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This long awaited day is finally here. Hasbro has officially put the new HeroQuest quest pack up for preorder on the Hasbro Pulse website!
Some other retailers have followed suit and uploaded some revealing images of the new quest pack. We’ll take a look at those in just a minute.
The Story Continues!
First, I want to talk a little about the story. So far, we’ve gotten little information, except that the story will take place after the events of Mage of the Mirror and involve the Traitor, Sir Ragnar.
Now that we have a glimpse at the back of the box, we can delve a little deeper into what’s going on!
There is quite a bit to unpack here. This expansion continues the story arc from Mage of the Mirror. Princess Millandriell has been saved, there should be much rejoicing, but instead, Zargon is redoubling his efforts to cause strife in the Elven Kingdom of Elethorn.
The “Hero” must find the Cadre of the Raven’s Veil to finally save Elethorn from Zargon. I say “Hero” instead of “Heroes” because this line in the text is singular. It specifically says “Playing as one of HeroQuest’s brave heroes….” Does this mean that Rise of the Dread Moon will continue the theme of solo quests at the beginning of the quest book. Will the first 3 of 10 quests be solo quests!?
While it’s implied that the solo quests in Mage of the Mirror and Frozen Horror are meant for the Elf and Barbarian respectively, the way this is phrased sounds like the decision is being left up to the player. Play as any hero for these solo quests.
What are we Getting in RotDM?
A Quest Book featuring 10 new quests! As I mentioned above, I believe this will include 3 solo quests for any hero and 7 standard quests for the group.
Finely detailed miniatures, 29 of them!
This includes:
2 Elven Archers
2 Elven Swordsmen (these appear to be the same ones that we have from Mage of the Mirror)
2 Elves that appear to be wielding some kind of dagger attached to a chain
2 heavily armoured Elven warriors
4 enemies that look like cultists or some other type of evil sorcerer
3 Specters
1 creepy looking wispy figure (my guess is that’s the mysterious figure from the front of the box),
1 Knight
1 of each of the Cadre of the Raven’s Veil
Some new furniture, this looks like the rest of the furniture that we didn’t receive in Mage of the Mirror, as well as some all new stuff.
The new furniture is interesting, two statue type items, and something that appears difficult to identify. It almost looks like another tomb, I guess it could be, but it could also be something else. The image isn’t quite clear enough to make out exactly what it is.
One very important thing to note here. Avalon Hill, I’m talking to you directly on this one! No Ragnar!? After that “Traitor” reveal, and all the teasing, there is no Sir Ragnar mini!? We have a Frozen Horror mini, and a Sinestra mini, why no Sir Ragnar!!?
Next we have 2 mirror stands. So we’ll be seeing more of the mirror realm, a direct call back to Mage of the Mirror.
More cards! 58 more to be exact.
Of the 58 more cards, we have:
Alchemy Cards – This one we knew about from the designer preview. The potion shown here is the “Heroic Brew” Usually this is only found in the treasure deck. Heroic Brew here appears with the keyword crafted on the bottom of the card. What could this mean!? A new mechanic for crafting potions, and possibly other things?
Dread Spells – There’s nothing new here, we’ve seen this (Channel Dread) before in the designer preview as well.
Mercenary Cards – This one is interesting! Previously, in Frozen Horror, Mercenaries appeared as monster cards. Perhaps this means these particular mercenaries (Cadre of the Raven’s Veil) may never be used as monsters in a quest? It would be nice to see the previous mercenaries come back in the new Mercenary deck.
The mercenary shown here is the “Striker” It has the exact same cost and stats as The Swordsman from Frozen Horror. This mercenary appears to have a weapon in each hand, this would have been a perfect opportunity to add a dual attack ability for this character.
Monster Cards – Also nothing new here. We also don’t see anything for the new monsters included in this Quest Pack.
Artifacts – We’ve got some new artifacts in this quest pack. The “Raven’s Talon”, show above, is a new dagger granting the user a 2 attack die attack. The user also has the ability to reroll 1 die that landed on a black shield result. This has the potential to be very deadly, it greatly increases the chances of landing a hit on an enemy, many of which only have 1 body point! Being a dagger, I could see this being very deadly in the hands of the Wizard.
Equipment Cards – We have some new equipment to look at as well. Caltrops, these also come with tiles to be used with the card. Caltrops give your heroes a bit more variety in how they can mess with Zargon’s monsters. Costing 100 Gold, these can be used at any time on a heroes turn. Place a caltrop tile on a space that your character moves through, now any monster that steps on that space needs to roll a combat die to find out if their movement ends or if they can continue on. Note here that it specifies “Movement” ends, not turn ends. If it’s a ranged monster, they can still get a shot off at you if their movement ends.
