What color?

[lestodante]

my idea about colors is teh following:

Skaven - brown like furnitures and rats in HQ
Troll - light green (as the Dragonstrike Troll)
Chaos Dwarf - violet
Chaos Archer - grey like the Chaos Warriors
Giant Spider - grey
Giant Bat - grey
Giant Snake - grey
Hell Hound - red like the heroes
Beastman - dark orange
Rat Ogre - brown
Dragon - red like the heroes
Rogue Assassin - red as a playable character, dark blue if not playable.

[j_dean80]

Anyone have any thoughts on colors for the Misc. Monster group or Ogres?

Also, I'm not sure where to put Chaos Dwarves. Grey/Chaos seems like a solid choice, but does anyone have any other ideas?

Original Ogres come in 3 different colors so that's not helpful. Maybe a skin-tone color?
I would group all Chaos into the same category (Chaos Warlock/Chaos Warrior/Chaos Dwarf/Chaos Hound/Chaos Archer).
A Troll is a green-skin to me.

[Spookyhappyfun]

Anyone have any thoughts on colors for the Misc. Monster group or Ogres?

Also, I'm not sure where to put Chaos Dwarves. Grey/Chaos seems like a solid choice, but does anyone have any other ideas?

Original Ogres come in 3 different colors so that's not helpful. Maybe a skin-tone color?
I would group all Chaos into the same category (Chaos Warlock/Chaos Warrior/Chaos Dwarf/Chaos Hound/Chaos Archer).
A Troll is a green-skin to me.

My wife had suggested maybe black for ogres and a light green for misc. monsters, but I think I like your idea of a skin tone or flesh color for ogres and then I can do black for misc. monsters. Black definitely works for bats, spiders, wolves, and werewolves. And I'm definitely moving the troll to the greenskin category and putting chaos dwarves as chaos.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Spookyhappyfun]

Oh here's a question that occurred to me this morning. Should the Witch Lord be white like the rest of the undead, or should he be the midnight blue that the Wizards of Morcar are (which I'm considering almost a boss color)? Relatedly, should the Orc Shaman still be that midnight blue or should be be green like the rest of the orcs?

[j_dean80]

Oh here's a question that occurred to me this morning. Should the Witch Lord be white like the rest of the undead, or should he be the midnight blue that the Wizards of Morcar are (which I'm considering almost a boss color)? Relatedly, should the Orc Shaman still be that midnight blue or should be be green like the rest of the orcs?

Hmm...interesting. I would make the Witch Lord white since he is the epitome of the undead. That would make the Orc Shaman green..? The other three Wizards are all human. Maybe midnight blue for evil human sorcerers..?

[Anderas]

Wohoo lots of categories Spooky.
I think they are very well themed, fitting internally very good.

Now I am thinking about a thread to nail the stats for the rest of the off-whites once and for all.

[Spookyhappyfun]

Oh here's a question that occurred to me this morning. Should the Witch Lord be white like the rest of the undead, or should he be the midnight blue that the Wizards of Morcar are (which I'm considering almost a boss color)? Relatedly, should the Orc Shaman still be that midnight blue or should be be green like the rest of the orcs?

Hmm...interesting. I would make the Witch Lord white since he is the epitome of the undead. That would make the Orc Shaman green..? The other three Wizards are all human. Maybe midnight blue for evil human sorcerers..?

You know, I think I was thinking too much about it. I'll just leave them as is. Witch Lord white, and Orc Shaman midnight blue like the other Wizards of Morcar.

Wohoo lots of categories Spooky.
I think they are very well themed, fitting internally very good.

Now I am thinking about a thread to nail the stats for the rest of the off-whites once and for all.

Thanks!

[Daedalus]

If these monsters came as original to HeroQuest or an expansion...what color would they be? . . .

That's from the OP to frame my point of view . . .

. . . With that being said, here are my choices so far for groups, colors, and figures in those groups:

. . .

• (Misc.) Monsters - Black - Bugbear, Giant, Bear, Giant Wolf, Giant Bat, Giant Spider, Werewolf
• Ogres - Flesh - Ogre Warrior, Ogre Chieftain, Ogre Champion, Ogre Lord
• Ice - Powder Blue - Ice Gremlin, Polar Warbear, Yeti, Frozen Horror
• Wizard/Boss - Midnight Blue - Orc Shaman, High Mage, Necromancer, Storm Master, Elven Archmage, Terraptus, Zargon

Anyone have any thoughts on colors for the Misc. Monster group or Ogres? . . .

You may want to consider the purpose of color groups within the rules when deciding. To paraphrase p.9 of the Rules of Play and p.23 of the Instruction Booklet, if a monster can't be placed because all of its type is already on the gameboard, then a monster of the same color group is placed instead.

Within the Game System, the three monster colors (green, white, and gray) not only represent separately themed monsters, but also different combat power (weak greens/whites vs. strong grays) or mechanics (zero Mind Point whites vs. mind spell-vulnerable greens and mind-spell affected grays.) I'd say the original design of Hero Quest--seen in these three colors--is best observed by assigning a color to a group of monsters that reflects some kind of mechanics/power parameter in common. A common theme is desirable as well, but isn't always used to determine a color for a group (the light-blue group discussed below is an example.)

