I'm looking for a new game to play with my son. He's 13, and by his estimation he's 'too old for Pokémon and too young for MtG'. I played HorrorClix back when it was out and enjoyed it... anyone have any experience with the Hero version?
I'm looking for a new game to play with my son. He's 13, and by his estimation he's 'too old for Pokémon and too young for MtG'. I played HorrorClix back when it was out and enjoyed it... anyone have any experience with the Hero version?
...Expecting the Spanish Inquisition.
We still play it every week or so, but the way the rules are now, if you're too young for MtG, then you're really too young for Heroclix. It's one of the most ill-written, most convoluted sets of rules I have ever read, and the designers can't seem to stop to just keep adding unnecessary complications and new game mechanics to it like every half year or so.
Even back then HorrorClix was a stripped down version of HeroClix, with some funky new rules all of it's own, but since then the complexity of HeroClix has really quantumleaped.
Then again, I did play MtG up to about Mirage, and don't remember anything in that that would keep a 13-year old from playing.
They still make new sets, so people must still be playing it.
In some ways, it's easier than MTG. If you're playing with a pre-built set (they're called Fast Forces), then you can easily help him pick it up. There are a finite amount of actions, and cards explain almost everything. Once you're playing with team bases, rule-bending figs and experienced players, though, it can get complicated pretty quickly. If he's willing to try to memorize things and have a little patience, he could pick it up pretty easily. It's easy to play; it's just hard to play well, if that makes sense.
Yup people still play Heroclix. I think the current tournament at the moment is AvX.
I'd look into the new game from the same company that makes Heroclix, Wizkids. Its called Marvel Dice Masters. It is definitely easy enough for a 13 year old(its like the game Quarriors.)
What about heroclix online? Is that any good?
I don't play but I love collecting them. I love figures and I love miniatures.
I've been playing it since about 2007. Apart from the year it was on hiatus, it's been pretty steady - each new set has been selling more than the one before, so I think it's a growing game. I play a lot of board games like Agricola, Dominion and Settlers of Catan and I think the 2014 rulebook is the best written one since the game started in 2002.
But there is a lot of history there. And with a long-running game comes a lot of add-ons and new rules. The nice thing is, if you want a pared-down version of the game either for a younger player or just to make it easier to learn, you can have that just by being careful about which figures you use and how many you play at a time. It used to be just a game of figures on a map and that's it, but nowadays there's extra bits like a card with unique powers for every figure and special items like Batman's Utility Belt or Wonder Woman's invisible jet or the Cosmic Cube. There's Giants and Ant-sized people and whole teams of figures on one base.
It's the same thing with... what's a good analogy... okay: D&D. You could play Dungeons & Dragons really simple and loose like they do on the TV show Community, or you could find a group of really dedicated gamers who want to use every extra rule and every expansion book to really dive into every combat encounter.
My advice for you and a 13 year old to learn the game: find somebody selling a bunch of older pieces (the 2002-2008 figures that don't come with cards so no special powers to learn) for a quarter apiece and buy the heroes you like and a map. Download the rules from the heroclix website. This way you can ignore 2/3 of the rulebook because you won't have all those extras and doodads from the start. So that's 20 figures at $0.25 or $0.50 each, one map at $3.00, rulebook and Powers Card... printer paper. Total cost under $15.00. That's about the cost of a single 5-figure booster at my FLCS. As long as you've got 2 dice and some glass beads at home, you're good to go.