Heroquest Revisited

[Onan]

With all the recent discussions here about AHQ I wonder if I had missed a gem back then. It looked like a cheap HQ rip-off on the shelves. It was called Herr des Schwertes (lord of the sword) in Germany, which also sounded cheesy compared to HQ. So I did't bother buying it. But finally I have played my first solo round, and I think I was doing it wrong.

The rules say that I can play the normal HQ quests with AHQ rules ("Heroquest Revisited"), so I tried the Sir Ragnar quest. The rules are not very clear about how to mix HQ and AHQ rules:

You can play any of the Heroquest adventures using the Advanced Heroquest rules. Replace the Heroquest rules for movement, combat and magic with the Advanced Heroquest rules. Use the Heroquest rules for placing monsters, searching, treasure cards and so on.

In HQ the monsters are placed as soon as a door opens. So by the rules a hero would end his AHQ-style movement in front of a door and open it. But instead of waiting for the GM phase, the monsters would be placed immediately HQ-style. I decided to play AHQ style and place the monsters in the GM phase.

The heroes spread out to find Sir Ragnar, and I got headaches over turn order. The game was one endless combat turn, because everytime a hero defeated his goblin, another hero had already opened the door into the next room. Look at this mess:

ahqmess.JPG

The elf wanted to open the chest, but he couldn't, because we're in a combat turn. The dwarf on his turn killed the goblin, but he couldn't take the loot, because not all monsters were defeated.

The barbarian wanted to rush new rooms HQ-style, but he always had to wait in in front of the door, and the monsters would be placed in the GM phase and immediately acted, so no chance to surprise them while other heroes were still fighting monsters on the other side of the board.

The wizard just ran away, the orcs pursuing him, landing on the square just below the door. The wizard is out of sight, and I didn't know if the orcs would use their "run" to go into the next corridor. I decided they did. The wizard kept running a circle around the center room and managed to get out of sight:

pursuit.JPG

The orcs should now return to their starting room, but the rules don't say how they do it (teleport?). If they walk, they would encounter the wizard again on their way back.

In addition to deciding what is allowed and not, I had to get the combat numbers right, so I constantly scrolled between the hero and the monster stats. At least this has become better by now. I know the monster stats by heart and can resolve combat without looking at the rules.

Something I'm unsure about is moving through friendly figures. Can the elf move through the barbarian? Or would he be blocked by the goblin's death zone?

movethroughfigures.JPG

Maybe "Revisiting Heroquest" isn't such a good idea. The base game is quite easy and invites the heroes to explore the dungeon on their own. AHQ rules seem to assume a group that never splits. Maybe I should cut out the dungeon tiles and try a normal AHQ quest.

[The Admiral]

I would assume that you still set up a room in the GM phase, but set it up as shown on the HQ map rather than use AHQ room generation rules.

Split a party up in HQ? Never! That's on a par with running across an empty room before searching for traps, or sharing treasure if you are a Dwarf.

[Onan]

I would assume that you still set up a room in the GM phase, but set it up as shown on the HQ map rather than use AHQ room generation rules.

Yes, that's what I did, seems to be meant by the rules.

Split a party up in HQ? Never! That's on a par with running across an empty room before searching for traps, or sharing treasure if you are a Dwarf.

Prince Magnus will pay 200 gold coins to the character who rescues Sir Ragnar. So lagging behind the rest of the group won't earn you any gold. Better try your luck in another direction.

Also, the base game is rather easy. I love playing the quests solo. I always split the party, buy no equipment at all and walk into most of the traps. Sometimes someone dies, often they survive incredibly low odds, it's always fun. But this playing style seems to be incompatible with AHQ.

[RECIVS]

No movement through friendlies in the vanilla game, and only a newcomer would split the party in AHQ. Keep in mind that waiting for the exploration phase of the turn to reveal rooms means that the remaining Heroes can move their twelve spaces and perform other exploration actions before a combat turn starts.

