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The banner at the bottom, and the sentence structure of "Inside this box is everything you need to play HeroQuest!" really don't seem very legit. I only have the 'rebooted' core though, so can't compare to other releases.

Also, they are somewhat noticeably not in a dungeon. If it is real, it could be a little warm up quest or two on the way to the main event, in a village or the classic Fantasy trope... The Tavern?

the idea that just perhaps you get a different board, and indeed a multi-room tavern of say a coaching in with stables, courtyard etc appeals

less for the specific location itself and more because do that a few times and the game can really expand.

though they have gone outside the dungeon already, e.g. the map has already been party of a cityscape of alleyways and cramped buildings.

I think its a good idea, just placeholder artwork if its come from an actual leak

EDIT: official announcement - and yes that's actual art.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?id=100065473689718&story_fbid=809837907875325

We are proud to announce, HeroQuest First Light, a HeroQuest experience geared towards players who have yet to dive in.

This all new introduction set invites players to experience the game system who are a little intimidated by the current core offering and may be a bit hesitant to drop big dollars on the current full game. BUT existing fans will love it too!

YES! There are new quests. YES! There is everything you need to start your HeroQuest adventure. And YES! This also has everything you need to continue playing because it is compatible with all of the expansions.

We will be revealing the item in totality at @gen_con this year, including when and where you can buy First Light, and gameplay registrations will be live in the GenCon system any day!

Comicbook.com, Techraptor and Gamerant now reporting the First Light info from the same presentation apparently there was a restriction on posting until today. Full reveal at Gencon. They are using the same art which they attribute to Avalon Hill as the source. I've no doubt the art is AI or partly AI and might just be a WIP. What may appear to be the elfs exposed breast is more an issue with the colour reflections used which are very skin coloured and the shape of the armour but they'll need to sort that before release.

First Light is a new starter set that takes place at the same time as the standard starter set, but has been pared down quite a bit and made much more approachable for new players to enjoy. This version of HeroQuest makes it easy even for young teens and older kids to join in and comes with absolutely everything you need to get into HeroQuest at a fraction of the cost of the main beginner’s box.

The First Light set comes with new quests and Avalon Hill teased at the set offering players special components and extra abilities to help players have the full HeroQuest experience, including the threat of character death, without the commitment that keeps plenty of players away from TTRPGs. The game is balanced for four players and one DM, though the quests are much more narrative and roleplay driven, meaning that players can control more than one character without much issue, especially if they’re a veteran gamer. That roleplay-heavy design is two-fold, helping new players immerse themselves in the HeroQuest world and allowing them to simply jump into the game, rather than spend time doing prep work, like building a character, before the actual game starts.

https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/heroquest-reveals-new-player-focused-first-light-game-system/
https://gamerant.com/avalon-hill-releases-new-heroquest-expansion-details-announces-new-starter-pack/?taid=666c5404d6c53600013e2da2&utm_campaign=TrueAnthem-GR&utm_medium=Social-Distribution&utm_source=Twitter
https://techraptor.net/tabletop/news/avalon-hill-reveals-talisman-5th-edition-expansion-and-new-heroquest-beginner-set?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

If they can get this into Target and the like before Christmas, they may have a winner!

I have seen X-wing, that Space marine game, D&D starters, and the Avatar starter all in big box retail stores before.

wondering how they can strip the game down. its Heroquest, its not exactly complicated, indeed the simplicity is its virtue

you already can jump in, about the only change would be to have in quests a suggested amount of gold characters should be gifted to start if not playing previous quests so jump in where you fancy

wondering where the "roleplay heavy" idea comes from, this bit has some potential if the heros feel different and not quite as mon dimensional as they can be in the hands of players you just see them as game models and nothing more

depending whats in it I'm certainly curious though - if its mostly card and/or existing stuff as a subset then I hope the books can be had as downloads

leopard wrote:
wondering how they can strip the game down. its Heroquest, its not exactly complicated, indeed the simplicity is its virtue

Going by this -

...allowing them to simply jump into the game, rather than spend time doing prep work, like building a character,...

I would guess it runs straight off the character cards rather than having players create a character sheet. So possibly also removes wound tracking, although I'm not sure how that would work with still having the potential for characters to die.

If I were tasked with making a 'stripped down' Heroquest for easier player entry, other potential changes I would make would be -
- remove Mind points
- only have single wound monsters
- remove treasure cards - have treasure assigned to the room on the map or based on a die roll, or just remove treasure searching entirely and just award a certain amount of treasure at the end of the quest.
- reduce the number of spells, but have them be multi-use.

Given that it's compatible with the expansions I don't think there will be any rule changes, just component changes. I think they were still continuing the comparison with HeroQuest and TTRPGs in general from the previous sentence, selling the game as opposed to this new project. Seeing as character creation in Heroquest now is, "I'll be the Barbarian," if you tried to reduce it you'd end up with nothing

 frankelee wrote:
Given that it's compatible with the expansions I don't think there will be any rule changes, just component changes.

This is generally my assumption as well. If there are rule changes, it will probably only be nibbles at the edges. I think we're looking at a smaller board, fewer and more paper miniatures and scenarios aimed at the first time player.

