Let's Talk WARHAMMER QUEST ADVENTURE CARD GAME

I played for the first time last week. We fucked up a few rules, but overall liked it and will play again. It does blow away Pathfinder IMO, not a high bar really. It shares a lot of mechanics with the LotR game, but one crucial and welcome difference is that there is no deck building element.

How well does this game play with 2 players?

I haven't played it with two characters yet, but I've heard that it is definitely harder than with four. When playing with two characters, each gets two activations per round and they have a lot more hit points, but more enemies will be engaged with you, because the number of enemies isn't scaled to the number of characters. Thus you have a higher chance of getting wounded or triggering the nemesis, whenever you take an action. However, you could simply play with two characters per player, if it becomes too difficult. Playing with more characters seems more interesting anyway, since the aid action will be more important as well as crowd control in the form of engaging enemies that are engaged with the more squishy characters.

We're having a great time with WHQACG (3-player), but we're not finding it easy at all. If you have bad luck with enemies and locations in the first scenario, you'll get crushed. The way the campaign system works is that scenarios can't be repeated, and a loss in one scenario means that the next one is harder. (Not only do you miss out on the reward, but there's a stiff penalty just to rub salt in your wound.) So everything snowballs after a loss until it becomes nearly impossible to win. It got to the point where we decided to skip penalties halfway through just to give us a fighting chance.

Even the delve quest is really tough. We hit the level 3 enemies and were just destroyed.

I really like the system, though, difficulty aside. (The description of the mechanics as a Death Angel/LOTR card game blend are spot on.) But the rules really are terrible, so the unofficial FAQ is an absolute necessity. I haven't seen rules screwed up this badly in quite a while.

In my opinion, WHQACG isn't a young kids game at all. It really is an all-adult treat, and those adults need to be willing to puzzle through their actions and take a beating. My kid-friendly hierarchy:

Castle Ravenloft - great for kids
Pathfinder - decent for young kids (with help on the 'villain cornering' puzzle) and excellent for older kids
WHQACG: adults only, very difficult

Edit: WHQACG reminds me of Ghost Stories, in that rules errors almost always make the game easier. So when you do actually play correctly, it becomes a singularly masochistic experience. Frequently missed rules: Black dice are rolled for all actions, not just combat actions; in the second (?) scenario, the time track does NOT start all the way to the left - it starts on the skull space; your 'reset' action card can never be voluntarily tapped to satisfy an action's prerequisite requirements; the very first location is considered 'traveled to' and so any 'travel to' effects (which are usually bad) are resolved; only two success tokens can be stacked on each action card, and success tokens must be spent before rolling (not afterwards); the delve quest has been errataed so that you can't heal once you hit the red section on the time track; etc. There are many subtle ways to screw up this game.

One difficulty issue is that certain scenarios become significantly easier if a particular party member has a particular legendary item. But legendary gear is harder to obtain if you lose a scenario, and even if you're lucky enough to receive legendary gear the item that you receive is random.

None of this stops me from enjoying the game, but the difficulty is mind-numbing at times.

It's easy to adjust the difficulty though. I played with my nephews. I get them 2 legendary gear each and 2 advanced actions. We were having much fun blasting monsters right and left.

I like the idea of starting each campaign with one action already at the 'advanced' level (player's choice). Seems like a decent difficulty fix, at least for starters.

I need everyone to level with me...how re-playable is this?

I have SH:DA and find it plenty re-playable as I don't see it as 'exploring' or going through any sort of 'campaign'. Each game, heck each hall, is a mental challenge. So for me, SH:DA is like a highly thematic puzzle...a puzzle that I like to revisit. Like playing Tetris or something. SH:DA is still fun, six years after initial release.

I believe that WHQ:ACG has campaigns of a sort. Are they fun to play through a second time? Does the sense of exploration get old?

I need honesty here. I don't need to buy a game just to have it. As is, with no further expansions, will you eagerly be playing WHQ:ACG a year from now? Three?

Once you get into the Delve game, and away from the three-game "campaign", I think you're going to get what you want. It is definitely SHDA influenced in a lot of ways, but with more going on in it. I think it's plenty replayable, I played it again about two weeks ago and loved it just as much.

Yeah, the Delve is where it's at anyways. The idea of campaigns was cool, but it was only three scenarios long anyway. What is sad is the possibility of never seeing any new enemies or all the other heroes from WHQ. No barbarian even.

I got the Troll Slayer a couple of weeks ago while I was at the store, haven't played with him yet. Has anyone tried out the new characters yet?

I can see why they went troll slayer and witch hunter as they're iconic old world classes. However, as generic as a barbarian is, the barbarian was front and center in all board game editions (HQ, AHQ, WHQ). His presence will be missed.

Pour a 40 for the barbarian...

Michael Barnes wrote: Once you get into the Delve game, and away from the three-game "campaign", I think you're going to get what you want.

For what it's worth, I think it's a five-scenario campaign - not three. (Right?) I would like to keep replaying the campaign until I beat the majority of the scenarios, which may be never.

I'll continue to have fun with the Delve scenario, particularly now that I've purchased the two new characters. Trying out different character combos will be fun. For now, the Delve is our go-to option.

I just wish the Abomination wasn't so harsh. Quite a downer, that one.

Does the game feel like a dungeon crawl?

SH:DA very much feels like a bunch of slow bulky tin cans jammed in a narrow tunnel. Surrounded on all sides, frequently out of formation, and nowhere to go but forward. There some formalities in the processes, but once down they're overlooked.

I understand WHQ:ACG has more bells and whistles to a turn. Does that take away from any adventuring feel? Again, if that feel is there.

For many SH:DA replaces space hulk...does WHQ:ACG replace warhammer quest/ dungeoncrawling?

You guys can join me mourning Gears of War the boardgame over what could have been.

Mr. White wrote: Does the game feel like a dungeon crawl?

SH:DA very much feels like a bunch of slow bulky tin cans jammed in a narrow tunnel. Surrounded on all sides, frequently out of formation, and nowhere to go but forward. There some formalities in the processes, but once down they're overlooked.

I understand WHQ:ACG has more bells and whistles to a turn. Does that take away from any adventuring feel? Again, if that feel is there.

For many SH:DA replaces space hulk...does WHQ:ACG replace warhammer quest/ dungeoncrawling?

That's an excellent description of the SH:DA experience. I feel the same way when playing it. There's so much tension.

I own both of these games and all of the POD expansions. I haven't yet played the WHQ:ACG pods, however. I feel that both of these games are suited for solo play only. In my opinion, WHQ:ACG is the closest that you can get to a dungeon crawl without actually having room tiles, a board, and/or miniatures on the tabletop. In SH:DA, your Space Marines just get to murder for the Emperor. But, they don't get to discover anything really, only just what's at the end of the next corridor until the end while often, instead, meeting a grim death at the claws of a Xeno. On the other hand, in WHQ:ACG, your adventurers get to uncover treasure, weapons, and loot. You can build them up and it feels like they progress, just like in a simple dungeon crawl. That's the main difference for me. In WHQ:ACG, moreover, the adventurers have more advanced abilities than do the Space Marines in SH:DA; and, I feel that you need to manage them more carefully if you're going to win. I haven't won very much, but, I keep on playing. My negative comment about WHQ:ACG is that I want more delves and quests, rooms to explore, loot, adventurers, and enemies, especially enemies--it feels like you're stuck in Heroquest when you thirst for Advanced Heroquest. Yet, I feel that there's hope because all of this isn't too difficult to homebrew if you want more: crusadersgolf.co.uk/board-games/warhamme...adventure-card-game/