While Days of Wonder initially set a high standard with Battlelore, their delayed releasing schedule and disappointing Troll seemed to lessen much of the enthusiasm surrounding Battelore. I was curious as to how the transition from Days of Wonder (DoW) would affect the future expansions. Would the high quality and attention to detail that seems to be a trademark of DoW continue at Fantasy Flight Game? If anyone could do Battlelore the justice it deserves it would be FFG. With that being said, I must say that I am very pleased with FFGs first expansion for Battlelore.

Components - FFG has exceeded DoW’s standard of high quality of the components. Even the box had linen finish, a detail not even DoW produced for their expansions. The minis are extremely detailed, especially for such soft plastic, and their color is an exact match of the other pieces. The cards were the same heavy stock and vivid color. Tokens were easy to punch and had a linen finish. The only issue I have with the components is the banners, which are unique to the Heroes, were an unusual shape and the stickers did not fit them exactly. I found it easier to apply them starting at the smaller tip of the banner. However, I understand that many people paint their banners and prefer to apply the stickers later. So, this should be a boon for them. For me it was only a minor inconvenience, one that is easily overlooked in comparison with the rest of the expansion.

Rules - This expansion included a 23 page rulebook (16 pages of rules, 7 pages of adventure scenarios). I found the rules to be a little confusing. They jump into creating a Hero, but don't really tell you what a hero can do. So, it may take a couple of reads to get you up to speed for playing with the expansion. There were also a couple of ambiguous points. The rules state that a Hero can join with a troop with compatible movement status (i.e. foot units if the hero is on foot; a mounted unit if the hero is on a mount) as a Leader. That makes sense. However, the examples on page 6 show a mounted Hero as the Leader of a foot unit. Otherwise, the rules are fairly well written and even have a section that takes into account the expansions Call to Arms and Reluctant Allies (Epic).

Gameplay - Heroes adds a new element to Battlelore. It is the hybrid of adventure gaming (e.g. Talisman), light war gaming (e.g. Battlelore) and role-playing (e.g. Dungeons & Dragons). Each player may choose a single Hero at the beginning of the game and selects a single skill from the skill cards and an artifact. Skills can be selected from the Hero’s class skills or from the common skill cards. If the player selects Riding as a skill, he can select the mounted Hero miniature at the beginning. However, I can see situations where a player may elect to use his hero on foot, even if they have chosen the riding skill. Overall, I like the abilities that skills add to the game, granting the Hero abilities similar to lore cards. Heroes can have as many as six artifact listed on the character sheet. However, the Hero may only equip two for an adventure. Artifact vary some can only be used by any Hero, others are specific to an independent Hero (Champion) or Heroes associated with a troop (Leader). I can see players developing lots of different strategies depending on the skills and artifacts chosen at the beginning of an adventure.

Throughout the adventure, Heroes can gain experience tokens (used to buy skills) and treasure tokens (used to buy artifacts) for various feats. For instance, defeating a rival Hero awards the victor an experience token. Heroes may also perform a quest at adventure specific locations, receiving experience, treasure or artifacts. However, questing also has a risk of being a trap, which can result in the Hero being wounded and eliminated from the adventures.

Heroes are tougher than other units and can only be hit by bonus strikes and lore symbols that would hit. For each hit received, the attacker makes a casualty check and any bonus strikes rolled result in the Hero being deeated. If defeated, the wounded Hero is taken captive by the opposing side. Each Hero has a specific number of wounds that she can suffer before being eliminated from game play (essentially the number of lives a Hero has). At the end of an adventure, if a Hero has been defeated and taken captive, the losing player must pay a ransom in treasure to regain the use of his Hero. If the player cannot pay the ransom, the hero suffers an additional wound from mistreatment while captive.

After a character has gained three skills (the maximum number of skills a Hero can have) and three experience tokens, she may retire from adventuring and take up the role of advisor in the player’s war council, adding one level to the Lore Master of the same class. If the Hero suffers five defeats on the war council, she must step down and take up residency at the Academy. At this point, the Hero can pass one of her artifacts onto a new Hero, allowing the new Hero to start with two artifacts instead of just one. This was another area in the rules that were a little vague. I wasn’t sure if a Hero could elect to go from fighting on the battlefield directly to the Academy or if she had to serve on the war council before.

Conclusion - While this expansion is most useful for campaign play, even for single game play, I think the Hero brings a lot to the table. Choosing a new hero to play with each time could also be fun. For single game play, I would probably make wounds the number of points a hero could suffer before being eliminated, otherwise the advantages of Heroes with high number of wound points would be lost and that each bonus strike on a casualty check inflicts a wound. This would make Heroes much more powerful and would definitely encourage duels between heroes.

Again, the Heroes expansion opens Battlelore in many new directions. Most of the expansion focuses around campaign play, which may turn off casual players. However, this expansion has incredible potential for tournament play. I am looking forward to Origins and GenCon for any events that FFG may have for Battlelore. With such a good showing, I am excited to see what FFG does with Battlelore in the future.

Thank you for this well-written and thorough review

biomage said:

Thanks for the great review! I will be buying my copy soon!

Good review

Got my copy this week and have to say that I am really looking forward to having a game with Heroes. As with every aspect of this game, the well thought out yet open ended nature of the ever expanding rules not only adds new dimensions to the game but leaves you wondering how Mr. Borg plans to extend and develop the game - because there are so many ways that he could. Battlelore is like a game of Pacman. Everything you need is there in front of you, and it works beautifully, but you can't help but wonder what hidden levels lie beyond the exits at the edges.