The objective of chess is not to remove all of your opponent's pieces before time runs out. It sounds like you are describing checkers. Or possibly Monopoly.

"...figures on a board that move about..." this pretty much describes every board game at a glance, including Monopoly. Or Mouse Trap.

As for tactical differences, the pieces in Heroclix are hardly similar to the fixed movement attributes of chess pieces. Chess pieces behave more like the deliberate, fixed mechanics of Checkers than the free-moving wargame tabletop genre in which one would place Heroclix. Let's not even get started on the fact that chess does not involve any of the random elements of dice rolling that is central to games like Heroclix.

I'm telling you, it's the grid lines that confuse people into assuming similarities. If Heroclix was not played on a grid no one would describe it in relation to chess. Warhammer players do not go around telling people that their hobby is "like chess, but with Space Marines", yet Heroclix has far more in common with Gamesworkshop's poster child. Would you describe Mage Knight as "like chess"? Would you describe Heroscape that way? What about Star Wars miniatures? Risk? Axis and Allies?

Of course you wouldn't. But all of which involve pieces moving around a playing surface. All of which involve individualized abilities of the figures. All of which involve winning through conquest. Yet they are not the same, nor truly similar to chess. They share very superficial similarities (chiefly that they are united by being tactical in nature), but making broad generalizations does not serve to aid people in describing what Heroclix is, nor why it is fun to play. There are many people who would really enjoy Heroclix, but would be turned off from it by hearing it related to chess.

You do yourself and your hobby a disservice when you oversimplify it in my opinion, especially when you make comparisons that are based on false assumptions.

I've referred to Warhammer as "like Risk, but with alien races" before. Does that count?

I always find it difficult to explain games to non-gaming people, so I try to go with the most basic analogy possible.

i thought this was chess with super powers? i play it where you remove your figner your move action is done now do your attack action if you have it. i know players moving 2 figs as one then go and start move another fig before doing anything like attacking with the first two figs then go back to the first 2 and say im attack now with them.

Well then you'd be the first I've heard to use that simile vlad.

I doubt you'll ever hear such a thing from a Gamesworkshop employee demoing the game. And keep in mind, these people are trying to sell the product. What could be more accessible than chess?

What vlad brings up (the idea that it is not easy to describe the game), this is one of my key problems with the analogy. Forget for a moment how necessary it is to make oversimplifications in order to associate how similar they are. Let's look at this, for a moment, from the perspective of advertising.

We as a gaming community (generally) LOVE our game. We are advocates for it and we wish others to partake in it's glorious goodness. So when someone asks what that thing is we play in secret, the knee-jerk response is to try to find something immediately identifiable to a non-gamer, that also carries a superficial similarity and we say "it's like chess" or "it's like playing poker" but chess is not table-top wargames and poker is not magic.

When we do this, sure we make our answers simple, but the people on the exterior of this hobby are done a disservice IMO. We aren't really telling them anything useful about Heroclix and we aren't advocating for our game. Instead we are quite possibly turning them off altogether.

There are a lot of people who think of chess as "boring" or poker as "gambling". They may make unnecessary false assumptions about out hobbies when we do not take the time to explain them. My hope is that we can be better advocates for our hobby- to take the time to explain (briefly) what tabletop gaming is, and how cool it is. If someone has instigated the conversation with a question about your hobby, there is no reason to try to quickly wrap up the exchange or to try to bring "legitimacy" to your interests by linking them to established games.

My hope is that we will all take a moment to think of a clear way to describe our hobby the next time we are asked about it. Tell them it is collectible; tell them it is based on characters "in that Avengers movie you love so much"; tell them it is a tactical strategy game; tell them it uses cool powers; tell them it is exciting; tell them it is a social game and is very fun to play. Tell them the truth!

It's like playing with Barbies that were designed by Chuck Norris.

I can't stress enough how important it is to include the second half of that.

I always compare heroclix to the fighting style of Final Fantasy tactics.

Maybe we should make a House Rule to provide how it is played at each venue? Just kiddin ya Necrodog !!

I play fairly lose and will pretty much allow any take back from my opponent up until a dice roll. Although as they do things I always ask that they do them in the proper order. Announce Action, Fulfill Action, Place Token.

I try to hold myself to a higher standard.

When I judge I try to be more loose as well and leave it up to the players, but when necessary I will resolve problems according to the rules and my understanding/belief on their intent.

However, in the strictest sense it is not just when you stop moving, but every square which you move your piece to that is an unofficial, yet official commitment.

A player that counts out squares to plan his movement, then announces his action, and picks up his figure and places him in the final space of movement is somewhat cheating.

Rulebook p. 3
Technically speaking each and every square you move through eats up your speed value whether you decide to move to a different square or not and thus every square a character moves through is a commitment in the strictest sense of the rules. Thinking you can make a change because you have not yet removed your hand from the piece is actually too late.

One of my all time favorite games and I couldn't agree more. The very first day I started playing Heroclix I immediately wanted there to be a video game version fashioned after Tactics. It would be so great and makes sooooo much sense. If only I were a programmer....

HeroClix IMO is actually a simpler more uniform and compact variation of a miniatures game.

That doesnt mean much to a novice, but then again HeroClix is a horrible Gateway Game. It is definitely not a game I would go to with a player with little gaming experience. There are so many better gateway games to transition to first.

I tend to ask if they've played Magic, Pokemon or Yugioh, which most folks in their 20's or 30's have a passing familiarity with. I explain it's similar. In Pokemon, Picachu can use lightning strike, in Heroclix, Wolverine can use stabbing people.

I could name a lot of "boardgames" that do not meet that "moving figures" criteria.

Do not pass the starting area, do not collect any relics. Go directly to the hindering terrain.

Officially there is no "touch & play" rule for HC like in chess but maybe we should adopt it. This would cut down on placement cheating and keep the game moving forward. Most of the time this isn't an issue but you'll always come across players who constantly shift figs around before they finally decide to pass.

That said, HC is definitely NOT chess. Unless a dice roll or dial turn is involved you can pretty much do-over most things. After the fact its a done deal.