Valuing Each New Heroscape set

I’ve been counting down the day before the new Heroscape information drops.

To the uninitiated, HeroScape is a game that’s been discontinued for 14 years. In 2022, Avalon Hill attempted to reboot the game, contingent upon 2 million dollars in pre-orders (250 dollar order) through Haslab, Hasbro’s equivalent of go-fund-me. I play this game nearly every weekend, and quite enjoy playing it.

As a dedicated fan, I’ve been eager for this day, and I wanted to share my broad thoughts on the new expansions. I’ll break down what I think of each expansion:

Heroscape: The Grove at Laur’s Edge Terrain Expansion. Price: $50

This consists of the following:

• 3 Laur Jungle trees
• 12H (13.6 cm)
• 13H (14.6 cm)
• 14H (15.5cm)
• 6 Laur Underbrush pieces
• 10H (11.2 cm)
• 1 Setup Guide

Overall, this expansion doesn’t seem to add much, but does offer replacement trees and stuff, which can be nice for the devotees of terrain. I think for what it is, it’s overpriced, but if it contributes to an ecosystem where Heroscape materials are produced going forward, there’s little to complain about from me. 4/10

Heroscape: Battle for the Wellspring Battle Box Premium Painted Edition: Price: $65

This consists of the following:

• 6 Highly Detailed, Fully Assembled Pre-Painted Miniatures
• 31 Hex Tile Terrain Pieces
• 2 Laur Jungle Trees
• 6 Combat Dice
• 1 20-sided die
• 8 Order Markers
• 15 Wound Markers
• 3 Black Powder Markers
• 1 Glyph
• 6 Army Cards
• 1 Rulebook
• 1 Scenario Guide

The figures are Kita the Springrunner, Onshu the Welkineye, Ewashia Master of Tides, Bok-Bur-Na, Killian Vane III, and ia Bonny the Void Siren. It also comes with 4 scenarios.

I think this is actually pretty good value overall, as it includes a fair bit of terrain, some of the jungle trees, and some scenarios to spice up the game. It looks like, at least in this set, that Renegade is leaning into heroes more than squads. I think this is a fairly priced set, and works at a reasonable price point for people without lots of money to blow. 8/10

Heroscape: Battle for the Wellspring Battle Box: Price: $45

I think this is a very clever idea on Renegade’s part, to offer a painted and an unpainted version of the same set, as a way to allow the consumer to decide what we need. The price differential is 20 dollars for this one, and for those who just want to play, I like that this is super affordable. 8/10 for this as an additional option for the hobbyist without a lot of money, or someone who likes painting figures. I’m personally planning on getting the painted version, but I’m a fan.

Heroscape: Age of Annihilation Master Set Premium Painted Edition: Price $225

This consists of the following:

• 20 Detailed, Fully Assembled Pre-Painted Miniatures
• 74 Hex tile terrain pieces
• 23 Laur wall terrain pieces
• 8 Combat Dice
• 1 20-sided die
• 8 Order Markers
• 21 Wound Markers
• 3 Powder Markers
• 3 Consume Markers
• 1 Round Marker
• 11 Glyphs
• 11 Army Cards
• 1 Rulebook
• 1 Scenario Guide

Scenarios: To Face Defacement, Chaos Ensues, The Table Shatters, Defend the Damned, Ghosts of the Past, Raelin’s Reckoning, Louder Than Words, Dead Men Tell No Tales, Annihilation.

Minis: Xenithrax the Vineweaver, Dorim the Bulkhead Brawler, Knight Irene, Frostclaw Paladins (4), Raakchott, Steward of Death, Loviatak the Kyrie Warrior, Raelin the Kyrie Warrior, Misaerx the Kyrie Warrior, Admiral EJ-1M, Exiles of the Sundered Sea (4), and Knaves of the Silver Scimitar.

Terrain features: 7 Ruins Wall Pieces, 8 Single Laur Ruins Wall Connectors, 8 Laur Ruins Wall Connector Base

This one is the hardest to judge because it largely depends on what you are comparing against to determine it’s value. On one hand, new terrain is nice, and this is a little more than double the amount of terrain in the Battle for the Wellspring, along with 23 features.

I think this is slightly overpriced because I think previous master sets include 30 figures or so, and were slightly cheaper, with slightly more variety. However, buying these now depends on second-hand sources, and doesn’t continue to create new content. For having 3 squads, I think this is about 30-40 dollars more than what I would think is good/accurate prices. The difference for painting is 20 for 6 figures. For 20, I would estimate it would be 67, rather than 100 more than the main set.

On the other hand, this is less expensive than Avalon Hill’s version of the game and increases the amount of supply of land and other official figures which can now be played. The painting is very much for nostalgic people with money to blow on this game, which I for one am overall a fan of. 6/10

Heroscape: Age of Annihilation Master Set:

The base game being 125, and including so much material is a deal. 8/10.

Overall:

I’m pretty pleased with this announcement, even though there were a little less figures than I anticipated. It’s awesome to see this game be rebooted, and I’m interested to play around with the new mechanics. I’m particularly interested in seeing the new Kyrie warriors and praying that some of them follow Einar. I’ll continue reporting my view on balancing and how I think this is going to impact upcoming games.

What are you planning on purchasing?

If you want to order, here is Renegade’s website: https://renegadegamestudios.com/