Everything You Need to Know About HeroScape
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Everything You Need to Know About HeroScape
HeroScape is a miniature wargame that breaks the tradition of the game board. With creations of battle maps and scenarios that are as numerous as whatever you would want to create using the unique hexagonal tile based system. Here is everything you need to know about HeroScape. In this article you will learn the history of the game, what makes the game stand out, the different versions of the game, where to buy the HeroScape as well as a final verdict of what we think of this game overall.
The History of HeroScape
HeroScape has been around for a long time. First released in 2004 under Hasbro’s branch Milton Bradly. The first master set called Rise of the Valkyrie. Game designers Craig Van Ness, Rob Daviau, and Stephen Baker dreamed up a world with all sorts of heroes from different times and different planets for the ultimate battle. The game would release to major success with several waves of expansions releases, additional master sets and terrain packs over the years.
A branch of Hasbro “Wizards of the Coast received the license and continued to print HeroScape and release new product, this time however bringing in the IP of Dungeons and Dragons.
HeroScape was discontinued only 2 years later in 2010. The game sat dormant for awhile while the fan site HeroScapers.com continued on with custom character cards and terrain ideas with their forum. The site still exists today for anyone wanting to share their HeroScape stories, share maps, share army builds or show their own custom creations.
It was not until 2024 That the IP was given to Renegade Game Studios as a reboot to the game with the release of Age of Annihilation. This coincided with a major price bump to the game as well as the introduction of purchasing the product as premium painted figures, or getting the miniatures as unpainted characters.
The game is still releasing new products today with new factions and characters.
What Makes HeroScape Unique
Unlike other miniature war games that where the table movement, range and other effects are measured using rulers and templates, HeroScape is different. The board is constructed of differing sized hexagonal tiles. these tiles are able to be stacked upon each other as well giving the game a unique 3D board. I harken it to building your own miniature wargame board that can be unique every single time.
The game also traditionally came with prebuilt and painted miniatures. These characters were never blind purchase which sets it apart from other games such as Dungeons & Dragons miniatures.
Since the game returned to shelves with new master sets, terrain sets and character packs, they still remain what you see is what you get. However, they have offered a slightly cheaper version of the same sets that come unpainted for those who want the experience of painting their own HeroScape miniatures. Along with this. Renegade Game Studios has teamed up with Army Painter to sell set specific miniature paints. The miniatures in this set also are pre-assembled so there is no gluing required for these miniatures.
There are many terrain expansions that add flavor and unique effects to the game, Some terrain offer bonuses to defense, or can deal damage when landing on a space such as lava.
There is no end to the possibilities to what can be built. Many HeroScape players tend to buy multiple sets of terrain to build bigger and better maps.
How to Play HeroScape
HeroScape comes in 2 different versions of the game. There is a basic version that does not include things such as character lives, line of sight markers, or special abilities. The master version of the game contains much of these features and more.
Basic Version
The basic version is one side of the character cards, this version of the game does not utilize character lives or special abilities, They have a basic movement, range, attack and defense.
Players will take turn selecting characters and and set the miniatures in the agreed upon starting zones on the board. Who goes first is dependent on the initiative role. This is done with the 20 sided dice that comes with the master sets. The the person with the higher initiative goes first for the round. Each round is 3 turns. These are set by preset turn markers, these look like grave stones marked with a 1, 2, 3, and X. The “X” is a bluff marker which gives the player the ability to potentially trick your opponent that you intend to use that character during the round.
Player 1 reveals their 1 for the first turn and can move their character and potentially attack if in range. Once player 1 has finished their action, it becomes Player 2’s turn, the direction of play goes to the left of the player with the highest initiative. After 3 turns are complete that ends the round and players can reset their markers on the character cards again for the second round.
Movement is in a vertical direction is done by counting each side of the tiles on a climb and the landing tile on the top. If a character falls from under 4 tiles up it counts as 1 space. Above 5 the character takes falling damage. When moving into things like water, the units must stop when entering the water and count 2 spaces to climb out of the water and onto the landing space.
Attacking opponent characters uses the attack value to determine the amount of dice that can be rolled, the attacker is looking for skulls that count for the total attack value rolled. Subsequently, the defending character rolls the defense value of dice of the attacked character. The defending player is looking for shields.
In the event of a tie, the defender wins and no damage is dealt.
If the card is a squad card, the player is able to use every character amounting to the count of characters on the card for movement and attack. If it’s a hero card, only the hero moves and attacks for that turn.
