Hi everyone, ive just started playing Heroclix with my son who is 9. I was just wondering what route to take to learn the rules, Ive started with simple movement and attack/defense using the dials and a few days later added in terrain (which hes sort of getting now).

how should i start to introduce other rules? in what order? is there a simple way to explain them?

Thanks for your help in advance,

Matt

I dont thnk there is an order other than just pick one thing at a time and dont introduce more till he gets that. I started my boys at 9 and 4, and they did fine. I would however avoid things like relics/resources before he knows how to build a team that doesnt need to have one to win.

Enjoy playing with him!

I always teach in tiers. This usually works in 200-300 point training matches, and I like to use AvX Starter figures (allowing my trainee to choose one starter, and I'll use the other.)

1. The Basics; Stats only. Ignore all the pretty colors. Start off in the middle-ish of an open map (like the Great Arena, or Kun Lun Temple.) This lets players get a feel for action economy and such.
-(1-2 games)


2. Terrain; Don't pick an insane map, (No Underwater or Bizarro World) but use start zones and start incorporating terrain into teaching.
-(1-2 games)


3. Standard Powers; Colors only, ignore SPs and Traits, even ones that only hand out Standard powers. Cover combat symbols as well. Objects are included in this tier.
-(2-3 games)


4. SP's and Traits; Shy away from complex things like Resurrection Man, but characters who only have partially modified versions of Standard powers are good. (Charge/Flurry, or some kinda special Perplex for example.) Make sure that the player knows that incompatible powers incorporated into the same SP are still incompatible (Leap/Climb and Charge, for example.)
-(2-3 games)


5. The Bells and Whistles; Relics, Resources, Special Objects, Team Bases, Vehicles, ATA's.
-(It never ends)


The tiering system I put together uses gradual exposure, and a player will build off of what he learned during the last tier pretty easily. I had a player up to tier 4 in about two hours, and he played in a WoL Sealed immediately after (meaning he learned the game and played a tourney in one day.) He picked it up and played 4 matches. While he lost all of them, his last two were very close and he's improved dramatically since then, growing into a credible threat.

That guy is a prodigy at everything though; he was up to learning SPs in under two hours (using AvX Starter pieces only) and we got probably 5-6 games in to teach him before the Sealed started.

Thanks for that. Ive only just started as well so you lost me at relics/resources, .

I will carry on as is then and will go onto tokens and pushing next. ive watched a few vids on youtube but some dont make it sound very easy.

It's fairly simple in practice, but all the words make it sounds harder than it is.

The easiest way to learn is to ask someone to teach you. If there's a local venue around, don't be too shy. Just let players know you're new and that you'd like to learn. 97% of the Heroclix players I've met are great guys, and another 1% are gals, so you should be quite alright.

Thanks, I wouldnt mind if there was one near me but I cant find one. I live in England and they dont seem to be as common as in other countries.

Is there a thread on here for groups in different countries?

Try here

http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=92

If there's a group near you, that'd be the only way I can think of to find it.


As far as actions, I'll break it down in layman's terms.

TIP: The term "Normally" in my description means "Unless a game effect says otherwise."

-Characters start the game with no action tokens.
-When a character is given a non-free action, they get an action token.
-Characters can normally take only one non-free action per turn, but can take as many free actions as they like.
-You can't normally use the same free action twice in one turn.
-A character that begins a turn with one action token can take a non-free action, and be given a second action token. Characters normally take one "pushing damage" when they do this.
-A character that begins a turn with two action tokens, it cannot normally take a non-free action that turn.
-If a character ends a turn without taking any non-free actions, all action tokens (if it has any) are removed from it at the very end of the turn. This is called "clearing" and it is the very last thing you do on your turn.

-The number of non-free actions you can assign your characters is called your "action pool." You get one action for each 100 points of the game (so normally 3, as most games are 300 points.) A character cannot normally take two non-free actions in a turn, even if you have extra actions to assign. You are not required to use up your entire action pool either, it's the amount available, not the amount you must use.

I hope that helps!