HeroQuest: The Frozen Horror: Trial by Ice Playthrough Battle Report | Ethel Takes a Dirt Nap
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
- Always Board Never Boring is back with another HeroQuest playthrough. This time he is taking on the second solo quest, Trial by Ice, from the Frozen Horror Barbarian Quest Pack expansion. For this game he is using Hasbro's new edition of HeroQuest, along with their companion app.
Please note, this is a full, unscripted playthrough of the second quest from the Frozen Horror expansion and as such contains spoilers. If you are intending to play through this adventure as a hero, you may not want to watch this video. You have been warned. Also, it's quite a long video, so you may want to pop the kettle on first.
#heroquest #frozenhorror #playthrough
Always Board Never Boring produces fresh content on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
If you're in the UK, you can help to support my channel by shopping at Element Games with my affiliate link, and using code KEV392 at checkout to get yourself double Element Crystals on your order:
elementgames.c...
It's also possible to contribute by using the Super Thanks button under each video (it looks like a heart) or by making a small, one-off donation to the channel using the following link or the clickable PayPal icon in the banner on the channel homepage:
www.paypal.com...
Don't forget to sub and like, and please check out all this other cool stuff too:
www.alwaysboar...
/ alwaysboardneverboring
/ alwaysboardneverboring
www.boardgameg...
Music by James Lloyd. Check out his stuff at:
jnlloyd.bandca...
36:57 That last laugh is crazy! Almost like hearing from Zargon himself!
I believe you are legally required to say it like the old commercial, it's a "brode sode" not a broad sword.
That's only when you're playing the UK edition.
And it's bwode sode, not brode sode.
Loved the Madness joke, although many would not get the pun. Great vid.
I should imagine lots of people just think I'm talking nonsense! Thanks for watching.
Great playthrough. I have run into that traps around the chest thing a few times now, so we always played with a house rule of 'if there is a chest in a room, you have to stand next to it to open it' If the solo hero has a team of men at arms i imagine it would totally change the game.
I seem to recall similar situations in some of the other expansion quests, but I haven't played those for a very long time. The thing is, when you search the room for treasure using the app, it automatically opens the treasure chest for you. You aren't allowed to hire mercs in the solo adventures.
The changes you did to make it more interesting was a good choice.
I'm glad you thought so. Thanks for watching.
Love the playthrough's! Barbarian quest pack has been mine and my daughter's favorite quest pack! I think it's perfectly fine to do what would make more sense for the enemies. Love the game solo but I think it really shines when you have a Zargon or Mentor player who starts playing more as a Dungeon Master! I really just want my daughter to have a good time and I have more fun when I can improvise. Play enemies with more intelligence and be unpredictable. I'm even planning on adding more npc's into the quest just to help with the roleplaying possibilities of the game. Thanks!
The only time I ever play HeroQuest solo is when I am shooting for the channel. I love playing as Morcar/Zargon with a group of heroes. It's nice to be able to tinker with things behind the scenes to keep them on their toes or to make sure they don't get steamrolled if things haven't been going their way. Really I would love to have the time to dive back into creating dungeons. The rules are so streamlined it's exceptionally easy to introduce any kind of set pieces, recurring characters, or traps you can think of.
The app is fine, but it's not how I really enjoy the game, and when I'm shooting video I do feel torn between wanting to present the game as intended (following the app, not using house rules), playing to win (cheesing enemies), keeping things pacey (combining searches, cutting adventures when the best bits are over). and trying to make the content as fun as possible to watch (Spoon!). Hopefully, I get it roughly right most of the time.
Hey, Winter scares me each year... never fails...
And everything in this dungeon is terrifying.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I have to say, I thought Ethel was done for with that Polar Warbear, but she pulled through like a champ!
She did have to do a bit of a Brave Sir Robin, but she really wouldn't have survived a second attack. Those things are the worst.
Yes! Your playthroughs and all your other types of videos are top tier.
Thank you. That's really kind of you.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring i really appreciate the effort, really. Good playthroughs are not that easy to find, or at least the ones that i like... with camera focus on the board and the minis, not necessarily the players... but its also fast with a solid understanding of the rules, and great editing and clever fun writing... i would love to see at least just one more video playthrough of that old dungeons and dragon board game too, you know if feasible... of course.