The game progresses until either a basic scenario that was decided upon was met or the opponents army is wiped out.
This version is good for the younger audience or players that do not want to go into the deeper rules.
Master Version
The Master version of the game is where HeroScape really shines. All the basic rules apply, but now we get into the juicy stuff that makes the game so great. on the other face side of the character card, you will see things like Life totals, hit zones for the character, special abilities and effects to the character such as flying.
Continuing to look at the card, we can see the species of the character. This can be important for some characters that may have abilities that work against specific species, like robots, or dragons.
There is also the unit type, these can be anything from common squad, unique squad, common hero, or unique hero. If the character is a common card, that means you can draft as many of those cards as you would like to your army.
Below this the character type, it can say anything from knight, samurai, monk, this is also useful for synergy with character special abilities.
There is also height, this is measuring if the character is small medium or large, and gives the tile height of the character.
Moving over to the right side of the card, the card shows the characters life. squad cards have a a life of 1 because once the squad looses in an attack, they are eliminated off the board. If it’s a hero character, they have a various amount of lives. So the character can survive multiple attacks. For instance like in the basic game, the attacker rolls to get skulls and the defender rolls for shields, Lets say the attacker rolls 4 Skulls and the defender rolls 1 shield, that hero character would take 3 wound markers. (These are the small circle red bits that sit on the card until the unit’s life total life is expended.)
Just like the basic version, the card also has the movement, attack, range, and defense. But be sure to look at the special abilities on the center of the card as these can impact what the character can do for attack, defense, or movements and range.
Moving over to the far right of the card is the hit zone. The red resembles where a character can be hit from line of sight. Green represents where the character is able to see from to make that line of sight. If you cannot see the miniature when looking at table level, then the attack cannot be triggered. The Grey marks parts of the miniature that do not count to be attacked when in line of sight. A good example of this is the zombie squads which can only be hit in the head. the rest of their bodies are greyed out making them particularly annoying wen going through jungle terrain.
Special abilities are plentiful from double attacks, Flying, resistance to Lava or Ice, no need to stop on water tiles, to even moving other units prior to moving a hero or other units instead of the hero unit.
We will go over a much more in depth discussion in the How to Play HeroScape Master version guide coming soon to the website.
How to Buy HeroScape
HeroScape can be bought directly from Renegade Games. You may also be lucky to find this game at your LGS (Local Game Store). Of course this game has old characters and sets that have been out of print for quite some time. If you already have pieces from the game prior to it being discontinued, those still work with the new products that have been coming out since 2024. If you want to find good deals on this game or are just looking for old characters or terrain then I recommend checking out Ebay to help bulk buy the pieces that you want for your game.
Of course there is also Amazon for purchasing HeroScape as well. That being said, there really is only the latest products since Renegade has started creating new sets for the game on that site.
If you are looking for the miniatures that you can paint, Amazon does not sell these and you would need to either get them from the LGS or from Renegades website itself.
Here are some of our recommendations for HeroScape to get yourself started or expand your collection:
Renegade Game Studios HeroScape Age of Annihilation Master Set Strategy Board Game with 20 Miniatures, Terrain Tiles, 2 Players, Ages 14+
Renegade Game Studios HeroScape: Age of Annihilation Battle for the Wellspring 2-Player Strategy Board Game Starter Set with 6 Unpainted Miniatures
Renegade Game Studios Heroscape Terrain Expansion, 63 Hex Tiles, Lands of Valhalla Customizable Board Game, Ages 14+
Renegade Game Studios Heroscape Waters of Valhalla Terrain Expansion - 40 Water Hexes & Healing Wellspring Tiles for Custom Battlefield Design
Final Verdict on HeroScape
HeroScape holds a special place in my heart. This game is what got me into board games and miniature war games a like. The quality of the game is really good and there is so many different themes of characters that enter this battlefield. If I wanted an army of grunts, I could, or an army of aliens, elves, knights, cowboys, machines. The creativity is endless.
I recommend people give the game a shot. If you are on the fence, I recommend trying this small set to see if you like how it plays as it’s a small and easy entry price to start playing the game.
We will be going through all the sets starting with the current in production sets and then taking a dive into older waves that were released prior to the game being discontinued. so if you like HeroScape content be sure to check back here for everything from reviews, strategy, and built map videos.
If you have stuck around to the end to the article, we would appreciate a share!
