Ye Olde Inn

Happy birthday!

Yeah, my original thought was that a dagger had the same "throwing" restrictions as a Crossbow. Turns out it can strike in four directions (diagonal weapons are the exception... staff and longsword in NA, staff/shortsword/spear in EU)... and be thrown in 8 directions INCLUDING on the "touching" squares, not just one square away like the Crossbow. The crossbow couldn't fire diagonal-adjacent, you had to be one square away (and no bludgeoning with the crossbow, up close you need another weapon, even if it's just your fists for 1 die).

The Magical Throwing Dagger only scores a hit if it is thrown and can be thrown at point blank range. You roll for a normal dagger, but it has the same "range." Like I said, throwing a normal dagger on one of the four facing squares is pointless, but technically a legal move in the NA rules.

Don't think daggers even exist in the EU rules, right?

No, they didn't. Also, throwing weapons can be thrown in way more than 8 directions - they have a 360 degree firing arc, as long as you are at least on square away from your target, which basically means not in an adjacent square, and have line of sight to your target. Remember, models block line of sight to models behind them, although under EU rules, everyone in the same room can see each other regardless...

Looking over the compiled information for the HQ CERB, I decided that I should actually include information and text from other components (besides flavour text). I noticed that Ye Olde Inn doesn't have a scan of the UK version of the Game Screen, so I scanned and uploaded copies of the Game Screen here.

Since I included a version of the text on the screen in that thread, it makes sense to start with the information listed on the Games Screen first, and see if there's anything additional we need to know about the rules. The text from the UK game screen is copied below (in case you are too lazy to look at the thread):

HeroQuest UK (2nd?) Edition Game Screen wrote:Pit Trap
Any character who stumbles into a pit trap will automatically lose one Body Point. The character may move as normal on his next turn. Characters in a pit may attack and defend, but roll one less die than normal. The pit remains on the board as an obstacle. Characters and monsters may attempt to jump across a pit trap. They must have enough movement left to get across the pit, and the square on the other side must also be unoccupied. Any miniature who attempts to jump across must roll a combat die. If he rolls a skull he falls into the pit and loses one Body point. If he rolls a shield he is allowed to continue his move. Count the square with the pit as a normal square when counting how far you have moved.

Falling Block
Any character who moves through a falling block trap square will trigger the trap. The block will fall into the square marked with the arrow, blocking the way. Any character or monster in that square must roll three combat dice. The victim must lose one Body point for each Skull rolled, and then move to an adjacent unoccupied square. If the victim cannot move to an adjacent square, he is killed by the falling block.

Spear Trap
Any player who is caught in a spear trap will lose one Body point if he rolls a Skull on a combat die. The spear trap will only affect the first character to enter the square.

It's interesting to note that on the screen, the furniture shown is hand drawn, rather than photographic. The text, however, only reminds us of the rules for the three types of trap that appear on the Quest Map: Pit Traps, Falling Block Traps, and Spear Traps. We have already covered these rules, so we can easily compare if we are gaining any additional information with this text.

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book wrote:Pit Traps
A pit trap is a covered hole in the floor.

If the trap is found during a search, the evil wizard will say that the floor looks weak and will point in the square where the trap is located. The evil wizard will put a pit trap tile on the gameboard at this time. The pit remains on the board as an obstacle.

[US: The evil wizard will NOT put a pit trap tile on the gameboard at this time. It has not yet been sprung.]

Once a pit trap is discovered, a Hero may be able to JUMP the trap, or on his next turn, DISARM it.

[US: Once a pit trap tile is placed on the board, the trap cannot be disarmed and removed. As a Hero, you may, however, attempt to JUMP over it.]

If a Hero does not search for traps and moves onto a pit trap square, he automatically springs the trap. As a Hero, if you move onto a pit trap square, the evil wizard will stop you by saying, "You have just stumbled into a pit!" Any character who stumbles into a pit trap will automatically lose one Body point in the fall. The evil wizard will then put a pit trap tile on that square (under your Hero figure). This ends your turn. You must then record your Body Point damage on your Character sheet.

Characters in a pit may attack and defend, but roll one less die than normal. (This applies to monsters as well).

Note: As a Hero, your minimum attack or defend strength is always 1 combat die, even if the pit penalty would reduce your dice to zero.

They may not search whilst in a pit.

[US: As a Hero, once in a pit, you may search the pit for treasure or secret doors as if it were a seperate room unto itself.]

The character may move as normal on his next turn.

Note: A disarmed pit trap is considered to be a regular gameboard square.

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book wrote:Jumping a Pit

Characters and monsters may attempt to jump across a pit trap.

They must have at least two squares of movement to get across the pit, counting the pit square as one space.

There must be an unoccupied space adjacent to the pit for the miniature to jump onto.

There may be as many as 3 possible squares to jump to on the other sides of a single pit. However, sometimes a pit has only 1 space open to jump across to, such is in a corridor or corner junction, or in front of a door.

If all adjacent squares are occupied by monsters, and you are a Hero without any special armoury weapons, you must voluntarily fall into the pit (suffering damage) and do combat with the monsters (at a disadvantage) from in the pit!

Any miniature who attempts to jump across must roll a combat die.

If he rolls a skull, he falls into the pit and loses one body point and may do nothing else until his next turn.

If you avoid rolling a skull, you can jump over the trap, expending two moves. If they have any moves remaining, the miniature may continue its move.

Monsters, with enough Movement Squares (and a vacant space beyond), will always successfully jump over a pit. If they voluntarily enter a pit, they will suffer no damage.

[US: Characters and monster may jump over unsprung traps.