Thanks. I'm really pleased. I appreciate everybody has their own preferences for these things, but I try really hard with the playthroughs to make the kind of videos I like to see. I don't like it when the camera is constantly flying around because it makes me a bit sick sometimes, and I like it when people cut out a lot of the deliberation and just keep the turns going. It's nice to know that other people like that too!
I assume you mean the old Dungeons and Dragons Fantasy Adventure Board Game with the goblins that were a lot tougher than they had any right to be? It is on my list for another playthrough, but I couldn't say when right now. It's been hard to find the time to dedicate to the channel recently and I am only just managing to start working on long form videos again, like the playthroughs and the Stick to the Script reviews.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Yeah exactly that one. I was laughing hard with those goblins.
We always combine all searches into one when we play, it saves so much time. Especially in the main game since there are so few traps and secret doors it's barely worth wasting a turn searching for them.
I like having two searches (traps with doors, and treasure) for group games. That's partly because I only allow one search for treasure per room, regardless of the number of players, and it splits up the workload to give more people stuff to do during the downtime. When you only get one search per room it's important that the right person searches for treasure because they will face any attacks from wandering monsters or any loss of body points from traps, and I find that splitting off the treasure search can actually speed up the game a little bit as you don't have to wait for the right character's turn to roll around before searching (plus, I do occasionally throw a "soft" timer at my heroes using a little variant that I will be discussing in a forthcoming video).
However, for a solo game like this, it makes total sense to just do it all in one go (and then just drop the treasure search from the end if you are really hurting and don't want to take the risk).
Your enthusiasm really takes me back to 1980s Saturday afternoon Talisman sessions!
One point. The potion of warmth only heals cold damage from spells or environment from my reading of the card (32:26), so I think you'd have had to use that potion of healing a little earlier....
Nope the potion of warmth can be used immediately after taking cold damage to heal 2 body points or can be taken at any other time to heal 1 body point (the text goes over two screens in the app).
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring aha!
Very well done, would love to see some more of these. I like the way you speed things up, as all the searching can be a bit tedious, and also like it when you don't follow the AI, but do what a real player would do. Also appreciate the Madness reference! I don't know if it was deliberate when you chose the name, but various spellings of Athel / Aethel / Ethel were well known in Old English and means noble - so it is quite a good name for your barbarian, who is doing pretty well so far.
Thanks. I'm trying to get that balance between doing what the app says, and doing what a real player might do without getting myself horribly murdered. I did know Ethel meant noble, but I admit that isn't why I picked the name. It was literally just the first name that popped into my head when I started recording the first session.
35:36 I am here screaming at my screen "DRINK THE FUCKING HEALING POTION!"
As Big Heroquest fan from 1989 in Uk & obviously not having access to FH back then as kid, I am enjoying this play-through with you keep them coming 👍
Glad you are enjoying it. There is one more solo quest to come!
the Skeleteens' were just looking for their house in the middle of their street.
For skeletons, all trousers are baggy trousers.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I think I'm the only person whom got that joke.
I thought you were against the American rule for healing potions 😅
If you watch my video on rules, I did say I’m not a fan of the rule even though I did benefit from it in the Frozen Horror playthrough and really it is necessary because some of these monsters can kill you with one hit. I think allowing you to drink a potion and come back with one body is a reasonable compromise.
2 solo down, one to go............ Really liking these videos, my party has many quest books to go before FH
Yes, my group have a long trek to get to Frozen Horror, but it's possible to jump straight into these three solo games, so it's a fun way for me to get some of this stuff on the table sooner.
Love love love this! ❤❤❤❤
Keep it up, I am LOVING these! Please keep ‘em coming! 🙏
Thanks so much. I will be running the third solo quest from Frozen Horror on the channel in the not-too-distant future.
So as someone who hasn't played this game in about 30 yrs, but recently finished painting the minis for a large group playthrough, I'm going to make my own dice used for the monsters with more defense shields. This is WAY too easy to kill monsters, they are absolutely NO threat to players, and this is just ONE player. Add 5 more including the rogue class, and you've got a not very interesting game.
