A Warrior's Expectations

When HeroScape is played for glory, trophies, prizes, or just at home, most players prefer to use figures they like or think they are better at using than if they used other pieces. Well, some pieces are *better* for things such as tournaments than others are. In general these units can do all sorts of different things, but all for a low price. Raelin the Kyrie Warrior from the original master set(Rise of Valkyrie, very worth picking up) provides 2 additional defense for merely being with 4 clear sight spaces of her. Her low price of 80 points makes it very easy for her to enter many armies. There are more than just a few *bad* pieces also. Like Dund.

For this reason, there are something called HeroScape Power Rankings. These are only based on opinion, but they hold true for the most part. Units who may do well in HeroScape tournaments often get higher rankings than those that don't.

I'll point out some of the different robots...
Deathwalker 7000- Sweet! I blew up next to four of your squad members. Wait, I still didn’t do crap for damage. F 
Major Q10- Though not as good as his predecessor, Q10 remains a decent hero with decent stats. A
Zettian Guards- Though constantly ragged on, the Zettians can make a decent end-game ranged force. Will Torin revive this RotV clunker? B- 
Warden 816-The warden helps out his fellow guards, but most of them are beyond all hope anyway. C-
As you may notice, an A is great, a C is average and a F is well... fun? It should be remembered that just because a figure does poorly in a tournament doesn't mean it is weak at all. In fact, many powerful stuff has lower rankings simply because they are meant for things other than tournament play. Taelord for example, is great when the points go up, but in today's typical 500 point games, he simply cannot bring enough heat to the ring.

Customizing Your 'Scape: Act 8

Custom creator Chardar has decided to tap into the finer arts of card creation. This is probably a piece that may be rarely usable, but the card is simply beautiful.

The dark colorings really bring out the flavor of the demon. Boiling lava in the background also looks sweet. Cards this good looking do require the use of specialized computer painting tools. Chardar made this from GIMP. Simply bringing a card of this spectacle would cause a little 'oohing' and 'aahing' to boot. Although somebody could talk all day about how to use GIMP, this thread would probably be much more useful: whitestuff's advanced gimpshop tutorial.

And now I bring you the game to be played soon:

Army for P1:
Chardar's Balor(425)
James Murphy(75)
Marro Dividersx2(100)
600 points total

Army for P2:
Ragnarok(125)
Deathwalker P-9500(160)
Drow Chainfighterx1(25)
Werewolf Lordx1(140)
Marro Stingersx2(120)
Marro Warriors(50)
600 points total

With the scenario being to bring something over 150 points to the table, both sides have decided to use a custom beastie. We'll see how well 7 defense and 9 life holds to the enemies. And how well will the Werewolf Lord do? We'll see.


The game of the day: Who do you think will win? P1 or P2? Such a challenge/\_/\!!

The Parade of White and Blue

Not too long ago, I posted 2 armies that would duke it out and asked for who you thought would win.

P1
Deathwalker 9000
Zettian Guards
Warden 816
Zombies of Miorindanx5
Total: 600 points
P2
Omnicrom Snipersx2
Venoc Vipersx3
Black Wyrmlingx1
Ogre Warhulkx1
Syvarris
Total: 600 points

Remember now? I guessed that P1 would win. Well how about we get to the details of the game:
Winner: P2's Viperborgs
Loser: P1's Zombiewalkers
MVP: Omnicron Snipers
LVP: Syvarris
Most Embarrassing Moment: When DW9K missed with his explosion that would've killed 3 Vipers(and rolled only shields at that).
Highest Percentage Killer: Black Wyrmling(150% killing for its points)

Map:
The beginning of the game went as well as expected. The Zombies and the Vipers went at it. The Zombies picked up the Glyph of Gerda and the Vipers nabbed up the Glyph of Astrid. Zombies and Vipers went toe-to-toe with lots of missed skulls on the Zombie attacks.
Eventually DW9K landed on the Glyph of Ivor and attempted making a pot-shot at the Ogre Warhulk and it didn't leave a scratch.
DW9K and Syvarris fight head to had with only turn turns of bullets to kill the elf.
With nearly everything dead, P2's hope has dwindled. But still holding the Glyph of Astrid and both squads of Omnicron Snipers still alive, they manged to tear though nearly the entire army of P1. Whatever the Vipers didn't kill(which was about 2 squads of Zombies), the Omnicrons took out.
This was a fun game.

