HEROSCAPE Preview Part 2

Welcome once again, gamers!

The HEROSCAPE news keeps trickling out via the Avalon Hill Discord server, and we’re here to round it all up. Yeehaw! This time we’ll cover the second week of sketches, as shared by Avalon Hill’s Senior Director of Design and Development Chris Nadeau. Once again, we just want to remind you that all designs, names, and rules are not final and are subject to change.

You also might have noticed we ended the last preview with Day 4, and now start with Day 7. To head off any questions, days 5 and 6 were the weekend when no news was shared. With that said, let’s get to it!

DAY SEVEN

DESIGNER'S NOTES - "THE IRONCLAD COLLECTIVE" FACTION LORE - For eons unknown on their planet of Noxdorma, the Ironclad Collective have been waging war using the cold logic of their data cogitators and the hardened steel of their inorganic weapon systems. The limitations and mortality of their organic species reforged and forgotten, as countless generations focused on perfecting their methods of absolute destruction. Every outcome on the battlefield is pre-calculated, every possible strategy is processed before the first shots are fired. The Collective’s military composition constantly adapts to new battlefield conditions, as they upgrade their cybernetics to counter enemy tactics, sometimes even relinquishing individuality to ameliorate themselves into combined monstrous war machines of searing intensity. Members of the Collective reflect their harsh philosophies of war in various death masks, creating metallic reflections of nightmares and creating a visual persona of fear and despair in the minds of their adversaries. Every potential edge in combat is analyzed, even the psychological advantages gained through uncompromising terror tactics.

DAY EIGHT

DESIGNER'S NOTES - "YOU NEED TO GET YOUR VITAMINS AND MINERALS FROM SOMEPLACE?" - After our decision to create a literal living blast furnace on tank treads, it proved incredibly fulfilling to figure out an accurate tabletop scale to properly allow this monstrosity to consume all manner of enemy combatants, turn them into molten slag, and leave the clinker across the battlefield. I mean really, what is more horrifying to witness? (and yes, it fits on a peanut base…sort of).

DAY NINE

DESIGNER'S NOTES - “THE STRENGTH OF WALLS, DEPENDS ON THE COURAGE OF THOSE THAT GUARD THEM.” Necrotech Wraithriders are the vanguard elite of an Ironclad Collective advance, rushing ahead of the main force to break forward defenses and weaken morale before the enemy are overrun by the inexorable march of legions of ghastly cybernetic creatures. Their fast and aggressive flanking tactics force their adversaries into killing zones, where the rest of the Ironclad can apply their vast array of horrific firepower onto the beleaguered and hopeless.

DAY TEN

DESIGNER'S NOTES - Arachnophobia is a specific phobia brought about by the irrational fear of spiders. Thanatophobia is an intense fear of death or the dying process. Two horrific nightmares that go great together in hellish warzones of Valhalla. The Lich Lord commands massive battalions on behalf of its Valkyrie masters with an iron grip and the vicious neurotoxins of the Lich Lord’s own wicked creation. These vile injections most times augment and enhance the awesome powers of the Ironclad Collective, but not all survive the violent effects of these venomous fluids… but sacrifices must be made for absolute victory.

DAY ELEVEN

DESIGNER'S NOTES - DAY 011 - “To be Onmitsu, is to become the sharp eyes and keen ears of the shogun, to unmask the akuma before her mysterious schemes unfold and bring chaos to the land. To be Master Onmitsu of the Empress Kiova, is to become the akuma herself.” (Happy Friday! See Everyone on Monday.)

Thanks again for visiting our space! The heat is building for HEROSCAPE – we’ve seen two factions that will be introduced in AGE OF ANNIHILATION so far, and if you expect we’ll see a third in the next installment of this blog, well, you’ve probably been following along on Discord! Remember, you can join our Discord server here to stay as up-to-date on all things HEROSCAPE – as well as other Avalon Hill titles.

See you next blog!