Hero Quest always felt like an open-ended patchwork of a game where you can add things to it and never feels final or comprehensive. While I could play Advanced HeroQuest and WarhammerQuest, the rules are too systematic and make me feel empty, not to mention how all the throw-away magic items feel cheap. I do use elements of both in my HQ game, like so many other boardgames, but cannibalizing games into HQ is what we do. You cant argue with the simplicity of rolling skulls and shields. While I find elaborate miniatures too distracting for D&D, they are perfect for HQ.
Goddamn, I have a LOT of HeroQuest stuff! I keep all the miniatures in one box, all the furniture in another box with small home-made 1x1x8'' containers for the tiles, the booklets and sheets in this other box, the cards in a plastic case, and so on! All a mix of official, third-party and homemade stuff. And somehow, I can throw them in all the BIG HQ box (but just barely), if I have to haul them! (I need a forklift!)
Did I hear Battletech? I love that game. I mean, I love the early post-apocalyptic era of the Succession Wars (with a little bit of Mechwarrior: Dark Age thrown in), before the Clans and HelmCore discovery, where Mechwarriors were just getting by in an endless, fruitless war driven by cruel arrogant masters fighting over the ruins of a dead civilization. Mechwarriors were sexy due to how they mostly dress in undies and a cooling vest due to how hot the engines run, and the fact that, due to the style of when the game was published, they look like they just came out of a 1989 Guns N' Roses concert. Also, I like to take robots and vehicles designs from old '80s mecha anime (like the ones FASA used before the heated legal battle) and make my own "Unseen" units. Although, I do like to make changes to the setting to downplay the crude stereotypes in favor of more subtle (and comedic) cultural inspiration. When played as an RPG, Scouts and Mercenaries (as presented in the old Mercenary Handbook) have the most fun.
