I don’t wanna take anything away from other war games but what me and many others I’ve played heroscape with throughout the years love is how simple and not overly complex gameplay is. It leave all the complexity to the individual player skill and map designs for strategy. It works so well and is the only war game I truly care about playing with friends. Set up is fun and gameplay is equally fun I can’t say that for most table top games. Guys if any of you find this game even slightly intriguing please don’t over think it just buy the 2 player starter set or the master set and give it a try with some friends. I promise you it will be worth it.
As a Heroscape fan since Christmas 2004, I can positively say the AoA stuff is awesome. Its super nostalgic, and also cool. My 8 year old and I have been battling a bunch with the new stuff and he's really getting the hang of it. The ease of use, awesome minis, and amazing terrain make this such a great game.
I'm so proud of everyone who put their money where their mouth is for Heroscape. I supported the Avalon Hill campaign, despite all of its shortcomings, and was pleasantly surprised with Renegade's offerings. They listened and we got PREMIUM. Heroscape LIVES and I'm all in!
We have a huge tote as well, as we were fortunate enough to get into it back in the day and bought most everything. This is a perfect homebrew sort of game. My kids were not as excited with the order markers when we started, so we never use them. When we play, we use a couple of lifetime tables slid together, and there is only just enough room around it for our army cards and dice because of the tv trays we set up by each player. It is an event game where we spend hours designing a world and drafting armies, followed by hours of play, and it never fails to be an EPIC experience. We use certain gliffs as teleport points so you can get to certain regions in order to avoid it taking forever to be able to get to opponents. Certain characters are actually referenced occasionally in daily life. Heroscape will always be the king!
I have so many fond memories of Heroscape. Still have my old sets that I can play with my kids! One of the greatest games I've ever enjoyed in my lifetime.
@@BoardGamesBricksHobbies probably hard to believe, but I kept checking waiting for the price to drop in the toys clearance. Sometimes I’d go twice a day. One day I went at lunch and they were priced from $20 down to $2.50. None were there but an older person had one sticking out of their cart. I offered DOUBLE what they were going to pay to get it from them. They declined saying it was for their grandkids!
I still have the Marvel set from back in the day. With all the IP rebranding of games these days it would be awesome to get more characters for that version. I know there is a community that makes custom characters using the Heroclix figures but it would be cool to get more official product.
This is a game I would've loved to own back in the day. Now it may be something I introduce to my nephews, cause I couldn't fathom owning it now. I am glad Renegade is doing this re-release justice, unlike Hasbro did with the MTG Planeswalker IP
I picked up the 2 player starter set to try out, as I played old Heroscape a bit back in the day. However, my bigger excitement is the terrain being more readily available which I like using for Battletech.
I originally bought the game exclusively for the terrain and some of the fantasy minis. I figured I could use the terrain for TTRPGs and Tactical combat miniatures games like Warhammer. As it turned out, the game is actually quite fun. Very light but still fun. The original was very cheap (even taking into account inflation) so I'm not sure if it's worth getting into this one at a price tag of $300-$500+. I'll probably buy some of the unpainted sets (presuming they are available, since I think they are already sold out and haven't even hit the shelves yet) but I'm not sure if it'll be an auto buy in the future.
Anyone know if the Wellspring box on its own would be worth it to get a feel for if a sibling would like the system? Would you even be able to get a full army with it having such fewer miniatures?
Battle for the wellspring was designed specifically to be an introductory set for people who have never played HeroScape. It's lacking in the hero department with only 6 uniques, but that's kind of intentional. They made it so that people who want it as an expansion aren't worried about needing to buy multiple copies to stock up on certain squads, but that new comers can get their own unique heroes in the event they say this is awesome and choose to get the master set. It comes with its own scenario booklet with maps designed exclusively using the included terrain and heroes. So that it would work great as a stand alone set to test the waters with another player to see if there's longevity in this investment or if it is just a fun afternoon every blue moon.
@@Longshot1056 Appreciate such a nicely detailed response! That answers a lot of my questions as I did not realize this box also had its own scenario book as well. The only concern I really have is that my sibling has a little bit of a rough time when there's a lot going on on the board at once. So I'm wondering if this box would even give a proper feel for the game as a whole without it having any common units and having to worry about the individual squad member positioning that comes along with them vs just the unique individual units.