Knight Skills – These appear to be the standard skills for the Knight character. The same skills that came in the Commander of the Guardian Knights Hero Collection pack.
Treasure – I can see there being a lot of new treasures to find. The reason I believe that the treasure deck will be substantial is because it appears to tie in directly with the Alchemy deck as ingredients to craft. The treasure shown here is: Mysterious Flower. Nothing special at first glance, it only restores 1 lost Body Point. On closer inspection, this can be used as an ingredient to craft a Potion of Dexterity or a Potion of Defence.
I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of the cards have in store for us.
Finally we have Cardboard Tiles!
Here we appear to have some Elven characters, a couple of new trap doors, the caltrop tiles. The rest, I’m not sure the purpose of, we’ll have to wait and see what the Quest Book reveals!
We also have another large outdoor tile, this is nice, I think we need more environments introduced into HeroQuest. This tile appears to be some kind of courtyard. It should be double sided, so it may surprise us with another outdoor scene.
That’s all for Now
That’s all I’ve got for now. Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts and speculations. What are your thoughts on not having a Sir Ragnar mini!? I’m a little upset about that to be honest, but I trust that Avalon Hill has a plan for everything, it will all work out in the end.
Thanks for joining me today, hope to see you again soon!
Haven’t checked out the new Specter yet!? Take a look at my quick playtest with HeroQuest’s newest monster.
Thank you Elvyler for the review. I’m surprised that Sir Ragnar is not in there. I am looking forward to see how they moved forward with Alchemy, I haven’t come up with a system that I like yet and lends itself to easy gameplay.
One of the new furniture pieces almost looks like a bath, or some type caldron?
The dramatic story of treachery and unrest in the elven kingdom continues in this HeroQuest Rise of the Dread Moon expansion! As a brave knight, you’re challenged to finally free Elethorn from the clutches of Zargorn. Embark on dangerous quests, as you seek the aid of the Cadre of the Raven’s Veil to help stop Zargorn’s forces of Dread from destroying the kingdom. Navigate through a dark labyrinth of waterways, an underground city, and more perilous locations. But be wary—for Zargon’s forces grow ever stronger with the rise of the Dread Moon! Immerse yourself in the adventure with 10 daring quests, stunning artwork, 29 detailed miniatures, and full-color tiles. (Requires HeroQuest Game System to play. Sold separately.) This fantasy game for adults and teens has limitless replayability, and you can also create your own quests and stories. Gather friends together for an exciting night of tabletop gameplay in a battle of good and evil. The game is for 2-5 players, ages 14+.
This Rise of the Dread Moon Quest Pack concludes the exciting story begun in The Mage of the Mirror expansion! (Requires HeroQuest Game System to play. Sold separately.)
Finally free Elethorn from Zargon’s vile clutches! The cards and Quest Book in this fantasy-filled HeroQuest expansion feature artwork that immerses you in the perilous adventure
This tabletop game expansion comes with 29 detailed miniatures, including furniture, Elven Warriors, Dread Cultists, Specters, a Dread Wraith, and more
The Rise of Dread Moon expansion features 10 quests, as well as full-color tiles and 58 game cards, set in an elven world of monsters, traps, treasure, and Dread Moon spells
Delve deeper into the HeroQuest world with this expansion pack that adds to the game’s replayability. Players can also create their own stories and design their own quests
This HeroQuest expansion pack is an excellent gift for fans of cooperative games and adventure games. For 2-5 players, ages 14+
Avalon Hill and all related trademarks and logos are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc.
Includes Quest book featuring 10 quests, 29 finely detailed miniatures, 2 mirror stands, 58 game cards, cardboard title sheet, and game guide.
Cant remember where i read it, but im sure the baddies in this are called wraiths or wights
Very good review, as always!! Fully agree with you about not including a special miniature for Sir Ragnar, it will dissapoint many fans for sure! Or maybe some surprises will appear inside the story to justify that? Who knows by now… other posible situation would be inclusing it in a future Collector’ box… about the rest o fminiatures I think there will be included a total of 12 mercenaries, 3 per type, as in Frozen Horror expansion since the box back says “29 miniatures” included. I am quite interested to see which new story amd mechanics are included in the box, but honestly my first feelings say me that it seems Hasbro has not taken too many risks… we have things añready seen (same mercenaries stats, more furniture like in MoM expansion, repeated Elf monsters like the archer and warrior, same skills for the Knight Hero as the ones already seen in the Commanders box, same boos tile size like in other expansions, etc.). Well, it is too early to have an accurate opinion for me about this new pack. It is true that seems they have also tried to include new features, so let’s see, we should have patience!!