The Druid Hero from the HeroQuest: Against the Ogre Horde Expansion | Character Review | Sponsored
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ค. 2024
- Always Board Never Boring is back with a deep dive into the new druid hero class for HeroQuest. The druid is available as part of the Against the Ogre Horde expansion, which ABNB was sent for review purposes. In this video he takes a closer look at the druid miniatures and rules and ponders whether the new hero class is a worthy addition to the game.
Here are your time stamps:
00:00 Intro
00:36 Ch-ch-ch changes
02:08 Miniatures
04:28 Stats and abilities
05:35 Spells
11:14 Final thoughts
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The bear miniature to be found in the D&D Ashardalon board game will be my choice for shapeshifting!
I have also said that I will use the Wrath of Ashardalon bear! It fits pretty well with the HeroQuest miniatures.
Good thinking!
"Soft-body succulent" was my nickname in college
Sounds like it might be a hazing ritual.
Sounds like a plant variant. Like a squishy agave cultivar.
Wait. What? She really has a plant on her head? Um… yes these two Druid’s are much better.
Apparently, yes. A succulent headpiece. The new druids are so much better. I am relieved.
I`ll give the Druid a chance. But somehow me and my kids always seem to return somehow to the original Heroes 😁
I know what you mean. Even though the knight is pretty much a better barbarian, I still love to see the barbarian romping through the dungeon. I think the original lineup was so perfect - so well balanced - and they were the only official heroes for such a long time. It's hard for new heroes to come along now and get off the bench.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring
Yeah, for some time the Knight was able to replace the Barbarian. But after we played the Frozen Horror (and finding some nice artifacts) the Barbarian returned to the lineup 😁
Frozen Horror certainly does improve the barbarian considerably. I still think the knight being able to wear full plate without slowing down, and getting the three skills per mission, makes him "better" but it's always hard not to go for that classic line up every time.
10:59 my daughter loves playing as the Druid specifically for the animal shapeshifting ability (more for the animal part than the stats part lol). The mind point ‘focus’ idea is fantastic and we’ll absolutely be trying that out on our next play!
That's great. I know my daughter would also get a real kick out of shapeshifting to munch on some baddies. I think that making it a bit more consistent will make it more fun. Not sure yet if it would make the druid too powerful, but I think it would be okay as they are never going to get the shapeshifting bonus with ranged weapons, and they still can't max out their defence like a fully armoured hero can.
I really value @AlwaysBoredNeverBoring ‘s suggested improvements on every character abilities. ❤
Thanks. I really appreciate the kind words and I'm glad you enjoyed the video and discussion.
Another great video! Loved the Kender Hoopak reference as well as the Dark Souls reference.
Thank you.
I consider the shapeshift spell the same usage as a heroic brew or potion of strength. Doesn't count as a turn, so can shapeshift as they run in and attack a monster.
It does feel like you should be able to use it that way. It's certainly more cinematic!
Agree with your thoughts on the Druid. This new design is better than that medieval aerobics instructor, and as a father of a girl who loves to play Heroquest I appreciate appropriately dressed female heroes... in terms of the spells we could have dropped one of the healing variants for a plant growth spell that seals shut a corridor or a door, so if the heroes were fleeing they could prevent Zargon's forces pursuing them. I might play as this character from a RPG perspective, but its not a replacement or upgrade for anything that has gone before unfortunately.
Yeah, I think it's nice to have those options, and there will be a lot of people who pick this character just because they want to play a druid (HeroQuest really isn't a game to min-max at the best of times). But with just a little more work, I think the druid could have been a really compelling choice.
It's definitely an improvement. These new druids look like adventurers with pouches and sturdy looking clothing.
I like how both male and female sculpts look different enough from one another.
One complaint I had with the crowd funded sculpts is that the male/female counterparts were way too similar.
Yes, when Frozen Horror came out I made a comment that I really liked the female Barbarian because she looked like a new character with her own personality and style. The female Barbarian in the crowdfunding campaign was neat, but looked a bit like the male Barbarian using one of those Snapchat filters. The Rogue Heir suffered a bit from that too, but the Wandering Monk and Druid really make use of having two miniatures to give us two different takes on the same class.
I feel that each shape should offer something. For example,in one form,they're a ranged attacker and in another,they're melee based. Granted,Heroquest is a simple game so your options are limited but it's always nice if they can do some things to make both forms worthwhile.
They have done that to a certain extent - the bear form only grants you extra attack dice in close combat, so you might switch out to a crossbow when you aren't in bear form and adopt a style of ranged combat - but yes, I think they could have leaned into shapeshifting a bit more. I said elsewhere I think it could have been fun to have a hand of different animal cards you could turn into, each granting different abilities.
