)

[Cavalier]

Originally Posted by Rew

Hi all. I took the plunge today and bought my first sets online. I'm a complete noobie and realize I am buying into a game which has slightly stalled right now. Despite this I am excited to try and corrupt/convert some of my friends to the 'Scape.

Below is a large story about how I found Heroscape, my small insights as a first time buyer, and general ramblings that won't be read.

Look forward to chatting with some of you here.

ciao!

Rew.
<Snip, large story that I did read >

Welcome, Rew! Nice to have another 30-something on board (you've probably noticed there area few of us around here).

A couple of pieces of good news: Look for Wave 1 to be re-released this summer and Wave 9 this fall.

[rym]

Welcome Rew! Like Cav, I read your story. Nice, solid first post. I laughed, and cringed, for you, at your comment: "deep enough but not something I have to spend a fortune on".

Oh, my friend, soon you will know what's cleaned the wallets of many of us here, myself included.

[Revdyer]

Hi, Rew. I almost thought rym was talking to me. <grin> Welcome aboard!

[Jexik]

Only in Deutschland.

[LongHeroscaper]

Welcome Rew ! The moral lesson from your story is if somethings are meant to be together, they will be, like you and Heroscape ! My story is very similar to you, but I acted faster. I saw Raknar's expansion in Target and Braxas caught my attention. I went home, searched online and found heroscapers.com. I then talked to Rev and came over his house for a test game before I went to Dallas for a tournament. I met some great people here, and I am sure you will, too.

[ABOMINATION]

Gosh, that's probably the most detailed 'I'm new here' post I've ever seen. By the sign that you're 'fitting in' on only one post, I'd say you're going to do well here. Welcome to the forums and the game!

[Rew]

Thanks for the warm welcomes everyone!

(Anxious for my sets to arrive. Is it Wednesday yet?)
(How about now?)

I'll have to do an "unpacking party".

[Jandarforever]

Originally Posted by Rew

Thanks for the warm welcomes everyone!

(Anxious for my sets to arrive. Is it Wednesday yet?)
(How about now?)

I'll have to do an "unpacking party".

Just make sure that you're not so excited opening your stuff that you accidentally rip into the cards which are packed in between the cardboard (if you bought expansion packs, that is). Welcome to the site and congrats on your purchases!

[bbearz]

Hey everybody,

Although I joined back in January, I have just recently been active here on these boards as I continue to play more and more Heroscape with my brother and neighbors.


When I first joined these boards, I was actually was living in South Texas, working at a camp ministry, playing Heroscape with about 4-6 staff members during the week occasionally. I started playing Heroscape at the beginning of the year, so I am very new to the game, but not unfamiliar with board games. My early childhood games included Chutes and Ladders and Monopoly, both of which I still enjoy with my younger sibling. About the age of 10 I started playing Battle Masters (MB), Stratego, Double Crossing (Lionel), Scattergories, and many others. Although many times my father encouraged me to be creative and develop my own games to play, and those usually tended to be the most fun. My father was always the ideal role model and competitor, even at an early age.


It was with a heavy heart that I come here and say that he passed away on February 20th, 2009, and my life has not been the same. Under these circumstances, I have moved away from Texas, and now live in Indianapolis with my mother. I am 23 years of age, and looking to play many board games to get my mind off of my father who was my source of inspiration for gaming.

Meanwhile, I am still learning the ends and outs of this place, and of Heroscape, so be patient with me while I try to understand how events unfold, and finding out what GenCon is exactly.


I enjoy the company of friends, and play for the joy of gaming, as my father did. I hope this paints a picture of who I am, and hope to meet and compete with many of you guys here.

Thanks for reading.

[Revdyer]

Originally Posted by bbearz

Hey everybody

PM sent.

<RR>

[Phil the Thrill]

Hi guys,
Just found this thread. I am kinda new to HS. My brother has been playing for a year or so; I have been playing off and on with him. But during my last spring break, I was hit my the HS bug. When I got home, I went right up to walmart and bought them out {not much left}. BIO about me: 18 years old, going to college right now, and HS is taking up all my book money for school