@@GaNSiNaTeR HeroScape scales and is very versatile. You could make house rules to use specific styles of heroes. You could use small army sizes by restricting the points system. You can restrict things by designing the maps in specific ways that doesn't benefit squads. You can also introduce mechanics and large scenarios as you see fit. If you think building a large army may be too much or controlling too many units is going to be a challenge then scale it to your need. You can always introduce more later. So if you want to start small and work your way up then that's 100% doable. You don't have to follow every scenario the booklet states. You can choose how you want to play the game. Regardless of the scale of how you play its always still HeroScape. The core systems and mechanics won't change simply because there isn't squads. There is a lot of variation of heroes and squads. There's some who are super simple and some that have a wall of text to go with them for intricate abilities. So you can have a 4 figure army and have very complex people who take lots of planning to make work, or you may have 15 figures to control but they're all very basic. If you're someone who wants to do the large army and min/max every point and things like that you will get bored of playing with exclusively the battle for the wellspring. There's no getting around that. Its just a quantity thing. However, as a starter set it gives you a feel for the game mechanics, but maybe not a perfect representation of the full scale of the game. Unfortunately that comes from investing. If you want to see the characters you'll get with each set you can go to renegade's HeroScape section on their website and look at the character biographies. It tells you about them and also shows you their card for the game.
@@Longshot1056 Thank you so much for these detailed responses. They are very much appreciated and its very nice to hear the game scales so well. I always wanted to get into the original release after playing it at a friends back in the day but didn't have the funds to do so. Now that I do, I think I'm gonna give it a shot this time around. Cheers again, and thank you for the excellent responses!
After watching the playthroughs it seems like a meet in the middle and smack each other up game. There is a big map that is built out but then seems the majority of it is not utilized. Maybe it was just these couple of playthroughs.
I think to an extent that is partially true. These sets have only special attacks for range that the other sets had in more abundance. I’m not sure why they set it up to have more ranged later, but it’s not as fun without real ranged characters. A lot of these characters let you disengage from opponents without taking a penalty for doing so, but little reason to want to do so.
This is why utilizing the glyphs in various points in the map is a must in my opinion. Also well crafted scenarios will address that potential issue as well.
Where do you buy the painted version ??? Is it already sold out? I don’t see it anywhere online. Even if I go strait to heroscape website it only shows unpainted version of master set
New Heroscape! Renegade has a bunch of Misses with the new release of this Game! But the Game is Back out, and the actual Terrain and now more miniatures. The new Versions need some help. The new Scenarios need help. The new Molds weren’t perfect. The lack of Dice in sets was a miss. Overall I am Happy Heroscape is Back, I know the new sets are here and I am happy overall they are. I also know new sets are coming, more terrain sets are coming, new miniature sets are on the way. Is it at the perfect price point i will say it wont be for all. I hope your viewers will at least check out an unpainted set and see what they think!
@@ProdigiousReturnIf this revival of Heroscape is successful, the price on the old stuff is going to go up up up. Better get the old stuff before people start gouging prices.
I would say if you really want this to continue and renegade to keep making sets and offering common squads and such we should all buy a bunch of this first set from them. Just my 2 cents though. I loved the mtg arena of the planeswalkers version but that was discontinued so quick it did not get to really flesh itself out so I am hoping this straight new release is the start of a new era. Let’s make it happen!
Duel of Ages is a much more advanced and adventure driven experience, in my opinion. Of course it's tokens and cardboard vs. Heroscapes Miniatures and plastic terrain. Duel of Ages also has a much longer playtime and a much shorter setup time than Heroscape
@@Teuts2000 Thanks, I watched the live play, it does seem like Roy's comment that Heroscape is like a (light) simulation of the brawl between different groups is accurate. I'm going to keep looking for Worldspanners then
I guess you guys got good terrain. My pieces don’t fit together nearly as well as most of the old stuff I have. I actually had a hard time building a map with the new stuff. The trees especially don’t work well. The two pirate squads are kind of hard to differentiate and the bases are all over the place all using different sizes and materials it seems compared to the old stuff all having the same base with a sticker so you can’t see paint drips. With the master set as well as the battle box I had a hard time putting together two decent 400 point armies to play against each other and 400 is a bit lower than we usually play. I could go on with minor production complains, but I certainly want more stuff to come out and I’m happy they’ve sold out I just don’t think this quality deserves such high praise.
It would be hard to find 2 more different games.. they both have miniatures and are fighting themed but are very very different games. If you are looking for the contrast: Unmatched is better for people who want tactical combat within a small space and it uses drawing cards as it’s random element. Heroscape is more grandiose. It uses dice as the main random element and has a much bigger “toy factor”. It’s also about 3 times longer (which you could argue is a positive or a negative). Both are good games for different reasons. Hope that helps :)
Should have updated the gameplay mechanics. It died because it was dated. Relaunching it the same is mind boggling to me. Especially given how far games have come since it originally came out.
