I'll never forget the mistranslated Genie spell in the old Swedish edition, where it would REMOVE everything beyond the door you open with it. "I feel like there's going to be some big boss there in the center, let's just delete it."
I agree completely for the uses of pretty much all the spells. The only times Swift Wind came in handy were when the heroes are split up, and reinforcements need to be sent out fast. I am trying to get my hands on Wizards of Morcar at the moment, which will mean adding Detection, Protection, and Darkness to the spell deck options.
Great video! My optimal HQ formation is: Elf (water spells), Dward, Wizard, Barbarian. Elf is the scout - opens doors, searches for traps, shoots with crossbow. Dwarf comes after and disarm traps elf discovered so the others can move safely or he targets new monster in the room. Wizard evaluates de situation and cast spells if needed or attacks diagonally from safe position - activating befor barbarian gives the chance to cast bravery on him or pass through rock or other spells to make sure he gets the most out of his turn before Morcar's turn. Barbarian moves last, does all damage he can while shielding wizard and elf. Finally, I prefer earth spells for wizard so he rockskin / pass through rock characters as needed, while elf can sleep big bosses at the start of heroes turn. Cheers!
Interesting formation you make some good points for it. My optimal HQ formation is: Barbarian, Wizard, Dwarf, Elf (Air Spells). Barbarian is going into the room first as the tank and main battler, Wizard second so he can can cast spells and have good line of sight, Dwarf third to help Barbarian in battle and/or shield help shield Wizard, and last is Elf who evaluates the room/situation on whether he should attack/spell cast/ or defend.
I agree with the earlier statement about Courage. I think that is supposed to be a one-time use attack spell. The last line is just to prevent you from casting it preemptively. If it continues forever until all monsters are dead or no longer in line-of-sight, it is grossly over powered, especially compared to every other spell. Also, in our last session we learned the hard way that casting Rock Skin preemptively may not be a good idea because you will lose it the moment you step on a trap (I lost it by searching for treasure and falling in a pit...so never even got to a combat with it). Just something to keep in mind.
‘Courage’ and ‘Rock Skin’ are written differently in the original uk version. Both say on “”That player may throw two extra combat dice the next time he attacks/defends” respectively , and so are less powerful (although the uk revision is generally easier when compared to the us version).
When I first played HQ 30 years ago, I played the Elf and I had chosen the Earth cards, and I like to keep to that strategy. All I can think about with the under-utilized Genie ability is that it was conceived to deal with locked and/or trapped doors, but they never did anything of it. One interesting thing found while looking at the original UK rules is that their Fire of Wrath spell (AKA "Backup Ball of Flames") notes: "This spell may be cast on any one monster or player, anywhere on the board. It will seek out your enemy and inflict Body point of damage, unless your opponent can roll a shield on one combat die. The spell is then discarded." Looking past the fact that OG UK HeroQuest encouraged Hero-on-Hero violence, the Fire of Wrath spell allowed the caster to target ANYONE ON THE BOARD regardless of line-of-sight! That alone adds to the utility of that spell as it is nothing less than a homing missile. That also explains the art -- fire blasting open a door. Also, the UK Genie can also "attack anyone on the board", but that spell is already OP enough!
I think you're right there must've been something planned for the game that would've made the genie's ability to open doors something more useful. I can see something like that being part of the game, but it may have been dropped from the quests but the card was never adjusted. That is also interesting about Fire of Wrath being like a homing missile. I would never give Genie the ability to attack things outside of line of sight. It is already do powerful.
We used the Genie as letting you spy on any room on the board from anywhere without opening the door and alerting the monsters, or use it for combat. That's a bit better, but still kind of a waste of the spell imo.
I largely agree with your analysis. Swift wind, Viel of mist and (risky i know preferably keep to areas you know so you dont get trapped); Pass throgh rock can also be used as "Escape spells" if a hero is very low on body and does not have any healing potions and is genrally surrounded.
I like the "Wizard-First" strategy with [Fire, Water + Air], (leaving Earth to the elf). Keep rockSkin until you're confident barbarian won't fall into a trap (and therefore stupidly loose the buff). Courage goes to the barbarian if there's a difficult enemy (lots of defence dice // lots of hit points), else: spread out the hit dice abilities amongst the team: In a room with a ton of measely goblins, i'ld rather have - the barbarian with 3 attack dice and the wizard with 3 attack dice, rather than - the barbarian with 5 attack dice and the wizard with 1 attack dice. I haven't run any clever simulation or statistic calculation though. I'ld never thought of the Zargon hack to suppress the courage spell by moving his minions in a clever way... I can't decide if it's clever and "by the rules" or "against the spirit of the game", a bit like how the WEF manipulates world politics... clever, maybe even sometimes legal, but "meh'...come'on!". Now that i said that, i think i definitively agree with you about that card needing a re-ruling "at the end of the hero's turn". For Pass Through Rock, I have a doubt, but as a hero moves with Pass through rock, he can see the content of the rooms he enters (even before he finishes his movement? - in the isometric game simulation, it isn't so... you get vision only once you irremediably finish your movement - that's why i ask).
