Who goes first?

[cynthialee]

Wizard goes last as a fail safe due to an in effect house rule that the healer can only save you if he hasn't taken his turn yet. Someone goes to search for treasure on their turn, gets fragged by a trap or a wandering monster, the wizard can use their action sequence on the spot to save a life if the dying hero is in LOS.

[QorDaq]

I think I must have always seen HQ as more of an RPG lite than a board game per se'... From the first game, after players would choose their characters, I'd just ask them what their "Marching Order" was going to be, they always sorted it rather quickly as I recall.

[Anderas]

I tried the Heroquest rattle some times to randomize the turn order.
Turned out to be a lot of fun. Monsters are a bit stronger that way, too.

Then we tried what happens if we include Morcar’s turn in the randomized turn order. So you would never know if Morcar goes first or last or in between. That was fun too, until the end boss room full of Monsters had two consecutive turns, killing two Heroes.

Since then we play free turn order.
That works too, and is more tactical. More important, it is more communicative. That's always good.

However, the simplest variant is the original fixed turn order. If you play with young ones that's the choice.

[knightkrawler]

or just to be awkward. Initiative via MP. The player with the higher MP can chose to go before another player. Meaning the barbarian goes last unless the other players choose to go after him. Giving the Wizard the choice to go at any point during the Heroes segment.

Tactical possibilities for the EWP:
The hero with the highest sum of CURRENT mind and body points HAS TO go first. The rest of the round being the default order.

[Goblin-King]

Slightly off-topic...

In general, what's in your opinion the optimal turn order for the heroes?

Is it the soft characters first because they can scout and discover traps and monsters while the hard hitters swipe whatever they discover.
Or is it better for barbarian/dwarf to go first to soak up any hidden traps there may be. Wizard will always be able to monitor the current situation and place himself accordingly.

[Gold Bearer]

Why would you want the Wizard going last?

So he knows whether to cast ball of flame/fire of wraith/genie because all the others have attacked and the monster's still alive.

or just to be awkward. Initiative via MP. The player with the higher MP can chose to go before another player. Meaning the barbarian goes last unless the other players choose to go after him. Giving the Wizard the choice to go at any point during the Heroes segment.

Nice. Helps the weakest hero the most and makes the talisman of lore more useful.

Slightly off-topic...

In general, what's in your opinion the optimal turn order for the heroes?

It was nearly always when we played.

[Anderas]

Yes. Barbarian first, then dwarf or elf, then the wizard, then what's left, dwarf or elf.

Wizard goes second last so he can react and give the last one courage or stone skin sometimes.

[whitebeard]

Why would you want the Wizard going last?

So he knows whether to cast ball of flame/fire of wraith/genie because all the others have attacked and the monster's still alive.

Thank you, that is the rational I was forgetting. It REALLY makes no sense to cast Tempest on a big baddie if the very next player ends up rolling all skulls and killing it. So Wizard last makes sense. We add LOS requirements to Ball of Flame and Fire of Wrath so 2nd to last makes sense for us as well.

[Showdown35]

We add LOS requirements to Ball of Flame and Fire of Wrath so 2nd to last makes sense for us as well.

Sorry for straying the topic a little more... (At least in the US version), the rulebook already has LOS requirements as a general rule for spellcasting. "For the Elf of Wizard to cast a spell, the target must be visible..." (Under the "Action 2--Cast a Spell" section of the rulebook)

So no need to add LOS requirements... they are already there!

[knightkrawler]

EU versions of Fire of Wrath allowed you to cast it on a figure "anywhere on the board",
but yes, I know of no US hero spell that doesn't require LOS with the exception of Genie opening a door, which any one hero must have had LOS to before because else it wouldn't be there.