Customizing your 'Scape: Act 7
The long and hard part of making customs is most easily play-testing. Other than being incredibly important to making a balanced custom, it opens up plenty of true observations. It allows you to see what will get used more often than you anticipated or less often even.

You may be snickering(or outright laughing) at this custom. First of all he is lazy. He has a defense of 1. He gets so tired of flapping his wings that he can(will?) only fly for 4 spaces instead of the whole 5. And he costs more than Mimring and only 5 points less than **********, the newest dragon. The attack is only 3 and he won't eve bother to use a fireball to scorch his enemies like other dragons. As an Outcast, he shouldn't actually even be in Valhalla. Or should he? Disengage is an odd power for someone whose lazy. Maybe that Snoozefire power will shed some light on this custom? Well if he gets attacked, he only has to fail his defense roll to burn the enemy to french toast. That power became the most used power of the custom(for obvious reasons). His other 2 powers might be used maybe once or twice. In order to better represent his true price, I couldn't put the cost of flying and disengage due to their practical worthlessness on this guy. It can be hard sometimes.


Preview Time:
Tomorrow is the day of the juggernauts! Or at least the day that I think is Juggernaut Day...

No More Mr. Nice Wave 12!!

As I began yesterday, Wave 12 was a great expansion with lots of ideas for teams and plenty of battlefield roles to be filled. So without further adieu...

Wyrmlings: Each has a purpose. Each has cross-color bonding. Mixing and matching has made HeroScape great for years, so they naturally fit in with the rest of the crowd.
Ogre Warhulk: The good old wife-beater. Well, beating wives isn't good, but him cracking through low-end defense figures like their his wife makes him quite distinctive. Except you might not be able to do that in America. Those girls are liable to kill you. Watch Out!
Rhogar Dragonspine: Plays well with Heroes and has a bad reputation on the streets of Valhalla. That 4 attack moving at high speed is never desirable(for your foes of course).
Kurrok: Although you need Elementals for this guy to be worthy of using, for long time fans of D&D you may have some of the sculpts of the available Elementals. That is the Medium Fire Elemental, Medium Water Elemental, Medium Air Elemental, and the Medium Earth Elemental. <See the sculpts.>
It's pretty easy for even a newbie to get the pieces that would be helpful to begin with from Wave 12(and Wave 13 will be even better), considering that Master Set 3: Battle for the Underdark only includes 10 figures that is saying something.

Customizing Your 'Scape: Act 6
It's not good to think about how well a Custom is metagame-wise, so I simply don't. Just as long as you don't mess up the point value of the card, you'll be fine. Accurate pricing is done more often than not by play-testing. So bust out those HeroScape figures, make a map and take a rough estimate...Woah, woah, woah. Not yet Tiger. Start by making sure you won't reach too many Troubles Due To Wording. Although, you may need to include a part of the text later, this can really get annoying if it has to be done too often.

This custom presented my cousin and I some trouble when playing it(point value hadn't been a concern, as we were attempting to make awesomely powerful customs). I had Lavitz and this guy drafted and Lavitz was the last to die.

We eventually concluded that when Lavitz died and they were your last unit, you won't get to use Passing the Stone to bring in Albert. Basically, check the questions before playing them too much. I lost that one by the way.

Preview: Due to check-ups on Blogger's part, there won't be a new blog tomorrow. But check back Thursday.

Our challenge: What hero (or heroes) were named after the Design Teams members?

Viva la Treasurika!!

HeroScape doesn't have traditional treasure for it's characters. Instead, it uses magically enhanced spaces called "Glyphs" to give boosts that can change the way you play your game. Some scenarios would let you take them, and there is even a new type of Glyph called Treasure Glyphs. Those you can take with you like treasure, but retain the same style as normal glyphs.
Normal Glyphs, sometimes referred to as Power Glyphs, have red backs:

Treasure Glyphs can be distinguished by their golden back:

Glyphs have a myriad of powers, most commonly Stat Boosts though. +1 Attack(Astrid), +2 Move(Valda), +4 Range for Range 4 or greater figures(Ivor) are all examples of Glyphs. The Belt of Giant Strength(+2 melee attack, one use) or the Ring of Protection(+3 defense, 1 use) are both examples of Treasure Glyphs.
Not Using Glyphs:
Glyphs of any kind have a rather unique essence in this game strategy-wise. Without them, however, a newer player can begin to learn the ropes of what works and what doesn't work so well. It is really important to learn this if you want to win by your own strategy, rather than by the aid of glyphs. Once you have learned more game mechanics, then you can stick new random factors in the game. Like Glyphs.


