I'll raise a mug to Kent Kaliber for his services to gaming in general and this channel in particular.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

He's an absolute boss.

@defleshedbuttocks

5 ай бұрын

Love your content!

Clicked on the link in the description and it was actually in stock. Huzzah!

Playing with a Bard in the game I am running, find it a great addition. Decent combat good abilities and arguably the best healing spell in the game...

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Glad to hear you are enjoying the bard.

Great review. Very thoughtful and fair. A few great ideas for homebrew versions of the rules.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Thank you. I don't tend to use a lot of homebrews myself, but it was fun to think of ways how I might add an element to the character to make them seem slightly more disciplined.

I think the bonus die for being unarmed should include the staff as well.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

That would be neat.

@warbuilderj22

5 ай бұрын

staff does allow diagonal attack after all elements are exhausted

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

With one dice though. Except in those specific situations where you can't get orthogonally adjacent, or when you are trying to poke through a doorway past someone else, you are better off using fists.

Nice. I should be picking up my copy at the weekend 😊

@82fdny97

5 ай бұрын

Its an interesting expansion

Your dice intro keeps getting better and better.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Or worse and worse, depending on how you look at it.

Love your content! Would be great to see a Druid video soon!

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Thank you. I will be talking about the druid once I have a copy of Against the Ogre Horde.

Another great review. Looking forward to getting it.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Thank you. I think this is a good hero to have.

Really super interesting. I can’t wait to see your thoughts after a couple of play throyghs

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

I've played with the monk in preparation for this video, but what I can't do at the moment is speak to the longer-term impact of the monk on gameplay - like, will the whack-a-mole mentality start to become prevalent, will the team start to arrange all their actions around what the monk can and can't do, and will the monk become a bit too squishy late in a campaign as they can never have armour.

@zombiedad

5 ай бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring yes. Also whether his novelty value and mildly more complicated rules lose their shine.

Warrior Monks in HeroQuest sounds very cool.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Absolutely. And it's exciting to think the adventure might start moving to the east.

@danielwilliamson6180

5 ай бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring By the way, last week I made and uploaded my own teaser trailer of a HeroQuest movie which you can now see on my channel. I made it cos I am a HeroQuest fan.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

I just checked it out. That's fun. The dream cast list was great.

@danielwilliamson6180

5 ай бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoringGood.

Great review as always. definitely 10/10 for presentation. I was blown away by how nice it looks when I got mine last week. Even the wrap around piece of card has a quote on it which can only be read when removed. Re the rules, I would suggest the element skills replenish when there are no active monsters left on the board - stops any concerns about line of sight.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Yes, and the extra little quote behind the scroll. It's like constantly find little Easter eggs as you open up the contents. My only issue with only replenishing skills when there are no active monsters would be those missions where a steady stream of new enemies enter the board to chase you. There would almost always be active monsters, which means the monk would be seriously nerfed.

Picked this up about a week ago from my FLG. Yet to use the monk in a game, but the presentation is really lovely.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

It's a great little set.

I've seen people saying that Monks don't belong to HeroQuest, but that's just nonsense. The original HeroQuest was set in the Warhammer world (the existence of the Fimir and the map of the Old World in the Return of the Witch Lord expansion confirms that). And Monks were already present in *Warhammer 1st Edition - Forces of Fantasy - Volume 1* (1983), in a chapter called _"Men of the Orient"._ So if there's an Orient and Monks (along with Samurai) in Warhammer and HeroQuest was set in Warhammer's Old World, then the claim that Monks don't fit HeroQuest is objectively wrong. Not to mention that D&D, which was clearly an influence in HeroQuest, was published in 1974. And just a year later, in 1975, Monks were also included as a heroic playable option (Dungeons & Dragons - Supplement II - Blackmoor). Curiously, there are some people who also claim that Monks don't fit D&D, despite the fact that the Monk class was added before than the Barbarian. I think these people believe that _all_ medieval fantasy games should be Tolkien wannabe clones, with just a pseudo-medieval Europe continent at the center of the world and nothing else. Anyway, nice coincidence. I almost purchase the Monk today. But the product + shipping was pushing the price to about 20€... And I can't wrap my mind around the idea of paying that value for just 2 miniatures and 7 cards. Yet, I hope to have the opportunity to pick this Hero Collection someday for a better price.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Oh for sure, Games Workshop delved into that side of things with Nippon and Grand Cathay. They had ninjas and all sorts (incidentally, there is a ninja in DungeonQuest, being a fairly early example of that kind of thing in a fantasy dungeoncrawler). And Tolkien certainly was thinking of Asia with the concept of "Rhun" and the people coming from those regions. I don't see any reason a monk couldn't wander into HeroQuest Land, although they would be something of a stranger in a strange land.

