Heroscape

Well of course it's hefty and gorgeous and you can often get it and parts for it at nice discounts. The game itself is fun, and unlike many miniatures games I actually can sometimes come close to winning, but the long long setup time means I just don't often pull this out. I don't find it compelling enough to sit down and muck about with all the pieces. Maybe if I had a game room with a table where I'd keep it set up all the time it'd get more play, but for now it's easier not to play it than to play it.

I've played just once, and probably never again.

Heroscape might have been the best game in the whole world if it had been around when I was 9 years old. (Actually, Dogfight would have still been better.) It combines the fun of building things with Legos with a very basic tactical conflict game. The figures are neat-looking, the variable powers are interesting, and the dice are fun. And if I ever have a son, I will be desperate to get ahold of this game.

As an adult, I see that the flaws overwhelm the charms of Heroscape. The setup time is too long, longer than the game itself. The components present a storage problem. The gameplay is too simple to be interesting. And worst of all, the variable powers are unbalanced against each other. Even kids can eventually notice when a game is unbalanced.

For a kid, I would give this game 4 stars. For an adult, just 2 stars. So as a compromise, I gave this game 3 stars.