The Return of HeroQuest

Back in the 1980's, Milton Bradley teamed up with the UK's Games Workshop to create HeroQuest, a board game which mimicked the experience of Dungeons & Dragons, but in a simplified and much more limited form, at least as far as role playing was concerned.

The game involved a single map board divided into static rooms and corridors, but the whole board wasn't used in any one game. Instead, the path of available rooms and how they connected with each other was determined by set scenarios, meaning that each game would be different in play. The players took on either the roles of the heroes-- always a Barbarian, a Dwarf, an Elf, and a Wizard-- or the "evil wizard" Zargon, who acted as their opposition, controlling the various monsters, traps and tricks the heroes would encounter on the adventure. If was very much a "rules lite" copy of D&D (though not a clone by any means). In addition to the figures for the heroes and the monsters, the game included plastic items representing the various furnishings of the ruined "dungeon" the heroes would explore.

At the time it came out, I was a teenager, and looked down on it as a "kiddie" version of D&D, clearly inferior to "the Real Thing." It was also pricey, so I passed it by. The game had some success, but eventually went out of production.

It wasn't much after that when I began hearing how much fun the game actually was as just a quick-and-goofy dungeon crawl. Suddenly, I wanted the game. But it was gone forever, and by the time copies began to appear on eBay, the prices were sky high-- $300 or more for used and battered sets! I wrote it off as not-to-be...

And then in spring of 2020, I learned that Hasbro, who now owned Milton Bradley, had decided to bring the game back through their Avalon Hill line... but only as a crowd-funded product via HasbroPulse. But it was enough to convince me. I leapt in full bore, and backed the game for the full "Mythic tier" level, which would include reproductions of the original expansion sets from back in the day, as well as extra goodies if sales went well.

Sales went great. I had hit the motherlode, and all I had to do was wait a year. (Yes, I actually managed to wait patiently for a whole year. No, really.)

This past week my waiting paid off and the box full of goodies arrived from Hasbro... and I'm sharing my treasures with you-- feast your eyes!

The New HeroQuest: ALL the boxes! (Mythic, ain't it?)

Figures from the main game (also cards & character sheet pad)

The board, with Zargon's screen (still in paper band wraps).

Inside of Zargon's screen, rule books, and punch out tiles and markers.

Zargon's screen, from the heroes players' view.

Expansion quests contents-- more minis!

The "Mythic Tier" original expansion quests.

Mythic Tier unboxed-- even more awesome minis.
(Yes, that's a dragon.)

The Ladies of the Mythic Tier (plus "Lord Ragnar")

The heroes, both male and female in pairs.
Left to right: Barbarians, Dwarfs, Elves, Wizards.

The Mythic tier additional heroes, plus "Lord Ragnar."
Left to right: Warlock, Wizard ("Mentor"), Bard, Druid, "Lord Ragnar."

And there you have 'em! Aside from a few slightly bent weapons (easily correctable with hot water, a quick reshape, and a cold water shock), everything was in great shape.

Note that the sculpts and artwork are all new to the game-- homages to the original product, but not actually copies. (I suspect exact duplicates would not be possible for copyright reasons, not to mention probable destruction of the original molds.)

I'm looking forward to trying this out-- the whole thing should be a hoot!

--- Howard Shirley, aka Parzival

UPDATE

First, a minor correction: The core game has a female Elf hero and figure; the male Elf  hero is part of the Mythic tier upgrade.

Secondly, HasbroPulse/Avalon Hill has announced the game will be released for retail-- so it's available even if you didn't back the crowdfunding project.

Thirdly, and more importantly, HasbroPulse has released the HeroQuest Companion app, available for free, which can play as the evil Zargon, allowing all players to be heroes and experience the mysteries of the quests themselves. The app also supports solo play, so if you're by your lonesome, you can run all four heroes and try to defeat the dread forces of Zargon yourself! I'll be reviewing this app and the overall gameplay very soon... and in the meantime, I'm gonna have some fun!