Note: Once a falling block trap has been sprung, it CANNOT be jumped. The path is permanently blocked by a wall of fallen stone.]

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book wrote:Falling Block Traps
Heroes beware! Falling block traps are very dangerous. Stepping on one may trigger the ceiling to collapse. When a character player moves through a square containing a falling block trap, a block will fall.

If such a trap is found during a search, the evil wizard will say that the ceiling looks dangerous and will point to the square where the trap is located. The evil wizard will put a falling block trap tile on the gameboard at this time. It will land into the adjacent square marked with the arrow on the Quest map, blocking the way. Once a falling block trap is discovered, a Hero may attempt to DISARM it on his next turn.

[US: The evil wizard will NOT put a falling block trap tile on the gameboard at this time. It has not yet been sprung. Once an unsprung falling block trap is discovered, a Hero may attempt to JUMP the trap, or may later attempt to DISARM it on his next turn.]

If a hero does not search for traps and moves onto a falling block trap square, he springs the trap. As a Hero, if you move onto a falling block trap square, the evil wizard will stop you by saying, "You've just sprung a falling block trap! The ceiling is caving in! Look out!" The evil wizard will put a falling block trap tile on the gameboard at this time. It will land into the adjacent square marked with the arrow on the Quest map, blocking the way.

Any character or monster in the square into which the block falls must roll three combat dice. The victim must lose one Body point for each skull rolled. You may NOT roll Defend Dice.

You must now make a decision. You can either move ahead to an adjacent unoccupied square, or move back to an adjacent empty space. Remember, the trap space is now a permanent block in the game. Your decision is a critical one. You could become trapped forever, or you could be cut off from the rest of the Heroes. This ends your turn.

If the victim cannot move to an adjacent square, he is eliminated by the falling rock.

[US: Note: Once a falling block trap has been sprung it cannot be disarmed or jumped.]

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book wrote:Spear Traps
A spear trap is carefully hidden.

If found during a search, the evil wizard will say that the square looks suspicious and will point to the square where the trap is located. Once a spear trap is discovered, it is automatically disarmed. The spear trap is now gone forever and the square can be moved onto safely.

[US: Once a spear trap is discovered, a Hero may attempt to JUMP the trap or DISARM it. Only once disarmed, is the spear trap is now gone forever and the square can be moved onto safely.]

As a Hero, when you step onto a spear trap, you automatically spring the trap. This causes a spear to thrust out of the wall, floor, or ceiling.

Any player who triggers a spear trap will lose one Body point if he rolls a skull on a combat die. This ends your turn.

If you roll either a black or white shield, you have dodged out of the way of the spear. You may then continue with your move.

The spear trap will only affect the first person to enter the square. The spear trap is now gone forever and the square can be moved onto safely. Subsequent characters who move through this square will be unaffected.

Note: There are no spear trap tiles.

A quick comparison with the above information reveals that there is nothing new on the UK Edition Game Screen that needs to be added to the HQ CERB, so we can safely ignore that component for now.

By comparison, the US Edition of the Game Screen contains a lot more useful information. As well as the Monster Chart (which we will deal with when we cover the Monster Cards), summaries of the rules for Heroes, Monsters, and Combat can be found here as follows:

HeroQuest US Edition Game Screen wrote:On a turn, a player does one of the following:

• Moves and then performs an action, or
• Performs an action and then moves

HeroQuest US Edition Game Screen wrote:Heroes
Movement

• A player may control 1 or more Hero figures.
• A Hero moves by the roll of 2 red dice, square by square, on the gameboard. (No diagonal moves allowed.)
• A Hero cannot take part of his move, perform and action, and then resume his move.

Actions
A hero may do one of the following on a turn:

• Attack an adjacent monster.
• Cast a spell on a Hero (including himself) or a monster that he can "see." (Only the Wizard and Elf can cast spells.)
• Search for treasure in the room he is in.
• Search for secret doors in the room or corridor he is in.
• Search for traps in the room or corridor he is in.
• Disarm a trap on the square he is on.

NOTE: Getting caught in a trap, drinking potions, picking things up, opening doors, looking through doors, and looking down corridors do not count as actions. They can be done at any time during movement.

HeroQuest US Edition Game Screen wrote:Monsters
Movement

• Zargon, the Evil Sorcerer, controls all monster movements.
• Zargon is allowed to move any or all of his monsters on his turn.
• Monsters do not move by dice roll. Each monster's maximum movement per turn is listed in the Monster Chart to the right.
• A Monster cannot take part of his move, perform an action, and then resume its move.

Actions
Each monster may do one of the following on Zargon's turn:

• Attack an adjacent Hero.
• Cast a spell on a Hero that he can "see." (For certain monsters only.) See individual Quests in the Quest Book for more information.

NOTE: Monsters cannot be caught in traps and do not search for anything.

HeroQuest US Edition Game Screen wrote:Combat Summary
The white dice are referred to as both Attack and Defend Dice. Monsters and Heroes both roll these dice in combat. The attacker always rolls the dice first.

Monster Attacking and Hero Defending

• An attacking monster rolls the number of Attack Dice shown on Monster Chart.
• Each skull rolled by the attacking monster counts as 1 hit against the Hero. If no skulls are rolled, then the combat round is over.
• A defending Hero usually rolls 2 Defend Dice (or more after purchasing armor).
• Each white shield rolled by the defending Hero blocks 1 hit.