Few things to note:
1. This is a special mission designed for a single hero, so it's not supposed to be challenging for a full group.
2. The game caps at four heroes, if you add the rogue, you drop a different character.
3. I don't know what playthrough you just watched to say Ethel was in no threat. She got knocked out multiple times, and only through the good fortune of having a few healing potions was she able to survive. If she didn't have those, it would have been game over.
4. The Frozen Horror is beastly difficult. Over the course of the three solo missions I came close to failing multiple times, and once you get to the group missions, it absolutely batters you. You won't need to make the monsters tougher and I suspect you will regret you did.
5. Ethel is armed with a crossbow here, which is one of the best things in the game and helps a lot, especially in solo games, but it's not something you are likely to be able to buy straight away.
6. I was playing against the app, which is a bit stupid at times, and I was able to use that to my advantage a couple of times.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 1) So you never rolled a block for an enemy mob. That's broken. The odds for a an enemy block is WAAAAY too low. Should be the same or better than a PC, considering they will outnumber the NPCS every time. 2) You don't remove a character when you're playing with six people, and need the rogue so five of your friends can play.
That's the whole point of getting more characters, to add more players.
The game doesn't cater for six players. It's one-five players. If you look at any of the currently available quest books they state five players on the cover (one Zargon, four heroes). The idea of the new characters is to replace existing ones. There are currently five additional heroes for the game, and of course they aren't expecting a team of nine to go into the dungeon - it's the same as any other game that gives you character choices, you pick from what's there, while playing to the player count. This is why in the app you are still only allowed to select a maximum of four heroes for a team, even though it lets you select from all the available classes. So, every mission so far is scaled for a total of four heroes (with the exception of solo missions), and no duplicates of any hero class. Of course, there's nothing stopping you from playing with more heroes (although the app can't handle it), but that's not the intention.
An enemy has a one in six chance of rolling a block. There's nothing broken about that. Enemies like the ogre have four defence dice and five wounds. It normally takes a concerted effort from four heroes to take down something like that. Monsters outnumber the heroes across the span of a dungeon, and in many cases they will outnumber them in any given room. This is especially true once you get to expansions (in Frozen Horror, for example, it's not uncommon to wander into rooms with six to eight monsters, including yetis and polar bears that are incredibly tough to take down. Remember this playthrough was a quest for one hero only, so there are far fewer enemies to deal with.
If you really want to toughen up the monsters, probably just try using heroic shields as their defence symbol, so they have a two in six chance of blocking, the same as the heroes. I think you will find that it not only makes the game very tough, it causes things to drag as monsters stick around too long, but if you are playing with five or more heroes it may balance out. Whatever you do, have fun in the dungeon.
Hi I,'m from the UK. From what I remember, I'm sure you had to use the potion of healing whilst alive, not when you are down to 0 body points.... I could be wrong, is that an official rule?
I'm going to be talking about this in a forthcoming video. In the European rules, you have to drink the potion while alive. The American rules (which are the rules that Hasbro used for the new edition) allow you to drink potions whenever you hit zero body points.If you are interested in all the differences between the the two versions of the game, I already have videos on that subject in my HeroQuest playlist.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring thanks for the reply, btw, will u be making anymore painting videos? Keep up the good work :)
@@scroobiuspip7705 Lots more painting planned. I am well behind on all my projects.
Thank you so much for doing these playthroughs. I very much enjoy the new expansion stuff. Cheers
Thanks for watching. There is some really fun (albeit deadly) stuff in the Frozen Horror.
Brilliant video! Well played! Good luck on Solo Quest 3; it killed my Barbarian, it's brutal!
I would say Ethel is hanging on by the skin of her teeth, but all her teeth were knocked out long ago. I am sure her saga will have an emotional ending.
Cheese? Cheddar, swiss or provolone? Not sure how wonky the app is but since we didn't know Krag's stat line (other than defense) falling back and firing the crossbow is a viable tactic, seeing as it's a solo quest.
While it's certainly a viable tactic, it is cheesing the app because it's a bit dumb. The monsters will just follow you around taking arrows to the face. It doesn't make for the most exciting video that way!
