HeroScape Revival Take #2: Renegade Game Studios & Hasbro

[Kurgan]

After the failure of "Age of Annihilation" Haslab campaign last year we assumed HeroScape was dead in the water for another decade with only the fans keeping it alive... then seemingly out of nowhere, two days ago there was a quiet announcement that Renegade Game Studioes (who?) are working with Hasbro to revive the game yet again!

https://renegadegamestudios.com/heroscape-news

No pictures yet other than a generic black and white logo.

San Diego, CA – June 8, 2023 - Renegade Game Studios is excited to announce that they are finalizing expansion of their licensing relationship with Hasbro, a global leader in play, to produce the best-selling Heroscape tabletop game.

Originally proposed for relaunch in October 2022 by Avalon Hill on Hasbro Pulse’s crowdfunding platform, HasLab, fans shared an outpouring of support for the game’s revival. Now, the organizations have come together to usher in the long-awaited return of Heroscape for the hobby, mass, and specialty markets. Renegade will also partner with Hasbro Pulse to make Heroscape available to as wide an audience as possible.

Fans will get to experience classic elements of the game they love with all-new content, alongside the introduction of terrain packs, faction boxes, and more. Going forward, Renegade hopes to introduce new models in a variety of configurations and price points for both new and hardcore Heroscape players.

“Heroscape brought a lot of people into hobby gaming and to this day there is a robust and passionate community; we look forward to growing that community and continuing to offer new and exciting models for gamers to enjoy,” said Scott Gaeta, President and Publisher of Renegade Game Studios. “Additionally, we will be partnering with hobby stores to give Heroscape and its community of players the best home possible where they can make new friends and engage in exciting battles across Valhalla!”

Additionally, Renegade will provide online community and organized play support, including a future World Championship. Hobby stores can look forward to organized play and point of purchase support at launch.

“Fans have been clamoring for a revival of Heroscape, and we’ve heard you. That’s why we are tremendously excited to bring back and expand the beloved brand with the Renegade team, who are big fans themselves,” says Bradley Bowman, Licensing Director of Global Toys & Sporting Goods at Hasbro. “We’re celebrating this return alongside our fans, and look forward to offering existing players more ways to enjoy the game and introducing a whole new generation to Heroscape and its endless imaginative potential.”


Heroscapers can sign up for a Heroscape Newsletter from Renegade to stay informed of the latest developments and news!

Sign up here: https://renegadegamestudios.com/heroscape-news

For the latest updates from Renegade Game Studios, be sure to check out http://www.renegadegames.com and sign up for regular updates.

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About Renegade Game Studios

Renegade Game Studios was established in 2014 by game industry veteran Scott Gaeta to publish games that create memorable experiences including a catalog full of award-winning titles. Renegade’s catalog of games includes numerous popular titles such as Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid, G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game, Transformers Deck-Building Game, My Father’s Work, and award-winning titles such as Raiders of the North Sea, and The Fox in the Forest.

Find out more at http://www.renegadegames.com or by signing up for our newsletter here: http://www.renegadegamestudios.com/newsletter-sign-up/

About Hasbro

Hasbro is a global leader in play whose mission is to entertain and connect generations of fans through the wonder of storytelling and exhilaration of play. Hasbro delivers engaging brand experiences for global audiences through gaming, consumer products and entertainment, with a portfolio of iconic brands including MAGIC: THE GATHERING, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, Hasbro Gaming, NERF, TRANSFORMERS, PLAY-DOH and PEPPA PIG, as well as premier partner brands.

Hasbro is guided by our Purpose to create joy and community for all people around the world, one game, one toy, one story at a time. For more than a decade, Hasbro has been consistently recognized for its corporate citizenship, including being named one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens by 3BL Media, one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere Institute and one of the 50 Most Community-Minded Companies in the U.S. by the Civic 50. For more information, visit https://corporate.hasbro.com.

© 2023 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Thoughts?

[QorDaq]

Renegade produces a lot of IP related games, especially deck-builders, and even a few RPGs, most of which leans heavily into IPs like GI Joe and Transformers, licenses that Hasbro has anyway. So this could make some sense.

Their games can be hit or miss, and can also land heavily in the Mass Market game design approach and marketing... But that's kind of what HeroScape was to begin with.