That is a good point about spreading out the attack dice among the party. "Overkilling" a foe does not help out the heroes. It is just expending precious attack dice on one foe that could have gone to downing two or more. So, using Courage to increase the attack power of the Wizard is not a bad idea. We have always played that when the character who has Pass Through Rock goes into a new room, they can stop, look around, and see what is in the room. Looking isn't an action, so we think it works. Plus, when using the spell like that it allows the heroes to scout out rooms without opening doors and letting the monsters inside get out.
@@recowabunga7200 When the Elf is left with the Water spells, I call the Wizard "The September Wizard" because that Wizard is all about Earth, Wind and Fire. ;)
Courage says your next attack, not your next umpteen attacks, so it ends when you attack, you just have to cast it in a fight instead of before a fight when there are no monsters in sight.
That is indeed a very interesting interpretation of the card. That has not been how we have been playing it. I wonder if anyone else has an opinion on the way this spell is supposed to operate.
The first game of HQ I got to play in quite a long time was quest iirc 7? Finding Wardoz. There was a place there were four stone Chaos Warriors and I was playing a wizard who was last in the turn order. I used Courage because these were fresh heroes with no gear! And Zargon moved the CWs we could see back a step. I've since concluded that I can predict some of the (inconsistent) logic that went into game design: - If it isn't in front of you, you can't be expected to keep track of it. - Things like spell and potion effects have a variable duration "until condition not true" because a timing mechanic doesn't exist - The board-gamey mechanic of "play a card" and card possession. The UK version had no Chaos Spell cards so on multiple occasions the Wizard is further nerfed by handing over his fire spells to Morcar to be used against the heroes, etc. I don't know that we need to maintain these aspects of HQ. Granted, there's something to be said for the Ship of Theseus effect of rewriting the rules, but everyone changes the rules of HQ to some effect-they be more like "guidelines"… So my essential change to spells and items that lose effect "the moment X can no longer Y" is that all of these are end-of-turn effects for the target with the power to control the outcome. If you end your turn unable to see a monster, in the case of Courage, the effect fades. The alternative is to prescribe a number of rounds it takes effect. This requires upkeep, additional components, etc.
Excellent rundown on the spells i'll be returning to for sure! I really wish they'd make some sub classes in an expansion pack..For example.. Dark Elf Gnome, Knight, Witch Doctor ect. Have each subclass of Wizard and Elf be slightly better in each type of magic.Perhaps the Gnome could avoid traps in exchange for the crafty Dwarf. The Knight could have slightly more defense but less attack than the Barbarian. Ect.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. I think they’ve been adding some new classes to the new release, but I haven’t bought any of them yet. But I’m interested in checking them out.
I think i played courage with the "end of turn" condition and this feels more flavorful, but think the card needs to be clarified/re-worded. Think I've tried to abuse this (probably incorrectly now thinking about it) by passing through rock into a room with a monster in, then leaving the room through the same wall and assuming that courage remains in effect as there's still a monster on the board. However i now realise that whilst the monster would remain on the board, it wouldn't be in line of sight any more, so the spell should end
courage works only on 1 attack, you can't use it for multiple attacks as long as you see enemies, that line is only to prevent it from being cast before opening a door and cheesing the caster action economy. I've never seen stone skin last too long sadly, it gets broken either by a trap or an unlucky defense roll as soon as i cast it XD sleep: we give it an immediate roll to save, and the next roll to break the sleep is done on the following turn of the caster. this way the value is similar, no matter the turn order.
At @8:35 what you say is correct, the clarification inthe text is wrong. You said "would take out another 4 body points in spells". The emphasis here is _another_ 4 body points (to the 4 body points already lost if the wizard had one healing spell which was the base scenario).
Here's a thing... Dark World had a shaker with 4 lil balls in. This randomised the turn order of the Heroes for each round. I do like this for some unique quests, designed into the quest.
I can see a system working where everyone always has to go in a random order to simulate the chaos of battle. It would keep the heroes from always being able to play optimally in some regards.
I think Courage is supposed to work the way you describes it, the "moment" is a turn. At least this is how I always used it. Also reading the card in another language and there is no such emphasis on "moment" but just states "it will ends when the hero doesn't see any more creatures."
We have a party of 2 not 3-4, which actually now that they are geared up resolves the game being too easy. Fire spells is never picked, as Genie is the most powerful damage spell and the others have healing and ways of escape for the wizard. You mentioned aggressive use of Pass through Rock, but that and Veil of Mist are perfect for defensive tactics. Also created Grease which has dropped Rock Skin out altogether.
Iam pretty sure during movement phase you can't go back on spaces you already went over idk if this is for monsters too but makes sense why you couldn't trick the spell like that 🤔
I think that might of been in the very 1st version of the UK edition, the UK rule book was changed with a few other things but the game still generally looked exactly the same.
@@jamesmorgan3623 That's probably true, however on the Sleep cards I have it isn't printed on it, like all the other non-Sleep spells. I like to think it is deliberate since it's a weakish spell.
@@JonCombo I assumed it wasn't printed because of a lack of space, given Sleeps longer description. However, the Wizard always felt underpoweed to me, so having a reusable sleep spell sounds like a good balance fix, if nothing else.
