Ye Olde Inn

Since revisiting the How many Heros?! topic, it has occurred to me it is possible to scale standard Hero Quest from 1 to as many Heroes you want to crowd on the board without calculations or guessing. The trick is to use a first-Hero token which always governs four Hero turns with one Morcar/Zargon turn.

How it works:
The first-Hero token begins next to the Hero Card of the player seated on M/Z's left (right-most Hero if the player has more than one card.) The Hero with the token takes his turn, then play passes clockwise (even between multiple Heroes of a single player) until four Heroes have had their turns. Next, M/Z takes his turn and the first-Hero token is passed counter-clockwise to the next Hero Card, plus an extra pass for each Hero over 5. The Hero with the token is now first in the new round of Hero turns.

Heroes*	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8
B	B,B,B,B, M/Z	B,B,B,B, M/Z	B,B,B,B, M/Z	B,B,B,B, M/Z	B,B,B,B, M/Z	B,B,B,B, M/Z	B,B,B,B, M/Z	B,B,B,B, M/Z
B,D	B,D,B,D, M/Z	D,B,D,B, M/Z	B,D,B,D, M/Z	D,B,D,B, M/Z	B,D,B,D, M/Z	D,B,D,B, M/Z	B,D,B,D, M/Z	D,B,D,B, M/Z
B,D,E	B,D,E,B, M/Z	E,B,D,E, M/Z	D,E,B,D, M/Z	B,D,E,B, M/Z	E,B,D,E, M/Z	D,E,B,D, M/Z	B,D,E,B, M/Z	E,B,D,E, M/Z
B,D,E,W	B,D,E,W, M/Z	D,E,W,B, M/Z	E,W,B,D, M/Z	W,B,D,E, M/Z	B,D,E,W, M/Z	D,E,W,B, M/Z	E,W,B,D, M/Z	W,B,D,E, M/Z
B,D,E,W, B2	B,D,E,W, M/Z	B2,B,D,E, M/Z	W,B2,B,D, M/Z	E,W,B2,B, M/Z	D,E,W,B2, M/Z	B,D,E,W, M/Z	B2,B,D,E, M/Z	W,B2,B,D, M/Z
B,D,E,W, B2,D2	B,D,E,W, M/Z	B2,D2,B,D, M/Z	E,W,B2,D2, M/Z	B,D,E,W, M/Z	B2,D2,B,D, M/Z	E,W,B2,D2, M/Z	B,D,E,W, M/Z	B2,D2,B,D, M/Z
B,D,E,W, B2,D2,E2	B,D,E,W, M/Z	B2,D2,E2,B, M/Z	D,E,W,B2, M/Z	D2,E2,B,D, M/Z	E,W,B2,D2, M/Z	E2,B,D,E, M/Z	W,B2,D2,E2, M/Z	B,D,E,W, M/Z
B,E,D,W, B2,D2,E2,W2	B,D,E,W, M/Z	B2,D2,E2,W2 M/Z	B,D,E,W, M/Z	B2,D2,E2,W2 M/Z	B,D,E,W, M/Z	B2,D2,E2,W2 M/Z	B,D,E,W, M/Z	B2,D2,E2,W2 M/Z

*B2,D2,E2,W2 represent differently identified miniatures from the Main Game System, be they uniquely painted or proxy alternatives. Homebrew Heroes and figures can also be substituted into the order, such as a Ranger for B1, a Trollslayer for D2, and so on.

Admittedly, a solo Hero with four turns for every one M/Z turn is awkward, both thematically and tactically. Attacks would be very concentrated for the Hero as he moved in and out of combat, so movement should be limited to one red die for each Hero turn. One red die for movement probably would make sense for two Heroes as well. (I haven't play tested either case yet.)

Four Heroes don't require turn balancing, but a rotating first player might prove interesting enough on its own. With eight Heroes turns won't rotate, so the first-player token can be dropped. The M/Z player simply takes a turn after four Heroes have had their turns.

Finally, Hero groups of 1 to 3 will have a smaller combined pool of Body Points to finish a Quest. To compensate, one Potion of Healing may be drawn from the Treasure Cards before the Quest for each lacking Hero. These special draws may not be kept between Quests and are returned to the Treasure Card deck when used. (Potion of Healing cards drawn in-game are discarded as usual.)

I'll have to come back to this and read it more carefully. This is an intriguing idea, though.
Good work.

VERY cool. I'm looking at having a 5th player every now and then because our gaming group is getting bigger. From what you have posted here, I see now how it could work. This player could "hold the torch" and only roll movement... then pass the torch on the next turn. I think I would also subtract one body point from ALL players except the wizard (although they can be healed back to the maximum later). This would keep the game moving nicely as well.

