advice on how to spend budget

[pantsonhead]

Heya People,

looking for some seasoned advice on how to start up a collection, im mindfull of doing it right as i expect it will only become harder to get these items over time.

First,
Great community you guys have got going here and the collection of downloads is amasingly thorough... i came across you all from board game geeks.
Im looking forward to appropriating all my wifes tupperware and containers to my gaming needs and her silent glares... ^_^

Any ways im just starting to loook to make a set up... with the idea of this being the basis of a long term interest that the family can play when the lil ones grow up and that i can enjoy... will definbetly look to be contributing to the custom forums in the future...

Thanks for your time and knowledge in advance.
As im trying to get this advice before gear is sold out ive got a similar post at boardgame geeks (i had a quick look re rules for posting external link, but thought it better to repost the question here as well)
Ok...
here we go

I've got like another like $150ish budget id like to put towards getting my (late) start on Heroscape... beyond what i just ordered, (yes wife will once again think im nuts but im investing in the kids who cares they are under 2 atm lol) i was up till 4am checking through the posts on here and HeroScapers and came up with the following... be great to get some input.
Ive also listed under each item if i have purchased it.

To create me terrain base
i can get:
Battle for the Underdark - $28 on sale
I ordered 2
Further options
Master Set Rise of the Valkyrie $120
Swarm of the Marro - $69
Because of the sale price did i do the right thing buying multi Underdark?
should i now look to be paying the higher price to get one of the 1st 2 master sets, or based on the sale price do i get better bang for buck buying more underdark even if doing that limits getting addition critter types?
if im looking at only Valk or Morro... would 2x Morro or 1 x Valk be a better spend?

Extras
Orm's Return
ordered 1
Fortress of the Archkyrie
ordered 2

Booster sets - on sale $38
from reading it seems that re the commons rule i should be buying 2x a set not 1x all sets, is that correct?
I was unsure of what from below would be the best especially as im unsure if id be better putting further money into getting a Rise of the Valkyrie master or even Swarm set instead of boosters could i get some opinions? of which boosters would best suit the given the advise of what master options that you may suggest also?
Or are there boosters that just suck and i should not even concider?
Heroscape Booster Set of 4 wave 1
Heroscape Booster Set of 4, wave 8
Heroscape D&D Champions/FR Set of 4, wave 11
ordered 1
Heroscape Warriors of Eberron Set of 4, wave 12


Thanks all in advance,
As with BGG m amased at the quality that the site and look forward to contributing.

Pants

[Bloody Bogle]

RotV (Master Set 1) is a great set. It has the most terrain out of any set. I'd see if you can get an opened/used set for closer to $60 on ebay. I'd also recomend getting waves 1, 8, and 11-13 while they're still available. The terrain out there is already OOP. Currently you can get these waves cheap, and I'd highly reccomend getting them while you still have the chance.

[coliocole]

Yeah I'd agree with bloody bogle about the rotv. It comes with the most terrain and more of a diverse set of characters. And also I would get waves 1 and 8 while they're still cheap.

[Yodaking]

I'd advise you start looking around here, on Craigs list, and on e-bay for someone selling their entire collection in one large lot. You might not be able to afford the real big lots, but you might be able to find someone selling off a ROTV, a SOTM, plus several older, hard to find boosters for just over $100. That will give you a nice foundation from which you can start adding the some of the easy to find boosters too. Don't pay $120 for ROTV, if you are patient you can get it at a much better price and you will want to have that set as it is the best MS of them all.

There were just some good deals (like $25-$30) on whole waves of wave 1, 8, & D1-D3 (11-13) when WOTC cleared out their warehouse. If you can still find them, jump on those while you still can. If you can't buy the whole wave for cheap, the individual boosters should still be easy enough to find for a good price but you should take the time to look at the books of figures in each booster to see just how many you want of each, if any at all. Some common squads need 3+ to be fully effective, some work just fine at 2, then the D1-D3 waves have some uncommon figures that for the most part you only need one of. You may even decide you are not interested at all in a certain pack.

I'd also urge you to find a tournament in your local area and participate in it. It will introduce you to some of the many figures and strategies available, as well as people who might be willing to sell you some of their scape for non e-bay prices. You might even win a booster or two!!

Before you ever buy an individual squad or hero off of e-bay, I'd check Auggies Games and see if he has it in stock. He buys and sells Heroscape at a reasonable price, and what is in stock is constantly changing. He also has extra terrain you can pick up.

*edit* Just now seeing you are in Australia so some of what I just said may not apply to you.

[Kaemon Awa 123]

$28 was good for a BftU, especially in Australia.

[dok]

Here's what I wrote a few months ago, which still mostly applies. From your perspective, the key points here are that you should buy the figures from the master sets from a reseller like Auggies, even if you're not going to shell out big bucks for the terrain. SotM has gone way up in price since I wrote this, but the figures are still cheap.

Originally Posted by dok

My stock advice follows. Skip the stuff you already have.

In order from high priority to low:

1) Buy 1 Marvel Set, 1 D&D set, 1 Swarm of the Marro set, and 1 Fortress of the Archkyrie Set. All of these can still be found at or below retail price from numerous vendors. You can get all four for under $100 total on Amazon. That will give you enough terrain to build plenty of good maps, plus enough figures to play home games.