Hero Attacking and Monster Defending

• An attacking Hero rolls the number of Attack Dice shown on his Character Card.
• Each skull rolled by the attacking Hero counts as 1 hit against the monster. If no skulls are rolled, then the combat round is over.
• A defending monster rolls the number of Defend Dice shown on the Monster Chart.
• Each black shield rolled by the defending monster blocks 1 hit.

At first glance, this appears to tell us nothing that we don't already know, but it's worth noting that we covered actions individually for both Heroes and Monsters, and thus some of this information may actually serve as a useful overview for what Heroes and Monsters can actually do. We don't currently have sections for Heroes and Monsters these, so it might be worth considering if we should add them to the HQ CERB. We do have a section on Combat, so we can check if a Combat Summary would be useful. We also have a section on Order of Play, which may or may not be relevant. It should be noted that aside from the Combat Summary, none of the information on the US version of the Game Screen contains any ACTUAL rules, so the Evil Wizard would still be required to consult the Instruction Manual if they needed a reminder on how these actions are carried out.

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book wrote:Order of Play
Each player moves in turn, starting with the player to the left of the evil wizard player and continuing clockwise. Hint: A good starting setup would be for the Barbarian to sit to the evil wizard's left, followed by the Dwarf, the Elf, and then, seated to evil wizard's right, the Wizard.

When it is your turn, you may both move and perform an action. You may move first, then perform an action, or perform an action first, then move. You may not take part of your move, perform an action, then finish your move.

On his turn, the evil wizard player may move some or all of his monsters currently on the gameboard. He moves each monster in turn. Monsters may move first, then perform an action, or perform an action first, then move, as do the player characters.

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book wrote:Combat
Combat is split into two stages: attack and defence. The attacker rolls his dice once to score as many skulls as he can. The defender then rolls his dice once to cancel the skulls out by rolling shields.

Attacking
You may attack any monster or character that you are adjacent to. You are adjacent if you are directly to the side, front, or rear of another square. You may, however, only attack once per turn.

Example: The Elf may attack from any of the squares where he is shown in the diagram. He may not attack from any of the squares marked "X".

A Hero's attack strength depends on their attack weapon. The stronger the weapon, the greater the number of Attack Dice used. Some weapons allow a Hero to attack diagonally or from a distance. Most weapons, however, do not.

Important: You may only attack with one weapon at a time.

A monster's attack strength is based on its natural abilities and does not depend on a weapon.

To attack, you roll a number of the special combat dice (with shields and skulls). The number of dice to roll is shown on the character boards and monster cards against Attack. For each skull you roll, your opponent will lose one Body point unless he can successfully defend himself. If you fail to roll any skulls the attack is wasted and your opponent need not defend.

Defending
To defend against a successful attack, a player rolls the number of special combat dice shown on his character board or monster card against Defend.

A defending Hero usually rolls 2 Defend dice (less if in a pit or under certain spells, and more after purchasing armour).

A defending monster rolls the number of Defend Dice shown in the Monster cards.

The Heroes must try to roll white shields, while the monsters need round, black ones. Each shield rolled - provided it is the correct type - cancels one skull rolled by the attacker.

Once the result of the defence has been determined, the player who was attacked must reduce his Body point score of his character sheet by one point for every skull not cancelled by a shield. When a character's Body points reach zero, the character is dead. Important! If the Hero has 1 Body Point remaining, and takes more than 1 hit of damage, his Body Points are still only reduced to zero.

[UK]: Since all the monsters have only 1 Body point, they are killed by any roll of a skull which is not cancelled by rolling a black shield when defending.

[US]: Many monsters are killed with only 1 hit, and are killed by any roll of a skull which is not cancelled by rolling a black shield when defending. Some monsters, however, require more than 1 hit. (Refer to the Monster Chart on the Information Screen for a monster's Body Points.) For those monsters requiring more than 1 hit, monster damage is tracked by the use of skull tiles. For each hit such a monster sustains, the Evil Wizard must record the hit by placing a skull tile under the monster figure on the gameboard.

Note: If the Hero or monster survives the attack, they cannot attack back until their player's next turn.

After comparing the two, I have added the information on the US Game Screen to the Order of Play section, as it neatly summarises what Players can do, which is then expounded upon in the following paragraphs, as follows:

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book wrote:Order of Play
Each player moves in turn, starting with the player to the left of the evil wizard player and continuing clockwise. Hint: A good starting setup would be for the Barbarian to sit to the evil wizard's left, followed by the Dwarf, the Elf, and then, seated to evil wizard's right, the Wizard.

On a turn, a player does one of the following:

• Moves and then performs an action, or
• Performs an action and then moves

When it is your turn, you may both move and perform an action. You may move first, then perform an action, or perform an action first, then move. You may not take part of your move, perform an action, then finish your move.

On his turn, the evil wizard player may move some or all of his monsters currently on the gameboard. He moves each monster in turn. Monsters may move first, then perform an action, or perform an action first, then move, as do the player characters.

As stated above, we don't have a section for Heroes, although we do have a section for Characters. This Characters section ONLY covers the details on the Character Boards, however, and NOT a summary of the actions that a Hero can take. As such, we can include the text directly, with a little modification, in a section on Heroes, as follows:

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book wrote:Heroes
Movement

• A player may control 1 or more Hero figures.
• A Hero moves by the roll of 2 red dice, square by square, on the gameboard. (No diagonal moves allowed.)
• A Hero cannot take part of his move, perform an action, and then resume his move.

Actions
A hero may do one of the following on a turn:

• Attack an adjacent monster.
• Cast a spell on a Hero (including himself) or a monster that he can "see." (Only the Wizard and Elf can cast spells.)
• Search for treasure in the room [UK: or corridor] he is in.
• Search for secret doors in the room or corridor he is in.
• Search for traps in the room or corridor he is in.
• Disarm a trap on the square he is on.

