Ye Olde Inn

by **Blackthorn** » September 25th, 2012, 2:51 pm

I picked up a copy of this for $10 at the flea market last weekend (yes, I was hoping to find a complete copy of the Barbarian Quest Pack along with some red line Hot Wheels and 1943 copper penny). The game comes with 92 minatures and they were still on their sprues. It reminded me a lot of Battlemasters since there were both foot soldiers and mounted knights and kings that are attached to slotted bases to form units. They are the same scale as the HeroQuest minis and if mounted onto Citadel style slotted bases could make good human figher type NPC's. They are all molded in silver or gold plastic except for the mercenaries and horses who are molded in black. There is also a peasant armed with a pitchfork who could be used as...well...a peasant. They aren't quite as detailed as the HeroQuest minis but would probably look nice painted.

The game itself as a pretty decent tactical strategy game with dice based combat system. The board makes me think of Stratego and the dice have specific markings for archers and a "panic" feature which casues units to retreat. The basic game has combat units only while the "advanced" game introduces the peasant and mercenary, the latter of whom can be convinced by the king to switch sides mid-battle. It seems to have some fans on the boardgame geek reveiws: http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1150/lionheart.

It still sells for pretty cheap on eBay and might be a good purchase for some who likes these types of games or as a good source for minis now that Battlemasters has gone up in price. It would also be a good game to play with younger children as it is very easy to learn, although the set up time and fragile nature of the minis might be a deterrent.

I picked up a bag of Citadel slotted bases and some of the Lionheart minis fit in them nicely. Here they are on the HQ board with a few heroes (the dwarf was camera shy). I think they match well and might make some good NPCs. The black mercenary figure in particular looks like he'd make a good foe. He matches the color of the base and his sculpt is not as flat as the other figures.

by **Daedalus** » October 5th, 2012, 8:20 pm

A dedicated painter can turn these into usable figures if you don't mind the flaws. The command figures aren't part of Lionheart, and are easy to pick out becuase of their superior detail. The painter has offered these up for sale, by the way. Battlemasters is still a better purchase if you choose to only get one. But for more variety, this ain't too bad. I'm glad the helmets don't have feathers.