2) Go to Auggies Games and buy singles of the Rise of the Valkyrie uniques. The RotV set is very expensive, but you only need 1 each of the figures, and they aren't very expensive at all.

While you're there, buy a Fen Hydra or two, a couple extra squads of Marrden Nagrubs, and four or five extra squads of Marro Stingers. Dirt cheap and well worth it. At this point you have enough figures to field highly competitive armies in any setting.

3) Next up would be every widely available unique/uncommon pack - that's (in order of how much I'd want them) D2, wave 1, D3, D1, the D3 uncommon pack, the elves, and the wave 8 uniques. As you can see, all of those are very affordable. I'd also consider adding Orm's Return for some extra large figure goodies.

4) After that it's just a question of which common squads/packs you want to bulk up on. I highly recommend adding a few packs of Warriors and Soulborgs. Romans, Phantom Knights, Greenscale Warriors, Goblins, Deathchasers, Warforged, Mezzodemons, Horned Skull Brutes, and Blade Gruts are all popular and available choices. Even if you don't buy the packs, though, it's worth going over to Auggie's and buying one of some of the included uncommons.

So, there you go - a fun, varied, competitive Heroscape collection for well under $200. Enjoy!

[TMRose]

As a fellow latecomer also with a limited budget(wife think the Mortgage, and food and cloth for the kids are more important) I agree with the above.Also check out Auggies as his prices are very reasonable compared to EBAY. I picked up all of the figures For ROTV from him as I cannot afford the $120 for the complete set. So far I been able to pick up Wave,1, 8, most of 10 And D&D 1 and 3, with two Underdark, a Swarm of the Marro , a Marvel set and two fortress set, and a few Misc figures here and there, including a few doubles of the above. I may not be able to make a tournament army ,but I have enough to have fun with.

[screwDriver]

Whole Waves (W1, D1, D2, D3) for US$25.

[ForeverWar]

I'm a fairly new player and I can't stop praising RotV. Dollar for dollar it gave me the most value. It has a critical mass of terrain that allows you to construct a nice big map. The figures have great variety - and they're powerful (hello Grimnak, Marro Warriors, and Krav Maga Agents)! I agree with other posters that, if you can't afford the whole set, just buy the RotV figs as they are fairly cheap. In the US it is possible to find a complete, used RotV for $50-$60 $US plus shipping, although it sounds like things might be a bit different in Australia. Still, if you can find BtfU for $28, using ratios suggests to me RotV might be cheaper than the $120 you quoted. Maybe watch, bid, and be patient?

SotM was a bit smaller and restrictive but still a good buy.

Re: duplicates of entire waves, personally I would not buy duplicates unless I planned on trading as they contain unique hero packs. You can't use duplicates of uniques in a game.

You asked what "sucks." This thread has power rankings which will let you know what the pros think of various units:
http://www.heroscapers.com/community...ead.php?t=6171

Regarding waves 1&8, I know that Roman Legions, Gruts, and 10th Reg are highly regarded. Grok Riders are regarded as stinky.

At the end of the day, if you plan on playing competitively try to get the scary good stuff, but if you are playing casually this matters much less. I offer my friends the chance to play with my super-rare Sacred Band, Aubrien Archers, and swarms of Gladiatrons, but they prefer to use a $0.50 crummy Deathwalker because it's more fun for them. Given that, I would have done well to spend more of my budget on interesting terrain than competitive units.

[screwDriver]

Originally Posted by ForeverWar

Re: duplicates of entire waves, personally I would not buy duplicates unless I planned on trading as they contain unique hero packs. You can't use duplicates of uniques in a game.

You asked what "sucks." This thread has power rankings which will let you know what the pros think of various units:
http://www.heroscapers.com/community...ead.php?t=6171

Not that I disagree with your comments completely but rather things may depend on certain situations or play settings.

Regarding duplicates, well it's true that you can't play 2 of the same unique in an army but the same unique figures are allowed to go against each other. And in a family setting, it can be fun to do that. Besides, if you can get a whole wave cheap, it shouldn't be a problem having extra uniques.

Regarding the power ranking, I'd just like to add that the list is based on competitiveness of each unit in a tournament setting. And in some cases, the rankings are applicable if you are playing them with certain units. Like example, Blastatrons and Gladiatrons are rank A only if they were drafted together, draft them separately and they're gonna suck. If you are just a casual player or playing for fun, the list may be misleading. Some of the units with low ranking may actually be more fun to play with than those with higher ranking. Example of these are the Jotun, Einar Emporium and Dead Eye Dan, who ranks C, C- and D respectively but are really fun to play with.

[ForeverWar]

Originally Posted by screwDriver

Not that I disagree with your comments completely but rather things may depend on certain situations or play settings.

I totally agree with your comments. It depends on the setting. I have two Raelins just for the purpose of letting my opponents have access to this awesome figure.

RE: the power rankings, that list has links to the individual unit threads ("Books") clearly outlining synergies and so forth. I just assumed he would follow up with those to get the details.

[TMRose]

As far as power rating goes.
As Screwdriver pointed out some units have to go together and for us late comers that's not going to happen . For example I have two squads of Blastarions. Chances of me seeing a squad of Gladiatrons anytime soon is low.