JUNGLES OF DELTHRAK discussion

[Markus Darwath]

It's hard to say. Since the Dwarf and Wizard quest backs weren't released, most of us haven't seen what was in them at the point they got dropped. Certainly I would love to see the releases be as close to those originally intended designs as workably possible, but they could honestly feed me just about anything and I won't know the difference... at least until a certain other fan project gets let loose in the wild.

[Kurgan]

To me it's about curiosity and speculation. It could be they are trying to give a nod to those who are still asking "what about the Dwarf quest pack?" but just because this set will involve dwarves and be set in the realm of the dwarves doesn't automatically make it a "Dwarf Quest Pack" like people are asking for or expecting. It may have nothing to do with the old notes and may not follow the template of the other "Hero themed" quest packs of thirty years ago that were planned to form a complete set of four.

But, if Avalon Hill decides "finishing" the old DQP is counterproductive or unprofitable and do something else, I guess that's fine, so long as those notes are safe (meaning the fans can read them and can use them as inspiration for their own "dwarf quest pack" in the style of the old one or as a launching off point for something entirely new).

I think at least one alternate Dwarf hero mini, new options/enhancements for the Dwarf are a bare minimum to add to the Dwarf setting/mission if they want to sell it as such. The thing is they clearly removed the "[Name of Hero] Quest pack/Quest Pack for the [Name of Hero]" title with these. We can guess it was because they weren't yet committed to doing all four (considering the old community really only got half of them... and they were badly in need of revision anyway)... but they also, as others have suggested, been dreading (no pun intended) the idea of feeling the pressure to release a "Quest Pack for the..." for each and every NEW hero as well. We've got the Bard, Warlock, Druid, Knight, Rogue and Monk.

Yes, the Knight got packed into Rise of the Dread Moon, but it's really not about him in the way Frozen Horror was about the Barbarian or Mage of the Mirror was about the Elf. Spirit Queen's Torment incorporates the Bard but more as a bonus or afterthought... the real point is re-releasing the mythic content people missed out on, even more so for the Warlock in Prophecy of Telor. PoT really has nothing to do with the Warlock anymore than any other quest pack... unless maybe you speculate thematically it has some similarity with the theme of a hero using "dark" powers (and the Bard goes in SQT because he's an orc!).

From what we know of ATOH from the legacy version, there's nothing in there about Druids really. An ogre shaman perhaps? Either the Druid will tie into the "Arena mode" and three new quests being added on, or they will simply be addons like the Knight in ROTDM, again to fulfill the desire of those who missed out on the character from the Haslab campaign (even if it is a totally new set of sculpts, the cards and thus mechanics will probably be identical to the 2021 version... and many were disappointed with the miniature design back then anyway).

So the "[Name your hero here] Quest Pack"'s with extreme difficulty may remain in the realm of fans to create themselves.

Re-posting comments from my youtube channel here:

So ATOH turns out not to have anything to do with the unreleased Dwarf quest pack from 1992, but speculation continues that maybe Jungles of Delthrak will be, because of the mention of the Worlds End (Edge) mountains and rescuing dwarves from Kellar's Keep.

Details are scarce for what type of heroes and their powers will be included in this pack only that there are three of them with strength cards. What we know of the legacy DQP is that it was only 50% finished, and had two different drafts of the main plot... one in which you were searching for the legendary hammer of Hadrakka in order to destroy it (so the technology of Dwarvmental wouldn't fall into the hands of Zargon's forces and greatly increase their strength) and the other in which you were more trying to use the Hammer to unite everyone with the Dwarven people, etc.

The characters featured would include the heroic female Dwarf option (like the other two '92 packs including a female version of one of the classic heroes), Rhino-like Rock moles, giant burrowing caterpillar type creature, stone golem/giant type monster, evil Dwarves and the re-use of the three "boss" type Ogres from ATOH.