[UK: Searching for secret doors and searching for traps is combined into a single action. Thus, searching for secret doors also reveals traps, and searching for traps also reveals secret doors.]

NOTE: Getting caught in a trap, drinking potions, picking things up, opening doors, looking through doors, and looking down corridors do not count as actions. They can be done at any time during movement.

Like with Heroes, I have opted to include the section on Monsters, with some rewrites. In this case, the main rewrite is about UK Edition Monsters not casting Spells, but I opted to clarify this with the fact that Monsters, especially in the UK edition, may also have other abilities listed in the Quest Book. It MAY be worthwhile to go through the Quest Books at a later date, and see if there's any repeated abilities in there that are worth considering for more generalised rules. In the end, we have:

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book wrote:Monsters
Movement

• The Evil Wizard controls all monster movements.
• The Evil Wizard is allowed to move any or all of his monsters on his turn.
• Monsters do not move by dice roll. Each monster's maximum movement per turn is listed in the Monster Chart.
• A Monster cannot take part of his move, perform an action, and then resume its move.

Actions
Each monster may do one of the following on the Evil Wizard's turn:

• Attack an adjacent Hero.
• Cast a spell on a Hero that he can "see." (For certain monsters only. See individual Quests in the Quest Book for more information.)

[UK: Monsters do not cast Spells, but may have other abilities as noted in the Quest Book, which may be made INSTEAD of attacking.]

NOTE: Monsters cannot be caught in traps and do not search for anything.

Monsters may have additional abilities as noted in the Quest Book. These abilities will state whether or not they take an action (i.e. they must be used INSTEAD of making an attack).

I opted to include the Combat Summary in the section of Combat, as it is not only a nice summary of combat itself, but it's useful if you need to check up what happens when a Hero attacks a Monster, or when a Monster attacks a Hero. The summaries have been placed at the END of the section, as the rules already cover Attacking and Defending previously in a bit more detail.

However, I opted to move the content about Combat Dice up to the top of the section, as it DID provide additional detail regarding the Combat Dice, and their relation to Attack Dice and Defend Dice. I did a little bit of rewriting here, as I didn't like that HQ referred to the Combat Dice as both Attack Dice and Defend Dice, and wanted to make it clearer that they are called Combat Dice, which are used to roll both Attack Dice and Defend Dice. This means we can use the term Combat Dice to refer to the dice themselves, and the terms Attack Dice and Defend Dice when talking about rolling Combat Dice to Attack or Defend respectively.

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book wrote:Combat
The white dice (with shields and skulls) are referred to as Combat Dice, and are used to roll both Attack and Defend Dice. Monsters and Heroes both roll these dice in combat.

Combat is split into two stages: Attack and Defence. The attacker rolls his Attack Dice once to score as many skulls as he can. The defender then rolls his Defence Dice once to cancel the skulls out by rolling shields. The attacker always rolls the Combat Dice first.

Attacking
You may attack any monster or character that you are adjacent to. You are adjacent if you are directly to the side, front, or rear of another square. You may, however, only attack once per turn.

Example: The Elf may attack from any of the squares where he is shown in the diagram. He may not attack from any of the squares marked "X".

A Hero's attack strength depends on their attack weapon. The stronger the weapon, the greater the number of Attack Dice used. Some weapons allow a Hero to attack diagonally or from a distance. Most weapons, however, do not.

Important: You may only attack with one weapon at a time.

A monster's attack strength is based on its natural abilities and does not depend on a weapon.

To attack, you roll a number of the special combat dice. The number of dice to roll is shown on the character boards and monster cards against Attack. For each skull you roll, your opponent will lose one Body point unless he can successfully defend himself. If you fail to roll any skulls the attack is wasted and your opponent need not defend.

Defending
To defend against a successful attack, a player rolls the number of special combat dice shown on his character board or monster card against Defend.

A defending Hero usually rolls 2 Defend dice (less if in a pit or under certain spells, and more after purchasing armour).

A defending monster rolls the number of Defend Dice shown in the Monster cards.

The Heroes must try to roll white shields, while the monsters need round, black ones. Each shield rolled - provided it is the correct type - cancels one skull rolled by the attacker.

Once the result of the defence has been determined, the player who was attacked must reduce his Body point score of his character sheet by one point for every skull not cancelled by a shield. When a character's Body points reach zero, the character is dead. Important! If the Hero has 1 Body Point remaining, and takes more than 1 hit of damage, his Body Points are still only reduced to zero.

[UK]: Since all the monsters have only 1 Body point, they are killed by any roll of a skull which is not cancelled by rolling a black shield when defending.

[US]: Many monsters are killed with only 1 hit, and are killed by any roll of a skull which is not cancelled by rolling a black shield when defending. Some monsters, however, require more than 1 hit. (Refer to the Monster Chart on the Information Screen for a monster's Body Points.) For those monsters requiring more than 1 hit, monster damage is tracked by the use of skull tiles. For each hit such a monster sustains, the Evil Wizard must record the hit by placing a skull tile under the monster figure on the gameboard.

Note: If the Hero or monster survives the attack, they cannot attack back until their player's next turn.

Combat Summary
Monster Attacking and Hero Defending

An attacking Monster rolls the number of Attack Dice shown on Monster Chart.

• Each skull rolled by the attacking monster counts as 1 hit against the Hero. If no skulls are rolled, then the combat round is over.
• A defending Hero usually rolls 2 Defend Dice (or more after purchasing armor).
• Each white shield rolled by the defending Hero blocks 1 hit.

