Heroquest from Hasbro/Avalon Hill

[Easy e]

For Christmas this year I got this nostalgia-bait. I had this when I was a younger person, and played the heck out of it. I also used my existing D&D and WHFB minis to expand the heck out of it. You could say, it was the first game I actually heavily modified as a budding wargame designer! New enemies, new heroes, and new magic! I also used it as a gateway to suck a lot of folks into RPGs and Wargaming back then. Mwahahahahahahaha!

Therefore, when it came back out I knew I would eventually get it. Lo and behold, here it is! One of my big projects for this year will be to get this bad boy painted up so I can use it to corrupt more people into wargaming! So, let's dig in and take a look at what is in the box.



I am sure many folks are all ready familiar with this game, so I just highlight the box contents, some of the simple mechanics, and talk about what its potential is. You can read about it on the blog if you are so inclined.

https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot....sbro-plus.html

However, I wanted to make this thread to talk about what you have done with this game. Have you played through the Quest book? Did you paint your boxed set up? Do you have the expansions? Have you made any of your own content?

Please share your experiences with the game here.

[zlefin]

I had one a long time ago. Never got to play much as I didn't have much in terms of friends at that point, mostly was content just to read it and use the dice for it, I think I only played a couple adventures ultimately. Years later I scavenged the pieces from it to use for bloodbowl leagues which was good fun.

[Anonymouswizard]

I was very disappointed with the miniatures, the plastic is too soft and they're not chunky boys like in the original version. It pretty much killed any desire I had to paint them.

Gameplay-wise? It's Heroquest but with this weird addition of multiple hit points for the monsters.

[LibraryOgre]

I was very disappointed with the miniatures, the plastic is too soft and they're not chunky boys like in the original version. It pretty much killed any desire I had to paint them.

Gameplay-wise? It's Heroquest but with this weird addition of multiple hit points for the monsters.

I'm pretty sure HQ always had multiple HP for a number of monsters.

[Anonymouswizard]

I'm pretty sure HQ always had multiple HP for a number of monsters.

Maybe some of the ones you used the Morcar figure for, but not Chaos Warriors and Gargoyles.

(Note: I played the original UK version.)

[Rodin]

Maybe some of the ones you used the Morcar figure for, but not Chaos Warriors and Gargoyles.

(Note: I played the original UK version.)

By crazy coincidence one of my work colleagues was asking about the new game today, so I dug out my US Milton Bradley edition. I can definitively say (and am rather proud of having my memories confirmed) that the US version had hitpoints for a bunch of different monsters. Fimirs and Mummys had 2, Chaos Warriors and Gargoyles had 3, and specially statted boss monsters might have more.

Sadly my box version is in worse shape than I remember - a dozen moves including an oceanic trip has not been kind to it, and I'm missing some of the minis which were presumably raided for D&D once it became unlikely that we would play the game. I'm very happy to see the new version get a release, because the original was the perfect gateway drug to get me interested in D&D.

[AMX]

Yes, normal monsters with multiple HP was a feature of the US edition.

[Glimbur]

My brother picked up the edition with the added quests at a garage sale. He played the actual game at his bachelor party, but generally he uses the minis for other games. Which is a good use for the price.

[Easy e]

I still have parts of the original, but it was scavenged for parts and conversions long, long ago. Same with my old Battlemasters set.

I wish I still had that one knocking around too.

[J-H]

I got it a couple of years ago, and we played through the 15 quests. Unfortunately, when I went looking online for expansions, almost all of the user-created maps expected content from some kind of expansion that included guards and spiders and whatnot. I wasn't able to come up with anything easy to print and use with the base game.

[Kardwill]

By crazy coincidence one of my work colleagues was asking about the new game today, so I dug out my US Milton Bradley edition. I can definitively say (and am rather proud of having my memories confirmed) that the US version had hitpoints for a bunch of different monsters. Fimirs and Mummys had 2, Chaos Warriors and Gargoyles had 3, and specially statted boss monsters might have more.

That was a difference between the US and Euro original editions. In the European edition, all big monsters had only 1HP.

[Easy e]

I have started to paint up my boxed set.....



Some Heroes ready to go on a quest..... a Heroquest!

[Easy e]

I have been painting along on the Core set.

I set myself two resolutions:

1. No playing until it is all painted
2. No expansions until it is all painted

Progress is being made!


I also used these guys in some D&D adventures too!

You can learn about the details I used to paint these guys on the Blood and Spectacles Blog, if you are so inclined:
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot....heroquest.html

[ArmyOfOptimists]

Dem some nice paints.

Why'd you have to post this, though? Now I want to spend $200 on rebuying all the Hero Quest stuff I've lost over the years. Argh.

[Rodin]

I love seeing the artistry of the painted figs. Makes me wish I had an ounce of artistic talent. You’ve done a marvelous job there!

My family D&D group was breaking up for the summer because various people (including our DM) were going to be away on various holidays and business trips for 2 months straight. I suggested HeroQuest as an alternative - I’m not going away, and am an experienced Zargon who could run sessions for a rotating group of players. The simpler story means it’s easy to bring people up to speed on any sessions they missed.

They agreed and I picked up the remake box, giving me almost two complete sets of creatures and furniture to work with. Zargon never had it so good.

It has been an absolute blast, and to my delight my family has been greatly enjoying it as well. I put in some house rules from the word go, as an experienced group of D&D players would murderize the core game structure. After a shakey start we’ve hammered out a good set of rules that are a mix of HeroQuest and 5E (but with a strong emphasis on HeroQuest).

I’ve begun writing my own story to accompany it as well, stitching the quests together into a narrative. For example, the Sir Ragnar quest took place in the same lair as the following Ulag quest, and the heroes had the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Ulag instead of returning to town to shop. I’ve also turned the various “mad wizard” quests into a cohesive story, although I haven’t yet managed to write Balur in. I may keep him as part as the “Rise of the Orcs” storyline.

It’s a ton of fun, giving me experience as a novice DM in a safe environment and keeping the weekly sessions going while folks are traveling. I’m hopeful we can turn it into a regular thing - I’m looking at the expansion sets and salivating, as they far exceed the quality of the Return of the Witchlord expansion which was the only expansion I had as a kid. That’s not a criticism of RotW by the way - it was a good first expansion. But looking at the new spells, new enemies (ghosties and werewolves and ogres, oh my!), and new quest designs of the later expansions sets my heart hammering like a Tex Avery character.

I’d love to set up a rotation where we complete an adventure (which usually takes two or three sessions) and then we go into HeroQuest for a couple weeks while our DM regenerates creative juices.