Mage Knight making a comeback...any hope for 'Scape

[bonegnasher]

Well, Mage Knight is making a comeback soon with the release of Mage Knight Resurrection. Does this give even a glimmer of hope for a return of Heroscape one day?!?!

If Mage Knight is successful might the powers that be (and only care about making a buck) realize that they can still use all their D&D sculpts cheaply and resurrect Heroscape as well and cash in? I would assume that most Heroscapers did not do as they wished and switch to D&D, so maybe they should realize that to sell product to way more people they need to actually use the game that hooked everyone in to begin with.

Let's face it, aside from some of the clix games Heroscape is the only miniature battle game that ever sold in Toys R Us and actually had good sales numbers...

Anyway, discuss!

[Yodaking]

If I'm remembering this correctly, I believe their was a kickstarter campaign involving a Mage Knight video game that would also result in minis of the characters from the game getting made. The kickstarter did not meet it's goals but it did show that their was a still a high level of interest in Mage Knight. Those in charge of the brand decided to resurrect it at that point.

At some point someone at Hasbro will consider dusting off the Heroscape brand if they think they can make a healthy profit. The problem is, a huge corporation like Hasbro wants/needs rather large profits to make a product viable due to the massive overhead they have. They have so many different brands they are involved with that in order to divert attention and capital away from one of them they must believe that Heroscape would generate larger profits than they are currently making. A smaller gaming company can find success and happiness with much smaller profits.

[Sarcastic Man]

Originally Posted by bonegnasher

Well, Mage Knight is making a comeback soon with the release of Mage Knight Resurrection. Does this give even a glimmer of hope for a return of Heroscape one day?!?!

If Mage Knight is successful might the powers that be (and only care about making a buck) realize that they can still use all their D&D sculpts cheaply and resurrect Heroscape as well and cash in? I would assume that most Heroscapers did not do as they wished and switch to D&D, so maybe they should realize that to sell product to way more people they need to actually use the game that hooked everyone in to begin with.

Let's face it, aside from some of the clix games Heroscape is the only miniature battle game that ever sold in Toys R Us and actually had good sales numbers...

Anyway, discuss!

If Mage Knight even does pick up Heroscape it will probably just be along the same lines as when Wizards of the Coast did their Heroscape which in my opinion was not that impressive coming from D&D, but if they do pick it up and actually work with it I will be impressed.

[ssnover95]

I think HeroScape has entered a new paradigm at this point. Instead of relying on a corporate structure to exchange product with for money, we have new units coming from the effort of a community that isn't looking to make any money.

Linux is a fairly successful operating system and it is entirely the work of many dedicated programmers who aren't making a single buck from their time working on it. That is the state Heroscape is in now and that is a better state if you ask me.

[Sarcastic Man]

I believe we already have a expert customs project in our community if you have not heard of them their project name is C3V (Classic Custom Creators of Valhalla) here is a link to their welcome page if you are interested. http://www.heroscapers.com/community...ad.php?t=36852

[ssnover95]

I'm aware of the customs projects that have launched. That's what I meant by a new paradigm: the game is in the hands of the fans now.

[HarleyThomas]

The problem with that is it doesn't come across as accessible. This is the first time I've heard of it, so I could be wrong.

But presently from where I'm standing it seems more like a handful of people are enjoying the game with their clique while someone such as myself who's in a dead zone of sorts mostly sits in the back and goes "They look like they're having fun."

In the unlikely event of a Heroscape revival, the two things could be combined should someone from Hasbro or wherever took notice of the large fanbase and their creativity and inovation and asked the players what they'd like to see or perhaps if the players (primarily the person(s) who made X figure) allowed it mass produce popular choice custom figures. I saw a custom figure of Cthulhu on here some time ago and loved it. Frankly I would love an expansion based on the Lovecraft mythos (unrealistic for sure as at the end of the day this is still marketed towards children to some extent).

Anyways, someone on BoardGameGeeks seems pretty adamant that a Heroscape revival is unlikely as the cost of manufacturing the pieces would cost more now than when it was first released. Something like Rise of the Valkyrie costing one hundred to buy rather than forty.

And cost cutbacks resulting in things like the D&D figures which I've heard nothing good about in terms of design.

I'd certainly hope a Heroscape revival happens (preferably in the near future), but if a large set is released it'd likely be about the size of the Marvel sets as to keep it affordable.

[Robotech Master]

I don't think our current economy can support Heroscape the way Hasbro wants and needs it to.

The way it existed, it was always somewhat stuck in the conundrum (even while successful for a long while) of them wanting it to see it sell above and beyond "good," requiring that the mass appeal be there and the price be affordable--and consequently requiring pre-painted, pre-assembled, durable plastic models sold at a cost that probably resulted in the painter's work coming out to a dollar per hour, if that.

