Review Details

Heroscape Master Set

Product Rating:

Product Review (submitted on December 9, 2008):

Given the choice, I would tell first time Heroscape buyers to take Rise of the Valkyries (this set) over the Marvel or Swarm of the Marro master sets. The reason is, though they all be the same game, the characters and pieces that come with this master set is more balanced and lends itself better playability over a long period of time.

Heroscape is like most other miniature games. There are landscape tiles included with master sets and some expansions and you can build almost any kind of battlefield to your liking. Players can follow set scenarios designed by the game or pick and choose their own cast of characters and duke it out. This grants the game lots of variability.

An average turn in the game goes as follows: players place order tokens numbered 1-3 on their character info cards. The tokens are placed face down so that players cannot see what each other are doing. As well, there is an extra order token marked with an X to further misdirect opponents. After deciding on their order, players roll a D20 to decide on the turn order. The highest roller reveals their first order token and moves and attacks with that character. If the character info card represents a squad of smaller characters, then all those characters will move and attack. After the highest roller moves his/her first character, the next highest roller moves his/her first character, etc. Turns are completed this way and rounds go on until a player wins by fulfilling the scenario's objective, eliminating all of his opponents characters, or by having the most points (determined by character worth) by the end of the pre-determined maximum round number.

The miniatures are of amazing quality. They come complete and beautifully painted. As well, both the miniatures and the hexagon landscape tiles are extremely durable, making this a great miniature game for young children as well. There are many small tokens and pieces, such as dice, order tokens, damage counters, etc to keep track of. I would recommend buying a rubbermaid tub and using some ziploc bags to keep everything in.

Overall, the game is amazing. I have never been much of a miniature fan due to the costs involved, but Heroscape is just perfect for me. There are wonderful unique characters, a background story for those that are interested, and fairly decent game play. I find that characters tend to die a bit too fast, but at least that is equal for all players involved. The game is very customizable and works well with other master sets (or multiples of the same one!) and expansions.