FIRST LIGHT discussion

[lestodante]

English version is planned to be released on February 20, German version on March 4, Spanish version on May 1.
Dates taken from Hasbropulse pre-order.
I've read somewhere Italian version should arrive on June.

[LucaRocks]

Just got shipping notice from Target! While I'm bummed that there are new artifacts without cards, I can't wait to give out the new sculpts to my players!

[Kurgan]

Redditor FuriousDream has posted a thread where he is unboxing his apparently first copy of First Light (and not an influencer demo box this time!).

One sad revelation is that the dice are unchanged. I guess there are people out there that have been excited about exclusive dice, but these will shortly be as common as dirt. I'm puzzled by this. Even if the idea of changing the dice occurred "too late" in production, didn't they have tons of the generic red dice (that were already probably filling warehouses before they even thought of remaking HeroQuest) they could have put in? Sure, it's lazy, but how lazy is taking the even more generic white (with black pips) cubical d6's and just give them red paint on the pips (which I'm sure was done by machine so don't tell me it took too much labor). I feel like I would throw these out.

At the very least I would have said, hey, let's take the red dice we already have and give them shiny gold pips. That would stand out, if they want to be able to visually differentiate people's games or photos online or re-sold copies, because actually Shiny Gold pips on D6's, especially red ones, are apparently a very rare thing these days, I've been through dozens of shops and online stores and you really can't find them. The pips are the wrong colors or you have to get red dice that are swirled colors and not just flat red.

The embarrassing part is that the box and the GM screen both depict the familiar red dice (which don't now exist in the box). And the text in all the other HQ boxes out there will say red dice. Not saying you're going to get them confused, but the contrast between the red dice and the white (combat) dice was a nice visual thing. I guess the bone colored combat dice are kind of cool. After awhile you'll just get used to them and not think anything of it and they maintain the high contrast that is so important to recognizing them on the table for group play quickly and easily.

Thanks to dreicunan, seekhashem, SteveRS2000, and anyone else who posted the link and commented on it before I got home today! https://www.reddit.com/r/Heroquest/s/XKd2jWUE8Q Some people are waiting till the 20th to get their copies around here, apparently.

[Kurgan]

I am really tempted to print out the 1993 Brazilian standees, as a "classic style" reskin option for First Light:

[Daedalus]

I wonder if the vintage Brazilian standees would look cooler with black background as opposed to white.

No Orc with a notched sword, I see.

[SirRick]

The Target stores by where I live seem to have FL available for pick up. I know my preorder was preparing for shipment a few days ago, so maybe it will be delivered today. Its just funny I could order one for pick up and get it faster if I wanted to pay full price.

Target awhile ago had a deal for 25% off, but they canceled my order without warning. I did have to get a new credit card because I had some issues (probably of my own doing) that I couldn’t explain, so they just locked my card and sent me a new one. But when I went to Target to try and change the payment method, there was no apparent option to do so at the time. Then a day later the order was cancelled. Other websites tend to warn you the payment method doesn’t work and give you the opportunity to fix it. I was able to order it again later but with only $5 off, so I am still salty about that.

[HispaZargon]

It has bee published today an official promo video by Hasbro explaining how to play HeroQuest with Game System First Light box:

https://video.hasbro.com/qrcode/detail/ ... 7uyvOv2BIQ

[Kurgan]

The rulebook for First Light (page 2) reads "Been Here Before? There are no rule changes from the 2021 HeroQuest Game System" !

It then lists the additions, 10 new quests, Dragon Miniature and game card, 4 unique hero miniatures, double sided gameboard with differentiated layout, and the Dwarf's starting weapon is a handaxe.

Let's Table It on youtube did a sponsored unboxing of the old Clark Mitchell covered version, and I think was the first video unboxing that I saw of FL.


Guerilla Miniatures had the first (sponsored) unboxing with the new YellowFly replacement cover, if I recall correctly and this version appears identical to the version now being
found in Target stores:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soAZbFPAbqA&pp=ygUeaGVyb3F1ZXN0IGZpcnN0IGxpZ2h0IHVuYm94aW5n


Always Board Never Boring had an unboxing (and spoilerific "deep dive" follow up) of a sponsored copy from Avalon Hill as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeQjfix63eI&pp=ygUeaGVyb3F1ZXN0IGZpcnN0IGxpZ2h0IHVuYm94aW5n

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INRuWR-_orM&ab_channel=AlwaysBoardNeverBoring


New Fan (non-sponsored) Unboxings have appeared for the retail version... Fair-Weather Man was first I believe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7-724DJ_A8&pp=ygUQZmFpciB3ZWF0aGVyIG1hbg%3D%3D

(mine) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tbXeDPJ58s&ab_channel=XSC3-homeofHeroQuestFans

[LucaRocks]

Will be interesting to see where the new board takes us. I can easily see it being recolored and added to the lost dwarf expansion if they ever do that. It was about mines and caves I believe.

[wallydubbs]

I never looked into this quest book before receiving it. But now that I have it, I do enjoy the conceptual basis that it doesn't undermine the Game System, but in essence, adds onto it. Reading into the story it takes place during the events of the Game System but by a different group. If you've been collecting all of the expansions you should have enough heroes to create a 2nd and 3rd group.
You could have a complete separate group of heroes run the Game System while another one plays First Light. The heroes of First Light hear about the events of the Game System in the prologue (Ragnar's capture and Rescue) and epilogue (Awakening of the Witch Lord).
It also shows separate factions at play that oppose the Realm: Kassandria and Qwindark are clearly not on the same team. Qwindark seems to be a unique unaffiliated party with knowledge sought by bothe the Realm and Kassandria. I assume Kassandria is working for Zargon. So the story seems fairly cleaver.
It's also very convenient that Return of the Witch Lord ties these two stories together.
This quest pack also shows that Mentor isn't holding all his eggs in the same basket. The heroes from the Game System are not the only ones he's trained or prepared. He has a 2nd group of heroes, maybe even a third group that he's trained. It's an interesting quest pack.

Clearly we know what's going on with Ragnar and the story shows that Ragnar and Mentor don't always get along, but Mentor believes they're all playing for the same team albeit with different methods.

Some of the concepts are nice, such as the Fireplace recovering 1BP, or a room with a Cupboard offered 2 Treasure Cards. But then again there's also the Oracles Blessings, which is essentially Clairvoyance and/or Future Sight (Detection Spells from WoM). So I'm not sure how I feel about that one.

I don't care for the cardboard furniture and monster cutouts, or the Hearthkin Horn that they didn't bother making an artifact card for. It's also slightly off-putting that the B Team heroes get the same artifacts as the A Team heroes despite going on different quests. In some instances I can understand multiple copies of the same artifacts, but the Talisman of Lore is supposed to be an intricate artifact that a later expansion centralizes around and now there's 3 copies of it (1 in Game System, 1 in First Light and 1 in Spirit Queen's Torment).
Another downer is the specifications of Courage. I much prefer the 2nd European version of the spell and I'm most likely to play it that way.

I like the back of the Wizard card now as the original said he card says he can't wear armor, but lo and behold he can wear Bracers. But they've reworded it so it makes sense now. The new hero figurines are ok, I like the Barbarian and Wizard sculpts, the Elf I'm indifferent to, but I much prefer the original Dwarf with the armor and Battle Axe.

Otherwise this is a family neat quest pack that I'm looking forward to playing.