Title: HeroQuest: First Light | Designer: Stephen Baker, Doug Hopkins | Artist: N/A | Publisher: Avalon Hill, Hasbro | Genre: TTRPG | Players: 2-5 | Ages: 14+ | Time to Play: Includes 10 Quests of varying length
In Hero Quest: First Light, you will play as either a hero looking to destroy powerful monsters, or the head of the forces of Dread himself, Zargon. HeroQuest is a crunchy dungeon crawler style game, where actions have consequences! If you are a fan of games such as Dungeons and Dragons (very crunchy) or Castle Panic (much less crunchy but heroes are working together), you may want to pick up Hero Quest and enjoy a campaign through all 10 quests.
What’s In the Box?
The components of the game include:
- A double sided game board
- 4 Hero miniatures (Barbarian, Dwarf, Elf, and Wizard)
- 1 Dragon miniature
- 31 Monster pieces
- 15 Furniture pieces
- 41 Cardboard tiles
- 21 Dungeon doors
- 102 Game Cards
- Quest book
- 6 Combat dice
- 2 Movement dice
- 52 Plastic movers
Setup
Set up for each quest will be different. The player controlling Zargon has a book that will show them where the obstacles and adversaries will be placed on the game board. As heroes adventure deeper into the environment, the Zargon player will place and at times describe what the heroes are able to see. I recommend getting several doors and monsters ready with their plastic base. There is a screen to help Zargon keep the game moving while obscuring your evil planning from the view of the players.
Objective
If you are playing as a hero, your objective is to defeat Zargon and his minions and restore hope to this world. If you are playing as evil sorcerer Zargon, your objective is to defeat the heroes to … I actually don’t know Zargon’s end goal at the time of this writing, as we have only completed three quests at the time of this writing!
Gameplay
The player to Zargon’s left will be the first player to take actions, and play continues clockwise. It does not matter if you are Zargon or a hero, your turn consists of 2 parts, in either order. You may move or you may perform an action.
To move, role the movement dice and move along the map, one space at a time, keeping in mind you cannot walk through walls (unless you have a spell that lets you do so). Players may move along the hallways and enter rooms through doors. Heroes cannot pass through enemies, but can pass through other heroes. Additionally, no one cal occupy a square that has another hero or monster, unless you are on the stairs or have fallen into a pit trap. As heroes discover more of the game board, Zargon will put out the appropriate pieces and monsters.
Players can complete one action per turn, which can include attacking, casting a spell, searching for treasure, searching for secret doors, or seeking out and disarming a trap. After all heroes have take their turns, it is time for Zargon to do get to work. As I am not playing as Zargon and I am not looking at Zargon’s ruleset, I cannot tell you exactly how Zargon’s turn works. What I can say is that Zargon seems to have control of any active monsters on their turn. I will be revisiting this article after our final quest for an update!
As heroes move through the game board, they may discover treasures and earn gold coins. Between each quest, heroes may visit the armory, and may use their sell treasure and spend gold to purchase equipment upgrades or potions to assist them through their quests. This is very helpful as the available equipment may add to your total number of defense or attack dice, and the potions can give you a leg up in the quests!
“HeroQuest is a crunchy dungeon crawler style game, where actions have consequences!”
Final Thoughts
At this point we have played through the first 3 quests of Hero Quest, with each subsequent quest becoming more and more deadly. We have managed to accidentally avoid a treasure room in one quest and accidentally discover almost more than we could handle in another! This can be a crunchy game, and so players must work together as a team, to decide their best path forward. Talking amongst the heroes is encouraged and necessary to play survive the various dangers found in these accursed dungeons!
We are currently playing through HeroQuest: First Light as a table of 4 players. Berry is playing as the dwarf, Izzie as the elf, and Arc is playing as both the wizard and barbarian. Wyc is playing as Zargon, and possibly enjoying his newfound power a little too much!
HerQuest has brought us a lot of enjoyment at the table as both the heroes and monsters work out how best to survive the onslaught of the other team. After we play complete some more quests, this article will be updated with further insights. As of the time of this writing, I recommend checking out HeroQuest: First Light!
This post may contain affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Some products may have also been gifted for review purposes. We only recommend products we love and believe will add value to your experience. Read more on our Business Conduct Page. Thank you for supporting our blog!