@carlosbarreto4695

5 ай бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Yes, that's true. Just like you mentioned in the video, I also argued that if the Barbarian can leave behind his tribal lands from the Frozen North to venture into the civilization, so can the wandering traveller from the East. I always have a hard time trying to understand these kind of people who seem to have a sort of anti-non-european sentiment regarding medieval fantasy games. In any case, I hope to be able to purchase this Hero Collection soon for a decent price. The Monk seems to be really stronger than the classic Heroes when compared out of the box. However, they are very limited in terms of equipments, while the classic heroes are not. So they start very powerful, but won't grow much more powerful beyond that. What do you think?

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

I am sure it will go on sale at some point with a reduced price. The monk is around £11 in the UK, which is a decent price point if you can stick it in an order with something else to combine postage or get free postage. In terms of potential growth for the monk, I don't think they have anywhere much to go. They are a bit like the warlock in that regard. They don't get any armour at all, so their natural defence is pretty much as good as it gets without potions and magic scrolls. They will have to rely on the damage-negating fighting style a lot. Also, some of their best fighting options require unarmed combat, and with their special unarmed combat bonus, they are rarely going to be using weapons except for a crossbow at range.

@carlosbarreto4695

5 ай бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring My Rogue box was bought on UK and sent to France. It was so expensive in France at the time that I bought 3 box and resold the other 2 for less than what was being sold in France, and yet I had a good profit margin. Thanks to that, I fully recovered the money that I paid for the Rogue Hero Collection, so it came for free in the end. I just regretted not having purchase more boxes. I also noted that a few days ago, the Monk box went from $14.99 to $29.99 at Amazon US. And about the equipment... Can't the Monk wear at least the bracers? That's the kind of equipment that makes sense for a monk to wear.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

$30 is way too much for a character pack. May be an Amazon seller trying their luck. The rules for the monk are that they can't wear any armour, and bracers do have the keyword "armour" so that would rule them out. I expect some people will house rule that, but it would impact on the balance of the character class. The monk will regularly be able to block all damage from one source, so that might be more than enough to make up for the lack of defence.

I LOVE this channel, i just found it and subscribed and liked for my gratitude THANKS I LOVED THIS VID

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

Ай бұрын

Thank you so much for the support. I really appreciate it, and I'm glad you are enjoying the videos.

@user-wz2hw4ux1q

Ай бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring No problem, and thank you, i haven't been able to find any other accounts that actually explained the expansion in detail and this video did just that^^

I love this addition to the game. The monk(s) offer more diversity in gameplay, without requiring a PHD or Accounting software to play. Still a family/kid friendly and fairly simple board game. When I get home from work and the wife wants to play, I don't need a headache to accompany the experience. Just a beer and some dice. Avalon Hill needs to keep producing material like this. Great stuff!

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Yes, I think it's a pretty good balance between simplicity while still adding something new. The Rogue Heir walked the same line quite well.

The way we play it, the monk has to cycle through all styles before fire while the party is "in combat" - when players and monsters are both aware of each other.

Great vid.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Thank you.

Thanks great thorough commentary Great characters and yes they have a perfect home in the world of HQ.. QUEST ON...🛡⚔️🛡⚔️🛡

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Thanks for the kind words. I want one more solid new hero class now, to have a B-Team for one the original classic heroes need a break. Maybe the druid will join the rogue heir, the monk, and the knight...

