Ye Olde Inn

by **Anderas** » September 15th, 2017, 3:49 am

So I keep the minis at least. Some chaos dwarves? I have them now. However my hobby cupboard is full now. By full I mean full. So there is a stop now. Massive darkness, I guess I will not play it again. So I can put away all the rules stuff and keep only the tiles and the minis.

Actually I already started to paint lines on the boards so that the field size gets useable for Hero Quest.

To my knowledge, the only *single* piece (1), *hard* plastic (2) minis in the *25/28mm* (3) scale are the old HQ and Dragonstrike figures.

There are quite a few that meet 1 & 3, including by and large these KS ones we've been discussing.

The only ones I can think of that really meet 2 & 3 are GW - though Mantic offers some "hard" plastic minis' they're not what I'd call hard plastic - they bend and warp easy. There was another company....?Northstar? maybe, that also said the same thing - I didn't like them. Then there's the dude that does Avatars of War, his I thought were OK and a pretty close style to the GW stuff.

As far as all of them.....I can't think of any but HQ and Dagonstrike. KK is the resident mini expert, he could tell for sure, but none that I'm aware of.

by **knightkrawler** » September 15th, 2017, 12:16 pm

clmckay wrote:To my knowledge, the only *single* piece (1), *hard* plastic (2) minis in the *25/28mm* (3) scale are the old HQ and Dragonstrike figures.

There are quite a few that meet 1 & 3, including by and large these KS ones we've been discussing.

The only ones I can think of that really meet 2 & 3 are GW - though Mantic offers some "hard" plastic minis' they're not what I'd call hard plastic - they bend and warp easy. There was another company....?Northstar? maybe, that also said the same thing - I didn't like them. Then there's the dude that does Avatars of War, his I thought were OK and a pretty close style to the GW stuff.

As far as all of them.....I can't think of any but HQ and Dagonstrike. KK is the resident mini expert, he could tell for sure, but none that I'm aware of.

That's about the long and short of it.
No competitor in the 2/3 area to Games Workshop's quality. Now you just have to like the style or make use of it, like I do.
The other bigger contemporary manufacturers use softer stuff and I hate it. Details are not evry crisp. Looking at you, Privateer Press!
I did hear and read about them and, for instance, Wyrd Miniatures (for the Malifaux game) now using a harder material,
but I haven't gotten my clutches on any.

1, 2, AND 3 were only EVER met around the HQ timeframe and, based on its success, shortly after.
HeroQuest, Dragonstrike, DarkWorld, Legend of Zagor, and of course the Games Workshop boardgames... all of these games used similar miniatures in a very hard plastic that we love,
but after them the material was seemingly lost in the ether, which only comes to my attention now that I'm typing it down. Or I forgot something.
Now, with multipart kits that are simply awesome in theory and in many cases practise, too, one-piece hard plastics have no market, pure and simple.
I guess they would be too expensive for all these useless and purposeless Kickstarter-based Nerdgasm-boardgames that have flooded the markets (well, they didn't did they?).

Big honor, that, being called the Resident Chief of Figure Research...
Wait, that wasn't it to the letter, was it?

by **benvoliothefirst** » September 15th, 2017, 1:00 pm

Anderas wrote:What makes Heroquest stand out?
* New equipment is exciting, because you get a new item only sometimes

Anderas, thank you for your expert opinion, I truly enjoyed getting such a detailed breakdown. I didn't even know Massive Darkness existed, and having missed Zombicide Green Plague I appreciate the info.

I totally agree about the limited chests and upgrades in HeroQuest. I played through Torchlight 1 and 2 on the PC, which are like Diablo in that you get TONS AND TONS of equipment, and have of it is boring and repetitive "rare" or "legendary" stuff that is nearly identical to twenty other swords you already have. I get that it's psychologically exciting to get lots of little drops, but when I'm agonizing over whether to add gems to one sword to get it slightly better or throw it away to make room for a slightly differently-better sword, all the value has gone out of those items. And don't tell me the sword I just found is obsolete, I deal with that enough in the real world!

mitchiemasha wrote:
Anderas wrote:What makes Heroquest stand out?

When ever writing a line similar to that, it should always default to, "The best thing about HeroQuest"

SECONDED.

by **Aelfbrand** » September 28th, 2017, 9:08 pm

Thanks for posting a review, Anderas. I was on the fence about this, now I know it's not for me. HeroQuest is all I need.

by **Daedalus** » December 7th, 2017, 2:21 pm

Anderas wrote:. . .
* The material is really great in Massive Darkness. No objections here. One exception: Many of the counters. If they had included some less minion ablative life point models, they could have included furniture instead of counters for furniture. Those tiles with light and dark zones, I need to find a way to implement that sneaky part into Heroquest, as it is really changing something. How could we possibly implement a way to hide in the dark into Heroquest? I would like that part, personally!

Hmm . . . This looks like something to try for a Quest in the Notes section. Some thoughts:

The entire Quest is in darkness, with the effect described at the top of the notes section: Tell the players that a Hero may hide as part of his movement and can't be attacked if he ends his turn out of Line of Sight of any monsters. Darkness doesn't block LoS, but a hidden Hero does.
Maybe a Hero only one rolls one red die for movement if he hides.
Maybe a Hero may not take an action if he hides (or hiding is an action.)
Maybe a Hero must roll anything but a skull to hide, like disarming a trap. A Dwarf, being native to darkened environments, must roll anything but a black shield.
Only certain rooms or corridors are entirely in darkness. Darkness effect (as above) is either described at the top of the notes section or in the appropriate room note.
The effect of darkness may instead be described as part of an introductory section of a Quest Pack.
Torch tiles: a torch is located on the map adjacent to a wall like a secret door and the tile is placed like furniture. The tile and any surrounding spaces (adjacent and diagonal) can't be used to hide in. Other spaces may be used to hide in. Used in entirely darkened rooms and corridors.
Darkness tiles: a darkness space is located on the map in any open space and the tile is placed like furniture. The tile and any surrounding spaces (adjacent and diagonal) may be used to hide in. Other spaces may not be used to hide in. Used in a Quest that is not entirely darkened.
Cloak of Darkness tile: An alternative to a Darkness tile, it may be used to hide in but doesn't include surrounding spaces.