EU vs. NA rule comparison

[mitchiemasha]

Then we have a lot of small rules that are different, but for no good reason really.

Every mod we've added has good reason, might not seem as obvious at first but it is there.

[Daedalus]

I've been on these forums for a while now and I've seen a few dozen threads comparing the two versions. The simple question of why always pops up when I read these threads. It makes little sense to me to have two different versions of the same game. I do not recall this being true for any other type of table top game.

Consider the year the game was released originally and you may find your answer. If Milton-Bradley, or whoever owns them now, tried releasing a board game with different versions based on geographical location now, they'd surely fall afoul of players' ability to use the Internet to pick and choose the rulesets they preferred, rather than be artificially forced to play by the designers' intentions. Imports are also a thing.

However, EuroQuest was first released in 1989, with AmeriQuest coming shortly after in 1990. The Internet wasn't a thing back then; I think it only became mainstream around the turn of the century, which was almost ten years later. Before that, consumers didn't have anywhere near as much information available to them.

I'd like to think that the Euro version of HeroQuest was designed as sort of an early playtest beta, and they refined it in the intervening year before releasing it into the American market. However, that assumption makes the existence of separate expansions on each side of the ocean completely inexplicable...

Lots of good points there. I'd speculate that the differing expansions can probably be attributed to the licensing agreement between Games Workshop and the Hasbro/Milton Bradley division in Europe (and Australia.) After the companies parted ways, the North American division of Hasbro/MB needed to produce the next expansions free of GW intellectual property in order to have new product legally available.

The Dungeons and Dragons Fantasy Boardgame was never released in the North American market for similar reasons, and that was due to separate NA/EU Hasbro divisions alone! It seems dilemmas with rules extends beyond the game design to the company itself.

The NA Quest packs never sold well and we're discontinued fairly quickly, even as Hero Quest sales fell into decline. Hasbro/MB likely surmised they would bomb in Europe and Australia as well, so it never happened. That's how I see it, anyway.

[Jafazo]

I don't know anything about why sales were better or worst so I won't speculate but one of the things I found neat about the UK rules over US is how searching for Traps & Secret doors are compiled into one single action. That's neat.

[Big Bene]

I edited the subject to reflect the specific question. Because, yeah... UK vs US does sound like the rule comparison thread.
It's fine to leave a specific question like this in it's own thread.

Fully agree, but why not also giving the "hardware" an entry of its own in here? I know, by definition it's about rule comparsion, but it might be nice to have it all in one place. We (Bob) may just add it as a sidenote.
"Additinoal Information: Hardware Differences" or something like that.

What comes to my mind:
- Rim around the bases of the European Figures.
- Card size.
- General American versus metric formats in the printed material.
- Blocked fields: Euopean debris vs. American masonwork (this one actually made it into the list, although being not related to rules whatsoever).
- Coloration of maps and design of Mentor's advise in the quest notes.
- If memory serves me right, the cardoard part of one piece of furniture (achemist's bench?) was missing in the Europen versino and addedin the American.

Any other ones I didn't thnk of?
What do ou thin of the idea in general?

[knightkrawler]

Let's compare rims and sizes !!!

[Daedalus]

That deserves a rim-shot. Ba-DUM-Tshh

. . .

Game Piece differences
EU: There are only 5 Artifact cards, and they’re called “Quest Treasure”. There’s no text on the back.
NA: 5 more Artifact cards have been added to make a total of 10. The backs also say “Artifact” on them.

EU: There is a set of 14 Equipment cards illustrating what can be bought at the Armory. They’re labeled WEAPON and ARMOR where appropriate.
NA: The Equipment cards have been replaced with a cardboard Armory sheet showing all of the equipment you can buy. Prices have also been slightly increased. The Bracers, Cloak of Protection, Hand Axe and Spear have been removed. The Dagger and Longsword have been added.

EU: There is a total of 25 Treasure cards that can be drawn: 2 Gem! 6 Gold! 1 Jewels! 1 Treasure Horde! 7 Potions, 3 Traps, 5 Wandering Monsters, and 1 Nothing!
NA: There’s 1 less Treasure card in total. 3 Gold!, Treasure Horde, Holy Water, Potion of Speed and Nothing! have been removed. 1 Gem!, 1 Jewels!, 1 Potion of Healing, 1 Trap! and 1 Wandering Monster have been added. Trap! is now called Hazard!. Treasure values have been decreased.

EU: All monsters only have 1 BP.
NA: Several monsters have been given more than 1 BP, and some have been given higher Attack and Defense values.

EU: Character Boards are large and feature a picture of Mentor along with a totally blank back.
NA: Character Boards are slightly smaller and feature reminder text on the back showing how a hero’s turn progresses.

EU: For the one quest where an enemy uses magic, he gets the Fire spells and the Wizard and Elf cannot use them.
NA: There is a brand new set of 12 cards called Chaos Spells. These are usable by various monsters according to the Quest Book.

EU: All monsters only have 1 BP, so there is no need to mark the damage.
NA: A set of Skull Tiles are included to use as damage markers. This is in case a monster takes damage but not enough to be killed in one turn.

EU: Wall tiles resemble piles of rocks.
NA: Wall tiles look more like bricks than piles of rocks.

That should be everything. Again, please let me know if I missed anything. . . .

Fully agree, but why not also giving the "hardware" an entry of its own in here? . . .

What comes to my mind:
- Rim around the bases of the European Figures.
- Card size.
- General American versus metric formats in the printed material.
- Blocked fields: Euopean debris vs. American masonwork (this one actually made it into the list, although being not related to rules whatsoever).
- Coloration of maps and design of Mentor's advise in the quest notes.
- If memory serves me right, the cardoard part of one piece of furniture (achemist's bench?) was missing in the Europen versino and addedin the American.

Any other ones I didn't thnk of? . . .

- Text (and pictures) on inside of the Information Screen
- movement dice color
- color of the plastic figures
- ink color of the card text and B&W images
- art style on the back of the Spell Cards
- capitalization of US key terms
- box cover layout
- box cover interior assembly instructions

[ajjohnsen]

I am so glad I found this website because you all on here are a massive wealth of knowledge for HQ! I've like seeing all the differences between the NA and UK rules and it got me wondering if any of the other country's versions have any other major/minor differences as well or if they're just translated off of the UK version?

[wallydubbs]

I am so glad I found this website because you all on here are a massive wealth of knowledge for HQ! I've like seeing all the differences between the NA and UK rules and it got me wondering if any of the other country's versions have any other major/minor differences as well or if they're just translated off of the UK version?

As far as I know, the European versions are practically the same, but I've heard of a name or two being changed in the Italian version, and a few specifications in quest notes are changed among the Dutch. Otherwise I can't say for the upmost certainty.

However, there is the Japanese version you can look into. This one is massively different, it makes the American and UK quest maps look like twins:
viewtopic.php?f=37&t=1610&hilit=Japanese+version

[mesodom]

NA rules are best than EU, in EU Rules in particular spanish rules were contradicting, and all monster have only 1 body point.

[Jesperj]

looks nice