Game Tips for Heroscape Marvel: The Conflict Begins

7

Agent Minivann {Casual Gamer}

Dec 9th, 2012| Tip

26 of 27 gamers found this helpful

“Fun superhero themed game”

We once played a game with where we had a good guys vs bad guys scenario. The good guys were trying to defuse a bomb, the bad guys were trying to thwart them.

Put together a map, and place one of the glyphs, the “time bomb”, in a place that makes sense. The good guys try to get someone to the bomb and attempt to defuse it instead of attacking. To attempt to defuse the bomb, roll the d20 and try to get higher than whatever target number you pick. I would imagine 17 might be the lowest target number should be. 20 would really make each roll tense, especially with the other bomb rules.

The kicker is that every time an attempt defuse is made, a roll of 1 results in the bomb going off. Also at the beginning of a new round a roll is made to see if the bomb goes off. One last scenario rule is that every time the d20 is rolled for the bomb, the explosion number goes up one, so the bomb goes off on roll of 2 or less on the second roll, 3 on the third, etc.

Other than that just pick a blast radius and a number of skulls to defend against. In our game I believe we did a 6 hex blast radius and units one hex away had to defend against 6 skulls, two away defend against 5 skulls, etc until 6 hexes away you have to defend against one skull.

This was a very fun scenario. The scenario played out pretty quick, but every d20 roll for the bomb was tense.

9

Wind Lane {Avid Gamer}

Mar 10th, 2012| Strategy

26 of 29 gamers found this helpful

“Thanos Centric Army”

I can’t think of a way to state this that doesn’t sound like a brag, except to say that I’m really not bragging, I’m just putting it here so that folks know this army is well tested and highly effective.

This is the army I used to win the Gencon Marvelscape tournament a few years ago. The Gencon tournaments are generally considered the top tier tournaments for Heroscape because they draw from everywhere and have the largest turnout.

Thanos – 360 x1
Deathreavers 40 x4
Marcu Esenwein 20 x1
Isamu 10 x1

550 points total

As I explained in the Thanos strategy tip I posted, use Thanos almost exclusively while he is alive. Everything else in the army is there for its survivability.

I do like to use the robo-rats (Deathreavers) to capture a glyph if I can do so within the first or second round. I wouldn’t use them more than one order marker per in those first two rounds.

Thanos is there to destroy anything your opponent doesn’t want destroyed at the beginning.

Deathreavers are there to give Thanos lots of chances to be Rejected by Death and to capture glyphs.

Isamu is there to help fill out the point total and to provide a way for attacking things while Thanos is dead.

Marcu is there almost exclusively just to fill out the point total, though his attack, Flying, and Life Drain make him a good fit for the late game if that’s when Thanos is dead.

The big key with this army is knowing when to spread out and when to cluster and hide. Largely that’s decided by what you’re fighting against. Any army with a way of attacking clusters means you need to spread out, especially if they have the Airborne Elite – those guys can be devastating to any army that clusters together.

You’ll also want to spread things out if you’re up against an army with a lot of special ranged attacks as those won’t allow your rats to use their Scatter ability.

This army’s biggest weakness is against armies with no heroes. No heroes and high mobility armies are even worse. Against these types of armies you want to use Thanos to thin out the ranks as quickly as possible while playing a “come and get me” type of game. Don’t just sit him in one spot as that allows your opponent to move stuff towards the rest of your army instead of just towards Thanos.

There’s not a lot of change to what you do in early, middle, or late game if Thanos is on the board. If he’s not, early game you should be focusing on making it hard for the other player to kill off your rats. Don’t bring Marcu or Isamu into it as they’re much easier for you to lose order markers on.

Mid-game is when it’s okay to put order markers on those other heroes, however I’d suggest only using the first order marker once they’re within a turn’s worth of order markers of being attacked. Use Isamu since he’s got a better survivability than Marcu even though he hits for slightly less.

Late game is typically when Marcu would come into play as Isamu is usually dead by that point, unless you’re doing very well. If Isamu’s still alive – keep up the mid-game strategy. For Marcu, you want to focus on attacking things off by themselves. Not only does this help Marcu from being killed off too quickly, but it keeps his Eternal Hatred from hurting you too badly when it goes off.

Your rats, no matter what stage of the game you’re in, should almost always be avoiding confrontation. The exceptions are when there’s a glyph your opponent has that would be best if they didn’t, or if you’re down to just rats versus not much. The reason you’d want to attack at that point is to keep things locked in place for when Thanos comes back.

And Thanos will come back.

9

Wind Lane {Avid Gamer}

Mar 8th, 2012| Strategy

27 of 31 gamers found this helpful

“How to use Thanos like a Beast”

Thanos has long been my favorite of the Marvel figures released for Heroscape. His ability to come back from the dead makes him one of the scariest figures in the game because the power effectively lets you build an army with more points in it than your opponent. (Each time he comes back is like you put him in your army a 2nd time or more)

However, he can be tricky to use to his full potential because you have to do certain things that you would never do with a key hero.

1st. Pursue the other player’s most important figure with absolutely reckless abandon. Don’t worry about being attacked.

2nd. Don’t worry in the slightest about taking leaving engagement swipes no matter how much life Thanos has.

3rd. The only enemies you need to run from are those that can take over Thanos permanently, like the Shades of Bleakewood.

4th. There is no reason to put order markers on anything else unless Thanos is at one or two life, and then only if he can actually be attacked.

These guidelines can make Thanos absolutely cruel to play against because he quickly thrashes most army’s lynch pin figures. He should usually be paired up with things that have a great survivability, such as the rats. Whenever Thanos is dead, the rest of your army should turn coward. Let them run away since you get a Thanos Rejected by Death roll with every order marker.

The most I’ve ever gotten him back was twice, which is just brutally unfair from the other player’s perspective, but that’s why he costs so much. Have fun crushing your enemies.

10

Akden {Avid Gamer}

Nov 29th, 2011| Tip

27 of 34 gamers found this helpful

“Still Available to Buy”

Although Heroscape has been discontinued and can be expensive to purchase online, some items can still be found in stores. The Marvel set in particular can make an excellent introduction to the game, especially for younger players, and it is relatively easy to find, compared to some of the other sets. I recently found dozens of Marvel sets at local Wal-Marts, all marked down to $10. So these sets can still occasionally be found at bargain prices. Good luck!

Heroscape Marvel: The Conflict Begins - Tips & Strategies

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