Basic HeroQuest & Master Edition

[DarrynVarson]

Greetings All,
Quick question for those more knowledgeable than I. How accessible are the two different versions of HeroQuest. I know that they are out of print except for eBay and such but I had never even heard of the Master Edition. Also, is it possible to find the additional pieces from the Master Edition separately? Thanks for all the help all.

DV

[Phoenix]

If I'm not mistaken (and I'm sure drathe will correct me, if I am) but the Master Edition was relased solely in Europe and contains the Advanced Quest: The Dark Company and additional Dark Company Warriors. The Original version of the game is always available on Evilbay, however, the Master Edition/Advanced Quest is a little harder to come by. You can sometimes find individual pieces for sale, but you're usually better off just buying the whold kit'n'kaboodle and saving yourself some cash. Quite frankly, if you don't need all the pieces of a whole set, you could just sell off the unwanted/unneeded pieces (*a tear wells up in Phoenix's eye*).

Personally, I hate to see rare games like this get piece'd off, but, it happens.

[drathe]

Phoenix pretty much has it explained. The Master Edition (as titled in Germany, Advanced Quest in the UK, New Edition in France, etc) was an upgraded Game System. You can find the Dark Company quest on Ye Olde Inn's English Game System page. You can also find Phoenix' remastered version, localised for North America on his Quest Downloads page.

The Men-at-Arms that also come added to the set are the same as in the Wizards of Morcar (also European/Australian Exclusive, although I'm not positive the Advanced Quest was released in Australia). Although available in a different colour and smaller quantity, these miniatures are available in the Barbarian Quest Pack, which we call Mercenaries.

They normally fetch a steep price on eBay depending on condition. $80-150US. Most of them are up for auction in European countries, which also adds on a rather hefty shipping cost. Most people wait it out until they find that one set everyone overlooks that can be picked up real cheap from time to time, printing off one of the above linked versions and finding decent substitutes for their Men-at-Arms from various miniature companies.

I'm with Phoenix on seeing these sets broken apart. I find it better to keep the second system for extra monsters and furniture. There are several fan quests that use more than what's available in a single system.

[Phoenix]

I was lucky and grabbed a German version of Wizards of Morcar about 12 years ago. I think I paid $25 USD (including shipping). I've never seen them even start that low since. So, I have the miniatures from that. I wish I had them painted, just to spice things up a bit. I use those for my Mercenary figures. I used the "Sergeants" from AHQ as my Master Mercenary figures. Makes for a bit nicer game play/ differential.

[drathe]

Yeah, I like mixing compatible miniatures from other games in HeroQuest as special or enhanced monsters. Kind of like the Orc with the big notched sword. I don't always do that though. Sometimes I like to keep their abilities hidden until all hell is unleashed on the Heroes.

I had purchased three German WoMs on an eBay dutch auction around eight years ago for $13 a piece (plus shipping). I gave one to my sister and one to Blackmane who helped me translate it to English. The day after we finished the translation, I received an Advanced Quest edition I got from Steve Baloban ...with a surprise! He threw in a complete (boxless) English WoM set.

Ah, the memories...

[DarrynVarson]

Okay, you all have simply fueled my fire for wanting to get HeroQuest again. I might just stick for now to the Basic Edition (Miss Kitty, My Wife found a basic set on evilBay and put in a bit for $10. But she was outbid, dang it). You all rock. I appreciate everything.

While I have you all, another small question for you all. How did the expansion packs come packaged. Box? Bag? I never got to see any myself so I was just wondering. Thanks again.

[Phoenix]

They came in boxes (the covers of which can be seen on YeOldeInn.com). Each were safely packaged and the miniatures were still attached to their sprues. It had a wonderful smell of new paper when you open them up for the first time. Now, they smell like dust..

[drathe]

Okay, if you're eBaying, watch out for the differences between the North American and European editions of the Game System, Kellar's Keep and Return of the Witch Lord. I would assume you want the NA editions because of the extra loot they come with... and more Body Points for Monsters. Several of the quests have been tweaked in the NA editions as well.

For the Game System, the easiest ways to make a quick distinction is where it's coming from (UK, likely EU edition, US likely NA edition). Look for the Armoury Guide in a picture, the EU edition doesn't come with it. It's quite large as it spans about 3/4 of the box length:



As for the expansions KK and RotWL, they are easily identifiable by their boxes; NA on the Left, EU on the right:





The North American expansions come with new artifact cards to cut out from the back of the book cover (often already cut in auctions) and the Alchemist's Shop on the reverse of the books cover.

You can still find sealed KK and RotWL NA expansions on eBay monthly. They usually go for $75-$100, but sometimes (like recently) they can go for $40-50. Used ones tend to range around $50-60 at the moment but sometimes you can find them cheaper. I picked up another RotWL last year in great condition (used, but no wear on the box cover at all) for $20. These are all plus shipping by the way.

[DarrynVarson]

Thank you so much for all that! That rocked. Oh and drathe, your eye blinked at me and (honestly) freaked me out a little. (But thanks for the helmet, reminds me of one in Conan 1)

[Phoenix]

You're welcome for the helmet.