It 'died' because of the rising cost of plastic, as well as mismanaged distribution. The underlying system is solid. Not to mention that changing the core game would eliminate the backwards compatibility and upset the existing community that has been playing the game and keeping jt alive since it was discontinued.
Game companies generally send out review copies of games to the big reviewers, so no, they don't really pay for it... however, they do "pay for it" with their time. If you've watched much of the Dice Tower, they have stacks and stacks of games that companies have sent them. For every great one that they have, they have 5 other, if not duds, not great ones. If one wants to be a game reviewer, that's kind of the deal. It's presumed that they have received the games from the publisher unless said otherwise.
I don’t wanna take anything away from other war games but what me and many others I’ve played heroscape with throughout the years love is how simple and not overly complex gameplay is. It leave all the complexity to the individual player skill and map designs for strategy. It works so well and is the only war game I truly care about playing with friends. Set up is fun and gameplay is equally fun I can’t say that for most table top games. Guys if any of you find this game even slightly intriguing please don’t over think it just buy the 2 player starter set or the master set and give it a try with some friends. I promise you it will be worth it.
As a Heroscape fan since Christmas 2004, I can positively say the AoA stuff is awesome. Its super nostalgic, and also cool. My 8 year old and I have been battling a bunch with the new stuff and he's really getting the hang of it. The ease of use, awesome minis, and amazing terrain make this such a great game.
I'm so proud of everyone who put their money where their mouth is for Heroscape. I supported the Avalon Hill campaign, despite all of its shortcomings, and was pleasantly surprised with Renegade's offerings. They listened and we got PREMIUM.
Heroscape LIVES and I'm all in!
I asked my friend why it's called Warhammer 40k.
He replied: "Because you need 40k dollars to start playing".
🤣😂
7:43 Stephen Baker came up with the original terrain tile shape(s).
I played this with my dad when I was young, and it was so fun. The simple rules are GREAT for playing with kids.
We have a huge tote as well, as we were fortunate enough to get into it back in the day and bought most everything. This is a perfect homebrew sort of game. My kids were not as excited with the order markers when we started, so we never use them. When we play, we use a couple of lifetime tables slid together, and there is only just enough room around it for our army cards and dice because of the tv trays we set up by each player. It is an event game where we spend hours designing a world and drafting armies, followed by hours of play, and it never fails to be an EPIC experience. We use certain gliffs as teleport points so you can get to certain regions in order to avoid it taking forever to be able to get to opponents. Certain characters are actually referenced occasionally in daily life. Heroscape will always be the king!
I have so many fond memories of Heroscape. Still have my old sets that I can play with my kids! One of the greatest games I've ever enjoyed in my lifetime.
This is a great example of a game that is worth the space. Now to figure out what space hog I'm willing to get rid of to make room for it.
I bought the original Master Set at Toy’s R Us at launch during the introductory sale for $34.99 plus tax. (Regular price $39.99)
I remember playing this like 20 years ago with my brother in law. I remember having this little western hero guy I thought was so cool.
So glad I kept all of my old heroscape stuff! lol super excited!
This so cool, excited to see this reprinted. I would love to see a top 10 list of games that haven't faded over 20 years from Tom.
I absolutely saw Heroscape at Target back in the day.
Walmart too. And if you got one or multiple master sets after holiday clearance, you were a lucky dog!
I regret not picking it up on Walmart Clearance for $15 (I was a poor student at the time)
@@BoardGamesBricksHobbies probably hard to believe, but I kept checking waiting for the price to drop in the toys clearance. Sometimes I’d go twice a day. One day I went at lunch and they were priced from $20 down to $2.50. None were there but an older person had one sticking out of their cart. I offered DOUBLE what they were going to pay to get it from them. They declined saying it was for their grandkids!
It was toys r us for me. Booster packs at walmart
I’m concerned by the lack of ranged in this new line of heroscape. The original had a nice blend of melee/ranged units, which is not the case here.
Many of the units have special powers or attacks that have range, even if their range value on their card is 1.
From what I understand that was on purpose, the next waves will include more ranged unique characters and common squads!
Tom’s use of clothing color has me feeling a certain way! WHOOOO
I still have the Marvel set from back in the day. With all the IP rebranding of games these days it would be awesome to get more characters for that version. I know there is a community that makes custom characters using the Heroclix figures but it would be cool to get more official product.
Also would love to get a DC version to have Iron Man fight Batman.
This is a game I would've loved to own back in the day. Now it may be something I introduce to my nephews, cause I couldn't fathom owning it now. I am glad Renegade is doing this re-release justice, unlike Hasbro did with the MTG Planeswalker IP
I picked up the 2 player starter set to try out, as I played old Heroscape a bit back in the day. However, my bigger excitement is the terrain being more readily available which I like using for Battletech.
