Drafting Priced Treasure Glyphs

This isn't a whole new idea, but I thought it would be fun to try allowing heroes to add the myriad Treasure Glyphs to their initial cost.

The base rules for this are pretty much:
Purchased Treasure Glyphs can not be dropped, except upon death(where you would follow the rules of Treasure Glyphs).
No Purchasing Treasure Glyphs on maps that use them, to prevent confusion.
When counting points at the end of the game, do not include the cost of your glyphs. For example, Charos has 3 glyphs on him, but is still worth 210 points for endgame counting.

Brandar's Chest could hold many secrets inside...stay tuned

So far I have the MS3's glyphs, as well as the first 2 expansions that included treasure glyphs. I'll include the Bolt of Witherwood in here. Because it's essentially the precursor to this idea of mine, I'm also going to add in the Spider Ring's cost.

Heroic Rune-25 + 5 per previously attached Heroic Rune(so the first is 25, the second is 30, etc.)
Talisman of Defense-25
Potion of Healing-50% of hero's life x 10(a 5 life hero makes this cost 25 points, a 6 lifer makes it cost 30 points)
Bracers of Teleportation-20 points(minus 5 if user can fly)
Pelor's Symbol-10(Undead cannot use it)
Cloak of Invisibility-15 points
Brooch of Shielding-15 points
Belt of Giant Strength-15 + 5 per base 2 attack(round down to closest even number or 0)
Elixer of Speed-15 + 10 if hero can fly
Whetstone of Venom-20 points minus 10 if hero's normal attack is ranged(exception: heroes with Reach, etc.)
Chest of Brandar--cost of hero
Ring of Protection-20 points
Bolt of Witherwood-25
Spider Ring- minus 40 points

Hopefully, I can also get a better idea for the other 4 treasure glyphs.

War Will Create Weapons & They Work Well

This monster of a custom heavy-vehicle unit from the Blockran faction is perhaps the only real technologically advanced weapon of the Red Race. On Olbeck(the planet from where the Blockrans originated), those who saw this weapon would either fight and die. Or they would run and die. It was odd how after approx. 300 years of peace after the Great Divide, this machine would become refurbished. Perhaps it's name, The Red Pheonix was to allude to it's potential.

Yes this piece is designed to be an army destroyer. Although it's cost has yet to have been properly determined, I'm gonna start with this...

He's pretty much going to destroy whatever your opponent will throw at him. Although his special attack is nothing to scoff at with 8 attack power, his range is pretty spotty when using it. In general, it's best to use the Red Emperor Cannon when facing a single, high defense/life hero. But, if you can get away with having tons of figures in his Turret range, he can target up to 5 figures. Throwing a whopping total of 15 dice is quite fun, and is an excellent answer to swarms of Marro Stingers.

But why should I stop there today? Considering my last 2 blog posts weren't about MS5, I might as well give a sneak peek to...

Not very dangerous, are they? They'll be in the game to take a few hits, but in reality, they will be also out of play quite quickly. Fortunately, their "Follow" programming will help make them a bit more useful, and they should do well with Warden 816(his movement bonus will apply to them). I'm thinking that Warden 816, these guys, and a few Granite Guardians might play out well. So, I wanted to capture a guardian robot unit(nothing with a mind, just programming), and for the most part, that's what I got.

Happy Scaping all, and to all a Grand September!!

The Dilemma of Official Customs

Yes, the title is intended to be an oxymoron. But, it's becoming a reality in the heroscapers forums. A project called "Classic Customs Creators of Valhalla" (which I will refer to as "C3V") is out to make customs. Now that community is willing to accept them as official customs(and with HeroScape out of production, I can see why some sort of saving grace is a good one). The tournaments that the members on those site hold will likely be using classic official, and even C3V customs. Here's the dilemma... What if you don't necessarily like some of the customs? For house games I can see nothing wrong with them, not a thing at all. But for tournaments that put one's skill to the test? What if we did accept C3V as official, and held a tourney that allowed them? Attendees who don't frequent the heroscapers site a lot will likely be confused when figures from other games(for example AT-43) are being included as legal. Will they ask "Since when is this crap allowed?" Or how about "I won't play against you! Your trying to cheat with customs!"? These are indeed possible, and although those who don't frequent heroscapers a lot likely won't know about the tourneys anyway, they can still find out from those that do. This can become an issue, and sadly, it could cause an even bigger rift between part of the community and another part of the community. As a community based around forums, it is only natural there will be disagreements, but it could become so bad it could cause an even smaller active group.