Basically an entry level HQ they can sell at Target and Walmart in the 30-45 dollar range with the rest of the board games. I think it's a very good idea .

smaller board makes it incompatible with the expansion though

I think its the same board, just six way folded paper not thick card. probably decent paper, but paper

and most of the monsters as folded card, heck the heros too maybe, nicely done but still card

do think you will get quests with starting kit defined to just jump in anywhere or play in sequence at will, seems an easy change to make (and something other expansions could perhaps take from)

Mind Points I could see staying but with a more direct note that they are not used in the starter, just there for compatibility with later expansions

Avalon Hill have responded to the AI art theories - still something off looking about it but at least they addressed it and credited the artist.

https://www.facebook.com/AHGames/

so the elf nipple is intentional and not just some weird interaction?

I'd assume the topless elf was the artist slipping in something as a prank, the way many artists will, but I also was assuming that it was all placeholder art. Or at least a rough. Because while I think AI was definitely involved, I've used AI programs and it doesn't spit images like that out, the best AI art programs currently available in the world cannot come close to that, it was all still ultimately done by an artist who can clearly do digital painting.

But rough art and pranks would make sense for placeholder art, not for the actual final art.

It's not a nipple, just a random dark spot on her breastplate. Although the way the line work sits, it's possibly supposed to be a shadow on her upper arm from get right pauldron, and the lines from the breastplate just got a little tangled.

Pretty sure it's supposed to be a reflection of the rising sun on her breastplate, all the characters in that "art" have wierd reflections odd lightwrap and off highlights in the wrong places, in addition to their odd porportions.

I think it's much more damning if it isn't AI, that would mean a human being deliberately drew that up and said "Yup, that's exactly how I want this to look" and another completely separate person looked at it and said "Yup, that's how we want our product to look". This is Rob Liefeld levels of "IDGAF, got paid for it"

In a sense, this is the first true art that Heroquest has released, it's certainly evoking emotional reactions from people.

 Kalamadea wrote:
I think it's much more damning if it isn't AI, that would mean a human being deliberately drew that up and said "Yup, that's exactly how I want this to look" and another completely separate person looked at it and said "Yup, that's how we want our product to look". This is Rob Liefeld levels of "IDGAF, got paid for it"

Washu's Turing Test Corollary: It's not that a computer can create something as good as a human could make, but that a human can create something as crap as a computer would.

Here's the artist's webpage, which says, "Pioneer pop culture digital artist. Contract artist for Star Wars, Disney, Lucas Arts, Pepsi, Coke, Time Magazine, NFL, NBA, Playboy, Penthouse, G.I. Joe, Marvel and Stan ..."

https://makersplace.com/clarkmitchell/gallery/created

Now, his Monopoly Disney Villains artwork is fine. But the first piece of art you see on his page is this. Oh, wait. You'll have to look at it on his webpage. Because nipple.

I wasn't expecting Jungles of Delthrak to show up on my doorstep so soon. Showed up on my doorstep back on the 7th.

Love the big ol' Kong style ape in it.

And now I wish I'd bought the monk set, as it appears to be sold out on Amazon and expensive as heck on E-bay.

Well they changed the First light box art. It’s a starter set as expected, price $49.99. 4 new sculpts for the heroes and a new dragons mini everything else is standees including the furniture. Board has been scaled down in size and is double sided. New quests.

I’ll add more news later.

Cheers for that, Dave. I'm literally torn between this and Middle Earth at the moment...decisions, decisions!

Is the board scaled down to original square size?

Hmmm, I wonder how the expansion overlays will work with a resized board.

I haven’t seen anything official on the board size just reposting what others have reported so I’d wait for official confirmation on that but it’s definitely double sided from the pictures.

video from GenCon

If the figures are the same scale and there are a good number of missions, I'll be getting it. The sculpts and doors have a nice original HQ look about them.

Might have to pick that up you know.

 Prometheum5 wrote:
Is the board scaled down to original square size?

Unless the minis are also smaller, no - the bases look the same size against the squares as every other new set.

Hmmm..... the fact that there are new quests and model sculpts means I *might* get this.

real shame the dice are not in a different colour unique to the box

the flipside of the board being different has potential, will have to see if they run with it, if so may see other actual boards in future expansions - e.g. a proper urban looking one or a proper outdoors one maybe

even if the actual layouts are similar the theme would be nice

The new Battle Systems Dungeon Terrain KS edition arrived, so I dug out the first HeroQuest quest and setup the first quest! Most of the 3D walls are 4" long, so I adjusted most of the HQ rooms to a 4"x4" square room. If you look at the Quest booklet, you can see how terrain blocks of much of the room, so you don't have to adhere to the room dimensions for the same gameplay. Position the enemies and terrain relative to the door the heroes will enter.

Like any full-height 3D terrain, the 1" wide corridors are difficult to move figures in, but you can easily build the quest with larger corridors. I also used ruined walls for walls that didn't separate two roomful of monsters from each other to more easily access the miniatures.

The included 2x2 mat is darker than the HQ board and the HQ figures themselves are on the dark side. I'm not sure what components the retail edition will have, but the HQ board will use the generic basic walls and doors more than the thematic elements. OTOH, Its these thematic elements that you can further tweak the the individual rooms to make them a little more interesting.

Battle Systems is currently taking pre-orders for retail copies of their Dungeon Terrain and Maladum dungeon-themed boardgame on their website!

Very nice, Ced. It does seem the proper way to enjoy Heroquest!

I'm guessing that First Light is due for release soon?

SamusDrake wrote:
Very nice, Ced. It does seem the proper way to enjoy Heroquest!

I'm guessing that First Light is due for release soon?

6th of November TBC