@73Xerxes

5 ай бұрын

​@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Yes totally agreed and maybe down the road hopefully something like a combo on an cleric,mage,or a paladin that has healing ways through quests and a booster way for divine levels. Trying not to make this possible character a DnD style, but something in that way that is totally new, but fits in the realm.

I do not force the reset of styles when no enemies are visible. It works fine that way, and doesn't feel op.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Do you mean you play similar to the suggestion in the video where the monk player can choose to reset the fighting styles or leave them exhausted? I was quite keen on that idea so it's good to hear it works. One of my biggest concern is that the monk will become a bit too silly as people keep trying to duck in and out of line of sight.

@preacherbeeman3437

5 ай бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring that's right. He has the choice of keeping the used style exhausted, or resetting all of them on his turn when no monsters are visible. This allows more freedom in deciding when to use skills, and doesn't make everything hectic. This makes much more sense to me, and makes the character playable. He is fun this way, and feels like a stronger character in early quests. Not OP, but strong. However, as with the warlock, I believe his bag of tricks and lack of ability to gain certain equipment means that he won't progress as the more traditional heroes do.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

That's what I liked about the idea - being able to ease off the pace and use the monk like a more disciplined, trained fighter rather than someone who is charging into every fight. And yes, the monk is definitely going to hit a ceiling pretty quickly, especially in terms of defence.

@preacherbeeman3437

5 ай бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring my monk decided he didn't have a problem equipping bracers. It's only hardened leather, after all.

Ordering my Monk soon just trying to get to grips with the Warlock,little darling she is..😅

Instead of when enemies are out of sight, the house rule I use and seems to fit is an action called meditate. Whem no monstets are in the same room or in line of sight, the Monk can take an action to meditate and recover all of the elements, for each additional action that the mink meditates, they can recovet one mind or body point.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

So you are using a rule like the one I proposed in the video? That's cool. Several of us have all come to a similar conclusion, so there must be some value in the idea.

Hmm... I too am in the middle of testing the Monk Hero... I'm leaning towards him being too powerful in comparison to the other new classes, but a friend of mine said she played it once and got it killed way too soon. So I'm still on the fence... The player who runs him is having fun, though he sees it as a female Drow monk! (I guess he played Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2) 😅

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

I've done a few bits with him, enough to get a feel for how he plays, but it's going to be interesting to see how he fairs in the long term. The limits on his defence could be a late game concern, although he does regularly have the ability to negate all incoming damage from one source.

@HivisoftheScale

5 ай бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring very true... How do you feel about the Monk wearing helmets. It's not strictly metal or Armour... But it's kinda weird thinking of them with helmets on... 🕵

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Helmets have the keyword "armour" and new helmets were issued in Rise of the Dread Moon to clarify they are metal (so the poor Rogue Heir can't use them either).

@HivisoftheScale

5 ай бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring meanwhile the Knight is sporting each piece of armour and a pair of Sunglasses, cause he's just so 😎

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

And he doesn't even break stride. Absolute legend.

Orc bard...that brings me back to a land far away...

Love the Captain Planet reference! I always thought Heart was a bit of a crap power as a kid too! 😂

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Always felt heart was the short straw. Like Sam asking Galadriel if she's got any more of those nice shiny daggers.

Thank you for the review. I am looking forward to my monks. I would have liked to hear what you think about how the monk will evolve and change during a longer campaign....if at all. Next stop ogre horde 😅

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

The monk really won't evolve. As I said in the video, they get no armour or shields, and very limited access to weapons. For the most part they are going to be relying on their fighting styles, potions, and magic scrolls. The biggest issue will be a lack of ways to increase defence, as the monk will often have to rely on their single fighting style that prevents damage.

@preacherbeeman3437

5 ай бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring exactly right. Progression is the biggest "problem" with the monk. He is fun to play. Knowing when to use his automatic damage cancelation skill is key.