All the app does is spy on you
But now that I'm thinking about it ... This expansion technically is unplayable without the app ... Because you wouldn't normally know the stats of the final boss
Well, the intention is to still have a Zargon player, who has the stats printed in his quest book. The app is just an option for anybody who wants to play true solo. I personally think HeroQuest isn't great with the app (although I appreciate it's a great addition for those who want it and can access it). I would much rather play against a real Zargon player (or, more commonly, be the Zargon player).
Yes! The next chapter in the Ethel Saga!
The bards are writing songs of her greatness on the back of beer coasters right now.
Great video mate
Thank you.
Glad you made it through. Love the humor and movie references. Kept waiting for you to say "Spoon!"
Ethel relied a lot more on the crossbow this time around, tending to shoot from doorways rather than charge headfirst into the fray, so I didn't see a really good spoon opportunity. I think she's growing as a person.
He ate nothing for years and hat 15 gold coins as a retirement plan?!
Undeath is harsh.
Enjoying these.. cheers for the upload.
Thanks for watching.
There is no rule that says a hero does not defend against both Polar Warbear attacks. The rules only states that the Polar Warbear may attack a single hero with both attacks or they can attack two individual heros with one attack a piece. The Warbear's advantage is not that it has an unblockable attack. The Warbear's advantage is that it gets 2 attacks before the end of its turn. I've read multiple forums that suggest it is a devastating 8 dice against just one defence but the wording in the rulebook clearly says 2 attacks against one hero (meaning 2 separate attacks. One with its club and one with its paw) or two attacks against 2 heros. On the interpretation of both the card which shows a 4/4 not 4/4 or 8, and the rules. I am firmly confident that my interpretation is accurate. If the app rolls all 8 at once that is an error on the apps part. We are all aware that even the Dev. Team has screwed up their own rules before (Case in point: the Yeti insta-kill hug attack that they never corrected with the re-release but did manage to convert in the app. There are later quests where an 8 roll would be nearly impossible to defend with multiple Warbears that would be game breaking.
I could be wrong but I doubt it. In this case I think the app is inaccurate and people on some forums have misinterpreted the original intended attack style of the Warbear.
It's two separate attacks, but you can only defend against one. Rules, page 9, of the Frozen Horror booklet. The app rolls both attacks at the same time, and then you just defend against one of them.
I’m just waiting for the package to come in :)
Good luck with those bears.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring :(
One step beyond! My brain is hard wired to internally repeat those words in a big booming voice whenever I hear them 🤣 I doubt anyone under the age of 50 would recognise the Madness reference! I very much support your method of combining searches - in a game that is not time/round limited it has no impact on the actual gameplay and moves things on without constant pauses. I realise that a barbarian is "banzai" minded but going toe to toe against very tough opponents while having very few life points left is a recipe for losing the game quickly. Run and gun tactics may not be the most exciting style but probably give the highest chance of survival. It may not be as fun to watch but it could be better than watching the quest come to an early and bloody end! Question - does the Zargon app generate different scenarios (trap placement, enemies etc.) on each playthrough or is it a fixed quest? This would obviously have a major impact on replayability.
Hey, I'm only 43! The problem with the run-and-gun tactics is they just wouldn't work against a real Zargon player, so apart from not being very exciting to watch, it does feel like cheating the app. I do think the final confrontation with Krag was much more exciting for standing my ground. Personally I would rather see a hero go down in a blaze of glory than watch two hours of them sniping people from around corners.
The app isn't a random dungeon generator. It doesn't change anything from the printed map that a real Zargon player would use. HeroQuest has always been about non-random quests, but replayability isn't much of an issue. Yes, it's generally the case that a group of heroes can never repeat the same dungeon, but a Zargon player can run the same dungeon with different groups, or can play the game using the app and then run through it again as Zargon with a group. Also, there are 10 quests in each expansion, before you even start thinking about designing your own.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring That means that you were born around the year that the Madness album came out! You can hardly remember the song from the first time round (as I most definitely do!) 🤪
Grew up in a house with three older brothers. I heard a lot of Madness growing up.
Mummy's pronouns are she/her.