. . . Pretty much agree with knightkrawler except I lump all beasts into brown.
But what it comes down to with these "faction-less" creatures is which other models they would come packaged with in their expansion.
Traditionally monsters are all the same colors in any given expansion (mage of the Mirror being the exception, but that's because they reused the ogres from AtOh.
So a giant spider would be brown if it came with brown skaven, but it would be grey if it came with grey chaos creatures.

Relating the monsters within an expansion is an important factor in color choice, but not the only one. In the EQP, I'd say it's apparent that the Ogre color was separated from light-blue because of that monster's significantly higher challenge--it has even more Body Points than any Hero, after all.

Both AtOH and the BQP have two color groups as well. In AtOH, Ogre Warriors are red while the unique leaders (either variable or specifically noted BPs) are dark-gray. Neither color may be substituted across those two groups. The BQP has light blue--the same as EQP, and light gray for the Mercenaries (which was a new color for the reused Men-at-arms of WoM.) It makes sense game-mechanically to distinguish Mercenary color, as it is the only monster also used as a regular Hero ally.

While light-blue works thematically as a color group within each NA-exclusive expansion, it doesn't work well thematically between them. For later use, light-blue does serve to differentiate those diverse groups with higher-challenge, non-unique monsters, however. Some discretion is needed as this group contains a wide range of challenge between figures.

So after saying all that, here's my suggestions prioritizing mechanics but also considering theme:

• (Misc.) Monsters - Black - Bugbear (green or red-orange), Giant (dark-gray with Ogres), Bear (light blue), Giant Wolf (light-blue), Giant Bat (tan*), Giant Spider (tan), Werewolf (light-blue)
  *see AHQ Skaven figures
  
  You could always create a new color based on theme, but it would be more sound to also distinguish the group mechanically in some way. For instance, my suggested tan group is only a bit weaker in combat than green, so assigning zero Mind Points for these vermin would also be a good idea. A Giant Rat and/or Rat Swarm would also fit this profile well. Fill it out with a tan AHQ Skaven to serve as the tougher model and you have the weaker of two groups in a themed expansion.

• Ogres - Flesh - Ogre Warrior (red or dark-gray), Ogre Chieftain (dark-gray), Ogre Champion (dark-gray), Ogre Lord (dark-gray) Ogre of EQP (dark-gray)
  
  By matching the EQP Ogre with the same dark gray color as the unique Ogres of the AtOH expansion, it's possible a thematic link was being observed. Or maybe the choice was merely one of aesthetics--the original dark-gray does look very cool for the bulky Ogre figures.
  
  Either way, I'd say it is apparent that the NA and EU Ogres don't compliment well as a playable color group between editions. EU Ogres often have variable Body Points tracked with a Body Point track, while the EQP Ogre always has 10 Body Points. As the two separate editions of Hero Quest were marketed separately across the pond, I don't believe that it was even a concern of Hasbro to attempt to coordinate the two Body Point systems. If Phoenix's Body Points found here at the Inn's localization are adapted for the EU unique Ogres, the dark-greys can be managed as a single color group with discretion, however.

. . . Also, I'm not sure where to put Chaos Dwarves. Grey/Chaos seems like a solid choice, but does anyone have any other ideas? . . .

I also like the Chaos Dwarves as gray. You could go lava red-orange if you had some supporting high-challenge or fire-resistant monsters for the group. Hobgoblin slaves or a Bull Centaur come to mind, but HQ monsters needn't be restricted to Warhammer lore. For instance, Automatons, D&D Salamanders, or the the Manscorpion from Dragon Strike could also theme well. Maybe the Bugbears mentioned in your list could work as muscle/slaves instead.

[Spookyhappyfun]

Thanks, Daedalus! That's some good information to consider. I'll mull it over before finalizing and painting.

[Kurgan]

Here are the colors I used...

Heroes (burgundy, or "ketchup" depending upon the originals you're using)

"Greenskins" (Forest Green) - Goblin, Fimir, Orc

Undead (moldy/bone white) - Skeleton, Mummy, Zombie, Sasquatch, Mutant

Chaos / Civilians (grey) - Chaos Warriors, Gargoyle, Chaos Warlock, Villagers, Ruffians

Quest Packs (Sigmar Blue highlight) - Frozen Horror, Giant Wolves, Female Barbarian/Elf, Polar Warbears, Elf Warriors & Archers, Elf Archmage

Bosses - Ogres and Evil Wizards for example ("True" Navy Blue) - chaos wizards, lord, chieftan, warrior, champion

Mercenaries (bright red) ("enemy" or neutral mercenaries use grey) - crossbowmen, halberders/spearmen, bowmen, swordsmen, ogre clubbers

Black (badass of badasses) - dark warriors, Chaos Alchemists, special mercenaries (ie: Ninjas)

I admit I didn't stick to a specific formula with some, based on the models. rather than making a huge category of grey figures (taking cues only from the official packs), I made some powder blue, like an Elf Blacksmith, the White Seer boss, and a Werewolf boss.