I originally bought the game exclusively for the terrain and some of the fantasy minis. I figured I could use the terrain for TTRPGs and Tactical combat miniatures games like Warhammer. As it turned out, the game is actually quite fun. Very light but still fun. The original was very cheap (even taking into account inflation) so I'm not sure if it's worth getting into this one at a price tag of $300-$500+. I'll probably buy some of the unpainted sets (presuming they are available, since I think they are already sold out and haven't even hit the shelves yet) but I'm not sure if it'll be an auto buy in the future.
The heroscape terrain is great for heman
Good call!
I bounced off the original game but I’ve never stopped using the terrain for other games: Mage Knight and the Lord of the Rings Miniatures Game.
Been waiting for this game to play with my kids. Can't wait!
I still have the OG master set. 😎
Same 🤗
Marvel set again? G.I. Joe would be great with this system! Doesnt Renegade have the JOE license?!
Where is that video of them playing?
This is a very good kids game. You can play with ages, probably, 4 and up.
Anyone know if the Wellspring box on its own would be worth it to get a feel for if a sibling would like the system? Would you even be able to get a full army with it having such fewer miniatures?
Battle for the wellspring was designed specifically to be an introductory set for people who have never played HeroScape. It's lacking in the hero department with only 6 uniques, but that's kind of intentional. They made it so that people who want it as an expansion aren't worried about needing to buy multiple copies to stock up on certain squads, but that new comers can get their own unique heroes in the event they say this is awesome and choose to get the master set.
It comes with its own scenario booklet with maps designed exclusively using the included terrain and heroes. So that it would work great as a stand alone set to test the waters with another player to see if there's longevity in this investment or if it is just a fun afternoon every blue moon.
@@Longshot1056 Appreciate such a nicely detailed response! That answers a lot of my questions as I did not realize this box also had its own scenario book as well.
The only concern I really have is that my sibling has a little bit of a rough time when there's a lot going on on the board at once. So I'm wondering if this box would even give a proper feel for the game as a whole without it having any common units and having to worry about the individual squad member positioning that comes along with them vs just the unique individual units.
@@GaNSiNaTeR HeroScape scales and is very versatile. You could make house rules to use specific styles of heroes. You could use small army sizes by restricting the points system. You can restrict things by designing the maps in specific ways that doesn't benefit squads. You can also introduce mechanics and large scenarios as you see fit. If you think building a large army may be too much or controlling too many units is going to be a challenge then scale it to your need.
You can always introduce more later. So if you want to start small and work your way up then that's 100% doable. You don't have to follow every scenario the booklet states. You can choose how you want to play the game.
Regardless of the scale of how you play its always still HeroScape. The core systems and mechanics won't change simply because there isn't squads. There is a lot of variation of heroes and squads. There's some who are super simple and some that have a wall of text to go with them for intricate abilities. So you can have a 4 figure army and have very complex people who take lots of planning to make work, or you may have 15 figures to control but they're all very basic.
If you're someone who wants to do the large army and min/max every point and things like that you will get bored of playing with exclusively the battle for the wellspring. There's no getting around that. Its just a quantity thing. However, as a starter set it gives you a feel for the game mechanics, but maybe not a perfect representation of the full scale of the game. Unfortunately that comes from investing.
If you want to see the characters you'll get with each set you can go to renegade's HeroScape section on their website and look at the character biographies. It tells you about them and also shows you their card for the game.
@@Longshot1056 Thank you so much for these detailed responses. They are very much appreciated and its very nice to hear the game scales so well. I always wanted to get into the original release after playing it at a friends back in the day but didn't have the funds to do so. Now that I do, I think I'm gonna give it a shot this time around. Cheers again, and thank you for the excellent responses!
What’s a “little brother in law?” Current brother in law when they were a child? Small brother of your wife (or sibling’s husband)?
I was starting to think heroscape was a fever dream then i saw this advertised on the renegade website and was like i will own this lol
After watching the playthroughs it seems like a meet in the middle and smack each other up game. There is a big map that is built out but then seems the majority of it is not utilized. Maybe it was just these couple of playthroughs.
I think to an extent that is partially true. These sets have only special attacks for range that the other sets had in more abundance. I’m not sure why they set it up to have more ranged later, but it’s not as fun without real ranged characters. A lot of these characters let you disengage from opponents without taking a penalty for doing so, but little reason to want to do so.
This is why utilizing the glyphs in various points in the map is a must in my opinion. Also well crafted scenarios will address that potential issue as well.