Ideally they'll be able to produce what Hasbro already prepped and not have to start from scratch, but by and large Renegade has been fairly successful with their properties from what I've seen so far.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of Renegade, but then I also am not much for HeroScape, so there's that...*Chuckle*...

For the fans that were bummed out by Hasbro's ill-fated efforts, I suspect that this is really good news, and I don't think it'd be happening (Announced, anyway), if it didn't stand a reasonable chance of being released. Renegade is not a fly-by-night company.

[Kurgan]

Read about the previous attempt to revive HeroScape here

[Daedalus]

A Gen Con highlight for me was playing an intro game of Heroscape at the Renegade play area. Got a swag ninja promo figure and learned GI Joe is in the HS future. So glad HS is back into production!

[Kurgan]

Cool! I was tired and skipped my HeroScape demo, sounds like I missed out on a free figure (different from the free figure you got from buying something at the HS kiosk). Sorry I missed you too! Do you have a picture of the bonus?

[Daedalus]

I don't know if this is different from the free figure from buying HS stuff, but here is a BGG link to see the Shiori figure I got. I also got a HS bag and pin. The figure wasn't exactly free if you factor in the cost of the event. Much better would be to win a free set that was regularly raffled off to participants. As an introductory player, I was eligible for the smaller Battle for the Wellspring set. The tournament players could win the full starter set.

[Kurgan]

Thanks for sharing. The event I was signed up for was "HeroScape Demo" and it was "free." I was tired so didn't go, I just made a special trip later to the Renegade Game Studios room to ask questions and look at the minis. I spoke with Craig at Avalon Hill and got him to sign my Sgt. Drake Alexander after getting it with the terrain I bought from the Renegade spot in the Vendor area (I also stopped by the HeroScape tournament area in the Exhibit Hall but the guy there said weird stuff that conflicted with what I had heard from others). I'm glad to hear that the unique figure will be available in other form elsewhere. Makes me think of the "store exclusives" the original HeroScape had, which were later sold separately.

The "stack of ninjas"! I see someone is already selling it for $169 on Ebay (linked on BGG store). Obviously I wouldn't spend that much on such a thing, even fully painted.

[Kurgan]

It looks like this is the year (2025) when finally all of the 2022 Haslab creations for HeroScape: Age of Annihilation are being released into retail (I have yet to see the pre-painted versions appear in stores... they seem to sell out almost immediately, though they were being sold at GenCon last year). Granted, the product roleout has been going for awhile (and "wave one" was renewed which is a positive sign, meaning this wasn't just a quick "cash grab" or attempt to recoup their losses after the failure of the crowd-fund). They seem fully committed to supporting it, tournaments are happening, etc. The "promo" figures are all pre-painted (I have Sgt. Drake Alexander that came "free" with my purchase of the $50 foliage terrain pack at the convention), these are now sold separately.

I just wanted to run down some pictures for comparison to show what is actually available now. I was estimating that while we balked at the price tag of the "unit color" (but otherwise unpainted miniatures) ... the price tag for the Haslab version was going to be $249.99 (shipping included, plus tax?) but it failed (failed to reach goal, only about half of the needed backers before it closed). I see that recently Renegade announcement some characters I hadn't seen on the Haslab pages (some crab guys and squirrel ninjas?) so they may be going beyond the original expectations.

Now Avalon Hill intended all along for HS to return as a Retail product but they were put through the Haslab process just like HeroQuest was. I see HS available at FLGs but not yet at any big box retail stores...

I see this as a kind of "double revival." It's reviving a game that has been out of print for decades AND reviving the ill-fated Haslab campaign. None of this waiting a decade for it to come back in some totally different form. Bravo! They seem to be catering to the fan desires (though less concerned about fans not having deep pockets... BUT in theory a person can buy the pieces as they can afford them, or just get smaller sets and join tournaments with those, or get together with your friends and put your sets together as alternate solutions not not being able to afford the "big box" all at once). One of the complaints about the old franchise was they didn't make it easy enough for people to buy "common" armies or heroes by themselves. Looks like they're taking steps to remedy that too (heroes come either in the battle boxes or individually, and you can buy boxes of just common army units). I hope the official tournaments are accepting of "vintage era" units too.

[Kurgan]

The "solid color" CG renders are of course the 2022 Haslab versions, compared to the "pre-painted" Renegade Game Studio 2024-2025 retail versions...

Compare!

[Kurgan]

More Haslab (solid color) vs. Renegade retail (painted) ...