I use Scrabble tiles to keep track of the turn order (B, D, E, and W), and I love the D12s, by the way.

It's a gem indeed, at least from a game-design perspective. You won't find another sandbox solo-friendly tactical boardgame dungeon crawler like AHQ, with short setup times and few components; they don’t make them like that anymore.

[Onan]

No movement through friendlies in the vanilla game, and only a newcomer would split the party in AHQ. Keep in mind that waiting for the exploration phase of the turn to reveal rooms means that the remaining Heroes can move their twelve spaces and perform other exploration actions before a combat turn starts.

Ok, then the HQ board is definitely too narrow. The last in the row will not fit into the battle in the room. I have played "The Maze", the AHQ randomly generated dungeon on the HQ board. This time I kept the party together and played one encounter after another. This works, but the lack of a mission goal makes it not very interesting. I have found the stairs down, but below is just another same Maze, generated with the same tables. I will find a way to create dungeon tiles so I can play Tobaro's Bane next.

I use Scrabble tiles to keep track of the turn order (B, D, E, and W), and I love the D12s, by the way.

I use colored D6 with the heroes' HP on top, so I don't have to keep track of them on the character sheets. But so far I have stuck to BDEW, reordering after every combat means even more complications. Cycling through all the dungeon generation tables is still tough, but I start to know them by heart. With a bit more practice this game might really come into a flow.

It's a gem indeed, at least from a game-design perspective. You won't find another sandbox solo-friendly tactical boardgame dungeon crawler like AHQ, with short setup times and few components; they don’t make them like that anymore.

Yes, there's something to it. Rolling 6 D12 for damage feels great

The game is not very accessible from the rules. I guess playing some rounds as a hero with the GM knowing his stuff would be a better introduction.

[RECIVS]

The lack of a mission goal makes it not very interesting

The mission is always to explore the dungeon, fight monsters, and survive. You can add the mission goals you want, but in the end, gameplay comes down to that, even in the premade quests. It's a pure dungeon crawler focused on tactical combat, dealing with traps, hazards, and survival—it was (and probably still is) quite a novelty.

I will find a way to create dungeon tiles so I can play Tobaro's Bane next.

Yeah, you're not really playing AHQ without the tiles; there are some tutorials out there for making them.

But so far I have stuck to BDEW, reordering after every combat means even more complications. Cycling through all the dungeon generation tables is still tough, but I start to know them by heart. With a bit more practice this game might really come into a flow.

And you haven't started tracking Henchmen yet. In my games, the turn order is pretty much the same every turn; exceptions can happen in combat turns, for example, if the wizard needs to cast a spell at the start, or if the elf needs to soften a target with a ranged attack before engaging it in melee, etc.

The game is not very accessible from the rules. I guess playing some rounds as a hero with the GM knowing his stuff would be a better introduction.

Have you seen my summary of the basic rules? In my opinion, playing a party of four Heroes solo is the best way to learn the system.

P.S. Wait a minute; you posted in other threads here about AHQ without having played the game?

[Onan]

Have you seen my summary of the basic rules? In my opinion, playing a party of four Heroes solo is the best way to learn the system.

Great, thanks! There you also mention that heroes may not pass through other models. Can the players change the order during each combat turn? I thought it was fixed when a new leader is elected.

P.S. Wait a minute; you posted in other threads here about AHQ without having played the game?

It was just some words of appreciation. Watching videos and reading the rules was as far as I got until this weekend, and those threads were helpful. Really playing the game was daunting. But seeing all the love that you and others still put into the game convinced me to give it a try.

[RECIVS]

No problem—welcome aboard! Feel free to ask your questions.

In the end, it's downright obvious to me why repetition should be avoided as much as possible in a game like AHQ.

[RECIVS]

By the way, my advice for newcomers is to start by generating rooms and encounters and playing them out. It'll be more convenient, and you'll learn the rules and start remembering them as you go without being complicated at all. You'll be more than halfway through after that - keep in mind it's already a dumbed-down version of a bigger game.

[RECIVS]