The Tactics of the Wave 12 troops-A very short and discriminate study
We have have Wave 12 out for so long now that I'm sure I've come around to writing some new ideas ou for them:

Wyrmling Family:
This army's base is 3 of each color Wyrmling(effectively cheap dollar-wise, around $35-$40, USD mind you). Then you simply add in extra stuff, especially cheap heroes like Me-Burq-Sa(50 points) or cheap squads like the Tarn Viking Warriors(4 man team for 50 points) until you meet your desired point total. If you feel that you don't need a color of Wyrmling at all, you can clear it out of this build and replace them with a force to be reckoned with. 500 points is a common baseline and taking 3 squads of Deathreavers for a small 120 point cost(though, depending on where you get them I can't guarantee the price) could allow for some interesting shooting breath attacks while still being protected.

Mr. Hulk-Flayer:
Not much of a strategy, or army, but for 250 points you can get 2 Uncommon Heroes, one with the power to mess with turn order and the other to simply smash away the tough stuff. Requires 1 Ogre Warhulk and 1 Mind Flayer Mastermind.

Customizing Your 'Scape: Act 5
Easily a great way to begin the design process is to determine at least one of 2 things: 1. What you want to accomplish with this custom unit -or- 2. The name of it. This can really set the level of quality according to general power rankings. Plus, you can always change it later.

Though I normally don't give previews of my customs, I think this unfinished guy will really be a great example. Note that he is still in the design phase and will probably pop up from time to time.

Though I'll definitely be fixing that image, the point here is that Ragnarok(name pending) is a great name and will get a better than average card. Just something to look forward to I guess.





Well since nobody answered yesterday's question, I won't answer it...yet. But I'll give a great challenge!
Help me get a better pic of the Power Glyph(please, if not I can always take a picture of it later).
Preview Time: Did you think I was done?

The War of Valhalla Continues With More Soldiers

Valhalla is about to get a shake-up like crazy. A new Wave of D&D figures converted to 'Scape made by a great design team, seemingly good paint jobs and a new dragon-perfect for beginners who only own Othkurik-all bring new strategies to the game. One of the new squads who go to Valkrill, a new Valkyrie General who was introduced in River of Blood, is a squad of not so blue orcs.

Their Bonding makes them extremely versatile especially since Wave 12 and Wave 13 each have 1 figure who meet the requirements. Though they have a hack-job price(perfect pricing, just out of the ordinary), 2 squads of these and an Ogre Warhulk is only 260 points. Not a bad sum for 7 reasonably strong figures. They'll be surely fun after you activate their Battle Rush. I think this picture best describes what they will do.



Yesterday I promised two cards, so here is the second.
This guy is an unreleased sculpt who just became viable for HeroScape. Just that Crag of Steel is awesome enough to listen to and then you have the option to use it? Even better, if you find little use of the X order marker, this guy is a great place to stick it. It would also be a great piece to teach a new player who has yet to learn a few of the many strategies of 'Scape.

$Wizards of the Coast is gonna be rich$
Cha-Ching!




Customizing Your 'Scape: Act 4

I suggested looking at official cards to help you learn about wording, learn new powers, and to keep you from creating "more of the same". But it may also be noticed that official cards also resemble my checklist when creating customs. Most often, it has to do with powers that have been used over a few times. Examples of common powers include Tough, Flying and Life Drain. It's also common for the design team to keep pieces individuals. Though some comparisons are often made, most of the time you would be trying to compare apples to oranges if you compared two different pieces. In simpler terms, its the official pieces that help make the custom.

The challenge of the day:
What is the proper name for the Castle Set?

Preview for Tommorowland:
Glyphs, what you might not know about them and how they can change the game.

The Start of the Road to Gametime!

Ok, I'll admit it, it normally takes 2-3 days to play one game of HS solo for me. Mostly because I decide to go do other things. But I have it down to a science. First I pick 2 armies with equal points. Then the next time I come around I make a map. Then I play on it later for 1/2 of the game. Then play the other half at another time. So, I'll just post the armies being used.

