Does Anyone Draft Anymore?

[Myriadite]

For games with my wife, we almost exclusively draft (sometimes being a secret draft) because we know all the cards well enough. When I get together with my siblings or friends for a large game, I will either prepare preset armies or set up a pod draft. We have yet to try the randomized drafting pool, but it sounds like a fun idea.

[Shurrig]

I haven’t gone and read through this entire thread, but I literally played a 5 player FFA draft with my buddies the day before this was posted. I came up with a pool of about 30ish units (3500 points total) with units that made for interesting synergies/counters. I think that’s the best way to play draft these days, coming up with a rather tight but flexible pool that allow for uncommon picks. It’s just a really fun way to get units you never play with otherwise out on the battlefield.

[kolakoski]

Well met!

Originally Posted by Shurrig

I haven’t gone and read through this entire thread, but I literally played a 5 player FFA draft with my buddies the day before this was posted. I came up with a pool of about 30ish units (3500 points total) with units that made for interesting synergies/counters. I think that’s the best way to play draft these days, coming up with a rather tight but flexible pool that allow for uncommon picks. It’s just a really fun way to get units you never play with otherwise out on the battlefield.

I think we're in the same ballpark. Sounds like the 16 Card Draft. In the drafts I've constructed, I generally favor melee and a medieval theme. For yours, I'd start with Ninjas, Samurai, Monks, throw in some Wolves, Demons, and a dash of Darklords, Wyverns, Racheim, Mindflayer, etc.

[Sir Dendrik]

So I'm going to do a 4 player free for all 450 point 24 hex 16 card draft the next chance I get to play Heroscape with 3 other people. I want to hear critiques of the options I've selected, particularly if there is a draft option you wouldn't consider picking. The theme is "Q9's Bane", including Q9 and all the counters to Q9 that I could muster. I needed some counters to the Axegrinders so things kind of rounded out from there.

Major Q9
Axegrinders of Burning Forge
Beorn Boltcutter
Iron Golem

Krug
Jotun
Omnicron Repulsors
Zetacron

Nilfheim
Nhah Scrih Cultists
Minions of Utgar
Atlaga

Venoc Warlord
Venoc Vipers
Mezzodemon Warmongers
Marro Dividers

Not many ranged squads but that raises the value of the Omnicron Repulsors who are probably on the weaker side of the draft picks. I could easily be convinced to replace the Marro Dividers with something else: I picked them because I haven't used them in a while, not for any metagame reason.

Thoughts?

[Sir Dendrik]

I'm having fun constructing mini-metagames with these 16 card draft formats. Here's one I just made centered around Erevan Sunshadow:

Erevan Sunshadow
Gorilinators
Aubrien Archers
Sgt. Drake Alexander (RotV)

Deepwyrm Drow
Ashigaru Harquebus
Nakita Agents
Deadeye Dan

Microcorps Agents
Grimnak
Feral Troll
Ninjas of the Northern Wind

Werewolf Lord
Beakface Sneaks
Haduc
Warriors of Ashra

So basically you have a lot of units that are vulnerable to special attacks with only Erevan Sunshadow (and Deadeye Dan) as special attack options. OG Sgt. Drake is one of my favorite figures and he develops the metagame a bunch. Gorillinators are really good against Aubrien Archers and Microcorp Agents by denying height and shrugging off their low attacks. Harquebus are generally very good but get trashed by the other range options. Grimnak with no synergy brings me back to the old days of RotV, when he was the figure everyone wanted to field. Feral Troll and Werewolf Lord are generally underwhelming but counter Grimnak. Warriors of Ashra have a lot of hard counters here but they hard counter a few things, too.

Probably would do 400 points (24 hex) for this one. 3 sets of each common would be available, which seems like a good standard. I'll play these as 4 player free for all pools, but they could easily function as a 2 player draft format. I'm discovering an entirely new way to play. Thanks to kolakoski for inspiring this!

