Heroscape Age of Annihilation Master Set Review - Masterful Intro

First released over twenty years ago, HeroScape made a triumphant return last year thanks to Renegade Game Studios. They just sent us along the new HeroScape Age of Annihilation Master Set to check out, so follow along with our review as we see if HeroScape deserved to be resurrected.

HeroScape Age of Annihilation Master Set - What's In The Box?

The HeroScape: Age of Annihilation Master Set comes in two different versions, an unpainted HeroScape Master Set which MSRP's for $125, and a premium painted HeroScape Master Set MSRP'ing for $225, which we were provided for review here. With the difference of unpainted and painted miniatures aside, both Master Sets contain the following:

• 20 Detailed, Fully Assembled Miniatures
• 74 Hex tile terrain pieces
• 23 Laur wall terrain pieces
• 8 Combat Dice
• 1 20-sided die
• 8 Order Markers
• 21 Wound Markers
• 3 Powder Markers
• 3 Consume Markers
• 1 Round Marker
• 11 Glyphs
• 11 Army Cards
• 1 Rulebook
• 1 Scenario Guide

With this, you'll have everything you need for two players to jump straight into the action.

How Do You Play the HeroScape Age of Annihilation Master Set?

HeroScape: Age of Annihilation is a very straightforward skirmish wargame, which sees players assigning Order Markers to their units and activating them to move and attack if in range. The game focuses a lot on movement, with easy-to-build hex-based terrain. Some characters can fly, but for most of them, you'll be carefully examining the height and distance of your opponent's characters.

Combat is simple as can be, with attackers rolling a number of dice equal to their attack value, and defenders rolling dice equal to their defense. It's all extremely accessible, and that accessibility is only increased by inclusion of "simple" and "master" sides to every character card. This allows younger players, or people less familiar with more complicated wargaming rulesets, to get into the fight.

The "master" side of each character or squad's card is where we get a bit more into the weeds, but nothing on these cards is so complicated as to bring this game into the realm of a crunchier skirmish wargame. This is a system I'm quickly growing to love, and it all comes from this incredible assortment of quirky and clever characters.

The Characters of the HeroScape Age of Annihilation Master Set

From undead warriors to four-armed robot admirals, giant dragons to cybernetically augmented polar bears, the characters in this game are absolutely the heart and soul of HeroScape, and the twenty different figures included in the Master Set are iconic. I'll speak briefly here about each character and squad. Without getting too in-the-weeds about their specific stats, we can still get the flavor of each.

Admiral EJ-1M

Admiral EJ-1M is, first and foremost, one of the most striking looking figures in the box! His ability to move order tokens you place on him onto other pirate or captain models makes him incredibly tricky, as does his special ability that lets him move your other pirates around.

Dorim The Bulkhead Brawler

Next up is this hearty Dwarf, Dorim! While his charge ability only works with other creatures who can bond with him and jump in line before their order token is revealed, his static ability to re-roll one of his four attack dice is pretty huge! And even though I'm not a huge fan of steampunk aesthetics, I have to say I like his swashbuckling look.

Loviatäk The Kyrie Warrior + Exiles of the Sundered Seas

Loviatäk The Kyrie Warrior, with her fiery red skin and leathery black wings, wields a battle-axe and exudes a Brutality Aura that allows another squad figure in her range to re-roll their attacks. And if you build around her, adding 1 to the move value of your entire army is pretty huge!

And as for the squad also pictured in this image, these pirates are as slippery as a space-eel! You can upgrade their range by 4 spaces with a special ability, attempt to roll your way out of ranged damage, and can slide out of a fight without getting hit (the game has a similar mechanic to attacks of opportunity ala D&D, or disengagement attacks you see in most wargames).

Misaerx The Kyrie Warrior

Misaerx The Kyrie Warrior really showcases what I love about this game - they're willing to let a character be, for lack of a better term, a "one trick pony."

She life-drains your opponents, and when she dies, you place her on another Unique hero you control and now they life-drain. In another game system, this would be cluttered with other abilities, over-complicated, but here - Renegade just lets the design breathe a bit!

Knaves of the Silver Scimitar

The Knaves of the Silver Scimitar - yes, more pirates - really care about having a captain. Like any good crew, they allow you to sneak in a turn with their captain first, and gain an additional defense die when they can see their cap'n. They also gain extra attack dice when they run in to fight, and can slip away like other pirates we've seen.

What I think most draws me to these figures is the way they each have a very different look, but clearly belong to the same crew. If you look carefully, you wouldn't need to tell from the character card that these four belong together - though they're different species and have different dress - that's just good design!

Knight Irene and the Frostclaw Paladins

Knight Irene is an absolutely hulking figure with a lot of mobility on her card thanks to her "Run 3" special ability, which lets her trade attack dice for running speed. So cover the distance with her, and then next turn you can overwhelm with an attack dealing extra dice!

Pair her with her Frostclaw Paladins, and you've got a very nasty combo here - they also have Run 3, but are also bonded with a Jandar Champion (which Knight Irene is). This will allow you to take an extra turn with Knight Irene (regardless of whether she's activated or even has an order token on her)!

Raakchott, Steward Of Death

With a name like Raakchott, Steward of Death it's got to be good! And while you can't make use of her Command Familiar ability out of the box (there are no small or medium beasts), her Soul Fury special attack is one of the only Area of Effect attacks in the box, letting you dish out a massive blast of soul energy to everyone adjacent to you!

But let's be real, the best part about this character is the absolutely unhinged and awesome design of the miniature itself. A malevolent (is it malevolent, I honestly don't know) force of death crafted from twisting vines, branches, and dead animal bones? Sign me up!

Raelin The Kyrie Warrior

Raelin the Kyrie Warrior is one of the two figures in the box that take up more space on the board, and she's absolutely fantastic looking! And this is another big, important model with very clean and uncomplicated design. If your enemies are within 4 spaces of her, she scares them and they roll 1 less Defense die.

And if she inflicts at least 1 wound in a normal attack, she's auto-dealing another wound. In short: She's scary and she hits hard! What's not to love?

Xenithrax The Vineweaver

Finally, let's talk about the biggest model in the box, the majestic Xenithrax The Vineweaver! Clocking in at 200 points, Xenithrax can lay vines down on the board which lower the attack and defense value of anyone on them, and their Erupting Earth Special Attack allows you to chain attacks, hitting adjacent enemy after adjacent enemy if they're all lined up next to each other.

Hitting hard, flying around the board, making it harder for non-flying characters to get around - Xenithrax is truly a setpiece character, and one of my favorites to play around with on the board.

Do I Need To Build Around Army Factions?

No! You don't need to build around various Army Factions, creatures types, or any other restrictions when building your battle forces in the HeroScape Age of Annihilation Master Set (or the game at large) - which makes army building so unique. If I want my polar bear Paladins to partner up with a bunch of pirates, that's fine! It may not be the most synergistic, but if I'm having fun - or can think of other cool ways different units interact, that's all that matters.

HeroScape Age of Annihilation Master Set - Final Thoughts

What can I say, I'm completely blown away by this new iteration of HeroScape - I never played it when it first came around, so I really didn't know what to expect coming into Renegade's new take on the game. Though, to be fair, it's not really a new take, since all old figures ever produced for HeroScape are compatible with the new version of the game - which we love to see!

With crystal clear rules, great miniature design, and approachability for all levels of gameplay, this is both an entry-level game and a can be delved for more strategic depths by simply flipping your cards over to the Master side. I can't recommend this game enough if you're a fan of skirmish gaming.

The copy of HeroScape Age of Annihilation Master Set used for this review was provided by the publisher. All photos courtesy the author.