Blogger Updates

As my fans may have noticed, I've added a few things to my blog. Although they aren't the most important of things, I'd still like to share them, so you guys know what they're all about.

Firstly, I've added The Fallen Customs Series to the list of individual pages. Feel free to dig in their and see some of my customs that never saw the light.

Next, I added a segment currently entitled Box of Fun. It's text will change, and perhaps even the name of it, to inform you of what's to be revealed as time wears on. Other times, I'll add a joke or something of that nature.

If you scroll past the Followers and the Archives, you'll see a currently short list of myriad heroscape sites.

Lastly, directly below the "About Me" section is the Follow by Email section.

And for those who didn't notice, when looking for this page, try to look for the favicon(a picture of a grass hex). It is no longer the "B".

I'll leave my comments for the first 3 C3V units for a later blog. Have a good one everyone!

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?