Ye Olde Inn

From the White Dwarf 115 Hero Quest preview:

Hero Quest has been developed in collaboration by MB Games and Games Workshop, using the talents of games designers Jervis Johnson and Steve Baker, and artist John Blanche, plus the skill and creativity of the Citadel Miniatures designers to produce a unique boardgame.

I knew Jervis Johnson had designed Advanced Heroquest, but I had never heard before that he had helped in the design of Hero Quest. I wonder what his contribution was.

Stephen Baker had made no mention of him in his Kaos interview, though Roger Ford, then vice president of research and development, was said by Baker to have been involved since the beginning. Ben Rathbone, who worked mainly on expansions, also was mentioned specifically by Baker as a contributor in this interview.

The art of John Blanche referred to in the Hero Quest preview can be found in the EU and AU editions, though it had already been produced and was re-purposed for the Rules of Play. Since Advanced Heroquest came out right on the heels of the EU Hero Quest release, perhaps some of Jervis Johnson's proto-AHQ ideas had similarly been re-purposed.

Where do you see John Blanche art? Only one I can spot is the Citadel painting on the back of WoM.

OK, thanks for the clarification. I was assuming some of the interior art was by Blanche without checking, but it is actually some of Gary Chalk's pre-existing work.

It appears White Dwarf was shamelessly throwing in established names to sell product to their market. That could mean Jervis Johnson actually had very little to do with the creation of Hero Quest other than some playtesting feedback.

John Blanche works were featured in several questbook. For example the back of Wizards of Morcar (tower), Kellar's Keep (minions) and Witch Lord (army of undeads).
Also inside the rulebook you can find several of his artworks in black and white.

Which of the Rules of Play illustrations are from Blanche?

At the end of the preview planned expansions are mentioned, but my cited text and WD's claim applies to the boardgame.

Daedalus wrote:

cornixt wrote:

How did Games Workshop get involved?
'Initially we just wanted them to do the plastic miniatures, but they've had so much experience in the fantasy field we decided to draw on their expertise.'

Were they involved in the actual design of the game?
'No. Their input in the basic version was the artwork and the manufacture of the miniatures,

This seems like almost a contradiction between the two, surely "their expertise" doesn't just mean artwork here. Combined with one of the GW crew claiming to have completely rewritten the rules from what Baker gave them to test out, I'm wondering if he let too much slip in the first question and pulled it so far back as to ruleout them having any input in the rules at all. I would have thought that the playtest feedback deserved a mention even if he took no notice of it. Purely speculation though, it just jumped out as being not as straight forward as his usual claim to have designed it all.. . .

GW certainly contributed more than just artwork and miniatures. The Empire, Chaos (with a capital 'c'), the World's Edge Mountains, and perhaps even Morcar and Atheloren are all derived from the Old World of Warhammer. Baker's denial feels like it has GW/Hasbro NDA written all over it.

Oh yes . . . and then there's the little thing of the Hero Quest trademark being applied for by GW in '89 and awarded to them in '90.

The quote selected by cornixt was found in a Games International interview with Stephen Baker from '89. Could Mr. Baker have let slip a reference in this earliest of interviews to the involvement of Jervis Johnson?

Is this artwork that appeared in the 1st/Premiere Edition (UK) rules book and not in the later editions?

Kurgan wrote:Is this artwork that appeared in the 1st/Premiere Edition (UK) rules book and not in the later editions?

Check page 6, 9 and 11 from the European rules book. The Chaos Warrior fighting the Paladin is by John Blanche:
http://english.yeoldeinn.com/downloads/ ... dition.pdf

John Blanche got me through art college. What an absolute Legend.

Pancho wrote:John Blanche got me through art college. What an absolute Legend.

Alas, I didn't make it through to Art College, but John was heading me towards an A for my art GCSE. My bestie also took Art and chose Wayne England...