Simply put, a game system that has been dead for fourteen years is back from the dead… and this time, it looks like the publisher understands what made Heroscape so special.
When I last wrote about Renegade Game Studios beginning to work with Avalon Hill to take over the revival of the Heroscape game system in October 2023, there were still some pretty big questions that hadn’t been answered:
- How fast would this happen?
- Would the miniatures be painted?
- Did Renegade really know what it was doing?
Well, the newest version of Renegade Con happened yesterday – and with it, the announcement of the new wave of Heroscape products to be released in August of this year (2024).
First, the Battle Box – a new format for Heroscape packaging with a small number of figures (6) and a decent amount of terrain in order to give new players a chance to sample the game at a reasonable price point. For the old hands like myself, there are new jungle trees, new wellspring tiles (shiny!), and sparkly water.
Yep, sparkly water. This was the moment where I was sure that the Renegade team (led by associate producer Lee Houff) understood the long-time fans of the game. You see, the original editions of the game came with sparkly water tiles… which were later supplanted by flat blue tiles that were still functional but didn’t have as much pizazz. Bringing back the sparkly water is very much a nod to those of us from back in the day.
There are two price points for the Battle Box: Battle for the Wellspring:
- $45 for the standard edition – the figures are unpainted but will have a wash to bring out detail
- $65 for the premium edition – the figures are painted – with what looks like higher quality than many of the older Heroscape figures
Both standard and premium editions have the same components for the rest of the game.
Second, the first (I’m guessing of many) Terrain System sets: Grove at Laur’s Edge. It’s $50 for three large trees and 6 undergrowth pieces – which according to Lea will work very similar to the Ticalla Jungle from the earlier expansion.
Now might be a good time to note that everything being released for Heroscape by Renegade is backwards compatible with all previously released figures & terrain.
Third, the Master Set (entitled Age of Annihilation) has more of everything – more figures, more terrain, more scenarios – and will pair up with the Battle Box as well.
There are two price points as well for this core set:
- $125 for the standard edition – the figures are unpainted but will have a wash to bring out detail
- $225 for the premium edition – the figures are painted – with what looks like higher quality than many of the older Heroscape figures
Again, both editions have the same components for the rest of the game.
They also announced two promo figures – one that will be included with pre-orders and another that will be available to folks who take part in launch events at GenCon and at local game stores. Classy move: no figure will ever be totally exclusive – all promos will eventually be available through the Renegade website.
Jordan Gaeta & Lea Houff also talked about an organized play system that will include both competitive and casual elements… and since I’m not really a tournament guy anymore, it’s the promise of monthly new scenarios and the Army Builder in the Heroscape Battle Network app they are building that makes me happy.
Finally, they let know that announcement for Wave 2 (which is coming in the fall of 2024) will be made in June.
My Reaction
You’ve likely caught some of it in the tone of the post up to this point… but I’m really pleased at how Renegade is handling the rollout of a personal favorite. My older son & I spent almost an hour last night on the phone while we looked at the new Heroscape site that includes pictures, history, and army cards for all the new figures. He was already trying to figure out the best way to incorporate the new heroes and squads into our extensive collection – and how best to build armies.
Along with our general excitement, I have to commend the development team for tying the game back to the history of Valhalla (using Kyries, Marro, Soulborgs, dwarves, and a dragon) as well as the factions from the original run of Heroscape. Unlike the HasLab attempt in 2022 which left most of that behind, it looks like the Renegade team has managed to connect the older figures/history into the game while making it easy for new players to jump in at this point in the story.
I think the multi-faceted packaging (both the Battle Box/Master Set and the Standard/Premium differences) makes it much easier for folks to get what they want and/or can afford to enjoy the game. Again, a much wiser choice than the previous attempt at one big price point.
Offering painted figures may seem like a no-brainer… but it’s a big deal and the enhanced price point reflects that. As a non-painter with a bookcase full of painted Heroscape figures, that is one of the things that will keep me coming back and buying more plastic.
In my previous post, I noted that I wanted:
- pirates, cavemen (let one of them ride a wooly mammoth!), post-apocalyptic biker gangs, skeletons, Mouse Guard-ish heroes, and bear cavalry
- I’m hoping they’ll work to fix the appearance of the walls from the Age of Annihilation set so they match better with the walls from the original game.
Well, I don’t have my cavemen yet… but I do have a Kyrie riding on the back of a winged sabertooth tiger. And while there isn’t bear cavalry, there are polar bear paladins, which certainly works for me. They did give me pirates – including a robot pirate. (It’s like someone at Renegade read my article!)
Also, they highlighted how the HasLab team had fixed the wall design – it’s different than the previous walls, but it’s modular so you can build a variety of ruins to hid in and/or behind.