That seems a little complicated. Have you seen the Imperial Assault method of giving extra turns? It's much simpler.

Why not make it a simple rotation. Who ever is next that didn't go last time plays first. Stay clock wise. EW plays after every 4 turns.

OR if you want play order to change

Use initiative linked with Mind. Who ever bids the most goes 1st. If you don't play this round you get yours back. Meaning you have more to bid next round. Those with the greater Mind will now get out of sticker situations easier, when needed, unlike the Barbarian who'll have to stay and fight. In our game we have counter attack abilities too so even better.

If bids are tied, highest MP goes first, if still tied, roll.

Initiative could be represented by a 1d6. Each player has 6, if you bid 4 and play, next go you'll have 2. But a lil more thought and testing would be needed on this idea.

whitebeard wrote:VERY cool. I'm looking at having a 5th player every now and then because our gaming group is getting bigger. From what you have posted here, I see now how it could work. This player could "hold the torch" and only roll movement... then pass the torch on the next turn. I think I would also subtract one body point from ALL players except the wizard (although they can be healed back to the maximum later). This would keep the game moving nicely as well.

The torch idea is nice--it keeps the group cohesive. The Body Point penalty for larger groups also makes sense as the converse of allowing Potions of Healing for smaller groups.

cornixt wrote:That seems a little complicated. Have you seen the Imperial Assault method of giving extra turns? It's much simpler.

It's been a while. I'll check it out.

mitchiemasha wrote:Why not make it a simple rotation. Who ever is next that didn't go last time plays first. Stay clock wise. EW plays after every 4 turns.

D'oh! Why didn't I think of that?! I was so focused on passing the token that I lost the HQ way--thanks!

Daedalus wrote:

mitchiemasha wrote:Why not make it a simple rotation. Who ever is next that didn't go last time plays first. Stay clock wise. EW plays after every 4 turns.

D'oh! Why didn't I think of that?! I was so focused on passing the token that I lost the HQ way--thanks!

I thought this was what you were doing although it appeared you were passing it CCW?

There is a "Torch Card" that is used to mark the first player in the new Warhammer Quest (Hammerhal), I have not played it yet, but I would grab the card or create a prop for this. And you would just pass it down the row with the torch bearer being the player with the last turn and they can only move (and search?).

I really like this for larger groups, but I don't think I like the way it will work with smaller groups. Consecutive turns for one hero seems a bit too much. If I had just one player, I think it would be best to roll to see if EWP gets a turn, with Zargon waiting at most 4 turns This will reduce ridiculous maneuvers where you would otherwise be surrounded on four sides by EWP.

It just doesn't work well for less players, especially with just 1 player.
It may make for a really powerful warrior, but the wizard will blow through his spells in a handful of rooms. Also a string of dart trap and small pit hazard cards in a row and even the Barbarian is in serious trouble in short order...

Now for a 5 man or larger group, I can certainly see the mechanic being useful, but I can also see it extending the boredom in certain circumstances.

Fully agree with cynthia here.
Even goblins will quickly whittle down a single barbarian if they only focus on him.
For single heroes it's just better to just make dedicated solo quests in my opinion (I understand that's not really the point of this topic though )

But of course the opposite problem kinda arises with more than 4 heroes. Even though they move in groups of four the monsters are still relatively weaker as they are up against more body points.
How would activating heroes in groups of 3 work out?
B-W-D M E-B2-W2 M

That would allow the monsters more staying power to compensate for the increased hero BPs.

Daedalus wrote:Since revisiting the How many Heros?! topic, it has occurred to me it is possible to scale standard Hero Quest from 1 to as many Heroes you want to crowd on the board without calculations or guessing. The trick is to use a first-Hero token which always governs four Hero turns with one Morcar/Zargon turn...

mitchiemasha wrote:Why not make it a simple rotation. Who ever is next that didn't go last time plays first. Stay clock wise. EW plays after every 4 turns.

OR if you want play order to change

Use initiative linked with Mind. Who ever bids the most goes 1st. If you don't play this round you get yours back. Meaning you have more to bid next round. Those with the greater Mind will now get out of sticker situations easier, when needed, unlike the Barbarian who'll have to stay and fight. In our game we have counter attack abilities too so even better.

If bids are tied, highest MP goes first, if still tied, roll.

Initiative could be represented by a 1d6. Each player has 6, if you bid 4 and play, next go you'll have 2. But a lil more thought and testing would be needed on this idea.

I go into this kind of thing here: viewtopic.php?f=38&t=3256&p=63995&hilit=initiative#p63995.