Playing HeroQuest

The time has come...

Would you dare to enter the dungeon? ;) After so many years I've finally brought the game back to life! Let's have a couple of introductory games, I'm aware that many of you may have forgotten the rules... in case you are not too young to never have actually played it!

So let's go! This is the display for the first game in the booklet, The Trial:

Doesn't look that impressive, I know. Just wait for the adventure to unfold

  'You have learnt well, my friends. Now has come the time for your first trial. You are to travel east and enter the catacombs of Verag, a foul Gargoyle. The catacombs guard the tomb of Fellmarg. The trial is not easy and some of you will not return. Those who do survive will continue their training. This is your first step on the road to becoming a hero... tread carefully, my friends'.

 

 The goal here is to kill the Gargoyle and to get to know the basics of the game. Let's see...

So our adventurers begin to explore the dungeon...

And the first blood is spilled!

Quick note: The original Spanish HeroQuest edition contained several mistakes. Some of them regarding the translation (for example, the Elf is called 'Troll' -seriously, guys, WTF-) and some of them regarding rules. As a matter of fact, the Goblin stats were insanely good, making them just as good as a Chaos Warrior. I grew up my childhood believeing that Goblins were witty creatures with some kind of unnatural agility that allowed them to hit hard and fast and dodge enemy attacks even better. :O For this game I didn't have the corrected stats at hand, so we played the enhanced Ubergoblins :D. I promise I will correct that for the next time.

Let's go on. The Wizard opened the door...

 

Ooops, am I interrupting something?

But decided to do some magic stuff better than getting into the room.

Fireball towards the ugly Orc. I should have added fire effects with Photoshop

The Dwarf crushed into some more enemies

Finally! Someone my size!

 And so did the Barbarian and the Elf. This is finally looking like some proper adventure!

I've been waiting for so many years for this to happen again...

Looks like the Barbarian matches his enemies by pairs...

Ehm... He just leaves and go kicking some poor Goblin's ass with the help of his Dwarf friend. Group battle anyway

The Wizard invokes a Genius to kill the Fimir. Nobody here seems to be able to do things on their own!

 

The rules for this game are reeeeally simple. Each character moves by rolling 2D6. Attacks and defence are solved by rolling special dice. Skulls mean hit, white shield means the good guy isn't hit, black shield means the bad guy isn't hit. That's pretty much it!

Barb kills an Orc while Grumpy faces two Skellies

 

Each turn every character can search for secret doors/traps or for some hidden treasure in the room they are, drawing some treasure cards to that effect. Besides, you can occasionally find a treasure chest...

What's this, Barb? You get 100 gold coins and I have to face the Raggedy Men?

Don't worry, little pal, let me handle this

Ehm. Sometimes I see dead people

 

In the meantime, the Wizard opens a door and...
 

Verag the foul Gargoyle and his foul acolytes!

 

Oh, this was the moment! The Wizard invoked the powerful Fire of Wrath. Choose any mini anywhere on the board. The Fire will look for the enemy and will cause him one damage point, unless he rolls a shield. All the energy sparkled, magic looking its way. Fire and smoke, epic background music and...

 

A shield! Aaargh!

 

Hm, things are gonna get ugly...

 

One by one, gentlemen, please!

 

The Elf ran to stand in for his pal, being able to hold the position for a while.

 

The Barbarian and the Dwarf also run towards the bad guy...

...Being chased by a whole graveyard

 

The adventurers came up with a plan. The Elf would fight the Chaos Warrior and keep the door

 

Easier to say than to do

 

In the meantime, the Wizard would use the Pass Through Rock spell on the Barbarian, who would come running along the corridor; instead of smashing himself on the wall, he passed through it epicly leaping and waving his sword with a stentorian battlecry.

 

Die, foul gargoyle! Dieeee!! (Oh, come on, tell me this is not epic!)

 

OK, now you can tell this is totally unepic

 

Ouch! Not a single hit! The struggle continued, the Gargoyle caused some injuries to the Barbarian, everything was at stake...

 

And the Gargoyle finally dies!

Victory! :D
The game was fun as hell, maybe I was so eager to play this game that everything looked so shiny to me, but anyway I can say that 25 years later, HeroQuest still rocks!

In fact, as the game was so quick, we decided to play the second scenario, The Rescue of Sir Ragnar.

'Sir Ragnar, one of the Emperor's most powerful Knights, has been kipnapped. He is been held prisoner by Ulag, the Orc Warlord. You are to find Sir Ragnar and bring him back to safety. Prince Magnus will pay 200 gold coins to the character who rescues Sir Ragnar. The reward may be split between several adventurers, but no reward will be paid if Sir Ragnar is killed whilst escaping'.

Using the treasures found in the previous encounter, the Wizard bought a staff and the Barbarian bought a shield. And then they all run to the rescue!

 

Back to the game again!

A Goblin! Run! Run for your lives! Nooo, don't leave me aloooneee!

Out of the frying-pan into the fire (without Wargs)

This time the game unfolded even quicker, so everything went smoother. Pure dungeon joy!

A secret door! And more monsters behind!

 

Our adventurers finally found Sir Ragnar (represented in the pic below by the Lord Witch, ahem. The quest book tells you to use that mini, but I can assure you this will be solved during Stage 2 -or 3- of my long-term HeroQuest plan...). At that moment someone raises the alarm! A horn sounds in the deep. Then drums in the darkness... Fly you fools!

All the minis must be immediately deployed

 

 The player who discovered the prisoner, the Barbarian, is to move Sir Ragnar too. So the adventurers begun to run... and the baddies too!

The Elf rolled unusually high scores. The cliche about Elven agility proved right

 

Smothering situation

The fight was really hard, the characters trying desperately to keep the greenskins at bay to proetct Sir Ragnar.

 

We're outnumbered!

The Wizard succumbed to his wounds while the Barbarian held the door, allowing Sir Ragnar to escape.

 

Get to the chopper stairs!

 

Well, this game was quicker then the previous one, as the adventurers found the prisoner quite quickly and from then it was kinda a chase or something similar. Again I must say it was terribly fun, we enjoyed every single turn. For me maybe it was nostalgia, but my mates were newcomers to the game and they seemed to enjoy the experience as much as I did!
I can tell you this is not the last you have seen here about HeroQuest. Now I have to attend (many) other pending issues, but it is my intention to keep on playing and, in time, to expand my ranges. That will come, my friends, that will come...