I supposed this topic had already been covered, but I searched this forum and didn't find one. If there is though, please let me know.
We have begun discussing about this issue in the "HeroQuest Rooms" subforum, and I thought it deserved a topic on its own in here.
In the EU version of the game, the armory is a deck of cards. This can have some usefulness (like explained in the linked topic above) but also sets a question: is each piece of equipment limited to the equipment card or not?
i.e. there is 1 "Battle Axe" equipment card. Can only one of my heroes purchase it and then no more battle axe is available, or not?
At first, we shouldn't even think there is a limitation, BUT something made a lot of people think this way: in the equipment deck, there are 2 "Shields" and 2 "Helmet" cards. So why having 2 cards of the same item, if cards are mere references?
When I was a young regular HQ player, I used to ask my fellow players to write down on their character sheet, if the equipment they got was found in a quest (in case they can have as much as they want), or if it resulted from an equipment card purchase. And you could indeed only purchase equipment still available in the deck and not yet owned by another hero.
But then later, I learned about the US rules, and I agreed that it was more logical that outside a dungeon, heroes could easily find more than a single Battle Axe or a single Staff for sale.
Additionally, I read that some people also think that pieces of equipment dedicated to the Wizard (such as the cape and something else I forgot) were "lost in translation" (even if EU is the original version? Can't remember..) and converted to an already existing card, hence making those duplicates. (those Wizard pieces don't exist in the EU version).
I don't have an English UK version of the official rules, but I have the French ones, and I believe they are the same. I checked them, and here is what I found:
lousily re-translated from French rules wrote:There exists a card for each piece of equipment. Any player wanting to purchase one, must choose a card, subtract the price of the bought piece and write down the advantages provided by this new piece of equipment. The spear, the club and the dagger, for instance, allow the character owning them to attack diagonally.
Remarks:
- A character cannot buy equipment if he hasn't enough money to do so.
- Money can be stacked and stored from one quest to another
What about "must choose a card"? The exact verb in French is "choisir", which could be translated by either "choose" or "pick up". Means once you get the card, no one else can, ever ? What about cross-player games? I play with friends A B C, A purchased a battle axe. Next day I play with friends B C D , and D cannot use a battle axe he purchased early, because A also owns it?
What about "write down" ? If you need to write down the advantages, it means you cannot see them live on the equipment card you then no possess?
This is one of these cloudy points in the European rules which is really annoying ...
What do you EU guys do ?