Consolidated List of Problems With The Renegade AOA Roll Out

[Nukatha]

If I'm as charitable as possible, maybe they realized that the hexes were made so poorly that the moral thing to do is stop selling them until they get a production run in that actually is produced to the proper specification.

 

[Nukatha]

My FLGS looks like it will be returning its remaining stock to Renegade (primarily due to the poorly-made 24-hexes and tree bases).
The owner didn't say whether he's doing an ordinary refund or expecting a shipment of the second printing whenever it happens.

If I see good reports of the Lands of Valhalla set being manufactured to a higher standard (meaning: connects to old and new hexes without excessive force), I'll likely order one.

 

[Hogg]

I finally got my Premium AoA Master Set from Pulse and its missing one of the Exiles minis.

 

[Lord Pyre]

That's normal, they were exiled.

 

[GaryLASQ]

Hang on to that missing Exile mini. I'm sure it will be worth a lot more later on as a collector's item.

 

[gevdarg]

These physical problems surprise me, because early in the Renegade Era (unless it was actually the Haslab Era), one of that company's reps said that they were using the same manufacturers who had made the original game terrain. So I thought we were covered.

Unless someone intervened by sticking some kind of bent oar in the water, similar to the infamous Hasbro Exec who had too many of the Unique Heroes produced, when we all only needed one each of them in our collections. This was the worst error made that I can think of offhand when the original game came out.

It was my understanding that the distribution of too many unique heroes was the fatal flaw that led to the demise of Heroscape. Too much stock sitting on the shelves and in the storeroom.

 

[gevdarg]

I'm happy for you that you can't imagine a reason to stack walls. But no so enthused about your attitude that nobody else should imagine one either.


There were two good paths for Haslab/Renegade to take here and one bad one. The good ones:
1. Refine the column tops so stacking worked.
2. Give up on stacking and resculpt the columns so the tops weren't butt-ugly.

But no, they chose option 3, ugly and non-functional.

Sadly, lots of the aesthetics in AoA are significant downgrades from what Heroscape was before. In particular, these "premium" paint jobs look lazy, flat, and lifeless. I nearly ordered the pre-painted versions, but now that we've seen what they really look like, boy am I glad I didn't. Thankfully the unexpected closing of preorders saved me from myself.

For me, I never interpreted "Premium" to mean higher quality, just higher price, because some of us (me) did not want to paint figures and were willing to pay more as a result.

 

[gevdarg]

I finally got my Premium AoA Master Set from Pulse and its missing one of the Exiles minis.

Maaaaaan, I haven't opened mine yet. Now, I'm checking!

 

[chas]

I just opened up my new Premium Painted Master Set, and all is complete and correct. Something no one has mentioned yet I think, is about the new Large Wall Sections. The small wall sections and the small ruined ones work by placing pillars on adjacent hexes in a straight line, on which the pillar bases fit exactly, and connecting two adjacent ones. In fact, I've just notied that the Battlefield Key (in the Scenario Guide) says to connect any adjacent pillars noted on a map plan.

But trying out the single large wall section, it works by covering one intervening hex between two pillars. However, its not quite long enough to do this, and you have to offset the two bases from the hexes they would be set on. This will skew all the connected hexes it seems to me, although I haven't done any extensive building with them yet.

Its not that big of a deal, but I could only notice it when I had the product in hand.

 

[ThrasherDarkrai]

That's because the large wall sections are not designed to fit over hexes; they're intended to fit in the groove between hexes (which is consistent with what was shown in the Haslab). You're thinking of the largest wall size for the (excellent) custom walls GeneralRolando sells, which we've used before; the official larger wall sections function identically to Rolando's medium wall sections.

 

[chas]

Gotcha. I'm just setting up a Good vs Evil game with almost all of the terrain and figures from the AOA Master Set, so I've got the big wall literally straightened out now. If you add Shiori but not Sgt. Drake, whose promos we now have from yesterday's store event, the points are equal for the two sides of Good (Dryans and Clockwork Bears) versus Evil (Kyrie and Pirates).

Having played through all the scenarios in the first two boxes with figures in solitaire proxy play, next I'll try that Renegade September Free Online Scenario, the first one they've posted, which looks quite interesting!

 

[Hogg]

I finally got my Premium AoA Master Set from Pulse and its missing one of the Exiles minis.

I got in touch with Renegade customer service and they sent a replacement for the missing figure.

 

[Nukatha]

The teased units seem like they are poorly designed, supporting the stated fears of many, including myself, that any new in-house designs by Renegade, as opposed to the Haslab designs, will be of poor quality.
The idea of a figure dropping permanent molten lava is a stupid, and demonstrates a distinct unfamiliarity with Heroscape as it is played at all levels, from dungeon crawls, to scenario play, and competitive battles.

