HEROQUEST - COMPANION APP discussion

[SirRick]

Today I started, and finished the first two quests of MotM quest pack. Both quests were fairly easy for a fully armed Elf. I also was using the Wolf companion, which is what I do for solo quests now. Since the app doesn’t support the animal companions, I just have to make it work. The Wolf didn’t participate much, but its nice to have a little backup just in case the solo quests are crazy like the FH ones.

A new Elf might find the first a little difficult since the wandering monster is a Mummy. Even my experienced Elf had a duel with one Mummy that lasted a few rounds from bad rolling.

The second quest is pretty much a guarateed loss, with a new Elf. By this time they will have the Elven Chain Mail, but they would still have a Shortsword as a weapon. Maybe if the player got lucky and found enough gold from quest 1 to buy a better weapon, they might have a chance. Normally in this quest, a new player would be hosed. There are two Giant Wolves in this quest, in addition to double Orcs for a wandering monster.

I noticed in this v4.2, wandering monsters no longer move after their attack. They also don’t move away later on Zargon’s turn. They only seem to move if the heroes move away from them. I’m glad this issue was fixed somewhat. It was really annoying for wandering monsters to appear, attack, then run out the door, allowing the other wandering monsters to move up and attack too even though its not their turn.

Normal placed monsters still behave as before, they move up to attack. If they are already next to a hero, they attack then move as far away as possible.

Its still too early to see how this quest pack will play out. The main group for this pack are heroes I haven’t used for awhile, the Elf, Wizard, Rogue, and Warlock. All of them have plenty of healing potions and other consumables from their previous adventures. Oddly the Elf is playing the leader, since she now has the Elven Bracers and Elven Chain Mail. I just feels a little weird not having a Barbarian, Dwarf, or Knight in the party.

I wish I still had the app version with all the First Light quests, but the app updated automatically before I could do anything.

[Kurgan]

Those are some nice tidbits! I haven't "updated" my app since I learned that I'd lose access to the First Light Quests 2-10.

[SirRick]

This morning I finished Quest 4: The Elven Prospector from the MotM quest pack. The quest went ok, especially since I got lucky disarming the trap in the first room, that would have released two Ogres to attack me. This brought back bad memories of that “HeroQuest Day” event last year. I was excited to watch a group play through this quest online, but then found out they were playing it with starting heroes. I groaned out loud when I heard this. Those who watched know what happened, though they did survive slightly longer than I expected.

I did notice some peculiar things as I played through on the app:

The Portcullis door can be moved through, and disappears when this happens. I triggered this by accident when moving my Rogue. The door remains missing even if you undo your turn. The Ogres still behaved as if the Portcullis was still there, and did not move the entire game. I did not try to see what happens if you try to walk through the portcullis that you need the key for, to unlock the Prospector. I wasn’t sure if this would fail to trigger the Prospector joining you or not. Since it was the Rogue that made the initial portcullis disappear, its possible it related to the next thing on my list.

The Rogue can now freely move through monsters. I am not sure when this was implemented but it is nice, so you don’t have to replicate the same effect by pretending to use Pass Through Rock scrolls.

The weirdest thing that happened (see the picture below) the Giant Wolf moved to attack the Rogue, but Zargon and the display indicated that the wolf was attacking the Elf (in the corridor). I rolled the Rogue defense instead and she took the damage. Immediately after the attack, the wolf moved again and flew around the room like Superman until it stopped in the exact same place it started. It was the funniest thing I saw in the app since Skulmar ran directly through multiple heroes to try and escape, way back when I played RotWL.

The last strange thing involved the Orcs in the corridor South of the center room. I triggered the Falling Rock Trap, and jumped back into the room. Then my Wizard moved North, through the door and triggered the Spear Trap. He dodged, and then when I tried to search for traps, the app would not let me (see the second picture). I found this strange since there was no line of sight at all since the impassable rubble tile and the Elf were blocking any possible view of the Orcs.

The quest wasn’t too difficult, I had to use 3 or 4 healing potions, but I found one from searching. I only seaeched once per room when I discovered the wandering monster was 2 Dread Warriors. I did find a Cloak of Elven Passage though, which was pretty nice. I look forward to the next quest, and don’t dread it like I did playing through FH.

