Hero Quest – Hero Quest II?
Well.. this is kinda part of the Hero Quest Story and lore stuff.. But as you should be aware, Games Workshop did a number of video games back in the day which were mostly pretty good video game versions of their board games. Often, they had some pretty decent companies work on them, and Games Workshop acted as publisher on some, even some video game exclusives which were.. board/card game in style but weren’t released (at the time) as physical games.
Now.. while both Space Crusade and Hero Quest were designed to allow expansions, and both had I think one expansion each (Hero Quest did have Return of the Witch Lord released), they didn’t do too many.. However, despite all the different machines Hero Quest was released for (including an non-officially released NES version as in it was unreleased at the time), the Amiga had ‘Hero Quest II: The Legacy Of Sorasil’. … Kinda… Done by Gremlin Graphics, reviews at the time were so-so, partly saying it was just Hero Quest with some slightly improved graphics and a new story, giving 9 new missions..
Well, to me, that sounds great! An original Hero Quest Campaign which isn’t even based on a released expansion! Yay! Can I even back port it to the board game?
well.. I read the instruction manual. I booted up a copy of the Game…. This is Hero Quest?
There are some good things which I like.. and some I don’t…
Legacy of Sorasil gives a 9 mission campaign, made to be one story.. great, no problem, where you have to free the lands of Rhia from evil. You assemble your team of 4 heroes (up to). They have added an experience system so you can level up, and you aren’t just in the Dungeons but some different locations like forests, temples and castles.. well, all are possible in Hero Quest.. apart from Forests mostly have a very dungeon like layout. But the experience system is new.. but fair enough.
We then come to the party screen.. you can have up to 4 characters on your team and while its designed for 4, you can play with less if you want and there are more then 4 different characters! Who do we have?
Angor: The Barbarian. Yep.. pretty much just the Barbarian.. No problem. Doesn’t wear armour, has a broad sword. But then we look at his stats.. Body, Mind, Attack, Defence? all fine.. but what’s this? attack and defence are pre-set numbers? and there are more? Strength, Perception, and a pre-set move? mm..
Oakheart: The Ranger. looks more human then Wood Elf but okay.. a new character type..
Haxar: The Paladin.. A Paladin.. wait.. this is starting to look a bit more Dnd..
Calorflame: The Cleric. Calorflame? I guess the copyrighter was looking at his gas at the time.. And she isn’t a Cleric cause the first line is ‘Calorflame is a Priestess’… sigh.. but fair enough and she has some Spells, and is unable to used edged weapons cause her religion says she can’t shed blood. Interesting
Grimbeard: The Fighter. It’s the Dwarf!.. they call him a Fighter which.. I guess he is a dwarf Fighter, but clearly just the Dwarf character. and has the Traps ability too
Ravenslock: The Wizard. It’s the Wizard.. and that’s clearly the HeroQuest Wizard.. complete with Spells.
Stormbow: The Adventurer. It’s the Elf now! some spells, and competent swordsman.
Celeste: The Mystic. The Second female who is.. a binki wearing ‘mystic’ who is an elementalist.. so.. not a Mystic? not as good in combat as even the wizard but has spells.
So that’s 8 Heroes.. the classic 4 and 4 new ones (which.. yeah, I can convert them so I probably will)
now we have the Modification screen. we have 5 extra points for each character which we can use to upgrade them before we start… that is new and goes with the experience system. There is then a map screen showing the land where you can go to different locations for each mission (fair enough as you can have difference order to some of the missions). We also have trading posts where you can buy and sell equipment and also hear the latest rumours that might help you.
The game itself then has even MORE changes.. each character has 20 action points per turn. Most characters have a movement value of 10 so if you do all 10 movements, that’s 10 action points used. you can then use action points to open doors, fight, cast spells, search for treasure, search for Doors/traps, look at the map and check your inventory.. though some actions like looking at the map cost no points, spells can vary and stronger spells can take more time..
And we start to see… Isn’t this more Advanced HeroQuest (though not quite), or just DnD?
We have an expanded spell book!
