MtG Arena Planeswalkers (Heroscape reboot) is on Amazon

Just thought Heroscape fans here should know that Amazon is shipping copies of Arena Planeswalkers. Unfortunately the listing is at $10 above the originally announced $30 MSRP, but some have been successful with haggling Amazon down to the $30. It's been hit or miss since there isn't an official WotC or Hasbro source on the MSRP.

One early recipient of the game over at BGG has confirmed that the scale is compatible with the original Heroscape.

Ordered. Emailed customer service to adjust the price.

Chatting with a rep right now.

Threw some links at him.

This one that someone posted over on BGG:

files.shareholder.com/downloads/HAS/0x0x...ct%20Description.pdf

Along with the listing pages on CSI and MM. It worked.

Rep says he'll refund the difference when the game ships.

I would like to try this out, but the planeswalker themselves are a huge turn-off. They have absolutely no personality and seem to pander to dumb power fantasies I really don't care about :/

Has there been any buzz as to whether the base set is any good and fun enough to play on it's own? Thinking about giving this as a gift but not sure how good the game is.

I'm interested but am waiting to hear how it is with 3 to 5. I'm not looking for another 2 player game right now.

Erik Twice wrote: I would like to try this out, but the planeswalker themselves are a huge turn-off. They have absolutely no personality and seem to pander to dumb power fantasies I really don't care about :/

Yeah, that kind of ties in with why I'm reluctant. Even when I was really, really into MtG some 20 years ago, I really couldn't give a shit about Magic lore. I read a few of the novels and even the Valiant/Acclaim comics but while I loved the mechanics of the game, the narrative context failed to grab me. Normally that wouldn't be a deal-breaker (the narrative context of 99% of the games I play is utter bullshit), but this game is clearly positioned as an extension of the IP/franchise ahead of the Fox movie that's being developed by the GoT folks. I don't think the MtG universe is interesting or flexible enough to support being amplified into multiple product lines, films, etc. Shit, I don't think the MtG universe is interesting enough to support this game.

Heroscape was an amazing easy sell to new players because it was a postmodern grab bag of familiar history and pop culture tropes. You could explain the game to newcomers simply by saying "what if Samurai and Vikings teamed up to fight Cowboys and Robots?" The appeal was enormous. But this game looks significantly worse than Heroscape, is saddled with a lame and incredibly arbitrary license, and you can't explain it in a soundbite, which pretty much confines its appeal to hobbyists.

Early word is that it _is_ Heroscape but with summoning cards.

I don't care either way about the Planeswalkers thing, no more or less than I did about the generic fantasy/SF characters in Heroscape.

Bottom line- more Heroscape.

There is something to be said for more Heroscape, hollow intraconglomerate branding opportunities be damned.

I personally think that Heroscape might be made better with a focal point for its skirmish battles. Do I give a shit about Planeswalkers? No, Magic has never had compelling backstory for me. But the mechanic could have some positive gameplay effects.

But I haven't played it, so I dunno if they got it to work. Could be bullshit.

For what it's worth, I'm holding out for Mr. Potato Head: Rise of the Tubers Base Set. You know, the one where each detachable appendage has its own power/ability, and you scavenge, steal and recombine facial features to engineer your Potato Head warrior's own custom set of battlefield skills.

Please Hasbro.

I ordered 3 from amazon. Charged $40 each, contacted cs, got $30 back.

I've already played this. I've played a lot of heroscape in the past, and while I like it, this particular product has a lot of potential to be quite a bit better than tythe heroscape of old. Its gonna need some support though, as the base game gets a bit boring without customizing your spell deck and only two units to summon.

Which is why I ordered 3. To allow deck building and a bit of army building with the game on the off chance it never gets support in the future.

Imma fan already, and can't wait for more. The back of the rulebook promises more game sets and expansion sets in 2016. Hopefully early 2016. I'm rather saddened that the heroscape old guard are crawling out of the woodwork pissing all over it already without actually even playing it, though I'm seeing just as many former luddite curmudgeons discuss how much tbey look forward to it.

Colorcrayons,

What about it has the potential to be better? What did they change for the positive ruleswise?

The spell deck is the obvious change. It allows the usual response to an action or augmenting you're own actions that you've come to expect from magic. Its faithful to the brand thematically.

The loss of turn markers is a hit most people will complain about, but turns are a lot faster since you can only activate a single squad or planeswalker on your turn.

The lack of plastic terrain is the biggest drawback. But I look at it this way: heroscape is back in print, at least in spirit. Games are more quickly set up and torn down. It loses the wow factor, but as a game it benefits.
There is an article on heroscalers about map making, and a relevant entry mentions how if there is only one hill, that single hill becomes the most contested hex on the board. This game streamlines that idea. That you don't actually need tons of hex terrain to make the game function, just enough to give tactical and strategic advantages on a well designed map.

You can also deck build your spell deck, if you have the cards to do such, which adds an entirely new strategic consideration to games heretofore not known to heroscape. Hand management is also important, as it is essentially your resource mangement for the game. Though blue can fuck that all up for you... damn blue.

The game needs to be appreciated on its own merits, and not looked at as a continuance of heroscape. The planeswalkers, summoning and spell cards make the two pretty much incompatible without massive conversion. Easier to backwards convert this to heroscape than to convert heroscape to planeswalker arena.

If you play a bunch of heroscape and magic, and after playing this, you can see quite a bit of potential for the future of this game.

Thanks! If you play more, even a short article in this vein would be great for the front page...