Hero Attacking and Monster Defending

• An attacking Hero rolls the number of Attack Dice shown on his Character Card.
• Each skull rolled by the attacking Hero counts as 1 hit against the monster. If no skulls are rolled, then the combat round is over.
• A defending monster rolls the number of Defend Dice shown on the Monster Chart.
• Each black shield rolled by the defending monster blocks 1 hit.

All in all, unlike with the UK Game Screen, going over the US Game Screen has provided us with some additional detail to update the HQ CERB with...

Following a rethink, I have decided that I WILL be covering ALL the HeroQuest components in the HQ CERB, as a number of specific rules are only covered on the specific components. So, we are now going to work through these components. I already covered the Evil Wizard's Screen, so now it is time to move on to the other components of the HQ Game System - starting with the Character Boards.

If you recall, I stated that Character Boards are an important tactile component of the HeroQuest system. They help present that "pick up and play" feel, which made HQ so popular as a board game, which would be fully recreated with it's spiritual successor, WHQ. Both the UK and the US versions of the HQ GS contained four Heroes - the Barbarian, the Dwarf, the Elf, and the Wizard. This would roughly mimic the started four player "core party" of many fantasy board and roleplaying games, which boils down to the Fighter, the Cleric, the Rogue, and the Wizard, covering the four basic pillars of any fantasy game: Combat, Healing, Traps, and Magic. From comparing these, we can see that the Barbarian takes the role of Fighter, the Dwarf takes the role of Rogue, the Elf takes the role of Cleric, and the Wizard takes the role of Wizard.

There are differences, but in general, Clerical magic (i.e. any sort of religious magic) is where you find healing spells, and it's practitioners are often minor magic users that can wear armour and sometimes even fight, which contrasts with Wizardly magic, which is often the domain of primary spellcasters that rely on their magic for both offence and defence. In HQ, the Elf is a minor spell caster which gains a single element of magic, and doesn't rely solely on their spellcasting for offence or defence. However, there's nothing stopping the Elf from taking the Fire spells if the Wizard doesn't choose them first, allowing for an offensive secondary caster.

As an aside, in AHQ and WHQ, the Elf changes from being a secondary magic user to a ranged combatant, leaving the Wizard pulling ALL the magical weight of the party. However, in WHQ, the Elven retains their role as a Healer, as they start with a Healing Potion which serves as the main source of party healing at the start of the game. However, in AHQ, whilst the AHQ Elf is a ranged fighter, they present a version of the HQ Elf as a Warrior/Wizard, who possesses the ability to fight as a Warrior, but also has secondary magical abilities, even though these are on par with that of a Dwarf Wizard. There is no other way in AHQ to get this Warrior/Wizard combination, as all AHQ Wizards are automatically restricted in their combat capabilities. This includes Dwarf Wizards, who have nerfed magical abilities, but do not gain anything beyond the basic characteristic improvements of Dwarfs to compensate, resulting in a highly crippled, but slightly more survivable Wizard.

Getting back on track, we are going to look at the four HQ Heroes in turn, starting with the Barbarian, comparing both the UK and US versions of them... Note that the US version of the Character Boards come with a reminder of the actions that a Hero can take on the back of them. Since this is repeated information from the US version of the Evil Wizard's Screen, we are going to ignore it.

HeroQuest UK 1st/2nd Edition Character Board - Barbarian wrote:Barbarian
You are the Barbarian, the greatest warrior of all. But beware of magic for your sword is no defence against it.

Attack,
throw 3 Combat dice

Defend,
throw 2 Combat dice

Move,
throw 2 Standard dice

Mind 2 Points

Body 8 Points

HeroQuest US Edition Character Board - Barbarian wrote:Barbarian
You are the Barbarian, the greatest warrior of all. But beware of magic, for your sword is no defence against it.

Attack Defend Starting Points
Dice Dice Body Mind
3 2 8 2

Movement: 2 Red Dice
Starting Weapon: Broadsword
Starting Armor: None

First, let's compare the two formats that the information is presented in between the US and the UK versions. Firstly, the UK version simply lists the basic dice-based characteristics of the character, in terms of Attack, Defend, and Movement. This is then followed up with the two points-based characteristics listed as Mind and Body. These all come under the basic description of the Hero, which possesses no special abilities in the case of the Barbarian.

The US version switches the format up a bit. Although the Hero Type and Description are largely unchanged, the way the characteristics are presented has been shaken up a bit. First, all characteristics besides Movement have been formatted into the form a table (whose format I haven't copied in the quotes), followed by a list of additional characteristics - firstly Movement, and then two new pieces of information - Starting Weapon and Starting Armor.

Whilst the table is a good way of condensing information, a simple list of the characteristics is easier to read, especially if you take out the unnecessary words. The US version still uses a slimmed down list afterwards, so there's little real benefit seemingly gained from not including all the data as a list in the first place.

Also, note that the UK version refers to the Red Dice as Standard Dice, representing the two "Monopoly dice" that come with the game alongside the Combat Dice. This can be somewhat confusing, but the US rules refer to the Red Dice on several cards, bust since these are standard six-sided dice, it might be a good practice to refer to them as Standard Dice in the rules, especially as a lot of the uses of Red Dice can be equated to symbols on Combat Dice to preserve this part of the USP of HQ (which we will be doing in the HQ CERB). Alternatively, since they will be primarily for Movement, we could just refer to them as Movement Dice instead.