[SirRick]

Yesterday I completed Quest 5: The High Alchemist’s Laboratory. This quest was quite a chore, but mostly because of my poor dice rolling, and forgetting to use consumable stuff. The double pit traps at the beginning, and the long pit trap later caused a lot of trouble for me. I could have avoided much trouble if I remembered to use the Elven Cloak of Passage from the previous quest, the Air Walk potion I also found, and if I hadn’t foolishly tried to have my Warlock disarm a trap. She was hit by a spear and lost her Demon Form. So a lot of the issues were my own fault. So remember everyone, use your consumable stuff!

The long pit traps themselves are pretty cheap. You take 2 points of damage falling into one, and then you often have to spend several turns rolling a movement die to get out. The Dwarf would have been really helpful here, but he is taking a well earned break after finishing FH. So for this quest book I’m stuck with four characters with a lousy 50% disarm success rate. I noticed with the double single pit traps at the beginning, the app allows you to try and jump both pits in one move. Basically if you jump the first pit, you are given another roll to jump the second pit instead of falling straight into it. Its like in a Super Mario game in which you get across large chasms by jumping off 1 space platforms. I will implement this in normal in-person games.

Another app related thing was with the long pit trap. In the app when you try and make your hero move out of the pit, you get a message telling you to roll a die to get out. Whether you succeed or not, your hero still ends up on the spot you tried to get to. The app will no longer allow you to move that character anymore because it considers your turn is over or something. If you switch to another hero then back again, the app allows you to move them. I mention this because my characters had to make several attempts to climb out, but each time they failed, I had to throw them into the pit again. This is how I found out the app won’t let you move the same hero after a failed attempt.

I fought no less than 8 Giant Wolves, and a few Ogres in this quest. Those things are incredibly dangerous! Diagonal attacks with 6 attack dice? Ouch! Especially when the High Alchemist cast Summon Wolves on his first turn. This was truly the first boss fight in a long time that actually felt like it. I should have charged in to get him, but the man had 4 Dread Warriors with him, and I wasn’t if there were traps in there as well. If I did, it would have saved me from having to deal out another 15 BP of damage.

With two normal monsters in this expansion that have boss-like stats this quest basically had 12 bosses instead of 1. But if I thought 8 wolves and a few ogres were bad enough, I know there are a lot more in store for me later on. While I don’t normally study quest books if I intend to play them, I occasionally glance through them. I couldn’t help but notice Quest 8: The Gathering Storm has a lot of Giant Wolves in it (12 in fact). This made me look through and count all the difficult monsters in this quest: 12 Giant Wolves, 3 Ogres (remember they used to have 10 BP), and 8 Dread Warriors. Holy Smokes! I really can’t believe the lady who designed this quest pack actually got paid money to do this! I doubt she even knew anything about the game considering the quest I just finished had 3 Zombies as the wandering monster (the GS only has 2). I’m convinced that the people who designed the old NA quest packs had no idea each room in a quest could be searched for treasure 4 times (once for each hero). I am not sure if AtOH or WoM used multiple wandering monsters, but even only a single monster can easily double the amount of monsters faced in a quest. When you have two or three jumping out at you, sometimes multiple times in one room? It makes for a very annoying game.

Still, this particular quest would not have been too bad if I had rolled better (rolling mostly shields when attacking, and skulls when defending) and used certain items I forgot about. It gets really frustrating when you use potions and spells to try and get an edge in a fight, only to fall flat. My Rogue attacked with a Battle Axe and a Potion of strength, and all 7 dice rolled shields. I had already used the Elf’s Flashback spell in a similar situation. This sort of thing happened multiple times in this quest. I really think my HeroQuest dice are cursed, because this sort of thing happens too frequently. I can learn from this though, and will start investing in some Potions of Battle to give me some rerolls. I will also consider using the Spell Ring to store the Flashback spell as well.