Where do you buy the painted version ??? Is it already sold out? I don’t see it anywhere online. Even if I go strait to heroscape website it only shows unpainted version of master set
Yes, currently sold out. They will be back in October
New Heroscape! Renegade has a bunch of Misses with the new release of this Game! But the Game is Back out, and the actual Terrain and now more miniatures. The new Versions need some help. The new Scenarios need help. The new Molds weren’t perfect. The lack of Dice in sets was a miss.
Overall I am Happy Heroscape is Back, I know the new sets are here and I am happy overall they are. I also know new sets are coming, more terrain sets are coming, new miniature sets are on the way. Is it at the perfect price point i will say it wont be for all. I hope your viewers will at least check out an unpainted set and see what they think!
So would you advise a new player buying in to the system for the first time, to get the new renegade stuff or the older master sets?
The new stuff is what is available, get it!
I have local options for swarm of the marro, as well as rise of the Valkyrie.
@@ProdigiousReturnIf this revival of Heroscape is successful, the price on the old stuff is going to go up up up. Better get the old stuff before people start gouging prices.
@@andrewrogers6744 or the opposite might happen, I Imagine terrain in particular will go down on the secondary market if people can just buy it new.
I would say if you really want this to continue and renegade to keep making sets and offering common squads and such we should all buy a bunch of this first set from them. Just my 2 cents though. I loved the mtg arena of the planeswalkers version but that was discontinued so quick it did not get to really flesh itself out so I am hoping this straight new release is the start of a new era. Let’s make it happen!
I still haven’t washed my hand since I gave Tom a high five outside the Devir room at Gen Con.
Eww. You really should wash your hand.
Eww.
NEVER!
This is why I don't shake people's hands.
😂
How do you compare this to Worldspanner / Duel of Ages?
Duel of Ages is a much more advanced and adventure driven experience, in my opinion. Of course it's tokens and cardboard vs. Heroscapes Miniatures and plastic terrain. Duel of Ages also has a much longer playtime and a much shorter setup time than Heroscape
@@Teuts2000 Thanks, I watched the live play, it does seem like Roy's comment that Heroscape is like a (light) simulation of the brawl between different groups is accurate. I'm going to keep looking for Worldspanners then
But how does that compare to Arena of the Planeswalkers? XD
I guess you guys got good terrain. My pieces don’t fit together nearly as well as most of the old stuff I have. I actually had a hard time building a map with the new stuff. The trees especially don’t work well.
The two pirate squads are kind of hard to differentiate and the bases are all over the place all using different sizes and materials it seems compared to the old stuff all having the same base with a sticker so you can’t see paint drips.
With the master set as well as the battle box I had a hard time putting together two decent 400 point armies to play against each other and 400 is a bit lower than we usually play.
I could go on with minor production complains, but I certainly want more stuff to come out and I’m happy they’ve sold out I just don’t think this quality deserves such high praise.
What happened to Roy's rating?
How does this compare to unmatched?
Nothing alike other than attack each other
It would be hard to find 2 more different games.. they both have miniatures and are fighting themed but are very very different games. If you are looking for the contrast: Unmatched is better for people who want tactical combat within a small space and it uses drawing cards as it’s random element. Heroscape is more grandiose. It uses dice as the main random element and has a much bigger “toy factor”. It’s also about 3 times longer (which you could argue is a positive or a negative). Both are good games for different reasons. Hope that helps :)
WAIT...WTF?!
Should have updated the gameplay mechanics. It died because it was dated. Relaunching it the same is mind boggling to me. Especially given how far games have come since it originally came out.
It 'died' because of the rising cost of plastic, as well as mismanaged distribution. The underlying system is solid. Not to mention that changing the core game would eliminate the backwards compatibility and upset the existing community that has been playing the game and keeping jt alive since it was discontinued.
review copy provided free of charge or bought with your own money ?
I'd be surprised if they paid for any games.
Not saying that in a negitive way or anything. If I had a game, I'd definitely send it to DT to see if they'd review it.
@andrewrogers6744 so get game for free say it is good so get more free games, doubt that happen but should disclose IMO
They are providing a service in exchange for the game.
Game companies generally send out review copies of games to the big reviewers, so no, they don't really pay for it... however, they do "pay for it" with their time. If you've watched much of the Dice Tower, they have stacks and stacks of games that companies have sent them. For every great one that they have, they have 5 other, if not duds, not great ones. If one wants to be a game reviewer, that's kind of the deal. It's presumed that they have received the games from the publisher unless said otherwise.
Super disappointed they kept the stupid shape of the cards.