Heroscape Marvel: The Conflict Begins
2+
8
90
Marvel Game Set
The city is on the brink of a great battle. A band of Marvel Heroes have come together to face the ultimate challenge as they go head-to-head against the most notorious Villains the world has ever seen. Which side are you on? On this customizable Heroscape playing field, you carry fate in your hand.
Customizable Terrain
Play one of 8 select Heroscape Marvel games or create your own game! Interlocking hex tiles and a Warehouse Ruin breakable wall section let your imagination run wild. Create treacherous city scapes and danger filled battlegrounds out of 40 separate terrain pieces!
images © Hasbro
User Reviews (5)
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I’ve already posted a glowing review of Heroscape as a game in general, but I thought I’d offer a review on Marvel: The Conflict Begins. This is actually the set that initially sparked my interest in Heroscape and ultimately opened my eyes to the wider world of hobby boardgaming. It offers a great combination of fun tactical gameplay, excellent quality miniatures, and easy-to-learn mechanics that provide varying degrees of difficulty.
Like classic Heroscape, Marvel Heroscape (Marvelscape for short) is a miniature-based tactical skirmish game using a customizable map and terrain. When comparing this master set to other master sets, you will notice that there is a smaller amount of terrain and fewer miniatures, but the same great level of detail is present in every piece. Marvelscape uses the same rules as classic Hersocape with some minor alterations, most noticeably in the use of variable glyphs and destructible terrain elements. The biggest difference is found in the units, with the superheroes having, on average, much higher stats for life, attack, and defense. They also have stronger special abilities that fit their unique superhero flavor, and they have, for the most part, much higher point costs, with the Incredible Hulk being the most costly unit in Heroscape.
As far as the components go, this is Heroscape, so the quality is top-notch. The miniatures are fantastic, with some great sculpts, and the terrain is the same nigh-indestructible stuff we’ve come to expect. The types of terrain have been updated to reflect the theme of this as a cityscape battle and includes cement, asphalt, and a brick wall with a destructible piece. Although not as much terrain as the earlier master sets, the components are still extremely high quality. A great touch is that each hero comes with a corresponding villain to encourage some great archenemy matchups.
Regarding the gameplay, again, this is Heroscape, so the rules are straightforward and easy to learn or teach. Players take turns moving and attacking with the various units, using a variety of special abilities. Playing with these units really does give the feel of super-powered heroes slugging it out in the middle of town. The designers have done an excellent job of approximating the comic book powers as Heroscape special abilities. One thing of note: the game designers have been quoted as saying that Marvelscape was not necessarily meant to be played with Heroscape, so although compatible from a rules standpoint, the characters are noticeably overpowered when compared to standard Heroscape units (which makes sense; they are superheroes, after all). Many of the various Heroscape tournaments will restrict Marvel units to specific matches as a result of this.
Overall, this is a great game. It really functions well as a stand-alone game, but it can also be incorporated into classic Heroscape as long as you recognize the potential issues. The theme is great, and this set serves a great role as a gateway to Heroscape. It has started many a Heroscape player (myself included) on the road to addiction. The units are a lot of fun, and it would have been great to have more official superhero units, but, alas, this was not meant to be. There is, however, a large portion of the online Heroscape community that is dedicated to producing custom super units, and these can fit in well with the characters from Marvelscape. Additionally, this set can still be found in some stores at a reasonable price, so I would definitely recommend it to anyone, particularly someone interested in a taste of Heroscape at an affordable price.
there are Super Heroes.
I bought this for my son because he loves his super heroes. At least that’s what I can tell people. I bought it for me. I had never played HeroScape but I have always been intrigued by miniature games. I think HeroScape is a great on ramp. I love super heroes always have and always will so this was a perfect pick up.
The game is awesome because it offers not only multiple campaigns, difficulty levels and set ups, but also allows for a free style of play. This is great when playing with my son. We use one of the suggested set ups and scenarios and play out a game.
This game works like many other miniature games. Range of movement, attack range, powers and defense are on a card describing the character (there are simple and complex sides to each card). We of course use the simple option.
After moving you can chose to attack or not, each player rolls their attack or defense dice. Not reinventing the wheel here, just simple game play.
There could be some add-ons to make the game more replayable. But over all we enjoy it.
The components are solid as is true with HeroScape no surprise there. The miniatures are okay. Nicely painted and pretty sturdy.
The cons – I would have really liked to see some expansions, more characters maybe play out some big time comic battles and what not.
Overall a great little miniature game. Had a lot of fun with it. My son likes to get out the game and just play make believe and there isn’t any thing wrong with that.
Heroscape is the mass market board game with hobby game sensibilities. The master set was a steal when it came out, more so with sale prices that were easy to find. It was a genre bending battle with warriors from all over time and space. It had a thriving online community of hungry fans, eager to see the next sneak peak offered at Gencon, or some other con. Then Hasbro announced Marvel: The Conflict Begins.
