Heroclix on the iPad: How To Be a Superhero on Your Mobile Gadget

Heroclix is celebrating its tenth year in operation this summer. With a short hiatus followed by a change in ownership, the Wizkids game has seen some rough days. But thanks to the merger with NECA and expansion onto the web via Icarus Studios, Heroclix has become a mainstay in tabletop miniatures games.

Heroclix is played on a grid map by moving miniatures of your favorite comic book or video game heroes around the map and engaging in combat. Combat is done either at range or in melee form with dice rolls. The Attacking player rolls two six-sided die and adds his attack value to the roll before comparing it to the target’s defense value. The highest number wins that particular attack. If the defender loses, he takes damage in clicks, or turns of their base a certain number of times. As the dial-shaped base is turned (or clicked, as players say), the character’s values become weaker until it is eventually KOed. The last man standing wins, and play begins again in another round.

The problem that Heroclix has seen since the hiatus ended is a lack of venues for Heroclix players. So, they launched Heroclix Online last year and have finally decided to enter the mobile market this fall. Players who want to participate but can’t find either a venue or an opponent can purchase the app for play on the iPad (no word on whether the app will be released for android tablets yet). By purchasing the physical Tabapp figures in a separate package, players can set the figure on the ipad and play against AI. It is said to play much like the Pixar AppMates app where a car set on the iPad can be “driven” along a road filled with obstacles.

Tabapp claims that it will be able to detect both where on the digital map you place the figure and what click number the figure is on. How this will work has yet to be revealed, but it is most likely that small sensors will be put into the bottom of the base. These sensors could determine, based on their position relative to a sensor in the top of the base, what click number your figure is on and how much life is left in him. Come fall, Heroclix players will be able to play on the go regardless of whether or not they have a venue nearby.

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