Embracing the Fun

[Darth Vader]

I have been scaping consistently for several years now and I have enjoyed every game I’ve played. I have seen epic victories, crushing defeats, impossible comebacks and everything in between. I win some and lose some, but I always have fun. I have discovered that I don’t need to win every game to have fun playing Heroscape, and this has affected how my group and I choose our armies, build our maps, and play the game.

While we do try to win every battle, we place the fun factor above the win factor. Drafting so called “bad” or “worthless” units is almost a must in our games. We don’t really “Embrace the Suck”, because very few units suck in our opinion, (only Hatamoto Toru and Shori come to mind). I guess you could say we Embrace the fun of each unit. We don’t overanalyze the “bad” units to make them more competitive, we just enjoy playing with them. Some units are not meant to be competitive, but that doesn’t mean these units should be ignored.

All too often we hear about how bad some units are. Deadeye Dan gets called out on this a lot because his abilities are too undependable to really be effective. Some people even call him a “childish” unit. While this is probably true, I believe that Deadeye Dan is a great Heroscape unit. In our weekly game days, Deadeye Dan always sees action, not because he is competitive, but because he is fun and exciting. Who doesn’t enjoy tossing a d20 in hopes of destroying Major Q9 in one turn. Sometimes he shines, sometimes he does nothing, but we always have fun playing him.

Units such as Morsbane, Groks, Runa, and Deathwalker 7000 are seeing more play at our game tables now as well. As is well established on Heroscapers, these units really aren’t competitive, but my group still plays them because they are a blast to use. We try to make every unit worth its points, and at some point or another, every unit in the game has shined, except for Hatamoto Toru, unless we count the time my uncle convinced us that Samurai within his aura threw all twelve Valkyrie dice for defense. He was pretty good then.

When my group and I first started playing consistently, our games were competitive and it seemed as though the same units were in every battle, while others never saw action. I read every Strategy article and Army construction article I could find, which focused on making super competitive armies. Soon all our armies were similar, and nobody built anything creative. While competitive scape is a lot of fun, seeing the same characters over and over got kind of boring. Q9 got played too much, as did the rats and Krav. These battles seemed anticlimactic, because the player with Q9 always won. No battles came down to the wire, and nobody had much fun.

We soon ran out of fresh game ideas, until someone suggested a battle using only units that we never play. We took the Heroscape Power Rankings and decided that the only eligible units were those who had a ranking of C+ or lower. This lead to many underappreciated units seeing the battlefield, including Morsbane, Dund, and Sudema among others. This battle was probably the most fun we had ever had playing Heroscape. I remember Saylind summoning Dund into the mix late in the game after Sudema destroyed Sparticus. Dund got immediately blown up by Morsbane who threw a 20 for rod of negation. The whole battle was bazaar, and we are still laughing about it to this day.

The C+ battles revolutionized how we now play Heroscape. We still play very competitively, but not with the so called “competitive” units. Our meta game is dominated by the Elven Wizard clan, the MacDirk Warriors, the Werewolves, and Deadeye Dan. The unpredictable always happens in our games, and we are always laughing and having fun. While we still mix in units like Q9 and Raelin, they don’t dominate every army made, and they don’t win every battle. We have developed some creative ways to deal with the A+ units, and they rarely amount to much in our games any more.

Heroscape is a game, and games are supposed to be fun. I don’t need to crush my enemy, see them driven before me, and hear the lamentations of their women in order to have fun playing Heroscape. I have fun using a unique army and strategy, seeing unpredictable things happen, and watching battles go down to the wire. While I do enjoy competitive, tournament style scape, I think it is a bit overrated and gets too much attention. I think that units like Dund, Templar, and Sudema weren’t designed with competitive scape in mind. Rather, they were designed because they are cool units that are exciting to use. A unit does not need to be competitive to be great, and some of the coolest units never see action because they are seen as overpriced, or unreliable. Competitive Heroscape has its place, but first and foremost, Heroscape is meant to be a cool, fun game.

[flameslayer93]

A standing ovation is in order for what seems to be a great blog topic for Darth Vader!

Very nice!

[Tagawa]

Bravo! Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap

[Uprising]

Excellent post! A man after my own heart.

[Grimfang]

Originally Posted by Darth Vader

Competitive Heroscape has its place, but first and foremost, Heroscape is meant to be a cool, fun game.

Yay! Now I am less ashamed to say that Morsbane and Dead Eye Dan are my favorite HS characters because nothing can compare to that delight one feels after negating Thorgrim's spirit (at least for me)

I mean, who thinks being crushed tenfold by Q9 and rats is fun ? Definetly not me.

[AMIS]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Darth Vader again.

The fun of this game is why I play. I'm not very competitive (although I'm told that I'm sarcastic ) when I play.

While I do try to choose the best of a Marro themed army I always add 1 squad of Drudge (just 'cause). Or if someone else wants to play the Marro I tend to stick to the one general rather than mixing up so many different groups.

As long as there's a theme I'll try it out.

Probably why my record of victories is so good

[Onacara]

Good read....especially after I got out my magnifying glass

(Remember to check font size if you are cutting and pasting a long post from Word )

[Darth Vader]

Someone please tell me the default font. My pc is messing it up.

[AMIS]

I think it's Tahoma - size 10.

But I'm not that sure.

It's more the font size that's the issue. Some of us complain 'cause we have older eyes.

[Onacara]

Originally Posted by Darth Vader

Someone please tell me the default font. My pc is messing it up.

Just click the EDIT button...and then change the font size to "2" and you will be fine.

[Johngee]

Yes indeed... BRAVO! Kudos! Whatever. In spite of the tiny print for these "older eyes" it was a good read and consistent with my philosophy about HeroScape. I only got interested in HS because of the beautiful, dynamic, three dimensional terrain tiles - but eventually warmed up to the whole Sci-Fi / Fantasy theme because it was just too rediculous not to be FUN. And the overly simplified mechanics and randomness of the dice throws makes it impossible to take HS seriously as any kind of tactical (skirmish level) "War Game." IMHO: HS is best enjoyed when not considered as highly competitive.

[chas]

HEROSCAPE: The game that's hilarious to pretend to take seriously!