[MonsterMotor]

Sir Rick, I find your computer-game reports quite interesting. I played all 9 quests as a hero player with the 4 standard heroes on the board and had similar experiences. Difficulty is one thing, but the main problem is that it does not feel like playing a game. It is really hard work, but no fun. Of course, my heroes died in the end, even with the Zargon player being merciful with them from time to time. I wonder how far you will get in the end.

Holy Smokes! I really can’t believe the lady who designed this quest pack actually got paid money to do this! I doubt she even knew anything about the game considering the quest I just finished had 3 Zombies as the wandering monster (the GS only has 2). I’m convinced that the people who designed the old NA quest packs had no idea each room in a quest could be searched for treasure 4 times (once for each hero). I am not sure if AtOH or WoM used multiple wandering monsters, but even only a single monster can easily double the amount of monsters faced in a quest. When you have two or three jumping out at you, sometimes multiple times in one room? It makes for a very annoying game.

Yes, the quality of the original design is bad, but at least the designer did come up with a decent story plot overall. So, I think she did deserve some payment for that. With some additional work, this quest pack can be made really good. In my view, the worst thing is that all this nonsense was not corrected already in the 2020s reprint as all the issues were known for 30 years. The problem is also that too many people buy this bad stuff again, regardless, similar as with the Barbarian Quest. So the business model apparently works well enough, no need for the producer to do some playtesting in the meantime. Maybe the 2050s HQ edition will finally be better. (no, just kidding, it probably won't)

Yes, the Ogre Hordes also spawn multiple wandering monsters (4 goblins, 2 US chaos warriors/3 EU chaos warriors), ...

[SirRick]

Monster Motor, I’m glad you like reading these things. Its mostly because I want to play my favorite board game, and play-testing the app is my excuse for doing so. Its been fun so far (up until FH at least). It gave me a chance to try out all the heroes as well.

I do agree the story and theme of this pack is very good. I like the idea of Zargon’s influence even corrupting elves into joining his cause.

I feel I should make it through this pack just fine for a couple reasons. First, the app’s behavior is predicable, so I can use tactics I normally would not use verses a human Zargon (such as the Rogue standing in the middle of the room because I know the app will attack the leader). The second is the massive amount of healing potions I acquired playing through all the quests. At one point I had well over 100 (divided between 10 heroes currently). I originally planned to acquire as many as possible before the FH, expecting I would need to use half of them to get through it. I managed to use a lot less, so each hero has between 12 to 20ish potions on them. My acquisition of treasures has slowed considerably since starting FH because I find the wandering monster situation too annoying and too dangerous.

I noticed heroes don’t really get stronger, they just acquire more resources. Its pretty impossible for any of my heroes to die at this point, except in some specific circumstances, such as an instant death chasm. My Barbarian almost died from a Yeti in a solo quest of FH. I judged I would not be able to drink potions when trapped in a death hug. The Armband of Healing triggered and kept him alive the one turn I needed for Snowdasher to finally kill the yeti. I had some close calls in RotWL as well, particularly in the massive ambush in the first quest in which all my heroes fell into the same pit at once and were surrounded on all sides.

Playing this FH and MotM with a human Zargon would be vastly different, and I feel these two packs would be even less fun in this case. Especially with a mean or competitive Zargon.

I do look forward to trying RotDM and JoD. They don’t seem like the chore that FH and MotM seem to be, and the story for each seems awesome. I also love how RotDM is a direct sequel to MotM. I am a bit concerned about AtOH, I just don’t know what to expect from it, but I’ll find out when I get there. I still have to try out the Berserker and Explorer at some point too.

[Kurgan]

We had a pretty good time playing through MOTM. Granted, it was the same party that completed Frozen Horror (players came and went but the 4-5 heroes remained). Granted, I made all kinds of little adjustments and house rules along the way, but in general I fielded exactly as many monsters as were called for, and in some cases put in more (and other than the solo quests which were played as group quests and originally had Ogres) I used the 10 BP Ogres in all of the quests. The final battle with Sinestra took about 3.5 hours (I had saved up a bunch of combat and evil wizard cards, not wanting to repeat the very anti-climactic battle with the Frozen Horror boss!).