Renegade shows the same symptoms of organizations like Disney, Amazon, and Ubisoft, where the 'creative' types are not actually creative. Instead they are destructive to prior ideas that have come before, and indeed loathe the creations of the past, all while working off of the corpses of the past. The rules, character bios/story content and included-in-box Renegade-made maps and scenarios are evidence of that.

Hasbro no doubt keeps Renegade on a tighter leash when it comes to MLP and GI Joe, and I speculate that they haven't bothered with much oversight on Heroscape as long as they're releasing Haslab stuff.

But Renegade is a company that more closely resembles children pretending to run a company than an actual business, only continuing operation because a few good decisions made a decade ago have allowed it to avoid collapse so far.

You may be thinking:
"Surely that's all speculation and Renegade isn't collapsing internally even as we speak."
Well, I know my FLGS owner, and I'm going to paraphrase a message from him regarding why he wasn't able to secure Shiori minis for a launch event:

Renegade Games has significantly altered their pricing structure with us and our distributor. I cannot divulge these changes in more detail, but suffice it to say that we plan to reduce the number of Renegade products we carry.

Something's going on behind the scenes, and store owners are responding appropriately.

 

[srmalloy]

It was my understanding that the distribution of too many unique heroes was the fatal flaw that led to the demise of Heroscape. Too much stock sitting on the shelves and in the storeroom.

Not simply 'too many unique heroes', but that the releases were issued by Hasbro only in complete boxes, with three common packages and a hero/unique package in the box. People would only want to buy one of a unique package, but would usually want several of a common package, but because stores had to get a unique package to get the commons, over time they'd build up unsold inventory of packages of uniques no one wanted because they'd already bought the one package they could use in their armies. This disincentivized the FLGSs from carrying Heroscape products, dropping sales numbers despite a demand for the game, all due to Hasbro's misguided marketing. If they'd sold boxes of common packages and boxes of hero packages (i.e., three different boxes of four of one common unit and one box with four hero units), then the FLGSs could order as many of the common packs as their customers wanted, while only buying as many hero packs as would sell, keeping sales up. But someone in Hasbro management was convinced that they knew the One True Sales Strategy, and they held to it even though it wasn't working.

 

[chas]

Not simply 'too many unique heroes', but that the releases were issued by Hasbro only in complete boxes, with three common packages and a hero/unique package in the box. People would only want to buy one of a unique package, but would usually want several of a common package, but because stores had to get a unique package to get the commons, over time they'd build up unsold inventory of packages of uniques no one wanted because they'd already bought the one package they could use in their armies. This disincentivized the FLGSs from carrying Heroscape products, dropping sales numbers despite a demand for the game, all due to Hasbro's misguided marketing. If they'd sold boxes of common packages and boxes of hero packages (i.e., three different boxes of four of one common unit and one box with four hero units), then the FLGSs could order as many of the common packs as their customers wanted, while only buying as many hero packs as would sell, keeping sales up. But someone in Hasbro management was convinced that they knew the One True Sales Strategy, and they held to it even though it wasn't working.

Yes, we old timer's recall that the decision maker on this practice became known as "that woman," although we never learned her name!

 

[Nukatha]

Never forget that Orm's Return/RttFF was sold to stores as 2x RttFF, 1x Heroes, 2x unique for every common terrain pack.
I don't recall what the distribution was for Raknar's Vision, but I know Aquilla's Alliance was sold as 2x jungle, 1x Quagmire, but that one was under-produced, and I only ever found jungles at my stores.

 

[caps]

The teased units seem like they are poorly designed, supporting the stated fears of many, including myself, that any new in-house designs by Renegade, as opposed to the Haslab designs, will be of poor quality.
The idea of a figure dropping permanent molten lava is a stupid, and demonstrates a distinct unfamiliarity with Heroscape as it is played at all levels, from dungeon crawls, to scenario play, and competitive battles.

Was this from the Renegade Con stream? I didn't watch it... maybe I should.

 

[chas]

Was this from the Renegade Con stream? I didn't watch it... maybe I should.

Yep; from the Designer's Discussion, which was a seperate event held much later in the day from the Wave/Story Arc 3 Feb./April reveals, which came as the first segment.

 

[GaryLASQ]

Never forget that Orm's Return/RttFF was sold to stores as 2x RttFF, 1x Heroes, 2x unique for every common terrain pack.
I don't recall what the distribution was for Raknar's Vision, but I know Aquilla's Alliance was sold as 2x jungle, 1x Quagmire, but that one was under-produced, and I only ever found jungles at my stores.