As for me, I'll probably use what I like from C3V, and leave out what I don't. Zaeus for example won't be useful to me if he works in sync with the Gorillanators, as I don't own any of them. The rest, well I'll have to see. Zogross Hardscale might see play, as I do have a team of Greenscale Warriors. Nicholas, well maybe. John Varan won't be a problem, I already have toy soldier figures, so I'm set. Big boy Omegacron might be represented by Major Q10.

Everyone enjoy this wonderful day, and guess what? Enjoy tomorrow too. Later!

Rolling Soldiers

Every now and then, I actually do get to play a fair amount of HeroScape with other people.

Today was one of those days. First lemme introduce the players:
Me(Mike the flameslayer)
Sierra(Cousin)
Tyler(Cousin)
Tim(Cousin)

Well, we had a nice big 2v2 game first. We played on some randomly tossed together map, with lots of hills and valleys. There was a lot of snow scattered around. We played 520 point armies(each). Somehow I think some math was did wrong, and some got their score slightly off.

I decided to roll my Tactical Combat Unit(2 squads of 3), Drake(from Swarm of the Marro), Raelin(from Rise of the Valkyrie), and then 2 squads of 'Reavers. Cheesy? Sure. But the Robotic Rats and my Kyrie did next to nothing. Drake really pulled his weight(and then some). The Tactical Combat Unit mostly did their bonding thing, and shot a few figures.

Sierra tried using Mimring, 3 teams of Greenscale Warriors, Kaemon Awa and the Marro Warriors. Mimring absolutely dominated, mainly because Tyler and Tim continued to line up their figures. Kaemon picked apart a lot in the endgame too. Marro Warriors became deadweight, never getting a turn.

We played against...

Tyler's single team of Wolves of Badru with the Werewolf  Lord as their darklord. He also used 2 teams of Anubians for heavy hitting. As ranged Support, he used Brandis Skyhunter and Deadeye Dan. The Werewolf Lord managed to do damage, but fell to Drake. The Wolves did basically nothing, well except feed the worms.

Finally, Tim rolled an Orcy army. Grimnak, Nerak, 2 Swog Riders, 2 teams of both Arrow and Heavy Gruts, and even a Sahuagin Raider. He kept forgetting that the squads could bond with the heroes and eventually fell. Grimnak certainly held up against Mimring however.

The glyphs were random: Proftaka(Trap Hole), Wannok(Wound), and Dagmar(Initiative). Although Wannok wasn't revealed until the second to last round we were playing to, it still did 2 free wounds to T&T's army.

Then, we decided to try a mini-tournament. I built 3 boards(Super-Siege!, a mostly flat map with some pools in the middle, road and lotsa ruin walls)(Snow Mountain, common sense)(Dungeon Run, a pool in the middle, very small and some Rock Outcrops, taking place in a cave). Everyone chose 300 points worth in units and away we went!

For reference, I chose the following build:
Kaemon Awa
Tagawa Samurai Archers x2
Me-Burq-Sa

I played against Tim on Super-Siege! He had chosen Deathwalker 9000, Mimring, and Isamu. My samurai army fileted his Dragon, Robot, and Ninja. Not much of a challenge there.

Tyler and Sierra played on Dungeon Run. Sierra apparently gave up for some reason or another, givng Tyler the victory.

For the final bout, it was determined that both Finalists could get 100 more points. I chose something(I don't remember) and Tyler added a squad of Granite Guardians to his Elemental Build(Kurrok, Fire, Earth, Water x2, Airx2). I would have let him use the Plant Elemental, but it still needs a few more tests. We played on Snow Mountain. Me-Burq-Sa killed Kurrok. Kaemon Awa systematically killed the rest of the Elementals. I lost a total of 1 Tagawa Archer in the entire fight. And so, I am the champion for today.

So, overall it was a good day of 'Scaping. What do you think?

Those with big guns...

...have to face an even bigger gun now! Can you imagine a figure that can attack almost anywhere on a map? Well, that's just what the Project: Artillery unit is!

That's right folks, a unit with 25 range. But I must also include that this is a 7 space figure(hence the Heavy Vehicle Rules).