You cant search for traps until you enter a room as a hero. But you can see into a room with an open door. So in theory if you use pixie through an open door you can reveal that awful trap first square into a room without activating it.
Yes, but that's very rare. There are not that many cases where a trap is directly behind a door (because it's a horrible design choice), and with only one chance to cast the spell per dungeon (without an item to recover it) I think you would have to be pretty confident the trap was there to even think to cast the spell. It's not like you can do it every time you open a door. As I said in the video, there my be very rare cases where you might think to use the spell for revealing traps and doors, but generally, I think in practice it's one of those things where the pixie will just become another healing spell.
Good review. Thanks
Thanks for watching.
I like the druid, it came in handy during our classic play through, and my players really seemed to appreciate it. I used the old Mage Knight WereBear for the transformation😉
I'm probably going to use one of the bears from the Wrath of Ashardalon board game.
Make shapeshift cost 1 body point and doesnt brake after you take dmg, effect ends when no more enemies in line of sight, problem solved :)
I love any character additions to gameplay so long as the hero isn't overpowered or completely underpowered. Sometimes I just want to play a certain style of character, and it doesn't matter what their stats are. However, I do think Hero Quest is limited in variety, simply because all hard stats range from 0 to 8. If the stat range was 25 to 100, there would be a lot more room for to wiggle. No matter, the game is loads of fun, and the expansions bring new opportunities. Even for custom characters.
Yes, HeroQuest has quite a narrow design space so as more heroes come out it's going to get even harder for them not to overlap. Nevertheless Avalon Hill have made a few heroes now that are fun and feel different to play, so they aren't doing too badly.
Quality review.
Thank you.
Ive been thinking about making the druid closer to an AD&D Druid in regards to combat ability, with my house-ruled leather armor. As such, I'd make her a Wood elf from Athel Loren as my HQ campaign (as well as any fantasy game I GM) takes place in the Old World during an alternate End Times history. A shortsword and a choice of two additional Elf spells. Im thinking on allowing a few different options for transformation, like a bear and mountain lion in addition to a wolf
I tend to smash D&D and Warhammer together a lot. HeroQuest is the perfect vehicle for doing that.
The streamlined HeroQuest rules do make them a good base for building off in whatever direction interests you.
I'll use the Orc Bard as a Shapeshift form. I'm certainly not gonna use it as an Orc Bard.
Ha. I suppose that's one way to get some use out of him.
Would have been nice to give the druid 4-6 spells to choose from for their three in game.
Some more options would have been good. A choice of different animal forms to turn into would have been neat.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoringyes, two healing spells + a buff spell for other heroes as a three-spell-defensive set, and 3 animal types as the three-spell-aggressive set.
One animal for brawling, one for defending, one for ranged attack. Would have been interesting if the animal spells would only recharge if all three are used and then the Druid can pick just one at a time, forcing a flexible playstyle.
That would be neat. It would be more like the Wandering Monk, which I think is a really interesting hero. It feels like the crowdfunding heroes were "safe," basically sticking to a fairly standard three-spell system. Characters like the Rogue Heir and Monk feel much more fleshed out to me.
The Warp Wood from the elf spells would be appropriate.
Well, I'll want to see how it actually plays before I make a final judgment, but I agree with you that an ability like Shapeshift seems like it's the go-to move. Losing it would be really annoying. I'm trying to imagine how I'd feel if I took one point of damage from a trap or random draw from the treasure deck while shifted.
I just have visions of the heroes kicking down the final door... the boss is there! The druid shapeshifts for the final battle... and immediately gets pinged by a goblin archer. I think once you have shapeshifted you should have the option to really exert yourself to maintain the form for as long as it seems safe to do so.
Yes. But I really am keen to we how it plats
Another great video!
Just wanted to give my two cents about the Druid: I’m just disappointed that they gave us halflings as a new hero to go up against ogres…..I mean, c’mon!! Not that they’re terrible additions, but I’d think a Druid would fit better with a Forest or jungle theme than mountains and ogres (Jungles of Delthrak?)…..kind of like giving us the knight in an elven expansion that really didn’t give any lore to explain why the knight is there.
Maybe they’re just giving us random heroes with no lore to increase our hero options…..but the original Commander Knights had a backstory. The Rogue has a backstory. The Monk has a backstory. The Commander Knights were a tie-in to The Frozen Horror. The Rogue a tie-in to Mage of the Mirror. And the Monk a tie-in to Against the Ogre Horde (for the Worlds End Tournament part, anyway). FH, MotM, SQT, & PoT all had heroes that kind of fit with the expansion theme. Wish they’d do more of that when giving us a new hero in an expansion.