The inclusion of Starting Weapons and Armor in the US version is somewhat intriguing. The values for Starting Weapons and Starting Armour equate to the values of Attack and Defend Dice given in the table, following the rules from the Armory. The Dice values equate with their UK counterparts, but in the US version, this is called out as being down to the Weapons they are using. As such, the Barbarian starts with a Broadsword, which allows them to roll 3 Combat Dice when Attacking.

Why this was done seems to be as a sort of clarification over the UK rules, as Weapons provide specific amounts of Combat Dice to roll when attacking, and since a Broadsword provides 3 Attack Dice, buying a Broadsword for the Barbarian was often a waste of Gold, since it provided no bonus to the Hero. Starting Armor seems to have been added for completeness, but no Hero actually starts with any Armour, and all Heroes roll 2 Defend Dice anyway. Like Weapons, Body Armour provided a set amount of Combat Dice when defending, and the first level of Body Armour was Chain Mail which provided 3 Defend Dice. Thus, this was never an issue with Armour, like it was with Weapons. Of course, it may seem odd why any Hero would enter a Quest without Armour, but changing this often causes even more head scratching headaches, particularly for the Wizard.

Since the CERB is only looking at the official game rules, with key differences between variants being presented as house rules, we won't be concerning ourselves too much with the issue of Armour at this time. We will reorder the list though, so that it matches the order we already have for the HQ CERB - Body Points; Mind Points; Move Dice; Attack Dice; Defend Dice; Starting Weapon; Starting Armour. Note that because we are referring the the Red Dice as Movement Dice, the characteristic Movement Dice has been changed to Move Dice.

Thus, for the HQ CERB, we get:

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book - Barbarian Character Board wrote:Barbarian
You are the Barbarian, the greatest warrior of all. But beware of magic for your sword is no defence against it.

Body Points: 8
Mind Points: 2

Move Dice: 2 Movement Dice
Attack Dice: 3 Combat Dice
Defend Dice: 2 Combat Dice

Starting Weapon: Broadsword
Starting Armour: None

---

Now, on to the next Hero, the Dwarf...

HeroQuest UK 1st/2nd Edition Character Board - Dwarf wrote:Dwarf
You are the Dwarf. You are a good warrior and can always disarm traps that you find. You may remove any visible trap in the same room or passage.

Attack,
throw 2 Combat dice

Defend,
throw 2 Combat dice

Move,
throw 2 Standard dice

Mind 3 Points

Body 7 Points

HeroQuest US Edition Character Board - Dwarf wrote:Dwarf
You are the Dwarf. You are a good warrior and have the unique ability to disarm traps without a tool kit. To do so, you must avoid rolling an black shield on a combat die.

Attack Defend Starting Points
Dice Dice Body Mind
2 2 7 3

Movement: 2 Red Dice
Starting Weapon: Shortsword
Starting Armor: None

Same differences between versions as noted above, but it's worth noting that the Dwarf has the ability to disarm traps, which differs between the UK and US versions. In the UK version, the Dwarf could automatically remove traps, but in the US version the Dwarf simply has a much lower chance of springing traps that they attempt to disarm. In both versions, the Dwarf doesn't need a Tool Kit, which is a piece of Equipment that allows an Hero to disarm traps. Also, in both versions, the Dwarf can only disarm a single trap per turn, although this limitation is more down to the fact that the Dwarf can still only perform a single action per turn.

In general, the Dwarf is a standard Hero (2 Attack, 2 Defend) that has slightly less health than the Barbarian (7 Body Points instead of 8), but has extra willpower to compensate (3 Mind Points rather than 2). The key feature of the Dwarf is the ability to disarm traps without a tool kit, and looking back at the HQ CERB, we already decided that we were going to take the UK version of this ability over the US version. Thus, with minimal rewording, for the HQ CERB we get...

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book - Dwarf Character Board wrote:Dwarf
You are the Barbarian, the greatest warrior of all. But beware of magic for your sword is no defence against it.

You are the Dwarf. You are a good warrior, and have the unique ability to disarm Traps that you find without a Tool Kit. As an Action, you may automatically remove any single orthogonally adjacent visible Trap in the same Room, Corridor, or Junction.

[US: To disarm a Trap, you must avoid rolling a black shield on a Combat Die.]

Body Points: 7
Mind Points: 3

Move Dice: 2 Movement Dice
Attack Dice: 2 Combat Dice
Defend Dice: 2 Combat Dice

Starting Weapon: Shortsword
Starting Armour: None

The Dwarf's Disarm ability has been rewritten in line with what we already have in the HQ CERB, with the US version as a house rule. It has been clarified that the trap must be visible, and orthogonally adjacent (i.e. not diagonally adjacent). It is also clarified that this takes an Action, which therefore carries and implied limit of one per turn.

As an aside, there is a key distinction for traps, making them more deadly under the HQ CERB. Having split Passages into Corridors and Junctions, searching is now limited to a single Room, Corridor, or Junction. This means that traps in Passages may now be subject to the same restrictions as traps placed beyond doors - that is, Heroes may have to move into the Corridor or Junction before they can search for Traps, and therefore risk setting off any Traps placed in the FIRST (and sometimes ONLY) square of that Corridor or Junction... This will certainly make your adventures MORE interesting...

Davane wrote:No, they didn't. Also, throwing weapons can be thrown in way more than 8 directions - they have a 360 degree firing arc, as long as you are at least on square away from your target, which basically means not in an adjacent square, and have line of sight to your target. Remember, models block line of sight to models behind them, although under EU rules, everyone in the same room can see each other regardless...

Sorry I wasn't even considering the off-axis firing (which is legal in the NA rules for all ranged attacks) with the unobstructed straight line between figures.

