MtG Arena Planeswalkers (Heroscape reboot) is on Amazon

Free pull quote- "Goes from zero to fun in less than five minutes!"- Michael Barnes

"Plopping" this on the table is a HUGE advantage over Heroscape, despite the inevitable complaints that will come from people that want to spend 45-60 minutes wondering if there is enough variation/cover on their terrain layout. I _love_ Heroscape, but the setup/takedown is BRUTAL. This game does away with that but offers almost the exact same experience AND THEN SOME.

I kind of shrugged at the four little terrain pieces included- what's the point, I thought. But when there's just one piece out there...that one piece suddenly becomes HUGELY important and everybody fights on/over/around it. The printed boards are GREAT, and it's nice that there is some water on there to mix things up. I'll likely be using them in Heroscape, especially when I get some more and then can build WITH them.

I'm also thinking about going buck wild and playing Planeswalkers on Dungeon Command tiles...or even in the dungeon tiles from D&DAS.

For those interested, I played a Planewalker army using the Arena of the Planewalkers rules vs. a Heroscape army using the Heroscape rules. The game was close and it seems balanced.

bgg.cc/thread/1401294/heroscape-20

My local Walmart had three copies on the shelf, Target said they had them but cant stock them until Wednesday for some reason. Barnes is right, in five minutes our first battle was underway, and in about thirty it was over. The small boxes of Heroscape terrain to put some more terrain on the boards and my kitchen table will be a semi permanent battlefield for the foreseeable future (the big boxes of terrain will stay in storage until a convention or gameday).

Rumor is PAX is when we get a press release about expansions with January being the first round. But I bet they come out right at Christmas.

What would you estimate to be the entry age for this? Heroscape could reach down to three or four as a toy, and playable at six. Where would you put the minimum playable age at?

S.

We went by Target. They had the empty space for it (I think it was labeled "MAGIC THE GATHERING BOARD GAME" and it was $29.99). Amazon went a little gougey for a bit while this was unavailable, so I'll be glad to scoop it up at retail price.

I'm hoping this is a big hit for them. I'm hoping that Wizards/Hasbro has their shit together on this one. I mean, seriously, a few years ago when they did Marvel Heroscape I thought, "If they stick with this, this will be HUGE. Wizkids will be dead in the water." But no, they did jack shit else with it and Wizkids is still around putting chintzy thin cardboard and tokens that rub off in all their games.

When they did Battleship: Galaxies with those pretty minis and sweet card combat, I thought they were on to something then too. Then...(this is a pattern) they did jack shit with it.

This could be massive for them. Magic is, according to some sales figures, more popular than it has been in its entire history. They may have solved the cost of plastic issue with the cardboard tiles and a smattering of plastic pieces for some minimal terrain. But they have to expand it, they have to keep it going.

They are doing a lot of things right lately. The new Star Wars Risk looks AMAZEBALLS. Loopin' Chewie is the presumptuous GOTY at this point, and it's not even out yet. Now they just need to do a Star Wars: Rebels Epic Duels.

Whatever shit went sour for them, it must have been bad. I have always perversely rooted for Hasborg because they have the power to get hobbyist games onto mass retail shelves like no other. I hope this lasts.

Hasbro also let Angels 20 die, which had the opportunity to expand the way X-Wing has with custom pilots and a wide array of aircraft. I don't think Hasbro is as interested in the long game as they used to be, especially if they aren't selling 250,000 starter units out of the gate.

S.

Sag, I would say an eight year old would have no issues playing this, six year old might be pushing it.

The one thing I really do not understand about this game, and did not about Heroscape, is why are the base set units unique? I would buy several starter sets if they were not unique. I still plan on buying two, but that just seems silly to me.

fastbilly1 wrote: The one thing I really do not understand about this game, and did not about Heroscape, is why are the base set units unique? I would buy several starter sets if they were not unique. I still plan on buying two, but that just seems silly to me.

I agree, and what's even more perplexing is the fact that the 2nd and 3rd starter sets for Heroscape came with common squads.