I believe it was the retailer had to order one big brown box, containing 1 terrain box and 3 hero boxes, for both Orm's/RttFF and Raknar/TT.
So, 4 items in the retailer's box, not 3.

 

[Nukatha]

I believe it was the retailer had to order one big brown box, containing 1 terrain box and 3 hero boxes, for both Orm's/RttFF and Raknar/TT.
So, 4 items in the retailer's box, not 3.

I'm going to direct you back to 2006 you:

https://www.heroscapers.com/threads...haelenk-tundra-store-sightings.341/post-29609

This thread suggests 2:1 ratio.

 

[Hogg]

Yeah, it was 2:1, in favor of uniques the first few times. They did better with the TJ/AA set and I can't remember if they did a reprint of RtFF/OR at 2:1 in favor of Terrain.

 

[Sir Joey]

Renegade shows the same symptoms of organizations like Disney, Amazon, and Ubisoft, where the 'creative' types are not actually creative. Instead they are destructive to prior ideas that have come before, and indeed loathe the creations of the past, all while working off of the corpses of the past. The rules, character bios/story content and included-in-box Renegade-made maps and scenarios are evidence of that.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that found those character bios/story content offensive. Feels like it was written by a bunch of snowflakes.

 

[Nukatha]

My favorite so far is the stark difference between Haslab Maladrix the Conqueror, a being devoted only to killing

Spoiler Alert!

Queen Maladrix The Conquerer is the living manifestation of The Craven Court’s utter hatred of their enemies. Her mere presence on the battlefield represents dark omens to her enemies, as the Craven Court’s harbinger of doom. Queen Maladrix’s sheer size allows her to tower over opponents, slicing apart attackers with ease and unleashing a whirlwind of fury and death in the center of the Craven Court’s battle line. As a member of the royal house, Queen Maladrix The Conquerer is able to spawn a brood around her on the battlefield, initially hiding the scale of her forces, then overwhelming enemies with a horde of skittering carnage, while quickly expanding her power across the war host.

And the Renegade Maladrix the Conqueror, the runt of the litter who overcame all odds and just wants to be a good mom.

Spoiler Alert!

That Queen Maladrix lives at all is a wonder. In Skordyre society, young Queens who set out to establish their own hive rarely survive the perilous journey; fewer than one in ten live long enough to hatch their first brood. Hatched prematurely and smaller than most Queens, no one expected Maladrix to survive the night, let alone long enough to establish a fresh colony.

Maladrix proved them all wrong. She snuck, fought, and bartered her way through the manifold dangers of Arboreas, but it was not enough—the clutch of eggs she carried was destroyed. All seemed lost. Desperate, she stalked another juvenile Queen to her fledgeling lair. The ensuing battle was brutal and desperate, but in the end Maladrix prevailed, and the defeated Queen’s eggs were hers. Slowly, Maladrix began to wrap her dying rival in a fresh cocoon. Eventually, she would need to consume the conquered Queen in order to synthesize her pheromones, but for now she needed to rest.

Within a year, Maladrix had established a successful hive. Within a decade, her hive was the envy of the region, a thriving Skordyre bastion in a perilous world. With the core of her colony secure, Maladrix began the grueling process of laying and fertilizing more than one million eggs. Finally, her labors complete, she settled into a thousand-year slumber, awaiting the second spawning of her young and the birth of a true hive.

It was not to be. After centuries of peace, a colossal convulsion shook the hive, collapsing its tunnels under millions of tons of rock and ruin. Pinned by rubble as her dream died around her, Maladrix resigned herself to death—but before she succumbed, the soft, rasping voice of Revna called the Skordyre Queen to a different fate.

Summoned to Valhalla alongside the remnants of her murdered hive, Maladrix’s mission remains unchanged. Battered but unbowed, Queen Maladrix the Conqueror will stop at nothing to restore the glory of her hive.

 

[Hogg]

Everything has to be so definitive nowadays and it has seeped into AoA as well. Look at how many new characters are named "Whoever THE whatever." I notice it in Marvel comics now too, whenever a new bad guy shows up they're always Somebody the Something, instead of just having a regular name. In Old Scape we had a few "The Viking Warrior"s, a bunch of "The Kyrie Warrior"s, and a Darklord. Everybody else just had regular name, like just Nilfheim instead of "Nilfheim the Frostbringer."

 

[Sir Joey]

I didn't realise that Renegade changed the bios -- thought Haslab was at fault.