The working rules for Heavy Vehicles are as follows:
Does not move during the round.
Moves at end of round, if there are any revealed numbered Order Markers.
For each numbered Order Marker, you move. If there are 2 OM's, you can move 2 spaces.
At the end of your move, all spaces must be on even level.
You just "slide" the figure to move it, by counting from each space that the vehicle is currently on.

The tanks treads allow it to ignore some of the "going up" rule, making it possible to move it to a higher level.

Playable in most formats, or maybe not. Cheers to all.

The Luck of the Soulborg

Well there's kitty cats, and there's crazy contraptions that think they're kitty cats. Spine-Bot is one of the latter. Fighting for Myvra(the real 7th General, Valkrill is number 8), Spine-Bot can hit enemies by him, and his curious personality will hopefully remind players to be crazy when using him.

His normal attack is pretty good too. But his real draw is easily Nine Lives. Similar to Isamu's Vanish, Nine Lives will help keep Spine Bot from getting his can kicked. Even better is that he won't have to leave engagement to activate it(which mans he's still capable of thrashing a Gladiatron).

His powers are pretty simple, as is he. He can fight all day if you want him to, or he can hold a glyph.

See everyone later, and enjoy your Scape!

The Killer Plant!!

The jungle of Ticalla hide all of its predators with its foliage. Of course, because elements have been fooled with and portals of time entered, crossed and even trekked across more, Valhalla has become weaker. Now her defenders shall rise up and try to reclaim their planet.

Kee-Mo-Shi and a Mindshackled band of Marro soldiers had lost their hive. It was time to build another. The rumors of Ticalla Jungle's violent environment would make the strongest place of defense for a Hive. As the Marro began clearing a few plants away, roots came in, crushing the marro beneath their weight. Kee-Mo-Shi could not stop the roots from crushing one of her legs as she fled.

"I knew I could trust you to keep their parasite away from these grounds. Good job, Goldenseed," Aquilla finished, looking at a golden plant rise from the ground. The Marro had already been pushed underneath, so that they could not hear what would happen next.

--Now I will reveal the card for Goldenseed(price TBA)

Now obviously, with a move of zero Goldenseed has a few rules that apply to it.

It cannot be moved through use of special powers and nothing can raise its movement past 0. Glyphs that move figures around(Erland for example) can move Goldenseed however.

It must be on a Grass or Swamp Grass space at all times.

Upon death, leave Goldenseed on the board as if it were an obstacle.

Now I will clarify the powers:

Root- It works like Cyberclaw. But size restrictions do not get applied here. That leads to this...

Sap- At end of each round all opposing figures adjacent to Golden will take a wound. And then the player counts up how many wounds are dealt in this way, and then removes that many wounds from Goldenseed.

If the player wants to make your opponents land in this trap, you will likely need to use Wyverns. As such, Fyorlags also quickly become valuable. Imagine it, Grab a foe with a Wyvern, move it adjacent to Goldenseed and use the Fyorlags to cut out any Order Markers. A nasty, and perhaps a volatile team.

Of course all of this is merely a prototype. All of the finished product will be found both in a blog here and on heroscapers.com. (Probably in my customs thread)

See you later, and continue 'Scaping!

Master Set (5): Assembly of the Knuj

Over these next few posts, I will be talking about at least some of what's to come for my Custom HeroScape Collection.

Today, I will reveal the newest race, right along with some of their classes.

The Blockrans! As you can tell, they are only just a bunch of Lego's put together. This one is a Red Knight. Among the others built so far, we have a Green Assassin, a Blue Mecha Fighter, and even some Blockrans riding a machine-gun toting tank. Lego and Bionicle pieces will make up the majority of this Master Set. But there some other things in here too.

Also I will reveal one of the new cards(not yet playtested).

Obviously this is only a prototype card (it lacks the picture, some words, cost, etc.).

For the Prism Knights, they are a 2-man melee squad with flying and anti-range powers.

I'll define Prismatic Assault(as it's the only original power). Although it is similar to Valguard's First Assault power, Prismatic Assault does no good if any Prism Knight figure is adjacent to the defender. This means both players could take Prism Knights, and both players have some protection against Prismatic Assault. However, if a Prism Knight were to attack another Prism Knight with no other Prism Knights in the picture, then the bonus would still go through.

I'll see everyone later, and keep up the fanscape!