Fire Spells: Ball of Flame and Courage are back.. slightly different.. not a huge amount through.. Ball of Flame doesn’t allow the victim to try to defend, and Courage only appeals for one turn, but kinda like the 2 extra dice, it allows combat to be doubled. Though as combat is now a value and not dice, it’s a bit different. Fire of Wrath is now missing. But in its steed, we have Flame of Healing, a standard healing spell giving up to 4 points of damage back, Wall of Fire, which puts a wall of Fire in one space for 2 turns, which inflicts 3 points of body damage for anyone that crosses that square, and Fear, which basically renders a victim helpless for 1 turn. I would say the new spells work pretty well as they are kinda like ones already there in the game (Flame of Healing is the same as Water of Healing and Heal Body) where Wall of Fire is pretty nice and a bit like the Wizards of Morcar Magical Wall of Fire spell. Fear is basically the same as either Tempest (which means they miss the next turn) or Sleep which puts one character to sleep but they can miss more turns depending on there mind points and if they happen to roll a 6 at the start of their turn. In fact, It’s pretty much just the Necromancers Fear spell from Wizards of Morcar… Maybe a theme?
Next we have Air spells: Tempest and Swift Wind are back with the slight video game change. Well.. Tempest doesn’t change and Swift wind, instead of letting you roll twice as many dice, now lets you double the movement value. As Genie is now gone (I guess this is because ‘open any door on the board’ is a bit tricky in the middle of a forest?) we have Lightning Bolt, which is a BIT like the Genie’s attack any one on the board, but instead of doing it with 5 combat dice, it just does 2 body points of damage. Healing Wind, which is a VERY GOOD Healing spell.. instead of up to 4 body points, it’s up to 6! Wow! and then there is Detect Traps. Which will find all secret doors and traps within 10 square radius. pretty useful really.
Next are the Water Spells: Water of Healing and Sleep are both back.. anyone noticed the each one has 2 of the 3 original spells? and the new ones which replace Veil of Mist are Wall of Water which is just the same as Wall of Fire, but it’s Water. Rust which basically.. is a bit weird.. It’ll render any metal weapon utterly useless. This is pretty much the same as the Rust Spell the High Mage has in Wizards of Morcar though that just says ‘any equipment’ of the Evil Wizard’s choice. but as cards don’t mark if they are made from metal or not, it’s a bit tricky in theory. Then there is Demoralise which.. doesn’t quite make sense for a water spell but okay, It scares a victim so they can’t attack next turn.
Then finally, Earth Spells.. and.. erm.. we only have 2.. Rock Skin which instead of giving you 2 extra dice in defence until you are wounded, it makes someone invincible against physical attack for 1 turn and Heal Body which.. Is the same 4 body point heal as normal. The missing one is, of course, Pass Through Rock.
Instead of having the spell decks, Spell casters all have access to all the spells BUT … erm.. the strength of the spell is related to the intelligence (mind) of the caster it claims, and the more powerful the spell, the longer It can take to cast, so that kinda balances out. Also when it comes to Magic Potions, the mind points also matter.. as exampled that a ‘potion of Lightning bolt’ thrown by the Barbarian isn’t as effective as one hurled by the Mystic. It’ll also take up more of his action points… Interesting.
Now, if you look carefully at the box and stuff.. the game isn’t “Hero Quest II”.. it’s “Hero Quest Masters” .. well.. the box says Hero Quest II, the manual says Hero Quest Masters… and really, Masters suits it’s style much better. So basically. it IS a variation of Advanced HeroQuest. well.. to be more correct, its a ‘Advanced’ version of Hero Quest, while not being as Advanced as Advanced Hero Quest.. So a middle ground.. which is.. Hero Quest Masters it appears ^_^
Oh, Maybe I should say what the plot is? okay.. Briefly.. Rhia was once a great empire which is now dying due to corruption and pestilence with dried rivers and dying livestock. Most people go to a local wizard who can offer no help and his magic has all but gone. So in his last effort, he FINALLY asks someone else for help. He has found out that in a nearby land of Kolchoth, another once mighty empire has also decayed but it sounds like there are two important talismans of lore which will help in saving Rhia, and there are a few more things to pick up too like a Amulet and ‘the Oracle Stone’. With this elements together, the wizard (Alayon the Mystic?) can save the land.. Okay, this plot is pretty weak, even for the more simple HQ standards..
Y’know what.. I do have plans for doing some plays of Video games based on board games (not gonna go too crazy with them) and this would make a good choice. I have a nice list of a few old ones to try (I recently finally played shadow of the Horned rat and was greatly disappointed.. It’s meant to be WFB 4ed but… it’s real time.. not turn based.. Turn based would have been easier to code and more faithful and fun.. (I’ve only played.. I think Epic and 40K based ones which are turn based).. sigh.. I’ll probably get into it a bit more but.. iffy control setup and real-time .. nasty..