P1
Deathwalker 9000
Zettian Guards
Warden 816
Zombies of Miorindanx5
Total: 600 points
P2
Omnicrom Snipersx2
Venoc Vipersx3
Black Wyrmlingx1
Ogre Warhulkx1
Syvarris
Total: 600 points
Guessed winner(my prediction):P1

Customizing Your 'Scape: Act 3
Last time, I hinted at making a custom-making life easier. So here is my checklist of the design/imagery aspect. Note that I won't always use every single one, but I will go with some of them.

• Using pieces that are already in HeroScape or were converted by another custom maker a la card. In other words use something that already has a card made.

•  Using something called secondary powers. Basically powers that already exist in Scape(such as Flying) or powers that aren't unheard of in Scape.

• When in the initial steps of power design, think about how the piece your going to make would fight. That'll cut down the hassles later.

• Make sure that the custom powers in combination you are making doesn't look too much like any particular official piece, or you'll just be making a custom of something we have seen. It is however acceptable to make (example)"Dragon Bonding" if you don't own Greenscale Warriors though(end example).

• If your using a piece already found in HS for the custom's figure, just use the size on the card! 

• If your making a remake of a currently existing figure, you can use very similar stats as the original. And powers. And sculpt sometimes.

Here is an example:

This is my custom, the Deathwalker P-9500. As you may know, the sculpt is the DW9K as is the hit zone. That's one "shortcut"(not really a shortcut, it is just how I do customs, I use pieces I already own so I don't have to go buy more). The original DW9K had similar stats to this guy. Both of their life, move, range values are the same. Their defense is a little different. DW9K has 9 defense, and DW9.5K has 8 defense plus the defensive power Tough(which enables a free shield upon being attacked by a normal attack). Their attack is a little different as well but is to help allow the player to choose this one's normal attack over either of its special ones. They have almost the same stats on their left stat box(featuring race/army card type/class/personality/size) with the exception of personality. The original had a Precise personality, this one is Wild(that was a specialized choice on my part). Some may recognize the powers Tough and Explosion Special Attack from earlier pieces. I couldn't choose which to implement, so I stuck both on there as secondary powers. The Gatling Gun Special Attack, though similar to Mimring's Fireline/ Rhogar Dragonspine's Dragonbreath Special Attack, is unique in it's usage and application though.

Preview Time:
Because I'm sooo nice(I know, yeah right), I'll be showing off a few of the Wave 13 figures. Just 2 cards though.

Game of the Day: Post your predictions for the winning team. The map will be revealed soon enough.

The Soldiers of Today

Heroscape has been out for a pretty decent amount of time and like some war games, the minis aren't constantly reproduced. Instead there is new stuff(which are called Waves). Today's figures can be found in this video by ChardarStudios. It tells the top 10 sculpts found within the still acquirable Master Set 3 and Wave D1(aka Wave 11).
Spoiler: #10 is Frl Tol. If you want to know what it is watch the video.

Heroscape originally used to be en masse here:

Then it became hit or miss. Then HS wasn't sold anymore at all.
If you want HS, go here or here for singles. There are several other places which you can see here at heroscapers.

Because Master Set 3 Battle for the Underdark is quite limited in terrain and figures, you may want to buy 2 cases of it. Here is one map that can use 2 MS3s(scratch the glyph). There is a PDF for it's build instructions too.
http://www.heroscapers.com/community/downloads.php?do=file&id=2723






Customizing Your 'Scape Act 2
Let's see here, if you bought 2 boxes of MS3, you'd have 2 sets of figures with 2 sets of Uniques. Because 1 player cannot use the 2 of the same Unique Army Card in their army, it's time to figure out how to keep your extra figure from collecting dust. You can turn it into a custom figure. The process is lengthy, though you can trim it down rather easily. This is done by using a few tricks which I'll show you guys later(they most certainly do work, I've personally used these on just about each one of my customs).

To get you started learn about a few different programs(some people prefer one over the other): GIMP, MSE, Paint, and Microsoft Word(for spelling). This text should help all aspiring and seasoned Custom makers. I call it the Bible of Customs.

The game of the Day: 'Round here it's Friday(all 7 days of the week mind you), and that means play a game of Scape with your family, la familia, Familie, परिवार!! Tell us how it goes! I'm sure I'll be getting a game soon too!!