Hi. I'm a little confused about the "speak with stone" ability. How it behaves when i already used the 2 other styles and search for traps and secret doors. As there are no Monsters in the Room all styles will recover. Will i get the Fire Style with all the other styles have recovered? Hope you understand what i mean. Greetings from Germany and sorry for my english

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

The idea is, you have to have earth, wind, and water all exhausted at the same time to be able to use the fire style, but as soon as you start a turn without line of sight to a monster, all the exhausted abilities recover. That means, the only way you could use Speak With Stone to create the necessary streak would be if you used it as your first fighting style, and then monsters appeared on the board in your line of sight so you could see enemies at the start of your next activation.

@albertpressler3434

5 ай бұрын

Thank you for your answer. I think i understand it know.

I received the Monk yesterday, along with the Bard, Druid and Warlock and their respective expansions. I have now 10 heroes and I'm trying to figure it out how to use all of them in my solo gaming sessions. Any suggestions? One thing I noticed about the Monk: their cards say they can't wear Armor, while their description at AH website says they can't use _metal_ armor, which makes far more sense. I fail to see why a Monk couldn't use a pair of Bracers of hardened leather to improve their defense.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Advertising copy is going to be written by an advertising department who may be working on incomplete or outdated information, or may simply not be that familiar with the game, while rules on cards are written by the game designers and I think are more likely to represent the final iteration of any design process. I would have to lean towards accepting the rules on the game components. I would only play a max of four heroes per dungeon. Use perma-death, so a dead hero has to be swapped in for someone from the caravan. And maybe create a narrative reason why certain characters turn up. So, for example, the rogue heir would arrive in time for Mage of the Mirror, the guardian knight could be "unlocked" during Rise of the Dread Moon. Something like that.

@carlosbarreto4695

5 ай бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring But who are the game designers behind the Monk? I wish I could contact them to point this difference and ask: _"Hey... Is this RAW the same as the RAI ? Or was that just an oversight, like the lack of the asterisk in the Female Monk card?"_ It would be nice to have Errata and a FAQ from Avalon Hill for HeroQuest, clarifying certain aspects of the game that cause issues. About the 10 heroes question, the thing is that the sole reason of having purchased all these expansion (including the new ones) instead of waiting for a sale is because I'm interested in grabbing the new content (like the new heroes) and used them right away, even in the core set quests. For example: There was no way I would wait until the Rise of the Dread Moon expansion to play with the Knight. That said, I'm considering creating 3 separate groups (4, 3 and 4; Wolf included in the third group as a Druid-only ally) and run different quests with each group. So for example, if group A played the last quest, I will use group B for the next quest... And the same for group C. Maybe it's like all the 10 heroes are working under the guidance of Mentor, but doing different quests in different places/dungeons. At least that seems doable in the core set, but I don't know if that's the same with the expansion.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

The designer is on the HeroQuest discord and has answered various questions about the monk. I don’t think anybody asked him about the armour because the wording is pretty cut and dried on the card. I wouldn’t question the wording on a card based on advertising copy, but if you want a definitive answer the discord is probably the best place. Alternatively just give it a go and see if the extra defence makes the monk overpowered considering he can regularly block incoming damage anyway. Constantly swapping between characters within a quest chain could be a bit of a pain although I do see why you want to do it. It won’t work thematically for all expansions though, as some of them have missions that link together directly without giving the heroes a chance to return home between them, but you can explain that away however you want. Edit, to add: I also just checked the Monk in the app and it has the same wording as on the physical card. I think, if the card had an error (or omission) they probably would have updated it in the app, at least.

@lifeasafanpodcast9529

Ай бұрын

What i do is have a tavern town where our heros can buy equipment go to bars to get bounty quests or talk to royalty to gain favor and meet new characters like if you finnish the main story your barbarian might feel his wanderlust and a king might assign you a knight or berserker for a particular questline while the barbarian is off doing the 4 frozen horror quest with his wolf friend 😂.. keeps things fresh i have two boards so its an easy setup 😂😂​@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

