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Hello all, it's been a while.

I see that this board is now Safari friendly, too.

Anyway, as someone who has recently gotten back into Classic Battletech and wanted to utilize the visually appealing Heroscape Tiles for my games, I found it frustrating that there was no real resource on the internet that had anything other than a shot of a "game in progress". I was hoping for something really comprehensive with pictures that would show size differences along with a clear answer to how many sets one would have to purchase to generate a good gaming board. I decided to go ahead and make a purchase for one Heroscape Rise of the Valkyrie Master Set to see how things would go, and since Yakface and Legoburner have revamped Dakka with a Photo Dump feature (that can be used to direct link images anywhere on the internet! woo hoo!), I thought I would take the opportunity to take a few pictures and try to help gamers everywhere make a more informed decision as to whether or not the Heroscape Tiles would be right for them and their Classic Battletech games.

The first question people often have is what exactly are the size of the hexes. Below you can see a picture that contains:
1) one fold out map sheet from the Introductory Box Set
2) one 24 hex Heroscape Grass Tile
3) one Ral Partha Hex Base (I assume the IronWind Metals ones are the same size, but I didn't have one on hand for the picture)
4) three plastic Glyph Tiles from Heroscape (for those who want to use them as bases)
5) three U.S. quarters for scale
6) one 4-legged 'mech from the Wizkids' Mechwarrior clicky game centered on a hex on the Heroscape Tile
7) one 2-legged 'mech from the Wizkids' Mechwarrior clicky game centered on a hex on the Heroscape Tile



As you can see, the Heroscape hexes are slightly larger than the ones used by Classic Battletech, which can be useful if you intend to use MWDA/AoD 'mechs from Wizkids to play the game, although, as can be clearly seen, the base for the 4-legged 'mech (along with all vehicles from the game) is too large to really be used on the Heroscape Tiles, so you will likely need to rebase those if you intend to use them. The plastic Glyph Tiles make obvious bases to use in this case, which can be used to rebase your 2-legged 'mechs as well. Since I am using the old Ral Partha 'mech miniatures I had from when I was in high school (holy crap, I'm old) along with the 24 plastic 'mechs that come along with the new box set, I recommend against using the Glyph Tiles as bases, as they are larger than the hexes on the Battletech map sheet, since you never know when you might play on one of the regular mapsheets instead of Heroscape Tiles. I know I will be putting in an order for Hex Bases from IronWind Metals soon.

The next question regarding the Heroscape Tiles is going to probably be: how many levels of Tiles will I need to make a level 1 hill, a level 2 hill, and so on?

Below is shown (from left to right): a stack of 4 Heroscape Tiles, the shortest MWDA/AoD 'mech I could find (an Osiris), an unpainted Atlas from the old Plastech box set, the tallest MWDA/AoD 'mech I could find (a Shrike), and a stack of 8 Heroscape Tiles.



I used the Atlas from the Plastech set since I felt that it was a good representative for height for the Classic Battletech miniatures. So my opinion is that a stack of 2 Heroscape Tiles is good for a level in Battletech. This will vary wildly if you use the MWDA/AoD 'mechs, as you can see. I guess by taking the middle ground, if you are using the Wizkids' 'mechs, you would probably go with a stack of 3 tiles as a single level.

Now, how many of these Heroscape Master Sets will you need to buy? Well, that totally depends on how large and complex a map you want to create. Below, I show you what I made from all the Grass Tiles from one Heroscape Master Set (I only used the Grass Tiles, because my Obsessive Compulsive issues demand a map using only one color of tile) and most of the Water Tiles (only 2 were not used). I was able to create a 20 inch by 24 inch map with some level changes, but it is nothing too complicated. Note that a row of 7 Heroscape Tiles is exactly 12 inches long. This means that if you plan on using a 6 foot x 4 foot playing surface, you will likely need at least SIX Heroscape Master Sets. And that is just for a simple map with a few hills. If you plan on creating a "canyon" or a "ravine" type map with lots of elevation change, you will need more Sets. And since these sets retail at $40 a pop, I would recommend looking for sales or deals. Wizards of the Coast, who has bought Heroscape from Hasbro (the change does not take effect until May, 2008...correct me if I am wrong, please), has said that they will make Terrain Only sets for sale, which may be a promising outlook in the future.