Example: In the pic below, Crud Bonemeal the Barbarian is equipped with a Crossbow, a Dagger and a Spell Scroll. He can hit both the Goblin and the Mummy with his Crossbow easily enough. But in order to hit the Skeleton or Skaven with a ranged weapon, he would have to use his Dagger (or his trusty Fire of Wrath Spell Scroll). The henchman trying to sneak up on the far right side, can of course be hit with ANY of the three.

What I mean is that a figure you can't hit with a crossbow, CAN have a dagger (magical or not) thrown at them. That's legal too in the NA rules. At point blank range, there's no advantage in throwing a vanilla dagger at them, but on a diagonal square? Absolutely! It's a very subtle point but you like being thorough, so make of it what you will in your mod...

PS: Thanks for those scans.

Kurgan wrote:What I mean is that a figure you can't hit with a crossbow, CAN have a dagger (magical or not) thrown at them. That's legal too in the NA rules. At point blank range, there's no advantage in throwing a vanilla dagger at them, but on a diagonal square? Absolutely! It's a very subtle point but you like being thorough, so make of it what you will in your mod...

I looked over the US rules again, and it seems that the legality of throwing a Dagger at an adjacent monster is created by a loophole in the text. Essentially, the Dagger lacks the phrase that it cannot be used against an adjacent opponent, which the Crossbow has. There's no specific rules regarding Missile Fire in the US instruction manual.

The UK rules specifically include rules on Missile Fire which states that you "cannot fire a crossbow or throw a weapon if you are adjacent to your opponent." This would include Daggers if the UK Edition had them.

Thus, the ability to throw Daggers diagonally in the US edition appears to be more the result of missing text, rather than a conscious design decision, since the entry for Daggers simply says they can be thrown, but there are no actual rules for Missile Fire to be found.

The HQ CERB includes the UK rules for Missile Fire, so you cannot throw Daggers if you are adjacent to your opponent.

If you remember, from the HQ CERB:

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book wrote:Missile Weapons
Daggers and Crossbows are special Weapons due to their ability to hit a Monster from a distance.

Some Weapons may be thrown, whilst the Crossbow may be fired. When firing the Crossbow or throwing a Weapon, the procedure for rolling combat dice in attack and defence remains the same.
The Hero's target must be visible, as with casting a spell. There is no maximum range for firing the Crossbow or throwing a Weapon. However, a Hero may not use the Crossbow or throw a Weapon if they are adjacent to their opponent.

Of course, there's nothing saying that allowing Daggers to be thrown at an adjacent opponent can't be an house rule, but since the Staff is designed to be a 1 Die diagonal attack weapon, I would argue that such a house rule robs the Staff of it's main advantage.

Next up, the Elf...

HeroQuest UK 1st/2nd Edition Character Board - Elf wrote:Elf
You are the Elf. A master of both magic and the sword. You must use both well if you are to triumph.

Attack,
throw 2 Combat dice

Defend,
throw 2 Combat dice

Move,
throw 2 Standard dice

Mind 4 Points

Body 6 Points

HeroQuest US Edition Character Board - Elf wrote:Elf
You are the Elf, a master of both magic and the sword. You must use both well if you are to triumph. You have the power to cast 3 magical spells, all relating to one natural element.

Attack Defend Starting Points
Dice Dice Body Mind
2 2 6 4

Movement 2 Red Dice
Starting Weapon Shortsword
Starting Armor None

The elf is another standard hero (2 Attack Dice, 2 Defend Dice), with even less health than the Barbarian or Dwarf (6 Body Points, rather than 8 or 7, respectively), but with even greater willpower (4 Mind Points, rather than 2 or 3, respectively). The Elf's main ability is that they can also cast spells - which is explicitly stated on the US Character Board.

Thus, for the HQ CERB, we get:

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book - Elf Character Board wrote:Elf
You are the Elf, a master of both magic and the sword. You must use both well if you are to triumph. You have the power to cast three magical spells, all relating to one natural element.

Body Points: 6
Mind Points: 4

Move Dice: 2 Movement Dice
Attack Dice: 2 Combat Dice
Defend Dice: 2 Combat Dice

Starting Weapon: Shortsword
Starting Armour: None

---

Finally, the Wizard...

HeroQuest UK 1st/2nd Edition Character Board - Wizard wrote:Wizard
You are the Wizard. You have many spells that can aid you. However, in combat you are weak. So use your spells well, and avoid combat.

Attack,
throw 1 Combat dice

Defend,
throw 2 Combat dice

Move,
throw 2 Standard dice

Mind 6 Points

Body 4 Points

HeroQuest US Edition Character Board - Wizard wrote:Wizard
You are the Wizard. You have the power to cast many different spells. In combat, however, you are weak. You cannot wear armor or use large weapons. Therefore, you must cast your spells wisely and avoid physical combat.

Attack Defend Starting Points
Dice Dice Body Mind
1 2 4 6

Movement 2 Red Dice
Starting Weapon Dagger
Starting Armor None

The Wizard is a below average Hero, that has a weak attack (1 Attack Dice), and cannot use large weapons and armour. However, they still have 2 Defend Dice, but are fairly fragile, with only 4 Body Points. They are extremely willful, however, with 6 Mind Points, and they get to cast 9 spells, by choosing three spell groups. The Wizard starts with a Dagger, which means that they can make a single 1 Attack Die ranged attack if needed. It should be noted that Heroes can always make an unarmed attack with 1 Attack Die, so there's no real need for the Wizard to remain attached to his Dagger, and he may be tempted to purchase a few more for use in this way during Quests with any treasure he finds.

