WIZARDS OF MORCAR discussion

[Kurgan]

Sure I've had my doubts. I was convinced by the "doomsayers" at one point that a retail version was never coming out, that the Haslab campaign was going to be it! (maybe they'd pawn off a few unsold copies but that's it). I feared that new expansions would also be crowd funded. I worried that the Guardian Knight would be the beginning of a trend of limited release packs. Frozen Horror was a game changer... but I thought perhaps their goal was just to finish the NA releases and be done, but they blew that out of the water. With the layoffs I feared ATOH (or possibly JoD) would be the final releases and then the franchise would dwindle down to nothing. Thankfully I was wrong. And let's face it, I wasn't the only one with these "fears."

Now I'm with the positive guys, much more optimistic. Of course that doesn't mean I'm letting my guard down either. If I think of something I want to see in HeroQuest, I'm gonna say it, and if I see something I think is off, or might be an issue, I'm going to speak up about it. And I hope others do too. Doug asked for that kind of feedback, and I plan to give it!

Just a few more hours until Cannes, so we'll see if there's anything new there or just more First Light promotion (the wider European release begins this weekend, though to be fair some regions won't get it until as last as May), and the dice promo.

[LucaRocks]

Here, here Kurgan!

Conjecture is one thing but following the actual trends of what AH is doing as a company should make us all think more positively. We all have doubts (human nature and all) but I personally focus on the evidence we have and stay positive. Thanks guys!

[Kurgan]

Yeah if it weren't for the layoffs I'd have no doubts: we lost almost all interaction on AH discord, the Haslab campaign pages went offline (saved by Archive.org!), the blog updates ceased (not that we got them that frequently anyway, but still), the digital online quests disappeared (the links even went offline, but then came back), we stopped getting those animated videos narrated by Stephen Baker (thankfully he stuck around to write more quests!)....

Those things sucked, but they definitely did their best at GenCon last year. They had as big a showing as they could at other conventions.

[LucaRocks]

Apparently there was no Wizards news at Cannes. Only first light was shown.

I think if FL got pushed back because of the cover debacle, then maybe the Wizards reveals got pushed back too.

Edit: My feeling is that we'll have to wait until Ge Con before getting full reveal. Hope I'm wrong!

[Kurgan]

UK Gaming Expo at the end of May... maybe then? Or maybe they'll save it for GenCon.

[LucaRocks]

UK Gaming Expo at the end of May... maybe then? Or maybe they'll save it for GenCon.

Depends. Did the UK already get FL? If so thenUK expo would be a great time to reveal it. It's a classic European only pack based on GW products. Should have a lot of draw in the UK.

[Kurgan]

Announcing it at UK Games Expo would make a lot of sense... agreed EU exclusive and FL already released for some time by then.

[LucaRocks]

Now that we have a date for COPD of July 1st (or at least it's a rumored date), it makes me less optimistic about Wizards being released in 2025. I mean, they could still open preorders in 2025 but it seems to me that it would ship very late in 2025 if not 2026.

If true, 2025 would turn out to be a sad year for long time fans of HQ. At least as far as getting new content. We basically are getting a new core set and COPD, which are both just remixes of previous released stuff. The only upside is the new map.and quests in FL. We didn't even get a card for the hearthkin horn!
COPD could be more than just a straight re-release but that's not what we've seen them do with small box expansions before.

And yes, I know that technically Wizards is also a re-release of an old expansion but it's content is not something that has been released since the game's comeback. FL and COPD are. I know some people didn't get COPD already and I'm glad they are releasing it. But it still seems like a cost saving move from Hasbro. Unless the FL debacle derailed everything so bad that they had to go with COPD because it's turn around is quicker than a full box expansion.

[wallydubbs]

I'd like to think that they're releasing CoPD first because they'll be adding at least 5 additional quests to Wizards of Morcar that might be in relation to the Dark Tower mentioned at the end of CoPD. That is, if they actually plan on doing WoM.

[Kurgan]

If CoPD doesn't contain any NEW content (just errata fixes, alternate colors, maybe some color swapped dice) though I do hope they take advantage of this opportunity to put out more formerly "exclusive" Haslab figures (maybe this is the chance to re-release the Rogue as well if it fails to be reprinted as-is)... it could be the "cheap and easy" release while they put the finishing touches on WOM.

Then again, if we're really looking at an early July (which may mean actually people get it late May, as is the case with most releases) release, then seeing a December release seems pretty probable. But, if we take the MAPS document seriously, perhaps we're looking at January for WOM (certainly by February 2026). Seems they always "miss" the Christmas release window with this stuff.

Given the 18 month development cycle though probably both are already finished by now and just waiting for the pre-orders to officially begin.

At the very least I predict we'll see these at GenCon unless they run into another Clark Mitchell situation (hope not!). But there's still a chance before that, especially if (as in the past) one or more of them gets shipped out early and fans unbox it.

But yes, CoPD is a given, while Wizards of Morcar is more an unknown quantity. They have half of it already done with the "classic" version, and they could easily just recycle the mercenaries (hopefully in red), toss in the female wizard... there would be more work to do on it than on ATOH, but they know what everyone is expecting. It would make sense to preview it in Europe first, but then again Frozen Horror was shown to the Italians first, so anything is possible. Having WOM come out after CoPD makes a lot of sense for all those reasons (though for all we know they'll both be available at the same time, though I'm going to guess not).

Both releases are "holy grails" ... most anticipated... because of the many who missed out on the Mythic set (and couldn't afford scalper prices), and because of the mystique for those outside Europe with the second. There's the idea that WOM is the "last official" pack from the classic era (yes, there were others but they were more obscure like the Japanese set, or the many one-off official quests found in magazines, novels, etc).

What could be next? I think it would be super cool if they released a coffee table book, maybe a "history of HeroQuest" or "Zargon's Guide" that included gameplay suggestions (reproduce the content from the Adventure Design Kit even), alternate rule options. It might break down the differences between the European and Japanese rulesets... it could include the above official quests (Marvel Winter Special, etc). They could release new novels... jigsaw puzzles?

Apart from brand new content, we're "nearing the end" in terms of what is left from the legacy, though there are the unreleased quest packs (Dwarf, Wizard).... speaking of which, has anyone seen lucapaschi lately?