by fbinder
Disclaimer*: The main goal of “Down to the Basics Reviews” is to show what the game is about, getting down to the basics, the bare minimum necessary to captivated the reader.So, about Heroscape:
1) What it is?
A war fought with characters from different genres and eras, played on a customizable 3D board.
2) How do you play?
Choose your army, choose the order to play your heroes/squads, throw lots of dice several times each turn, move miniatures and attack. Although there are games with similar mechanics, there is no other game that plays like it or even replace it.
3) What are the decisions that you make?
- Build your terrain. You can choose one of the scenarios or build your own.
- Choose your army. Each scenario has a total of points for the army. You must look at the characters, analyse their strengths and how they work as a group. Each hero (one miniature) or squad (more than one miniature) have a point value, movement, range, attack, defense and special powers.
- Decide the order of play. Each player has four markers (1, 2, 3, X) that must be put on the cards that represent the characters to show the order of play.
- Decide where to move your hero/squad and if you use any special ability.
- If possible, decide wich miniature to attack. If so, decide if you will use a special attack.
4) What is good about it?
Pre-painted plastic miniatures, amazing terrain, immersive game play, variety of scenarios and characters, replayability. The game achieve its maximum potential with multiple squads of the same type.
5) What is not so good about it?
If you do not like building things (Lego-like), setup time can be really long, anything from 15 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the scenario. The lucky factor is high, but flawless and flexible play usually leads to victory.
6) What it feels when you play it?
Heroscape is more than a game. It is also a toy, a really beautiful one. The fun begins before the game starts, when the players build the terrain. Choosing an army is food for your thoughts: if you are careful your victory begins at this moment. The gameplay has an epic feeling, you are the strategist that must combine the best of your troops to achieve victory.
*originally published on boardgaming.com