FULL DISCLOSURE: I'm an avid player and collector of Magic: the Gathering (the collectible card game) and of Heroscape (the original version of this re-branded miniatures-based strategy game).BOTTOM LINE?It's a fun game, but it can be pretty involved. It takes some time to get familiar with the rules and flow of the game, but once you pick it up, the game moves well from turn to turn. I give it only three stars because I was disappointed with some of the packaging (see below) and the construction/finish of the various squad figures (also detailed below).I was also disappointed with the re-branding. I believe they could have introduced Magic: the Gathering themed rules and sets to the original Heroscape environment, just as Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast had introduced Dungeons & Dragons themed sets before Heroscape was discontinued. In fact, 99% of the rules mirror the Heroscape rules, with only minor changes.THE PRODUCT ITSELFAs to the game itself, I have mixed feelings. The game is fun. The spell cards add a new dimension. The cost of this initial set has a MSRP of $29.99 --not inexpensive, but significantly cheaper than its predacessor (Heroscape master sets were introduced at $39.99), though you get far less for that price. The painted Planeswalker figures are beautifully painted. The other squad figures are, however, hugely disappointing.They are plain, colored plastic--no details painted on them at all. After seeing how awesome the painted figures look, the rest look like cheap junk thrown in. The detail of the painted figures was one of the first things that drew me to the original Heroscape game. They made the experience of playing the game more full and rich--more immersive. To me, playing with the mono-colored squad figures is like playing chess with two-dimensional tokens. The rules and game play are the same, but it just feels wrong! Would playing Monopoly feel the same if the metal tokens were replaced with plastic ones?While the cardboard base terrain creates a fairly large play area to start, very few terrain pieces are included to allow you to build vertically. Expansion sets--possibly including sets with more terrain tiles--should become available in 2016 (per Wizards of the Coast).Then there's the packaging. It looks wonderful, but it's impractical for storage. [To be fair, that's an argument some made about the original Heroscape packaging, too.] There's an indented area for the spell cards that fits the shrink-wrapped deck, but once the cards are loose, it's not deep enough to keep them in place. There's no slot or location for the army cards at all--they float loose in the bottom of the box. Most concerning is that they provide no compartment or resealable baggie for the wound counters (the tiny red cubes). Most games I've purchased in this price range (over $25) include either integrated storage or resealable baggies for smaller parts and tokens.WHAT DID THEY GET RIGHT?In my opinion, Arena of the Planeswalkers made two significant improvements on the original Heroscape game. First, they simplified turns by limiting action to a single army card. This eliminated the use of order markers, speeding the progression of turns. Secondly, they significantly sped up the setup of the game by providing large, flat cardboard terrain boards. While I would have loved them to have been made out of a more durable material, the benefit they bring outweighs the eventual wear that will come to bear. Of course, good storage practices will keep them in good shape for a longer period.CAN YOU USE IT WITH EXISTING HEROSCAPE SETS?The terrain tiles (as others have noted) can be used without any modification. If you already own Heroscape terrain, you may play with larger battlefields from day one.You can make use of existing Heroscape army cards and figures, too, if you are willing to make some "house rules" to accommodate the differences in play (e.g., not requiring a Planeswalker, not requiring all army cards to be colorless or match the Planeswalker's color). Actually, I believe you should be able to use them together--with some caveats--as all the basic mechanics are the same. This version of the game does away with the order markers of Heroscape. Instead, each players chooses one unit to use on each turn. I've not yet assessed whether the power levels of those Heroscape figures is comparable to those in this version of the game. Most of the additional spell cards used in this game will work with Heroscape figures as well. Of course spells that specifically list a target unit type (e.g., Planeswalker) won't apply, unless your house rules allow players to assign the "Planeswalker" label to any single Unique Hero card (from the original game) in their army when they do not own a Planeswalker figure.