Heroscape Age of Annihilation Wave 2 & 3 Review
Stats:
No. of players: 2
Amount of time to play: 60-120 min
Age requirements: 14+
Set-up time: 10-20 min
Expansions for Heroscape Age of Annihilation are available. Both Revna’s Rebuke (Wave 2) and Rising Tide (Wave 3) add new figures, factions, and unique special abilities. They even offer additional terrain.
Heroscape Age of Annihilation Revna’s Rebuke (Wave 2) & Rising Tide (Wave 3) Description:
Previously I reviewed the Heroscape Age of Annihilation Master Set. Shortly after its release Waves 2 and 3 hit the market. Wave 2, named Revna’s Rebuke, introduces two army expansion packs. Wave 3, named Rising Tide, consists of six army expansions and two terrain expansions. I did not get all of these expansion boxes and am only giving details and reviewing the ones I have.
One Revna’s Rebuke (Wave 2) expansion box adds five Kyrie figures: Queen Qhyrion, Xiamara, Glinerva, Mielki, and Kilkorax. The other contains the Iron Lich Viscerot and Necrotech Wraithriders.
The Kyrie warriors are flying melee units. And though they have pretty run-of-the-mill stats, it’s their special abilities that set them apart. Queen Qhyrion has an attack that reduces the opponent’s defense dice to one if she rolls a 12 or more. Xiamara reduces the wounds taken by other Ulnaar Kyrie within six spaces of her to one. Glinerva can conceal friendly units within five spaces of her from ranged attacks. Mielki has a double attack and can heal some friendly units when she eliminates an enemy. Kilkorax can pull figures within five spaces of her toward her.
Debuting in this expansion are the Eisenek, a faction of cybernetic beings. Iron Lich Viscerot is a huge figure that can ignore smaller units when moving around the map. He can also increase another Eisenek’s move and attack by two up to three times per game. Also when he acts you may take a turn with another Eisenek unit. That might include the Necrotech Wraithriders. They are a squad of three figures and have an eight move, but they cannot go up more than two levels. Their chain grab ability can help them pull enemy units from up to three spaces away next to them.
Rising Tide (Wave 3) has an army expansion with Sonlan and Halushia. Two large figures from the Ullar faction. Sonlan can heal friends while moving over them and has a double attack. Halushia can have a beast figure act on his turn, removes one defense die from enemies next to forest spaces, and can attack as he runs past enemy figures.
The Knight Primus Adelbern & Ordo Borealis box adds four more ursine Jandar figures. One unique champion and a squad of three. Knight Primus Adelbern can wound small and medium enemies just by walking up to them. The Ordo Borealis squad has a range of six (instead of one) if they don’t move.
There is another Eisenek unit in Wave 3, the Hellforge Mandukor. It is a huge figure that has a chance to inflict a wound on any figure it moves adjacent to. Figures adjacent to it that are destroyed give it a chance to heal. Also on turns when only Eisenek figures have order markers the Hellforge Mandukor may move four spaces after order markers are placed.
One of two army expansions that introduce the Skordyre faction is Oathbound Phalanx and Oathbound Legionnaires. They work in conjunction with each other. The huge Phalanx figure needs the Legionnaires to shrug damage or perform an impactful multi-attack. The Legionnaires are a four figure squad that can attack on their own or join with the Phalanx from turn to turn.
The Queen Maladrix and Festering Honor Guard is a six figure army expansion box. Queen Maladrix is a huge Skordyre figure with double attack. When she activates her Honor Guard does too. She also lets you place destroyed Honor Guards on enemy heroes cards. Then each turn there is a chance the Honor Guard parasite will destroy that enemy hero.
Heroscape Age of Annihilation Expansions Review:
The new units introduced in the Revna’s Rebuke and Rising Tide expansions are welcome additions to the Master Set and Battle Box. They are affiliated with a variety of factions and generals so you can pair them with old and new units. They offer a bunch of new special abilities you will want to try too. Some are paired well with other units released in their wave (like the two Skordye boxes), some pair well with units from the Age of Annihilation line (like the ursine Jander box) and others pair with figures from the original Heroscape (the new Ullar Kyries strengthens older Ullar units).
As with the other releases in the Age of Annihilation line the figures look fantastic. The sculpts have detail, look impressive and have good paint jobs (if you get the pre-painted sets). Just the size of the larger figures is daunting. They look scary on the table. The army cards have great artwork and special abilities are well explained and easy to understand.
Should you pick all of these (plus the other wave 2 and 3 expansions) up? Some of them? While this is a pretty individual question, I am going to propose some guidelines. First, what do you already have? Do these army sets work with units you already play and enjoy? Have you played a lot of games with your current figures and want to mix it up? And I guess there is always, I must get everything to complete my collection. People in the last group can just buy away and enjoy having everything. Others will probably want to focus what they get on what they like or the type of variety of units they want to bring to their game. What is nice is you can pick and choose or add expansion boxes over time.