A New Warhammer Quest - Shadows Over Hammerhal

[Goblin-King]

But I did stumble upon this guy...

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Sl ... alted-Hero

I actually have the original I bought with a handful of classic chaos warriors for cheap a while back.
Didn't realize he was special in any way - Besides having seemingly been the inspiration for the HQ chaos warriors

[whitebeard]

But I did stumble upon this guy...

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Sl ... alted-Hero

I struggle to understand how this model can be $25. It's cool from a nostalgia perspective and better than anything they have released in a long time. But I wouldn't buy this for $9. You should be able to get 12 of these for $30.

[mitchiemasha]

Yeah... too expensive. I prefer the HQ version anyways.

[ampersand]

not posted in a while. but quite surprised you guys shot all over this one in the way you did. its actually a pretty good game.
ive made a few blog posts on this very game expressing all of my thoughts. so if any of you are curious at all. might be worth giving them a read
happy to answer any questions as well if anyone has them. but for me *bold statement time" i honestly think this is the nearest successor to heroquest

[whitebeard]

Welcome back Ampersand!

I was looking forward to another "no GM" game. We played through Silver Tower and it was definitely worth the price just to play it through with my son. The familiars get anoying, but it was nice to have a story and random events. So I was surprised by the new GM mechanic. It does not mean we won't eventually play it, but I did immediately start shopping eBay for classic WarHammer Quest.

I pulled together a full set (minus the Barbarian) for less than $200. And I have a clone of your Barbarian figure, so I don't miss him at all! This will scratch the WHQ itch for us for a long time to come!

[Daedalus]

Ampersand,
I enjoyed your blog entries regarding Shadows Over Hammerhal quite a bit and I'm looking forward to more. The game seems to be hitting it's RPG stride. I'm bummed about the price, but I'm even more bummed I don't have an awesome game-family like yours. . . game on!

[lestodante]

Yeah... too expensive. I prefer the HQ version anyways.

I also prefer the original Slambo.. first of all it doesn't need to be assembled. and this new one remember me a fat Goldrake. His axes seems tiny.

[ampersand]

Ampersand,
I enjoyed your blog entries regarding Shadows Over Hammerhal quite a bit and I'm looking forward to more. The game seems to be hitting it's RPG stride. I'm bummed about the price, but I'm even more bummed I don't have an awesome game-family like yours. . . game on!

hehe thanks. yeh the family game times are a fun time for sure. its not all fun and glory though. i have a wife that likes to cheat on the odd occasion with her reasoning being its for tactics..
a 15 year old that goes into a self imploding nightmare if she rolls a 1 on at least 2 turns on the bounce.
and a 5 year old that has to always dress up as the character she is playing and then go into a full blown explosion if she takes a wound

but i know i posted the original one here a while back..but it really is a fun game. and very very reminiscent to heroquest. i would probably go as far to say that IF the original heroquest had this rules mechanic...it would of been an even better game...i'm quite surprised everyone has knocked this game without giving it a try.

(oh and i'm not quite finished with the hammerhal jouneys just yet)

[benvoliothefirst]

I plan to bring my game group over to Silver Tower and then Hammerhal after HeroQuest. The OG WHQ was too complicated.

[gootchute]

I recently picked up Shadows over Hammerhal, and just in time; both it and Silver Tower have been removed from the online store in the past week! GW did just announce WHQ: Blackstone Fortress, which is the first sci-fi entry in the franchise!

The tiles for the original WHQ has never been surpassed. Each tile was a little painting; a small piece of art. Everything had a clear, well defined look. Everything was integrated into the artwork itself. There was no need for a square overlay. The squares themselves was a part of the art.
These new tiles I find ugly and messy. I don't understand why almost all modern tiles go for that lazy square overlay.
Sure you don't have to think squares into your design, but what is artistic freedom worth if you are just gonna crap a square layer over the artwork anyway?

I agree, the classic tiles for HQ, AHQ, and WHQ are great! They are generic enough to represent almost any fantasy dungeon you can imagine. The offset squares on some of the new tiles are interesting though, but it is a shame so much of the art is for very specific rooms, making them hard to reuse in other dungeons. At least they are double sided with more generic stuff on one of the sides of most tiles in Hammerhal. Finding alternate tiles is impossible due to the over-sized squares made to accommodate 32mm bases, which I guess are the new standard.

The miniatures are... not *bad*... But I guess rather than tzeench birdmen, spidergoblins and Sigmarines I would have preferred more traditional dungeon creatures and heroes.
These arm mostly >Warhammer< miniatures and don't really fit very seamless into most other settings.

Goblin-King shrugged...

I actually prefer the odd monsters. I have enough Orcs and Goblins, getting all these new and interesting monsters is one of the main reasons I purchased Silver Tower and Hammerhal! Shame about the Stormcast Eternals though.. such a terrible aesthetic on those models.

But Blightkings are some of the best Chaos Warrior style models over made in my opinion! The kit may only have 5 models but you get enough bits to make about 12 if you cast some of the bodies... which I am doing currently.

It has character leveling, which I do not care for. Why does this mechanic have so much traction... lack of originality.

I gotta disagree, the leveling in the new WHQ games is actually quite original. It isn't boring linear numerical stat increases, but rather new abilities. The level cap is only 3, which means you can have 3 skill cards max. If you get more than your level you can either keep what you have and wait until the next time you go around the renown wheel, or discard an old skill in favor of a new one. Characters grow laterally, gaining new powers and seeking interesting and powerful combos rather than just getting better numbers.

They have also done away with item bloat: most items are one time use, and you can only carry 4 items and 1 artifact at a time. I've seen much more complaints about these new WHQ games not having enough character growth and itemization as the old game than I have seen complaints about too much.

I'm enjoying the critique about grid overlays here. And I'm rethinking my Forest board. I think even outdoor tiles can be done without grids in a hand drawn fashion and be very cool. And challenging.

I have often ruminated on overlay free outdoor tiles. I lack the artistic talent for what I envision: patches of turf and rocks, different color grasses, paths and trails, tangled roots, and elevation shifts - all forming a natural rough grid. If you can pull it off you should talk to someone about distribution, there isn't anything like that on the market.

it really is a fun game. and very very reminiscent to heroquest. i would probably go as far to say that IF the original heroquest had this rules mechanic...it would of been an even better game...i'm quite surprised everyone has knocked this game without giving it a try.

Someone on BGG has begun making maps inspired by HeroQuest: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1980131/new-quests-inspired-heroquest

They also made Undead adversaries and quests, check out the gallery.
(So this is where I wanted to place images from the above link but they are way too big. Does anyone know how to make image thumbnails that can be clicked to expand?)

(oh and i'm not quite finished with the hammerhal jouneys just yet)

I thoroughly enjoy your blag and I look forward to more content!