The answers to yesterday's question(yep it was a trick question):
Sujoah
Sir Dupuis
Me-Burq-Sa
Cyprien Esenwein

Today, we Scape!!! If that's not enough preview for you, I don't know what is friends.

Erase and Retry: The Heroscape Way

OK, Heroscape is not... perfect(there I said it, I know I'm insane). There are a few accidents here and there that can make the game a little "Woah" like. So I figure I should point out some mistakes and let you know there is errata(changes).

Here you have Sgt. Drake Alexander. Notice something wrong? The class is Solider not Soldier. I guess he is more solid than most other Soldiers. While that may be true, his errata is "Spelling Issue". Will he still receive synergy benefits because he is a soldier? Yes.
Next is the Kyrie Hit Zones: Atlaga has a very different Hit Zone than most Kyrie from earlier sets. His wings are shootable. In reality, this was an accident and later changed.

These changes were made to preserve the game and often times the game's elements don't make common sense. But in Heroscape and its gameplay they most certainly do. Check out capes and you'll notice they are hit zones, all capes have been errated to count as hit zones too, so don't worry about silhouette attacks.
More Errata can be found here.
Customizing your Scape(Act 1)
If your like me, you'll want to customize your games so they are same old same old each and every time you play. But then again, I've taken that to an extreme of changing my Sorry Game a little bit(now it's awesome-r-)

There are 4 ways you can make your Heroscape different from everyone else's:

1. Making new maps: this is the most common way of new games.
2. Make house rules.
3. Make custom characters: what I'll be talking about over the next few blogs.
4. Make custom terrain: face it, those rocks ain't gonna cut it when you want to make your boards less range-friendly.

For new guys this place should help you out.

To help prepare you look thoroughly over any official cards you do have for proper wording.
And check out some cool sculpts too:
                                                   Such as this one.

The challenge of the day:
Which hero can move the farthest number of spaces before applying bonuses and penalties?

Yesterday's answer: Chardar was correct, it was a custom. Not an official piece.

The preview for next time around:
tp tn sups o M3 D
OK so that's worthless info, but you may wonder what it is. Stay Tuned to channel Heroes on Hexes!!

HeroScape: The cards& some random info!!

Welcome the 2nd whole blog post!

Yesterday, I showed off this guy(now you click on him to see the words). Go here to see all until wave 8's pieces.

Although you won't find him in your everyday Master Set, you can get him in Wave 7(there are currently 13 Waves, aka expansions, out there). He's a great hero. But, you might not know what each thing is just yet. I'd better explain that.

The Big Colored Blocks:
6 Life (how many hits he can take before going down)
8 Move (how many spaces he may move in a turn)
1 Range (how many spaces away he may attack)
3 Attack (how many dice you roll when he attacks, before all the numbers are crunched)
4 Defense (how many numbers he rolls when he is attacked)

Now you know!

In HeroScapre you have these 5 special units called the flagbearers. Each of the 5 original generals(Utgar for example, the general of Cyprien), were given one to add to their collection.

This is Ornak, Utgar's flagbearer. Notice that his card gives him synergy to Utgar Heroes in general. The trait of synergy across the race line is common for each of the flagbearers. That makes HeroScape a little different than most other wargames.

Fan-Made Card or True HS Card?

You can see each flagbearer here. Though I won't reveal their stats yet!!
Stumped?

Preview time: Customizing your 'Scape Act 1

Welcome to the Heroes on Hexes blog!

This blog is dedicated to a not so well known board game called HeroScape. Some pics of the different boxes as you'll see them.

From the picture you'll notice that this game there are several little miniature figures. What your looking at is an alien, a big old robot armed with a Gatling gun and rocket blaster, a soldier from WWII, a big dinosaur(and a puny orc riding him), the dragon, a Prometheus styled agent, a samurai, a Viking Warrior, and a winged person with a spear. Each of these characters may be big or small, but still plain awesome.

This is a board, where HeroScape is played. But, wait just a second, why limit yourself to one board? HeroScape has billions(if not infinite)of combinations that you can do with it's simple terrain. I'll let Tom Vassel explain that a little more.

Let's hear about your favorite piece from the selection I showed above. Or are you more interested in the tons of different maps there are? How about the game play? I'd love to hear some responses.

Check out heroscapers.com to see lots of more stuff(and believe me, that is some tough stuff).

A preview for Tomorrow-land:

Enjoy trying to decipher it due to blurry res^_^!!