Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

As the owner of both, I'll jump in. First you have to realize the current version of Descent is really dumbed down compared to the first version, which depending on your play style can be good or bad. Personally I think they went a little too far and it kind of hurt the game. The first addition is a closer comparison to WHQ I think.

The biggest difference between WHQ and Descent is how the game is run. Having the monsters run by the overlord really gives the game the edge in difficulty. The overlord can set devious (some would say cheap) traps for the players that can really ruin their day. in WHQ, the game itself runs the monsters and if you are good, you can position yourself in such a way that it can be rally hard for the monsters to win. However unlike descent, you can't simply run out of the dungeon to town to heal up and come back to where you left off, so that makes it up for it a little bit.

WHQ is also really random. Most of the game events (besides monsters) are done by rolling on a d100 or even a d1000 table so you have no idea what you could be up against. In descent, the monsters are mostly set by the scenario, with the overlord having some monster and event cards he can play from his hand, but with enough play you know what the overlord has in the deck and can take the appropriate steps.

Finally, the campaign system. Both have a really great campaign system where you can keep your characters between games. WHQ is a little more hardcore, as RAW, if your character is unlucky enough to be killed and makes a bad roll in the permanent effects chart, he is perma-dead; start a new character from scratch! In descent, death has no consequence besides giving the overlord points, which makes him more powerful, and you lose some money. No perma death until the final scenario.

Which is better? It's hard to say. I personally like WHQ a little more simply due to nostalgia. It was the first GW game I ever owned and it got me into the h-h-hobby. Descent is a great game and has the edge in overall difficulty simply due to the presence of the overlord, but bad luck in the draw of monsters/bad event rolls can really make some WHQ games a close run thing.