The only problems with this character is 2 of the cards have fairly useless abilities on one side. Speak with Stone is basically useless and Soaring Dragon has limited,very specific,uses. Water and Fire have 2 useful abilities which should be the standard. I would probably change Soaring Dragon to be able to leap to any empty space in sight of the character. They can move over furniture and monsters but not through walls. I feel this would make it more useful to get in and out of danger as well as keeping the ability to avoid traps. For the earth style,I'd probably go with "Rock Stance" which would give the monk +2 defense dice for one turn. So you can have a really hard hit or withstand a lot of punishment. So,for example,if you're surrounded by goblins,you might use Rock Stance to withstand the initial attacks and then use Eye of the Storm to attack them. But against a single big enemy like a warrior or a gargoyle,you'd use Twisting Torrent and Strength of Mountain to try to finish them off. Those are my thoughts anyway.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Yes. I guess they wanted to give the monk a few things they could do outside of combat as well, but they are weak, especially the Speak with Stone ability.

Great compliment to celebrate the chinese year of the dragon 🐉

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

And maybe we will get a dragon for HeroQuest by the end of the year...

Will this be translated into other languages?

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

As far as I know it will be in all the same languages as previous retail releases, but you might want to check with Avalon Hill regarding timelines for your territory.

Deep inside you know the Bard is your favorite.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

He's my favourite punching bag.

well I got them regardless......Gotta Catch em' ALL!!! LMFAO =p

All these classes (Barb, Warlock, Monk) but not a single Paladin/Cleric/Templar/Crusader? I just want to bash enemies in righteous fury.

@eerieghosts

5 ай бұрын

The Knight should fit your description.

@carlosbarreto4695

5 ай бұрын

Just say the Knight is a templar or something similar.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Yes, the knight doesn't have a religious aspect, but is supposed to be an honourable, heroic, protective, do-gooder sort. The knight is my favourite of all the new heroes.

@ChrisNihilus

5 ай бұрын

@@eerieghosts The Knight is my favourite for sure, but it's just a Warrior with more armor, doesn't have any divine power.

monks ... alright then

Sadly enough no Kung Fu Panda enemy and no sushi bar furniture 😢

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Maybe you could paint up one of the polar war bears from Frozen Horror accordingly?

@dragonmartijn

5 ай бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring😂

With the exception of the Guardian Knights & the Rogue Heir, I think all the new heroes including the ones from Mythic are naff. I’m personally not convinced the Monks fit Heroquest but that’s just an opinion and enjoy collecting all things Heroquest anyway. I’ll just keep my pack sealed haha.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

The rogue heir and the guardian knight stand out to me as the best. I think the monk is really interesting and does add something completely new to the game. For me it definitely avoids bard territory.

The East has 5 Elements, not 4. Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Metal There should have been 5 Elements for characters based on Chinese warrior monks. (Anticipating sniping replies . . ) "Maybe these aren't based on Chinese . ." Yes, they are.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

2 ай бұрын

I have to say I don't recall saying they aren't based on Chinese monks, but maybe you are quoting someone else? I guess it's an adaptation to fit within HeroQuest's quite simplified world. They have already established these four magical elements that wizards can tap into, and which players already know and understand, so allowing the monks to tap into those same elements in a different way keeps it all simple. While I can see why they might have wanted to stick with the four elements, I think a fifth element would have been something interesting to explore. After all, elves got their own magic system in Mage of the Mirror, extending beyond the confines of the established elemental system.

@L0-R3Z

2 ай бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring The quote was in anticipation of someone posting a reply saying that the monks were not based on Chinese monks. You know how it is: Anticipating the sniping replies.

First

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

Thanks for checking out the video.

Those mold lines on cheap minis make a lie of attention to detail guff.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

There is an expected standard for HeroQuest miniatures at this point. You aren't going to get Games Workshop standard, and occasionally you will get a complete duffer of a miniature, but for the most part Avalon Hill manage to offer good quality for the price point, and the miniatures clean up and paint well enough.

Dont like the new Charakter and artstyle, I ll stick to the 80s version

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring

5 ай бұрын

I prefer the classic aesthetic, but my original HeroQuest stuff now serves only as content for Advanced HeroQuest. I am really enjoying Avalon Hill's HeroQuest, thanks to the US rules that I never had as a kid, plus all the new content they are creating.