Compared to the other offerings in the Heroscape family, the Marvel set contains significantly less terrain and figures. It has a small amount of terrain, a warehouse ruin with break away section, and 10 figures. (Spider-man, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Silver Surfer, Venom, Red Skull, Doctor Doom, Abomination, and Thanos for those keeping score at home) In addition, Marvel has much more powerful heroes than in the original. As a result, you throw big handfuls of dice around when your super powered heroes go toe to toe with your opponent. While it is built on the same engine as the original Heroscape, and therefore compatible, the experiences are different. While a comparable army, measured in points, in classic Heroscape is typically more of an army with squads and heroes, Marvel is full of big powerful heroes. The ramped up powers and attack values help to give the game a more epic feel.
Unfortunately, Marvel Heroscape didn’t last long. The Marvel set was the only offering to see the light of day. A planned expansion was previewed at conventions, but never made it to stores. The set, while readily available (recently at least), is out of print with no signs of revival. Ironically, I think the game is better than ever today.
The terrain can be found here and there, well designed and tested customs (as well as instructions to make buildings for your maps) are freely available at heroscapers.com (look for C3G sub-forums there), and figures from other games provide the minis. Recent games I have played have included some original terrain, toy cars and incidental terrain features, some foam-core buildings, custom army cards, and some Heroclix minis, and they have been some of the most enjoyable Heroscape games I have had since the early days.
I just recently played a game with an irregular version of the Fantastic Four teamed up with Tony Stark and a fleet of his remotely controlled Iron Man suits vs a bunch of Hydra guys and a team of Avengers including Thor. Apart from the unholy alliance of Hydra and the Avengers, it was what a big epic superhero throw down should look and feel like. It got even better when Hulk started throwing cars at people (using some custom rules from heroscapers.com)
It was fun when it came out. It stinks that the expansion never saw the light of day. It stinks that the underlying system is a board gaming fossil. I gave it an 8 a while ago, and I think that pretty accurately sums it up for me, as published. Do a little work, and start playing with some of the customs, and it takes me back to Heroscapes golden days. Then it becomes a 10.
Like those before me I’ve written a review for the Heroscape main stage, and absolutely love Heroscape. I’ll put that review below this tib about Heroscape Marvel, but there is one important factor that I think is being missed.
When we purchased Heroscape Marvel and added to our Heroscape world we were very excited to add this new dimension to the game. However, we quickly realized one important factor. These Marvel characters are very much over powered for their cost verses the rest of the Heroscape world. After one defining game where Silver Surfer fell around our custom made world and almost single handedly took out the opposition we decided we could no longer mix the two worlds with drafting our armies. It was a sad day in Valhalla.
While the game alone deserves a glowing review, I’m going to mark it one notch less than Heroscape the main game because I don’t believe they should be mixed due to Marvel being overpowered when compared. Now for my original review…
Its been about a year or so since I’ve played some Heroscape, but here’s what I remember about this game.
1. If we were all a little honest to ourselves we would admit gaming is a little dorky. We try to act like its not there while we play Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, or some other semi mainstream game, but when you bust out Heroscape you’ve reached dork level 99.
2. This game is awesome and its hard to start with what makes it awesome, but lets give it a swing.
a. Components: As I’m sure you’ve read they have very nice components. Each piece is about as top notch as you can get for a plastic piece out of a box. Secondly they are very durable. Sometimes too much so. Taking apart your scape after a few games can prove to be a pain in the behind.
b. Game Play: The rules are very straight forward and easy enough for anyone or any age, which is really great. You can play it with your 8 little year old brother or 35 year old wife (I dig an older lady, what can I say!)
3. Building your own terrain is awesome. The starter box will give you enough terrain for maybe a coffee table, but of course you can add to that and make it as big and wide and tall as you like. Your imagination really is the limit.
4. Time can be a variable with certain games. Maybe you don’t want to dedicate your entire Saturday night to a single game of whatever. Heroscape allows you to create games both with landscape and with your predetermined time in mind. You can draft a army worth 600 pts. or 5,000 pts. depending on how long you want to play. You want to play on long game, Great! Want to play several short games, Knock yourself out!
In conclusion, I love and miss this game. I may have to reinvest in it once again and introduce it to a few new friends. Hopefully they are dorky enough to play with me.
I have writen a whole review on the heroscape game, so go look at that if you don’t know what heroscape is. But if you do, this set comes with superheros! Do I need to say anything else…That would make most people buy this, but I will anyway.
The figures are great, they can be overpowering at times though, so watch out. It is sometimes hard to defeat these figures, but they make the game what it is. A fictional game, with fictional characters. It is so fun to play with Hulk, Spider-Man, Iron Man and everyone else that comes with it. 10 characters come with it, but there is not a lot of terain tiles to play with, but if you have other sets then this just makes it better.
So if you are thinking about getting this then you should, it just makes it better. I love it and it also comes with the Warehouse. Which is cool looking, so I give it two thumbs up.
10 out of 10
Ianman