Introduction to A Heroes of Might and Magic Retrospective

Since the blog is sort of dead and I have an intense addiction to Heroes, I've decided to do Heroes Retrospective and run through each game plus its expansions and discuss what was cool and lame about each game. After getting over my aversion to change, I've been playing Heroes 4 and 5 and I have found them to be quite enjoyable. After wracking my brain for years as to which Heroes game is my favorite I've come to this conclusion: Heroes 1 created a basic formula and each successive game is just a reinterpretation of the basic formula. Sort of like legend of Zelda where each game is a new interpretation of the same basic components. Where core of Zelda is dungeon crawling, exploration, and the acquisition of new gear, the core of the Heroes is resource management and Hero development. I think all totaled, I've sank more hours into all the Heroes games (mostly 2 and 3) than any other game series. I want to try and break down what makes these games so damn fun and interesting. Also, I want to analyze the different interpretations of the formula, particularly Heroes 4 and 5, which are considered black sheep of the Series.

My Top Ten Favorite Magic Cards #9

Heartless Hidetsugu in your deck rarely fails to make multiplayer games more interesting. Although he usually has a huge target on his head as soon as he hits play, if you activate him at least once, whether with haste or some sort of protection, you know the game is probably coming down to the wire in an intense wild west showdown. Now, maybe these moments are more fun for me but I think it is hard to deny the fact that this guy has an intensity that few other multiplayer cards have. It's by no means an immediate win card and is hard to do much with him without some support since he is so easy and desire to kill in addition to being generally unable to win the game on his own (damn you rounding down!), but, if your opponents answers have been exhausted or the right pieces of the puzzle fall together, winning with this guy is like being the good guy in a movie slowly walking away with a huge explosion behind you.


Although this card has a very experiential, splashy Timmy effect, this card is one of the most Johnny type cards I like to play with because it really needs to have support cards to make it work. As you all have witnessed, lifelink or haste are insane with this guy. Mother of Runes or some sort of protection is generally pretty essential too. Burn can be pretty essential too to finish off your opponents' last few life. I suppose it could be fun to throw this guy randomly into a multiplayer deck with little support, but by himself, while dealing a buttload of damage usually, Heartless Hidetsugu is a little too risky if you don't have a significant life advantage. Few other magic cards have such a powerful effect that speed up a multiplayer game but require such a maniacal master plan that takes into account all the ins and outs and counter-strategies. He is also my date to prom.