So there you have it. It may not be the most exhaustive analysis of these Heroscape Tiles (it's missing vehicles and such), but I think it is more useful than anything else I have seen. I hope that this has helped some people.

And with that, I leave some pics of some of the 'mechs I painted from the new Introductory Box Set on the Heroscape Tiles

A Kurita Dragon and Quickdraw are about to lay the hurt on a Davion Dervish backed up by a Grasshopper.


A Davion Enforcer is outflanked by a Kurita Jenner as a Dragon bears down on it from the side.


A Liao Catapult and Trebuchet take advantage of the river for cooling and cover as they travel towards their objective.

Neat. Forwarded this to someone who likes Battletech.

A very good analysis!

I still want to get back into Classic Battletech. Just need to convince a few friends, but that's rather hard as nowadays we find very little free time to play Warhammer, let alone play other game systems. Comes with being dads with very small children I guess.

I'm not familiar with the Heroscape tile sets, do they also come in a forest variety? That would seem critically important for their use with Battletech.

Finally I'm curious about those new introductionary mechs that you're showing of. How do you like those? Do you find them to be good sculpts/casts, how's the plastic quality?

Thanks!

They have a pretty good website if you want to see it.

http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/heroscape/

If I recall correctly, the basic set did not come with
forests, but that expansion packs might have trees that
attach to the bases.

pombe wrote:Hello all, it's been a while.

Yeah, for me too.

Very informative report- thanks.

This info just brings me to the familiar hobby dilemma: time vs. money. I've been building 3D versions of pre-printed Btech maps, using many of the techniques illustrated here, only with more concern on making it look good (weathered edges on all the hills, etc.) than keeping the exactness of the hexlines. However, while I'm quite pleased with the results it has been extremely time-intensive. Now you've illustrated that I could buy back that extra time with a bunch of money. Well, and with reduced expectations for apearance, what with the hexes all looking pretty much the same.

BAWTRM's right about the forest issue- if they've got that somehow covered, I may have to see if I can find a bulk deal somewhere.

(Thanks for the link, Malfred.)

Regarding Forests:

The Heroscape Master Sets actually come with different colored Tiles. I chose Grass Tiles for my example because the Heroscape Rise of the Valkyrie Master Set comes with:

6 Grass tiles (24-hex)
5 Grass tiles (7-hex)
5 Grass tiles (3-hex)
5 Grass tiles (2-hex)
12 Grass tiles (1-hex)
2 Rock tiles (24-hex)
3 Rock tiles (7-hex)
3 Rock tiles (3-hex)
3 Rock tiles (2-hex)
6 Rock tiles (1-hex)
2 Sand tiles (7-hex)
2 Sand tiles (3-hex)
2 Sand tiles (2-hex)
4 Sand tiles (1-hex)

And Grass Tiles were the most abundant in that set.

The Rock Tiles are somewhat dark grey/blue, while the Sand Tiles are a light brown. You can use these to represent Rough Terrain and whatnot.

The Second Master Set that recently came out, called Swarm of the Marro:

http://www.amazon.com/Heroscape-Swarm-Marro-Game-Set/dp/B000OKTSIQ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1203705798&sr=8-1

comes with Swamp Tiles that are Green on the borders of the hexes, too, which you may wish to represent Light or Heavy Woods.

There are also Expansion Sets that come with Red Tiles (lava), White Tiles (snow/ice), Black Tiles (asphalt), and Grey Tiles (concrete).

