Alternate Minis for Heroquest

[therealshrek]

I am sure there are a hundred threads about this, but with the resurgence of the game thanks to Heroquest 2021.

Of course Heroquest, Advanced Heroquest, Warhammer Quest, and Warhammer Fantasy Battle miniatures are all perfect with each other, given their relationship.
And many actually exist across all the platforms. Along with these are games like Mordheim, a small unit skirmish table top game that gave access to
boxes of small groups, so you could get a bunch of Sisters of battle , or Flagellants, Emperial Guards, Questing Knights, etc. etc.

Battlemasters: A great game itself, but in terms of Heroquest, an excellent source for for Mercenaries, Orc archers, Goblin archers, and Chaos Archers.
Very much needed to prevent the ever boring strategy of heroes gathered around a doorway.....

The Dungeons and Dragons board games are all great, and there are many.

Talisman, and all its many expansions. Many of these minis are shared across the Warhammer World Games.

Dragon Strike, Dragon Quest, Dark World. All of these are absolutely great for additional miniatures.

Dungeon Command box sets: great way to get themes groups monsters, and nice modular board system.

Descent Journey in the Dark with many, many expansions.

Rune Wars: (Same world as Descent) This is a table top Army Battle game with MANY miniatures.
Great detail, Great prices. You can still get some of these in online stores like Mini Market. I love these actually.

Another new favorite of mine are the Nolzur's Unpainted D&D Minis. I have built quite a nice collection of Dragons.

And for Terrain, I have quickly become a fan of the Terrain Crate sets, which fit very nicely with our new resin furniture.

Ok, this is a list of many games I have to increase my choice of miniatures, but there are others.
Lets see how long we can make the list.

[Kurgan]

Of course a lot depends on your goals. Are you trying to match the game as close as possible so it looks like it was made back in the day as part of the set? Then probably 3d Printing is your best bet. If you're going for "close enough" then Warhammer fantasy battle (Gamesworkshop 'Oldhammer' aka pre-Age of Sigmar warhammer, not 40,000). If you just need a figure, any figure, that fulfills the type of character you're looking for, then the world is your oyster. It could come from Blood Bowl, Dark World, or a dozen other places. The trouble is when those other places are as rare and pricey (if not more-so) than HQ itself, if you're a smaller budget like me.

If you're trying to match the look and feel of the classic game, Warhammer fantasy is the best way to go, but not always the cheapest. If you're trying to go for the look of the 2021 Remake, I would say Reaper Bones/Black is really great.

Yes, BattleMasters has a variety of minis that are right out of the lore, but to me they lack a little bit of the detail and they tend to be a bit smaller and more brittle. The plastic isn't as high quality in my humble opinion. Plus, a lot of the figures don't really feel like they fit inside dungeon corridors, vs. the open field. And you may end up spending as much for these as you would for HQ minis anyway. So while "oldhammer" can be tricky and expensive, there's a lot more product out there, it looks like HeroQuest, and it has plenty of detail... plus it doesn't all look like it's meant for the open field. That's coming from somebody who spent his cash on Reaper minis and didn't bother to get anything other than a pack of Skaven from that fantasy battles universe.

Advanced HeroQuest (and Warhammer Quest which is highly sought after I hear) stuff is going to be rare and expensive, unless you're dipping into the generic Warhammer fantasy stuff which you're in luck there's a lot of it, seemingly, out there in plastic. But, there are patient ones who get lucky every so often!

Yes, Dragon Strike looks rather close, but the proportions are a bit different (small hands and heads) more comparable to the characters in the EQP/BQP (compare the head/hand size of those Elves vs. the Game System Elf to see what I'm talking about). Also the very small fingers and other bits on the DragonStrike minis tend to bend and break off which was a weakness of the design using that type of plastic (no problem with the "bendier" plastic used with Reaper minis or the Remake figures).

I got a lot of mileage out of Reaper minis as discussed in this thread. The scale for many of the figures are spot on, there is a wide variety and their fairly inexpensive compared to a lot of others out there. Plus they're very easy to paint (no primer required, just a dip in some hot water and a little liquid soap then dry first is recommended).

Several people have suggested WizKidz would work for the remake as well (I have never bought any of them before but they appear to be of high quality). Of course I should warn you that I paint my minis in solid color when trying to "match" them into the game like this. I make my own bases from plastic end caps (see signature).

All this time I've been talking about characters of course... if you're looking for furniture... Terrain Crate is pretty neat, if a bit small (designed for Dwarves?) and there's Dungeon Decor if you want to spend a bit more.

3D printing has come a long way and I recommend 3d Printing for furniture, but for figures you run the risk of either having low detail or somewhat brittle (resin) figures. If you're making them for the table, vs. wishing to paint them up pretty to impress your friends...

Insert mandatory endorsement of Zealot Miniatures here (I've only ever purchased their HQ style bases, which worked excellently for the skaven I must say).

[therealshrek]

I dont know if I am fortunate, or just old, but I was able to purchase all of the above games when they actually came out.
And for the look and feel, my preference is "oldhammer" were talking way back to 2cd edition fantasy battle. I have box sets for
Warhammer fantasy from 1st thru 4th edition, after that they started to really look different. Infact I can field an entire army
for every state in the Empire.....

Likewise Warhammer Quest was absolutely perfect, with LOTS of hero character add ons, much like the recent Knight pack for Heroquest.
but trying to find one now is difficult here in the US. I see lots of old Warhammer stuff on ebay, but all in the Uk.
For that matter even old heroquest , you dont see a lot here in the US. The games like Dragon quest, Dragon Strike, Dark World, etc.
Again I got them when they were new, so I have 2 and 3 of each. But they are hard to find now.

The Dungeon Command sets for D&D are newer but likewise hard to find. And even the descent Rune Wars game is getting hard to find already.
Although, you can get it fairly cheap on ebay and such. I love the minis for it, so I have gotten a LOT of those. I would call it my new Battle Masters, haha.

As for the new Nolzers Unpainted Minis. I would say for most of the Monsters they are great, the Dragons are phenomenal. They have some excellent elementals.
But for things like Elves, they probably seam a little smaller, although the quality is excellent.

[Kurgan]

Yeah ideally we all get it back in the day when we wanted it. I was satisfied in 1991-92 with GS+KK+ROTWL (plenty of monsters). I didn't know what Skaven were or why I'd want them, and even the picture of the EQP/BQP on that little flier were pretty vague as to what I was looking at.

You never know... I had a guy selling the UK Battlemasters dice that I wanted and it said he wasn't shipping to the US, but I asked nicely and he allowed it (his first overseas sale).

[therealshrek]

Hmm, anyone ever checked out Dungeon Saga miniatures? This is a game I never got, but they look pretty good in the pics.

[JCool]

I recently picked up Dungeon Saga (core set, Adventurer's Companion, Return of Valandor expansion) + about 100 minis from the game on Ebay. They're great! Highly detailed and will make a welcomed addition to future HQ games.

I'm already thinking of ways to turn the Necromancer mini (with rising skeleton from the ground!) into a hero!

[lestodante]

Please, don't forget my female Wizard (for true wizard lovers)!!!

[therealshrek]

I still havent been able to find a complete set of the original heroes as females. That being said, to continue this topic.
A new game release that is a great fit with Heroquest. ORC QUEST. Complete with "Porks" to honor those who came first.....

[Reaper284]

I found these on my minifactory By RN Estudio https://www.myminifactory.com/users/rnestudio.

[cornixt]

Lots of reuse of er, assets.