Geared towards younger players, the game is played using pre-painted miniature figures on a board made from interlocking hexagonal tiles, allowing for the construction of an interchangeable and variable 3D landscape.

Heroscape sets were first released in 2004 by game designers Craig Van Ness, Rob Daviau, and Stephen Baker through Milton Bradley Company, a subsidiary of Hasbro.

The first master set was entitled Rise of the Valkyrie, featuring thirty plastic figures and corresponding cards, eighty-five terrain pieces of various sizes, and two ruins structures.

Despite the lack of official production for over a decade, the game remains popular, with a strong and dedicated community, regular tournaments, and additional user-created content.

Two expansions were later released: Battle for Zendikar, which featured additional figures, updates, and combinations; and Shadows Over Innistrad, which adds a battlefield obstacle called the cryptolith.

[3] During the August 2022 Gen Con, Hasbro announced that another of their subsidiaries, Avalon Hill, would be attempting to release a new expansion entitled Heroscape: Age of Annihilation, showcasing a teaser trailer featuring new figures and terrain.

[6][better source needed] In June 2023, Renegade Game Studios announced that it was taking responsibility for the reboot after reaching a licensing deal with Hasbro.

[9] At its core, Heroscape is an epic battle between and among characters across dozens of genres, time periods, planets, and cultures taking place on a three-dimensional gaming surface of various elevations and terrain types.

All started as Valkyrie who discovered mythical Wellsprings and drank from them, which granted them the ability to manipulate spacetime to gather massive armies from numerous planets, dimensions, and time periods.

Despite this backstory, players are free to draft any combination of characters without regard for the in-game alliances or hostilities, unless a group specifically wants to play through the events of the story.

The original, Rise of the Valkyrie, includes grass, rock, sand, and water pieces of various tile sizes, plus two ruins to diversify the playing surface.

Various expansions and the other master sets add molten lava, lava field, snow, ice, swamp grass, swamp water, dungeon, shadow, road, concrete, and asphalt tiles, in addition to ruins, trees, glaciers, jungle vegetation, rock outcrops, a bridge system, and even a castle structure, complete with walls, turrets, and a gate.

Scenarios from the master set or some of the larger expansions include detailed instructions for board setups, but many players enjoy designing their own.

Following the transition to Wizards of the Coasts, a master set based on the Dungeons & Dragons franchise was released in 2010, entitled Battle for the Underdark.

These play just like Unique Heroes, but a player can have more than one in his army and one must keep track of which one belongs to which card since they can take damage (as opposed to Common units, which only have one hit point).

Most advanced game scenarios allow players to choose units based on the points values printed on the army card.

Once a unit receives a number of wound markers equal to its total life points, it is destroyed and removed from the playing surface immediately.

Various abilities by specific units may modify these rules to some degree (e.g., the samurai may counterattack and inflict damage while defending), but this move/attack/defense flow is typical of a turn.

If you used to love the idea of the original Risk but grew frustrated at the way blind dumb luck could overrule actual tactical planning, you're likely to enjoy this game.

They also discussed how the modern-day costs of plastics indicate that a game of such scope and scale could never be replicated today, hence the interest in buying second-hand.

Although fan-generated content may be posted at various online outlets, the most prominent community of custom creators and their creations is found on forums of the official fan-site Heroscapers.com.

Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast never held nor supported officially sanctioned events such as they had with Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon or Axis & Allies; however, a fan-run tournament scene started up soon after the release of Heroscape.

In June 2023, Renegade Game Studios announced that it was taking responsibility for the reboot after reaching a licensing deal with Hasbro.

[9] As a first, Renegade Game Studios gave the option to buy these new sets and expansions with the choice of either unpainted or pre-painted miniature figures at different retail price points dependent upon players' personal preference and/or financial situation.