Ye Olde Inn

Originally when there were only 4 heroes the Wizard was the odd man out, who required a more strategic aspect of play by deciding the best course of action between a weak attack and which type of spell to cast. He was still overall weak with body points, so he wasn't really a favored character by most.

The strategic aspect has a little more flexibility now with heroes that have skills, spells and whatever the Monk has going on.

We now have 12 heroes in total and I'm a bit curious on who has a favorite hero and why. This is not necessarily who you think is the best hero, but which one works the best for you?
Objectively for me I have to side with the Knight. Though due to his skills requiring a shield it's unlikely one would upgrade him to a Battle Axe, but the ability to wear Plate Mail without slowing down gives you 6 Defense Dice when maxed out, and he's a great help to his fellow heroes in a quest with Knight's Challenge and Shield Block.

I've only played the original four heroes, under EU rules. (Well, I used a hybrid of NA and EU rules for a while.)

Strangely enough, the Wizard is my favourite, even though he was everyone's least favoured when we were kids.

I had the EU 2nd edition, in which the first quest is The Trial... but a stripped-down version for introductory games, in which you can only move or fight. No searching or casting spells. That did a lot to make us all hate the Wizard.

When I was a kid I liked the Elf the best because he had decent stats combined with a bit of magic. And I thought he looked the coolest too.

As an adult, though, I've found the Wizard to be the most enjoyable of the classic four to play. You have a lot to think about: when to use your spells, whether to help your teammates or yourself, when to risk close combat, whether it's worthwhile searching for Treasure, and when to use your healing potions. In the EU rules, you die instantly when you hit zero Body points, with no opportunity to heal, which means that as soon as the Wizard is down to 3 Body points he could be taken out by a single lucky roll from a lowly Orc. Since he only has 4 starting Body points and limited defence dice, you're living on the edge of death almost all the time, which makes it tense and exciting.

If you're in a competitive mood, the potential for messing with the other players is also high due to all the spells you can cast on them in order to get to the treasure first.

In the EU 2nd edition there were enough goodies to make the Wizard reasonably worthwhile in a campaign: the Cloak and Bracers, plus the ability to use Quest Treasure (Artifact) weapons like the Spirit Blade or Orc's Bane, in proper Gandalf fashion. His spells also seem to have been stronger than in the NA edition.

Of course, my number one preference is to be the evil wizard (Morcar/Zargon). Back in the day, that was usually my role.

I cant think of just one. My mood shifts with the seasons.

Of the classic Heroes, I like the look of the Elf. Although, the Elf from Mage of the Mirror looks good too. I really like playing the Elf when no one else really wants it. Although, I often find myself playing the Dwarf because not everyone wants to play him. With 7 BP, they think he is a tank, so they get him killed forgetting his peerless mastery with disarming traps is essential for the survival of the party -- he was always the smart-player's go-to Hero. While he gets some great Artifacts in play, I only play the Wizard if I know that the Zargon player will issue bonus spells later in the game. The Barbarian is a character I play the least as he is just a mindless tank.

Of the new AH Heroes, I like the The Rogue Heir of Elethorn and the Explorer from Jungles of Delthrak the best. In both cases, they have some amazing skill sets that don't go away like a Fire of Wrath spell. The Rogue play like a buccaneer with that short-blade and dagger skirmisher style of fighting -- flank enemies and make devastating attacks. The Explorer highlights the best part of playing the Dwarf but I don't have to be a back-up tank. You take the lead in new areas and the first to search a room. Besides them, I like the Druid, as long as I get to use an Animal Ally. The main reason why I like the Druid is that I have an old Reaper miniature (Witch of the Darkmoors #02722) that I can use for her, along with an old plastic toy Smilodon mounted on a base (these is something about both that reminds me of a Frank Frazetta painting). The rest are OK. As for Animal Allies, I love my own Saberfang (Smilodon) and the Raptor -- both found in Jungles of Delthrak.

Malcadon wrote:The main reason why I like the Druid is that I have an old Reaper miniature (Witch of the Darkmoors #02722) that I can use for her

Gasp! Nudity in HeroQuest?!

That's only allowed in the European edition!

I have that mini too, but she's a bit small and skinny by the standards of other fantasy minis, so I've never really found a use for her. How does she compare to the Hasbro figures?

Zenithfleet wrote:Gasp! Nudity in HeroQuest?!