Really enjoyed this playthrough. Entertaining and informative, while being very fair in your rules alterations and giving Zargon a chance even when the app doesn't want to. 9/10. You lose 1 point for the lack of a certain rounded piece of cutlery-based battlecry.
I'm actually glad the battlecry was missed. I didn't have a good opportunity to use it, as Ethel spent far too much time shooting at enemies through doorways rather than charging in. I should really have used it in the final confrontation with Krag, but really he came for me. I will have to try to figure out a good way to fit it into Ethel's third and final adventure.
36:56 The best Part!
The savagery of dice. I should use it as my new video intro.
Thanks for your video! It's really great. But I have a question: Do you use a kind of houserule to modify the skill level of the zargon-player because you only play with one hero?
Three of the missions are designed to be played by a single barbarian hero, so you don’t need any house rules. The rest of the Frozen Horror campaign requires all four heroes as normal.
Where did you get those blue dice? Is it custom-made?
The Frozen Horror comes with blue dice.
Poor Krag. He can't even sit around with his yeti buddies without some "hero" coming around to smash stuff up.
It always amuses me how the HeroQuest heroes just kick down doors and start killing stuff. All these monsters just sitting around eating dinner or reading a book. Why are there so many bookcases in dungeons, anyway?
One step beyond? Only if you're wearing baggy trousers...
I always wonder when I am editing these videos if people will know what the heck I'm talking about or if they will just think I'm spouting nonsense most of the time.
It's the heavy heavy monster sound... of monsters :P
One step beyond and madness. Clever clever!
I do like to drop in little references now and then.
I love the new bleu dice. I can throw attack and defence on a single throw
Yeah, having two sets of dice is great for opposed dice rolling. I don't do it in my videos because (a) the app rolls a lot of the enemy dice, and (b) I think it makes the video a bit more interesting when the rolls come in separately.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring in video I totaly agreed.
Good stuff, proper mirrored my own games. Without the Crossbow and running away, you haven't really a chance. The traps really whittle your health down too. Good judgement call escaping when you can.
Sometimes cheesing it is the best course of action. The Frozen Horror really is a brutal expansion.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Agreed, I struggled to get past the solo missions.
5:35 Vizzini
Hey, are you going to paint HQ?
It's on the cards, but I have a lot of painting projects to work through. I have already painted a classic copy of HeroQuest. I intend to approach the new edition in much the same way.
Nice. Just what I wanted today. Thanks ABNB
Thank you for watching.
Finally some playthroughts. Love the playthroughs
Unfortunately one of these playthroughs is two solid days of work and requires an empty house to shoot, so they're quite tricky to fit into the schedule. Glad you enjoy them, though!
SPOON!
Life lesson: never shout spoon at a polar bear.
That is the coolest dice tray in the history of cool dice trays.
Thanks. I make them out of cheap box frames.
amazing!!! love these playthroughs
Thanks. I'm glad you like them.
These have been great to throw on in the background while I am working on various stuffs.
Glad you like them. I often watching TH-cam videos while painting, and I know a lot of other people do the same, which is why I try to narrate whats going on as exactly as possible so people don't have to watch intently.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Do you ever watch folks paint on Twitch? I'm on there most days, in addition to countless others of course.
I don't ever go on Twitch. I occasionally look for a painting guide on TH-cam if something has me really stumped for how to approach it, but I tend to want to feel things out for myself, and then I know that the painting content I am putting out isn't just an inferior version of something I got off a much better painter.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Thats cool. It can just be relaxing, depending on the content creator, to just be around other hobby enthusiasts.
Honestly, I try and take after Bob Ross the best I can.
I tend to try to cover more of my other interests when I'm already painting, so I will usually end up running horror channels, or movie reviews and analysis stuff.
Narrow escape. Bring on part 3 😊
One potion away from disaster. Those polar bears are no joke.
And you were very lucky not to get any wandering monsters, otherwise I think it would have been a shorter game 😁
Apparently the Frozen Horror has cut staffing costs by laying off all the wandering monsters, choosing to invest in spiked pit traps all over the damned place instead. I can't believe how many times I got caught by traps.
😂