If none of those features are present, that doesn't mean it can't be "the dwarf quest pack" but it just would not be what was planned all those years ago. The '92-'93 DQP would have followed the same conventions as the Barbarian, Elf, and Wizard (which was about 90% done) packs... a special alchemist shop (which invited you to use the shops of other expansions) including three potions exclusively for the title hero, special artifacts for that hero, and three solo quests for the Dwarf prior to the 7 quest group adventure (with the familiar extra-hard 2 part adventure for 9-10).

It would have featured an artifact that boosted the Dwarf's BP maximum by 2 (bringing him to 9) and MP maximum by 1 (raising his 2 to 3). Other than seeing those cutting room floor things brought to life, there would NOT be nostalgia attached to this as most players only wished for something like this in concept and never saw the drafts. It would have brought all of the "missed out" European HQ miniatures into a North American box but like MOTM and FH it would have been planned more or less as a US exclusive. And then HeroQuest was cancelled so it was never finished.

Unless they tracked down the surviving designers and picked their brains for details on how it should be finished, any attempt at such a re-creation is going to involve a lot of creative imagination and no two interpretations at a finished version will be alike. Though perhaps Hasbro has more notes than the fans do (Encarmine's "we have/own everything" comments), and might be further along?

[j_dean80]

New expansion for HeroQuest, Jungles of Delthrak, expected in Q3 2024. Leaked information suggests August 2024 release, with a new hero, abomination boss miniature, and reptilian-like monsters.

[Kurgan]

Do we have a source for those leaks? Cristobal (of La Guarida De Morcar on youtube) says his previous source for info on ATOH turned out to be very unreliable (for which he apologized) which throws into question any info he got from that same source on Jungles of Delthrak.

Now we're getting reports of ATOH being prepared to ship out already this week (a month early), so perhaps we won't have to wait so long for this one either?

[j_dean80]

That was the info I got from an AI bot so may not be accurate.

[Kurgan]

A.I. bots are notorious liars, so I wouldn't trust that at all.

So for now the most reliable info is that it contains... 23 miniatures, consisting of "premium" "translucent" figures and "2 new heroes" (maybe not counted in the "23" number).

[emlit]

Pre-order listing:
https://store.blackdiamondgames.com/heroquest-jungles-of-delthrak-expansion.html

[Kurgan]

And here I have to revise my earlier post about Against the Ogre Horde. Those "early shipping" of ATOH turned out to be inaccurate. The "peteismyname" seller on Spanish Ebay had to cancel CarlLeslie (sp?)'s order and refund it. GeekGoneGiddy had a beef with Zatu who claimed they were shipping him a copy of ATOH but instead sent him a second Monk copy (they gave him discount on the real ATOH but he hasn't gotten it yet).

So far the only people we know of outside of somebody at LUCA who has ATOH early are possibly those convention goes who went home from Cannes this weekend. So at least the French edition should be available for show/shipping possibly first to the general public is my guess.

The announcement from Avalon Hill's instagram/X is on or around March 1st, so they're allowing for the possibility of early releases for this one. Four days (or less) to wait then I guess (not accounting for shipping time). Honestly if it showed up at a store shelf on Friday, I'd much rather just walk in and buy it, regular price.

But Jungles of Delthrak? Once the dust settles on ATOH, we should start to know more... it's only five months away! I'd say August 1st is pretty realistic as a release date (again allowing for slight adjustments and early deliveries as before).

By May I'd expect to see the PDF of ATOH available on Hasbro Consumer Care, and the App should be updated well before then to include at least ATOH (when will they add SQT?) etc, etc...

[LucaRocks]

The Ogre Horde has left the building! Is it too early for Jungle spoilers???

From what I hear, jungles of Delthrak may involved the land of Delthrak with some kind of forestry aspect. But this is all unconfirmed at the moment.

[TheLastChaosWarrior]

The Ogre Horde has left the building! Is it too early for Jungle spoilers???

From what I hear, jungles of Delthrak may involved the land of Delthrak with some kind of forestry aspect. But this is all unconfirmed at the moment.

I'm loving the sound of this, goes well with my forest themed board.
Hope it's an Abomination themed pack, with some back story.
But I've already finished my Abomination origin quest pack!!??
Oh well, never mind.