I’ll be pre-ordering… likely through my FLGS if they decide to host a launch event. And I’ll keep y’all posted as we learn more.
All pictures for this post are screengrabs from the YouTube announcement video.
I’m excited to see what happens. My bank account is not.
Ditto… but I think I’m all in at this point. (Heroscape has been in my top ten games basically since it released 20 years ago.)
I am excited to see what new rules they bring. The list of new scenarios is very interesting. New types of terrain would be great!
Many of the claims (and disses) you make in this article are just wrong. Literally every character in these sets was included in the Haslab campaign, and so was the sparkly water, and the walls are no different. I’m happy about the Renegade effort too! But you’re clearly wearing rose colored glasses when comparing this to the Haslab that you clearly didn’t like, or even understand.
Boromir:
Thank you for your feedback – I went back and looked at the HasLab campaign site (which is the version that was seriously retooled 20 days into the campaign). The site can still be found at https://hasbropulse.com/collections/haslab/products/heroscape-age-of-annihilation-vanguard-edition.
You are correct that the figures in this set were included in the HasLab campaign – but without army cards to connect the dots with the older Valkyrie armies. (The emphasis in the HasLab site is on factions.)
You are also correct that the site lists “20 sparkly water tiles” – but each of the pictures that show water in the terrain setup are flat blue.
Finally, you are correct that the modular wall system is clearly outlined.
I will note that you assume some things about my perspective on the HasLab campaign and my writing above.
– While I did not realize that the miniatures were the same as the HasLab campaign, the release information from Renegade clearly highlighted the nature of the various figures in ways that I could celebrate getting figures/teams that made me happy… as opposed to hiding them in factions and day-glo plastic.
– I did not suggest that there was no sparkly water in the HasLab campaign – just that I was excited to see it in the Renegade releases. I think, as I noted above, that HasLab “buried the lede” by using digital art that didn’t clearly communicate what they were doing.
– I will correct the wall design comment as that had already been done in the HasLab campaign.
I think HasLab did some amazing work to push Heroscape forward… then ran a completely sub-standard crowdfunding campaign with inadequate levels of information, ill-advised art choices, bad communication strategies (focusing on Discord as the main place to drop information?!), and unrealistic participation goals. By the time twenty days into the campaign that they made the changes to the site (linked above), it was too late. As I wrote to friends back in November 2022, “I’m really not sure how such a big company can be so bad at doing this.”
Again, thank you for your honest critique.
The wellspring water is the first of hopefully many new ideas.
And I’m jazzed (as I noted) about the monthly scenario drops.
I really wish they had optional figure sets for those of us who already have tons of terrain. I don’t need to add to my huge tub!
I hear you – but I don’t think that’s a realistic way for them to create an ongoing game line (unfortunately).
I have three roller crates of terrain and a bookshelf full of figures… but I’m not completely opposed to more. :-)
I’m sure you are right. I already have probably 8+ master sets of terrain and four of each expansion so any more terrain is painful at this point…..so the debate over getting involved is really tricky. This isn’t a case where we had $40 master sets and $10 figure packs. So the ROI suffers quite a bit. It does make me happy that I went all in when Heroscape was on the shelves!
BTW, something I just noticed – all of the heroes and squads in these first two boxes are unique… meaning you don’t need to own multiple sets unless you want the terrain.
Really happy to see Heroscape making a return! It all seems very faithful to the original release which is awesome. I wish it great success!
The only part that seems a little “off” is maybe the art style or choice of units? It so far seems skewed to sci-fi/fantasy and not even the typical examples of such. Even the Pirates look alien and/or are armored rather than more typical.
What was great about the original Heroscape was that it was like you had emptied a kids toy box and played with a bunch of classic archetypes. I have noticed comments elsewhere that “historical” units are missing. I hope it’s not due to our modern view on warfare being awful (which I fully agree with). Cause it’s still so much fun to have WW1 Army dudes fighting Medieval Knights fighting Greek/Romans fighting Mohicans fighting Amazons fighting Gladiators fighting Vampires fighting Werewolves… etc etc. :D
I’m hoping we’ll see more of that (I still want cavemen – esp. one riding a wooly mammoth! ) as they move forward.
Where do I pre order or buy!! Must havee!!!!
The link to the Renegade site (where you can pre-order) is in the post.
I am so happy to see the responses here. Clearly there are more people who are excited like I am. I remember seeing the game when it first came out many years ago. I picked it up an read the back of the box and thought it looked too simple. I have regretted the choice for years. I am sure if I would have tried it, I would have a massive collection today. I have pre-ordered from my local game store and I will be going to GenCon as well. Looking forward to August.