[chas]

Inspired by this thread, Thrasher Darkrai is now doing a Pod Draft scenario for us for our February game. We each bring 3 pods of 250 points and 12 spaces, and snake draft 2 of them for ourselves to make up our armies (there are currently five of us). See my signature thread for details coming up.

Over the years we've done many kinds of drafts, especially in our Supers games. Lately we've mostly done ones where the GM presents a limited selection of cards or even armies, and we select from them. I don't think we've ever done pods as such before, though!

[Myriadite]

Originally Posted by Sir Dendrik

I'm having fun constructing mini-metagames with these 16 card draft formats. Here's one I just made centered around Erevan Sunshadow:

....

What a fun selection of cards!

[Sir Dendrik]

I think Heroscape was always meant to be a drafting game. There's an inherent rock/paper/scissors match up system that has been here since the old days of Rise of the Valkyrie. Drafting lets Heroscape shine.

Half the time when you play a 1v1 competitive double blind match you know which army is going to win based on army composition alone. I don't have a ton of tournament experience, playing way more free for all Heroscape with 4 players, but generally speaking there are bad match ups that pervade double blind games (not to mention just bad units and army composition). Having a good back and forth, uncertain game half the time in double blind 1v1 is still a decent amount, so I'm not saying it's a terrible thing. I have less experience with pure drafting 1v1 with something like the 16 card format, but I suspect it makes for closer games. Closer games are more fun, in my opinion, and the fact that Heroscape is often a close game is part of the reason it's my favorite game.

This is kind of off topic but free for all games generally come down to the wire more often than competitive 1v1 (or 2v2) games. You can make alliances and hang back if your army is getting toasted early on. You can gang up on the player with 5x 4th Mass and make it so they don't win every game, even if you're not running A rank armies. Free for alls with 4 or 5 players naturally balance the game. Not to mention a new/less skilled player can win the game by properly navigating alliances.

I suspect that limited draft pools with prevalent counters will make for closer games, as well. Not to mention you can play units like Erevan Sunshadow and not get toasted. And if someone drafts Zombies after I draft Venocs I can at least pivot to counter the Zombies instead of watching a horrible match up play out.

Heroscape is not a naturally balanced game. Delta and Reverse the Whip being so prevalent is evidence of that. I don't think many competitive 2 player games with the amount of creativity Heroscape has are naturally balanced, either. But I've been playing this game for this long because of the inherent balance which drafting and free for all give the game.

I know a lot of people play 1v1 double blind and I have, too. It's fun, but it's a different game. Drafting and 4 player free for all play to Heroscape's strengths, and I will always keep coming back to this game because of that format.

[Killometer]

I'm a bit ashamed to admit that in my 7 year hiatus from 'Scape drafting completely slipped my mind. It would be perfect for when I bring a small collection on family holiday trips. The pool would be small enough to lay everything out, and probably quicker for army building for the 3 player FFAs we usually run at them.

[Sir Dendrik]

It's a lot of fun to pick a unit and then build a metagame around them. I started with Q9, built a 16 card pool with a ton of counters to him in it. Then I moved to Erevan Sunshadow, picking units that let him shine. Ne-Gok-Sa was next, making a Unique only metagame with a lot of Unique Squads. On the horizon I want to make Sir Dendrik... I mean, Sir Denrick... the center of another metagame. That'll probably include the MacDirk Highlanders and a lot of Huge figures. Then I want to make a heavy snow/slippery ice map and make a 16 card draft with Nerak, Dzu-Teh and Microcorp Troopers at the center.

I'm just concerned that a new player will have to memorize 16 cards instead of 2 to 5 to make their army (2 to 5 in their pre-built army, which is how I've been operating outside drafts). But I will be able to help new players, so it probably won't be a problem. If we play several games with the same draft pool things will be easier, but I suspect I'm going to want to set up several draft pools for any given game day.

Going to try the 16 card draft on March 3, 2024 at the Western NY Heroscape Club meetup. Not a tournament, but Free for All. Also want to try it at my birthday party later on in the year with less experienced players. I suspect the limited draft format will recapture some of the magic of the old RotV days.