Just finished my first couple games of Heroscape with my wife. Must say, this game exceeded my expectations. There are 2 different rule sets that come with the game, a very basic version that would be good for teaching young kids (which I will be doing in a few years) or introducing someone to their first tabletop miniatures game.
First off the master pack is a terrific value for the money. $40.00 Dollars gets you 24 painted figures and 75 terrain tiles ranging anywhere from 1 hex to 24 hexes per tile. Also included is all the dice, counters and cards necessary to play.
The advanced rules are a bit more complicated but anyone who has experience in tabletop minis games wont have any problems catching on. I'm sure any member of the blogosphere could go straight to the advanced rules.
The board itself is a hex-grid type map that you put together yourself in whatever way you want. There are several different types of terrain including water, swamps, grass and desert. Some units can take advantage of the differing types so its not all just stuff that your minis walk on.
The minis themselves are outstanding for a prepainted mini. The minis have been base coated and washed to bring out the details and textures. Its not just half blue and half grey, they actually have picked out the details on the miniatures.
The combat system is a skulls vs shield dice roll. Simply roll your dice and the defender takes the difference in wounds between the number of skulls the attacker rolls and the number of shields the defender rolls.
All in all, a very sound game with sound mechanics. Nothing overly complicated with this game makes it perfect for a short evening or perhaps a lunchtime skirmish. I highly recommend this game to anyone looking for something to play that doesn't take as long as 40k or Warmachine, but still will provide all the entertainment needed for the evening.