Those two things don't mesh together well, and I think a revival of Heroscape would only have long legs if it made concessions with one side or the other...but there's the conundrum: reduce costs by having the models come primed and put together, but unpainted, and you lose people who think painting the figs is a bother; increase MSRP to make better returns against production costs, and you lose people who think it's too costly a hobby.

A Kickstarter could potentially get a heroscape revival off the ground, but there would probably need to be some changes to keep it in the air for a while.

[rudyvalentine]

Originally Posted by HarleyThomas

The problem with that is it doesn't come across as accessible. This is the first time I've heard of it, so I could be wrong.

But presently from where I'm standing it seems more like a handful of people are enjoying the game with their clique while someone such as myself who's in a dead zone of sorts mostly sits in the back and goes "They look like they're having fun."

I think you're wrong, but I held similar feelings when the custom projects started taking off and releasing figures. Shortly after scape officially died I relocated and lost my gaming friends, and I didn't play scape for a good year or more. After getting settled, I found some local scapers and have reconnected to the game and the community.

Here's where I can relate to you... I held custom scape at arms length when I started playing it again, because I didn't think I'd ever be able to accept it as official scape (it wouldn't be as good or original, cards would be overpowered, I don't want to spend more money collecting figures I must have, etc.)

Lucky for me the local guy I connected with in my new town embraced C3V/SoV and had no issue accepting it as just as real as "real" scape. My first exposure to a C3V unit was when his son played Omegacron and I thought this is a cool and needed unit. I did think he was overpowered at first, but I got more and more chances to play against him and other "official" customs and I was honestly impressed and won over with the quality, originality, and fun of these units.

I'm not sure why you've heard negative things about D&D scape's design. The design wasn't the problem. There are some great units from D&D scape, but the issue many had was that it wasn't really scape, it was D&D on scape bases. D&D scape was three waves of solid units that were balanced within the game with new, cool abilities and added a lot to the existing game, but it just wasn't scape as we knew and loved it.

To my surprise (and my wallet's dismay) I found C3V/SoV was and is Heroscape. The units are Heroscape units in design, theme, and appearance. They come from all time, they fit, they belong, and they would be missed just as much as Marro, Soulborgs, Kyrie, Utgar, Jandar, or Einar.

I say all of this to encourage you to get out of your dead zone and go to the books of C3V/SoV (here). Meet these new units. See for yourself their quality and awesomeness, and have fun with them. You're invited too!

[Serenity]

You put it wonderfully, Rudyvalentine!

[HarleyThomas]

I have no qualms with the Customscape. I took a gander at some of the Books and liked what I seen. One thing that drew to this site during searches for information regarding then recent sets before Heroscape was discontinued was a Cthulhu figure someone had made.

The coming off as more inaccessible than full-blown Heroscape lies in even if someone made a handful of units and would be willing to sell them is the supply is incredibly limited and if you miss out, it's lost to you forever.

As for meeting any locals to play with, the closest hobby shop to where I am is in another city and it's all about TCG's. And there is nothing regarding any Canadian members on this board in the section for such things. (I sometimes think I'm the only one.)

In regards to D&Dscape, it had more to do with the lack of synergy with Heroscape. Such as elves who aren't elves as they go by some obscure term, one figure whose name escapes me having a blatant spelling error in its name (a minor thing, I suppose), and the Red Wyrmling being aligned to Einar rather than Utgar much like Mimring before it (fairly minor as well, I guess).

Nothing that particularly bothered me (except the elf thing), but it seemed like rather than being totally compatible with Heroscape, Wizards tried to make their own thing.

When I first heard that D&D elements would be incorperated into Heroscape, I thought it was pretty neat and apparently it was something a number of people had wanted. And I don't see why not, I've seen a number of D&D miniatures that I think would've been cool if they were made into Heroscape figures. (Tri-Horned Behemoth comes to mind.)

But in the end, I guess it doesn't matter.

[rudyvalentine]

Originally Posted by HarleyThomas

In regards to D&Dscape, it had more to do with the lack of synergy with Heroscape. Such as elves who aren't elves as they go by some obscure term, one figure whose name escapes me having a blatant spelling error in its name (a minor thing, I suppose), and the Red Wyrmling being aligned to Einar rather than Utgar much like Mimring before it (fairly minor as well, I guess).

Nothing that particularly bothered me (except the elf thing), but it seemed like rather than being totally compatible with Heroscape, Wizards tried to make their own thing.

Ah yes, D&D gave us Eladrin instead of Elves. That WAS a kick in the pants.

But the Red Wyrmling was right in Einar. His power and look mirrored Zelrig, not Mimring.

I do believe you're right, Wizards didn't want to just produce more Heroscape, they wanted to introduce new players to D&D. That's also why they chose to go with smaller bases by the third wave, to encourage crossover play without having to rebase. And many of the mini's do work well and are regularly used by C3V/SoV (if you're into elves, you need to try out Haduc).

Cheers to more scaping, hope you can find some Canadian scapers to enjoy it with.