That's only allowed in the European edition!

LOL Yeah. I also use Tana, Female Barbarian (#02773) as a female Barbarian as she like Red Sonja -- to match the look of the classic Barbarian. She just happen to be adventuring at a French beach.

Funny thing about the miniatures is that many players would gravitate to a Hero on appearance alone, much like me with the classic Elf. I find that having a good selection of substitute figures -- more so, Heroes and Heroines for each -- can help make each Hero shine as players as they are not pigeonholed to how each Hero looks, out of box. I generally assume that most HQ fans use substitute figures.

Malcadon wrote:

Zenithfleet wrote:Gasp! Nudity in HeroQuest?!

That's only allowed in the European edition!

LOL Yeah. I also use Tana, Female Barbarian (#02773) as a female Barbarian as she like Red Sonja -- to match the look of the classic Barbarian. She just happen to be adventuring at a French beach.

It's funny, but that Tana mini makes me roll my eyes, whereas the Witch of Darkmoors mini doesn't.

The Witch is scantily clad, but her minimal clothes could easily make sense in whatever society she comes from.

Tana on the other hand... who wears a chainmail loincloth? And gloves and boots, but nothing else? While carrying around a big sharp sword and a shield? Just weird.

(Arguably the reason Red Sonja gets away with the 'chainmail bikini' thing is that she's really a comic-book superhero, just one who lives in a fantasy/historical era instead of the modern day. It's technically a superhero costume, meant to say "I'M RED SONJA!" rather than provide any actual protection.)

It didn't take us long to go off-topic, did it...

Malcadon wrote:Funny thing about the miniatures is that many players would gravitate to a Hero on appearance alone, much like me with the classic Elf. I find that having a good selection of substitute figures -- more so, Heroes and Heroines for each -- can help make each Hero shine as players as they are not pigeonholed to how each Hero looks, out of box. I generally assume that most HQ fans use substitute figures.

Yes, I agree. The problem for me is that I play classic HeroQuest and I want the bases to look the same as the original minis, so I have to put a bit of work into converting the substitute figures. The Reaper figures that come on integral bases can be a huge hassle. Much patient cutting away of chunks of metal...

Back in the day, it was the Barbarian, as I usually prefer a straightforward hack and slash type character. With the remake, I also choose the Elf, since there's a female version now. I don't have the female Barbarian miniature. I'm afraid to use the Monk, as I suspect that, with my approach to play, he/she will be too powerful. I have plastic miniatures that fit the bill for some of the custom classes I've found here, so those are fun too. I'm considering replacing the Dwarf with the Rogue, or maybe switching them out from time to time.

So yeah, Barbarian and Elf.

That's a fair assessment. The Monk is a powerful hero. He's actually actually fairly different then all other heroes so he's difficult to compare to them. Starting off the Monk is super powerful as his Techniques replenish many times during a quest, Eye of the Storm could take out multiple 1BP enemies at once, while alternatively he can jump Pit traps without taking damage. Speak with Stone will be used when no monsters are around, saving Strength of Mountain for big monsters, but it doesn't always work. Twisting Torrent makes up for his lack of defense as he can't go over 3 defense dice. The Monk will need to take risks to activate his Fire Techniques, such as opening doors before finishing off the monsters in your current room. As powerful as his fire techniques are, once used if not all the monsters are dead the Monk becomes vulnerable. I've seen the Monk die in The Great Citadel of Keller's Keep as he can easily get overrun. The factor of the game the Monk can't capitalize on us Combat Mobility. If surrended by enough tough monsters he could easily become stuck and vulnerable. The Barbarian can't move through monsters either, but there are a few areas where the Barbarian outshines the Monk, though: he can build up defense and can probably last longer then the Monk in dire situations with his high body points and non restrictions on weapons and armor.
The Monk is explosively better at the start but quickly reaches a ceiling as the quests get harder. I've played the Monk through the Mage of the Mirror and witnessed what happens when up against monsters like Giant Wolves or Ogres.

I've placed the Barbarian against the Monk in the Arena mode. Starting off with no armor or additional weapons the Monk did come out on top over the Barbarian, but upon maxing out, the Barbarian with armor and the Amulet of the North against the Monk with the Girdle of Might, it was close but the Barbarian outlasted the Monk suggesting overall the Barbarian can go further despite the Techniques.