Thus, for the HQ CERB, we get:

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book - Wizard Character Board wrote:Wizard
You are the Wizard. You have the power to cast many different spells that can aid you. However, in combat, you are weak. You cannot wear armor or use large weapons. Therefore, you must cast your spells wisely, and avoid physical combat.

Body Points: 4
Mind Points: 6

Move Dice: 2 Movement Dice
Attack Dice: 1 Combat Dice
Defend Dice: 2 Combat Dice

Starting Weapon: Dagger
Starting Armour: None

There's not much more to say here, as the main abilities for both the Elf and the Wizard come from the Spells they can cast...

Going through the HQ CERB, the next section we come across that needs to be covered is Monsters, and here we can put the Monster cards.

HeroQuest UK Edition Monster Card - Goblin wrote:Goblin
Move 10 Squares
Attack 2 dice
Defend 1 die
Body 1
Mind 1

HeroQuest US Edition Monster Card - Goblin wrote:Goblin

Movement Attack Defend Body Mind
Squares Dice Dice Points Points
10 2 1 1 1

There's not much to say about monster cards really. They both convey similar information, but whilst the UK format goes again for the list, the US version opts for a table, which is combined into the Monster Chart on the back of the Evil Wizard's Screen.

The Goblin is the weakest of the monsters in the Game System, and both the UK and the US versions give them similar characteristics, thus for the HQ CERB, we can use the UK format quite easily, as follows:

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book Monster Card - Goblin wrote:Goblin
Move 10 Squares
Attack 2 dice
Defend 1 die
Body 1
Mind 1

---

Next up, probably the most common Monster in the game - the Orc...

HeroQuest UK Edition Monster Card - Orc wrote:Orc
Move 8 Squares
Attack 3 dice
Defend 2 Dice
Body 1
Mind 2

HeroQuest US Edition Monster Card - Orc wrote:Orc

Movement Attack Defend Body Mind
Squares Dice Dice Points Points
8 3 2 1 2

The Orc is the most common of the monsters in the Game System, and both the UK and the US versions give them similar characteristics. It's worth noting that the Orc is equivalent to a starting Barbarian in terms of Attack Dice and Defence Dice, but with only a fraction of the Body Points.

Thus for the HQ CERB, we can use the UK format quite easily, as follows:

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book Monster Card - Orc wrote:Orc
Move 8 Squares
Attack 3 dice
Defend 2 Dice
Body 1
Mind 2

---

For the final monster of this post, the last type of Greenskin - the Fimir...

HeroQuest UK Edition Monster Card - Fimir wrote:Fimir
Move 6 squares
Attack 3 dice
Defend 3 dice
Body 1
Mind 3

HeroQuest US Edition Monster Card - Fimir wrote:Fimir

Movement Attack Defend Body Mind
Squares Dice Dice Points Points
6 3 3 2 3

Here's where we start to see the biggest change between the UK and US editions regarding Monsters. Fimir are the bosses of the greenskins, and as such the US version gives them 2 Body Points instead of just 1. This makes them much harder to kill, but still capable of being killed in a single hit by most Heroes. Since the US versions of Monsters are generally tougher than the UK versions, we will go with the US version of the Fimir.

Thus for the HQ CERB, we can use the UK format quite easily, with the US values, as follows:

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book Monster Card - Fimir wrote:Fimir
Move 6 squares
Attack 3 dice
Defend 3 dice
Body 2
Mind 3

Time for some more monsters, so let's move on to the Skeleton...

HeroQuest UK 1st/2nd Edition Monster Card - Skeleton wrote:Skeleton
Move 6 Squares
Attack 2 Dice
Defend 2 Dice
Body 1
Mind 0

HeroQuest US Edition Monster Card - Skeleton wrote:Skeleton

Movement Attack Defend Body Mind
Squares Dice Dice Points Points
6 2 2 1 0

The skeleton, as the basic Undead of HeroQuest, sees no real change between editions, so we can go with the following for the HQ CERB:

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book Monster Card - Skeleton wrote:Skeleton
Move 6 Squares
Attack 2 Dice
Defend 2 Dice
Body 1
Mind 0

---

Now for the Zombie...

HeroQuest UK 1st/2nd Edition Monster Card - Zombie wrote:Zombie
Move 4 Squares
Attack 2 Dice
Defend 3 Dice
Body 1
Mind 0

HeroQuest US Edition Monster Card - Zombie wrote:Zombie

Movement Attack Defend Body Mind
Squares Dice Dice Points Points
5 2 3 1 0

The zombie sees an interesting change, between the UK and US edition, in that the US version gets to move an additional square. This serves to make the zombie a little more mobile, but still not as fast as a skeleton.

We can go with the following for the HQ CERB:

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book Monster Card - Zombie wrote:Zombie
Move 5 Squares
Attack 2 Dice
Defend 3 Dice
Body 1
Mind 0

---

Finally, the Mummy...

HeroQuest UK 1st/2nd Edition Monster Card - Mummy wrote:Mummy
Move 4 Squares
Attack 3 Dice
Defend 4 Dice
Body 1
Mind 0

HeroQuest US Edition Monster Card - Mummy wrote:Mummy

Movement Attack Defend Body Mind
Squares Dice Dice Points Points
4 3 4 2 0

Like the Fimir, the Mummy is the big boss of the Undead, and therefore gains an additional Body Point between editions.

We can go with the following for the HQ CERB:

HeroQuest Combined English Edition Rule Book Monster Card - Mummy wrote:Mummy
Move 4 Squares
Attack 3 Dice
Defend 4 Dice
Body 2
Mind 0