It looks like a pretty interesting game, from the commercials.
Lately I have been getting into board games, but I am kind of picky about what kind of games I play. I like very competitive, strategic games, but ones that don’t take all night-thus the game is winnable and doesn’t drag on and on. Risk 2210 AD is a good example. It takes a fun (but horribly LONG) game and tweaks it to speed it up. With only 5 rounds, and the ability to nuke your opponents, a 3-player game can be played in as little as 90 minutes.
From what I saw, the game uses a terrain hex board, and looks like a turn-based game where you take historical characters and duke it out. Sounds like fun. I have played Mechwarrior Dark Age, which is a variation of the HeroClix games, and this really reminds me of it, albeit with a board (dunno if Heroscape is made by WizKids, the Heroclix company)
I have one copy of Heroscape and I have enjoyed it. The game is light and fast, but assembly if you’re playing one of the premade scenarios takes time. It’s not the most brilliant game ever but for a quick minitures system its really cool. I have been tempted to buy a second set to have larger battles (particularly for the extra squads rather than a second copy of the “heroes”), but $40 is a bit much for me on that.
There’s an awful lot of fan support for the game and it is flexible enough with the parts and system that if you wanted to adapt it to something else it works well. Basically, it’s a good game but a great game toolkit.
To give you a quick run down the characters or squads are each worth a certain number of points and forces are built around those totals.
Each player receives four action markers, three of which designate which hero or squad gets to take an action and one of which is a fake one. Every turn cycle players set these on the stat cards and then take turns revealing the numbers on them and moving them.
Combat is rolling the number of dice on the attack or defense number. Higher total wins and defense wins ties.