There are some things that come up frequently when people start playing Warhammer Quest, here are a few.
I really recommend checking out an FAQ from way back in 1995, available on the Internet Archive.
One of the real quirks of the game is how rooms and monsters are revealed
First, at the very end of a hero phase, with a hero adjacent to a closed doorway, the hero can choose to “explore” the doorway, revealing the the next Dungeon card. That could be anything, room, passageway, etc. Nothing else happens. It’s akin to looking through the keyhole into the next room. You can’t see much, but you can see some. Now, at the start of the next hero phase, a character can move into that room, but it will be completely empty!
Weird, right? Especially if you’re coming from Heroquest. In Heroquest, you open a door and find it fully furnished with monsters mid evil deed. Then the heroes barge in with the upper hand, using all their attacks against hostiles jn situ. But in Warhammer Quest, you enter an empty room, assembling as you will, then hostiles appear out of nowhere, cramming into any open spaces. Then you use your attacks, right?
No! If there aren’t any hostiles that can Ambush, then the turn ends! Weird, right? Heroes go first in the next turn and then get to use their attacks. But first, they must roll for power again. So that 6 that your wizard rolled for power before entering the room? That didn’t matter at all!
The PRO to this system is that everyone gets to use their attacks and no single character gets stuck out in the hall. Especially important in WHQ because warriors can’t move through heroes.
The CON is that it’s unnatural. It’s a weirdly disjointed system that serves monsters up on a silver platter, but saves them as leftovers, to be attacked next turn. I think Cursed City handles this better, but it’s also kind of funny in Cursed City that you can see every monster everywhere on the map.
When the Barbarian goes berserk, who takes a wound?
Only heroes. No monsters. It’s very clear. It’s mentioned three times. Once on the Barbarian’s character card, once in the Quick Start Guide, and once in the Rulebook. I think the Character Card and Quick Start guides are the most telling. If you compare the two images below, you’ll notice that the color card was revised from the version in the Quick Start Guide. The word “Warrior” survived the revision. It could have been changed to “model” or “miniature”. But no, it stayed “Warrior”.
Tell me about Death-Blows
As clear cut as the berserk rule is, death-blows are a little more open to interpretation. The way my groups play, we allow death-blows on the initial wounding blow of the warrior’s turn. We may occasionally allow a death-blow on a big monster that we’ve whittled down, but I don’t really recall how we handle such situations. Whatever’s fun, we don’t get hung up too much on it and no one tries to abuse the death-blow privilege.
There is also a little added clarification for those trying to argue that “monsters are warriors too, right? Shouldn’t they take a would from a berserk barbarian?” No. They do not. “Only Warriors may take a death-blow, not Monsters.” Heroes are Warriors, Monsters are not.
I get as many ranged attacks as melee attacks, right?
Sorry, you only get one ranged attack unless you have a special skill or bow that allow multiple.
What’s the best way to learn how to play?
Read the Quick Start Guide. It’s much more succinct than the rulebook. It explains the flow of the game and combat MUCH better that the rulebook, in my opinion.
Do we need a GM to play?
No! It can be 100% cooperative, or even solo. This is one of the best parts about the WHQ system, everyone gets to be a warrior/hero if they want to be.
That’s all I can think of for now, let me know if you think of any other FAQs and I’ll make a new post.