I think we have to remember that the Commander, the Rogue Heir and the Monk were expansions in their own right that were also very clever marketing products. They were given lore and backstory intended to promote the next big expac that was coming out, but they weren't part of those expacs. They are never mentioned in any of them, nor did they have any involvement in the plot of them (and that seems particularly egregious in the case of Mage of the Mirror where the heir should have been heavily involved in the plot).
When you look at the heroes that were included with quest packs, you have the guardian knight, who was clearly added without much thought to appease people who were unhappy they missed out on the commander (although they did at least explain why the knights were hanging about in a very wishy-washy kind of way), while Spirit Queen's Torment Prophecy of Telor, and Against the Ogre Horde were used as vehicles for pushing out the characters that were previously exclusive to the crowdfunding campaign. None of them are really integrated in the packs they were added to, except for the bard, which was created in conjunction with the Spirit Queen's Torment quest line by the same guest designer.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring: oh I get it. I know the hero expansions kind of have to give us something extra to justify buying two minis and around 10 cards.
I just think it’s a hugely missed opportunity to not include new heroes that thematically make sense to the expansion! I mean, the Rogue should have been included in MotM and had the plot tie in with the hero in some way (maybe some extra story beats if the rogue is in your party or not).
In RotDM there should have been some sort of hero included that could more easily combat the spirit enemies in that game.
And then maybe the generic Knight in AtOH to help combat all the ogres!
Just something to tie them together and give us a reason for that hero to be there.
And seriously, halfling druids who don’t even turn into a bear are supposed to be a good addition to our party against massive ogres?!? Ugh. Ironically they even changed the card back to be that of a wolf for the Druid spells, BUT didn’t change the card art on the front of the card?!? I’d probably be ok if they changed the shapeshifter picture to a large wolf or something if they wanted us to use the wolf. There is even a big picture of the male Druid in the quest book insinuating that the Druid hero might be involved some how some way - but they barely mention the Druid and how exactly the hero should be used. It just feels like that adding that hero was the laziest part of the expansion: “oh, we should add a new hero” “uh, we just gave them the Orc Bard & Warlock in our last two expansions, so why not give them the Druid?” “Yeah - great idea, but we should change this one up a bit so it’s not the same as the other” “win-win!” There’s just no rhyme or reason for the Druid to be in this expansion. Maybe making the Druid a hero pack expansion and including the Monk would have been better? Maybe it’s just me, but I feel a hero included in a full expansion should be related to the expansion in some way - stand alone hero packs can be just that - they don’t have to tie into any expansion, they can just exist.
Don't get me wrong, I would much rather see things tied together more cohesively - I complained quite a lot about Dread Moon and how the knights and Ragnar were handled. Introducing a heavily armoured hero in the quest where a lot of the enemies can bypass armour was something I bagged on a bit as well!
In both cases where we got new heroes in quest packs, it felt like something that was done out of convenience. They were convenient ways to release the heroes that some fans had missed out on, enhancing the value proposition and silencing grumbles without having to commit a lot of extra effort to it and without upsetting those people who might end up getting the heroes a second time.
It seems Deltrak is going to include a hero of some kind, so it will be interesting to see what happens now that all the crowdfunding heroes have been used up!
One question: if druid has artifacts or any equipment which provides adding stats for attack or defence the shapeshifting allows to keep them during the transformation?
Yes, the shapeshift adds 1 to defend and 1 to melee attacks, so you would still benefit from all your other equipment.
I love HeroQuest
Quite rightly so.
What do you think of this?
"This spell may only be cast on yourself. Transforms the druid into a mighty bear, granting you 2 additional attack and defend dice. This spell ends if you suffer any damage. However, the caster may spend 1 mind point to maintain this form. Roll 1 combat die. If you roll at least 1 skull, you lose 1 mind point and remain in your shapeshifted form; if you do not roll at least 1 skull, you lose 2 mind points. This simulates the mental strain from the effort. If the druid's mind points are reduced to zero, they are not dead but enter a state of shock for the remainder of the game. While in shock, they roll only one red die for movement, attack with only 1 combat die, and defend with only 1 combat die."
Something like that could work, I think.
I don’t like pixie’s ability to heal. Maybe change it to: Pixie brings a 1d4 health potion
It has to play a little bit of tinkly music when it does.
The bear from Wrath of Ashardalon would make for a good alternative for the Shape Shift form
Absolutely. I was saying elsewhere in the comments that I'm probably going to use that model instead of the wolf. I think it's a really good choice.
