Heroquest Revisited

[Onan]

I wonder where all those henchmen came from, by the way.

From the quest intro:

The Heroes’ party consists of four Heroes, four Men at-Arms and one Sergeant. The Henchmen have been provided free by the City Fathers to aid the Heroes in their quest.

his halberd can attack diagnolly

Oh, I completely forgot that. He uses a magic halbert, and if you scroll some pages down to the weapons table, you find that rule They had a good chance of killing the barbarian!

Pull Skaven Warlord back, leave the other Skaven to halt anything coming in per Death zone rule.

That was also my idea, but the heroes formed a gauntlet pocket in the corridor. If the skaven don't enter the pocket, Torallion shoots the death zone guards.

I'm afraid making decisions for the GM is not solo play at all.

Hmm, the rules only say "should". This sounds like some leeway for deciding monster movement:

Each monster armed with hand-to-hand weapons should be moved to a square from which it can make an attack if possible.

I didn't want them to run into the heroes' gauntlet mindlessly.

How are the Heroes supposed to rush into the room with monsters blocking the entrance? Are you going to keep making decisions for the GM every time?

Right. The solo rules are strict about monster placement and enforce me to place them around the door:

The first monster must be placed in a square as close to the party as possible. If the monster can be placed in a square from which it can make an attack, it must be placed in that square. Any remaining monsters must be placed in a square adjacent to an already-placed monster.

Why would the Heroes enter the room in the first place? As I said, a dungeon has like 10-12 room encounters on average.

The rules are quite clear about how the heroes are supposed to enter a room:

kickdoor.JPG

[RECIVS]

You're right about the Henchmen; I haven't played vanilla AHQ in ages.

I didn't want them to run into the heroes' gauntlet mindlessly.

My point exactly; there shouldn't be such a convenient gauntlet in the first place. That's the source of the problem.

From what I read in your post, though, you're intuitively (de facto) avoiding the bottleneck, which is quite revealing by itself.

[Foilfodder]

doorfight.JPG

his halberd can attack diagnolly

Oh, I completely forgot that. He uses a magic halbert, and if you scroll some pages down to the weapons table, you find that rule They had a good chance of killing the barbarian!

That explains why your elf is firing his bow illegally. Ranged Combat Rule 3, prohibits use of ranged weapons when in a enemy Death Zone. Skaven Warlord has a halberd and is in the doorway, Elf is in his Death Zone. No bow fire allowed.

[RECIVS]

That explains why your elf is firing his bow illegally. Ranged Combat Rule 3, prohibits use of ranged weapons when in a enemy Death Zone. Skaven Warlord has a halberd and is in the doorway, Elf is in his Death Zone. No bow fire allowed.

I find that rule too restrictive and dulling, by the way, so, in my games, death zones restrict enemy actions only when focused, which allows for more interesting, tactical encounters.

[RECIVS]

My point exactly; there shouldn't be such a convenient gauntlet in the first place. That's the source of the problem.

Some people say AHQ is supposed to be "brutally realistic", relentlessly difficult, deadly, etc., but at the same time, they also defend exploiting doorways in the game, which is the opposite of that and also boring—let alone a waste of potential. Then at some point they have to start limiting FPs, for example, because the Heroes have it too easy. It still beats me after all these years.

[Thanquol]

AHQ Rulebook: (Page 48)

The official Designers Note explicitly instructs the solo player:

You will find solo Advanced Heroquest far more enjoyable if you use these rules as guidelines, and apply a bit of common sense to how the monsters attack.

The text explicitly commands the player to use their brain on the GM's behalf:

Try to imagine what you would do as the GM if you had to move your monsters within these restrictions, and then give yourself as hard a time as possible!

In other words, the solo automated tables are loose guidelines. They are designed to allow a player to deviate slightly based on the immediate tactical state of the cardboard grid, rather than forcing the human controller to become a hollowed-out, mindless procedural slave. The system presumes the solo GM has enough free will, plays fairly, and can use their imagination to keep the tactical encounters dangerous and fluid. Onan's decision to move his Skaven out of the line of sight to avoid being effortlessly picked off by the Elf archer is entirely supported by the core spirit of these rules.

Thematically, Flames of the Phoenix makes perfect sense. Bright Wizards can cauterise wounds with magical fire, and the spell's healing effect is a natural extension of that.

Bright Wizard's Spell Book

FLAMES OF THE PHOENIX

Component: Phoenix Feather

The Wizard lays his hands upon the bare wounds of a fallen comrade, and takes the pain into himself, to be consumed by the strength of his magic. By means of this spell, the Wizard may heal any Wounds lost by any one model, himself included. There must be no model other than the wounded comrade in the Wizard's death zone when he casts the spell. ...

Simply put, the RPG flavour text describing a "fallen comrade" can sometimes confuse readers, in plain words: this spell cannot restore to life a model which has been slain. It heals the lost Wounds of a living character who is currently down on their current Wounds score.

Sarcasm: Great and terrible are the magics of Thanquol! Renowned throughout the Under-Empire! Power to summon-call the Black Hunger! Squeak-swear to serve me or join fool-meats in death. /Sarcasm

[RECIVS]

AHQ Rulebook: (Page 48)

The official Designers Note explicitly instructs the solo player:

You will find solo Advanced Heroquest far more enjoyable if you use these rules as guidelines, and apply a bit of common sense to how the monsters attack.

The text explicitly commands the player to use their brain on the GM's behalf:

Try to imagine what you would do as the GM if you had to move your monsters within these restrictions, and then give yourself as hard a time as possible!

That's something only a designer in a hurry would suggest, in my opinion. Making decisions for the GM is not ideal in solo play; that's the point!

[RECIVS]

My point exactly; there shouldn't be such a convenient gauntlet in the first place. That's the source of the problem.

Some people say AHQ is supposed to be "brutally realistic", relentlessly difficult, deadly, etc., but at the same time, they also defend exploiting doorways in the game, which is the opposite of that and also boring—let alone a waste of potential. Then at some point they have to start limiting FPs, for example, because the Heroes have it too easy. It still beats me after all these years.

By the way, this has to be the weirdest, most extreme case of misplaced nostalgia in board gaming I've ever seen. In the end, it's clear it doesn’t do the game system any justice or favor; quite the contrary.