The Marvel Set (which is supposedly a stand alone, should you actually want to play Heroscape) comes with the Asphalt and Concrete Tiles:

http://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-Heroscape-Marvel-Game-Set/dp/B000M5JOYG/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1203705933&sr=8-2

The Lava and Snow/Ice Tiles come from other Expansions.

There is a Forest and Road Expansion that gives you trees, but I don't see how that would work in a game, as the tree physically gets in the way of placing the 'mech in the hex:

http://www.amazon.com/Heroscape-Large-Expansion-Forgotton-Forest/dp/B0007XG91Y/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1203706041&sr=1-7

Others online have done some fairly creative things, like drilling a small hole in a Heroscape Tile and poking a Tree from Woodland Scenics in the middle of the hex and removing it for the 'mech should a 'mech wander into the woods.

I'll admit, though, that there isn't an optimal solution for wood hexes at the moment, though Swamp Tiles might be good if you are willing to compromise.

BAWTRM wrote:
Finally I'm curious about those new introductionary mechs that you're showing of. How do you like those? Do you find them to be good sculpts/casts, how's the plastic quality?

The truth is that I am not actually all that thrilled by them. The miniatures come covered with whatever release agent they use to get it off the mold (so BE SURE to wash them in soap and water). Injection holes were obvious and the flash was everywhere. Not to mention the miscasts. Just look at my Grasshopper 'mech in one of the pictures above to see how miscast its hex base was, or how the Missile Tubes on my Catapult were so horrendously invisible, that I just gave up and painted it as if the Missile Tubes were covered.

The plastic was pretty cheap as well. I tend to use metal files to clean up my miniatures, but in this case, the files ended up "rubbing" off the flash instead of "sanding" them off. It's obvious if you look at my 'mechs closely, how some of the edges are rough, as the flash got all grinded and rolled on itself rather than being cleaning shaved off with the files. I know we give GW a lot of grief, but I really missed their quality of plastic when cleaning up these 'mechs. Just look at my Quickdraw and you can clearly see an injection hole on its right leg that I just decided not to remove (same with my Grasshopper's lower torso). I don't show it, but the detailing isn't that great, too, as the details are lost (I don't have a picture, but I have an old Ral Partha Jenner and the details on the plastic Jenner were so abysmal compared to the metal figure, especially on the legs). It's also obvious that these molds were multipart and glued together for you, as my Jenner had a lot of excess glue in between the joints (that had bubbles, too). I fully recommend that if you plan on making the most of these 'mechs, that you should use a Hobby Knife to clean them up with plenty of Green Stuff to fill in some details and injection holes.

For a retail price of $40 for 24 'mechs (of course, you can find it cheaper if you shop around), it is a great deal. I mean, getting two companies worth of 'mechs for $40 is a steal.

However, if you are an absolutely stickler for the quality of the detailing and such, I would fully recommend buying the metal versions. Just know that if you were to buy all 24 'mechs from IronWind Metals, though, it will cost you about $200. So for me, the choice was easy. In fact, I plan to buy another set just for the plastic 'mechs.

I admit that there are some gems in the set. I really like how the Awesome came out along with the Dragon and the Zeus. So with the 'mechs, it will be a bit hit or miss in terms of quality.

Shiny, thanks for the further info.

pombe wrote:Others online have done some fairly creative things, like drilling a small hole in a Heroscape Tile and poking a Tree from Woodland Scenics in the middle of the hex and removing it for the 'mech should a 'mech wander into the woods.

I'll admit, though, that there isn't an optimal solution for wood hexes at the moment, though Swamp Tiles might be good if you are willing to compromise.

If you're getting that creative, you could probably do something similar to the solution from the page I linked to in my previous post: drill holes at the Woods hex's corners and insert trees, all 6 corners for Heavy and 3 alternating for Light.

A quick heads up for anyone interested.

Amazon has the first Master Set on sale right now for $29.75 and FREE shipping.

http://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-41712-Heroscape-Master-Set/dp/B0001ITVZQ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1204321044&sr=8-2