[MonsterMotor]

Granted, it was the same party that completed Frozen Horror (players came and went but the 4-5 heroes remained).

"Party that completed the Frozen Horror" - that's a good one!

No, seriously, I think your mode of play is very far from what usually happens at a board game table, which is what the game was supposedly designed for. It does not seem comparable. Of course, the HQ app is also a different thing but probably still closer to the board game.

[Kurgan]

We ARE playing a board game at a table, but yes, it's atypical in the sense that our audience can "buy" stuff for the heroes or for me mid-quest (though as Zargon I still have interpretive privilege and veto power).


The heroes winning the Frozen Horror "as written" would certainly be miraculous (Into the Northlands was added later, and provides some nice suggestions). In reality, Zargon should make changes to bring it to the level of fun of other expansions (ditto for MOTM, although AH's modifications were welcome).

A decent Zargon can make a good time even out of a broken or mediocre questbook. Don't get me wrong, both expansions have lots of potential, they just didn't get the playtesting they deserved back in the day, and Avalon Hill was faced with time crunch and threading the needle of preserving the nostalgic past and doing their own thing to keep it fresh and new.

[Kurgan]

Old news to many now, but version 4.0 came out and gave us access to ALL TEN of the First Light quests, way back on Sept 27th! (Despite FL not being in any stores until at least Jan 1st, 2025!).

4.0
Sep 27, 2024

HeroQuest players, this APP update now includes the Expansion Quest Set: First Light. New heroes, your quest starts here! Deep within the mountain halls of Tuel-Vor, the warlock Qwindrak feeds his wicked ambitions. In his search for power he has uncovered a strain of Dread magic that surely spells doom for us all—most certainly if Kessandria the Witch Queen learns of it. You must journey to the Fortress of the Fire King to unravel ancient secrets, disrupt the advance of the Witch Queen’s forces, and put an end to Qwindrak in a race for the fate of the realm.

This was the iOS version. The Android OS version was 4.1 that contained this update.

Within a few days on Oct 3rd, we had another update:

4.2
Contains content updates and bug fixes.

Apparently some updates to Monster behavior were made, but more importantly 9 of the FL quests were removed (as well as the image of the Caverns board used in every other quest). I guess they didn't meant to spoil everything.

People who didn't turn off their autoupdate, got their progress overwritten. Instructions were shared on our discord on how to roll back your App patch to the previous version. The point is, the entire questbook has been spoiled, between the App and the first official unboxing posted by Let's Table It on youtube.

Presumably they'll be restoring those missing quests once again at the time of release (Target's "in-store" date is Jan 1st, while the ship date for the pre-order is Jan 12th, while Pulse and Zavvi or other releases for other countries vary from Feb-May).

First Light quests have green "fog of war" (just like the GS, KK, ROTWL, SQT, Forsaken Tunnels of Xor Xel, and New Beginnings).

Some features are still missing of course... there is no Jungles of Delthrak support yet, and Rogar's Hall does not appear. There is only the Hero Collection version of the Guardian Knight (but not the alternate version from ROTDM) available, and you can only play the Mythic version of the Druid, not the art from the two alternate ones from Against the Ogre Horde remake. You still can't pick Animal companions in any of the solo quests EXCEPT "Into the Northlands" (see above for a work around!).

Some old glitches still remain... you can only pass through blocked/double blocked stone squares using Pass Through Rock (or the Spell Scroll of the same) which is correct but other pass through rock type abilities (Cloak of Shadows, Elven Cloak of Passage) don't work on these squares (which is an error). NO pass through rock ability lets you pass through "Fallen Block" squares (also an error).

Interestingly, "Twist Wood" reduces ANY targeted monster to 1 attack die, even if it's a model that carries no weapon (like a Mummy). This wouldn't be so bad if you could manipulate the stats of monsters mid-quest but you can't in the app (technically you can manipulate their mind points, but other than commandeered skeletons any other changes have to be done in the menus to apply across the board, not per monster).

I haven't yet tested to see if seeing monsters through a (non-secret) doorway in an adjoining room or corridor still stops searches within the room/corridor you're in just because you can see a monster far off.