Or the bear from Gloomhaven's two minis
Homebrew Druid;
(1) Shapeshift to wolf is always available and instantly at the beginning of each turn.
(2)Wolf-Form takes one attack-die from
the Druid but grants one attack-die to each group member in line of sight. Additionally all group members gain 2 points of movement to their dice roll. No searching for anything and no spell casting in wolf-form.
(3) pixie heals all team members for 2 body points.
(4) heal spell fills up all lost body points of one team member.
All the new benefits are earned in a 3-part-Druid-quest line I created. Now the Druid becomes more of a support class.
I started painting these, once in white primer I was surprised by how good the cast was compared to how they look in red plastic, same with the core set really (apart from my Wizard who had a shallow face) a sharp blade and a painted on mask sorted that out. I agree on the original sculpt of the Druid, its god awful! I’m not overly enamoured by any of the core set sadly. I prefer the OG set hands down. These two are really nice and yes the Wolf is a bit boring, maybe n Owlbear from the DnD board game would be better.
There are a few that are a little soft in places, but overall there is more than enough detail to work with and they paint up fine. I think overall Avalon Hill, for the most part, are doing a decent job, but the original HeroQuest sculpts are close to my heart and those will always be preferable to me.
Good thinking with the owlbear. Some of us have also suggested the bear from the D&D miniatures line, which also comes in the Wrath of Ashardalon board game, so with those two suggestions, plus the polar war bear, there are a few options floating around now. Maybe I should do a poll to see what other good ideas people have come up with.
THATS A KENDER AND HES HOLDING A HOOPAK!!
Ha, yes, I said in the video it looks like a hoopak. They aren't supposed to be Kender though, unless Avalon Hill have changed their stance on not mixing HeroQuest and D&D.
"Pixie"'s second option is not as useless as you make it out to be. It may reveal secret doors and traps in a room with monsters for the heroes, maybe on low body points or partially wiped out, to determine if those monsters are worth fighting. Do we have to fight these twonOgres and two Orc archers because there might be a secret door leading to the quest objective or do we run?
Yes, I did say in the video you may want to check a room you can't search because there are monsters there, and someone else in the comments mentioned the situation where you want to search a room before stepping inside, but I think those are real outliers. I think it's one of those things where yes, maybe very occasionally you might have a situation where it could be used that way, but I think most people will save it for the healing to recycle the shapeshift spell.
It's like the genie. Could I come up with a scenario where I would use the genie to open a door? Yes. But it's very unlikely to happen, and I have never used the genie that way. One option is just so much better than the other. It would be interesting to hear from anyone who has used the pixie to reveal traps in their games and under what circumstances.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I think Genie is not comparable because its second option is much weaker, even totally pointless.
Obviously we see the Pixie differently, which is fine. But I do see it very much as a two part spell where one part is significantly weaker, especially for a character who needs to keep their health topped up to access their primary ability. Even in your example above, to me the healing option seems like the right call. If I was in a room and badly wounded, would I waste my healing spell on the small chance it might reveal a door I could escape through? A clever Zargon player is never going to let me use that door if they can stop me, and I'm only going to be chased down and killed the next round.
As I said, I would be interested to hear any stories of people who did use the pixie for revealing traps and doors, and if it was a valuable use of the spell.
Mostly agree with this. However in the games I run. People seem to love the druid.
It's probably the shapeshifting. People are going to find that fun. But I think overall there are better choices than the druid, and a way to make the shapeshifting more consistent would really help to make the character more compelling.
@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring girl seem to like the design. And definitely the style of game play...
As I said in the review, I am sure there will be a lot of people who really enjoy this character.
shapeshift, just as some other spells and skills should get a makeover.
It would have been nice to have a character that really leans into shapeshifting. I think it would have been cool to have several different forms, each granting a unique set of skills, with miniatures for each one.
Where did you get that game board?
It's a neoprene mat from the Beautiful Dungeon Mats Kickstarter I did a video on last year.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Oh, that is for the PDF, right? I wouldn't know where or how to get it printed on some neoprene mat like you are saying.
Wait, hang on... The halflings cannot use a shield, but /can/ wield a battle axe? Then that's the obvious choice mechanically. But thematically, the tiny little halfling will wield a huge, honking axe? That's weird.
As far as I am aware the druid is allowed to use a shield as shields are wooden. But yes, the druid can use a battleaxe.
But I would go for shield, bracers, and longsword (or a magical sword of some type). The druid needs the defence buff.
First
Thank you for watching.
Tiresome
Indeed.