Heroes Rules Question - Quests and the Witch's Hut

By Marximus, in Battlelore

In theory, the rules seem pretty clear on searching for hidden treasure but something doesn't seem right in practice. A Hero searches a hex by selecting one chest token from the hex. "After the search, any remaining chest token are returned to the box." Thus, the first hero to the hex gets the treasure and the other player is out of luck. That makes sense...except that in the Witch Hunt adventure, the treasure is located on the hex with the Witch's Hut - which is on the English player's side of the board and adjacent to three English units. The English player seems to have an unfair advantage. What is to prevent the English player from deploying the hero as a leader of one of the adjacent units and searching for treasure on the first turn? Am I missing something?

As for the Witch's Hut, the rules state that a "mounted unit" may not enter the Witch's Hut hex. Does this include a mounted hero (one acting as a champion)?

There are lots of options to consider before granting a Hero in the Pennant camp unfair advantage.

1. Until the dice are rolled, both camps have a chance to take the first turn.

2. A mounted Hero, as you point out could not enter the Witch’s Hut.

3. A Hero may only search for treasure, instead of battling.

4. A unit entering a Witch’s Hut may not battle this turn.

5. A hex may not be searched if there is any enemy unit in an adjacent hex.

Just off hand, it seems that the Witch’s Hut, because of the hidden treasure, could make this section of the battlefield very interesting ;-)

Enjoy!

Richard Borg

Thanks, Richard. The first time I played Witch Hunt, I just assumed my English opponent would get the treasure and I didn't bother really contesting it opting to place my hero on the far side of the board. I'll try a much different tactic next time. I missed the rule about heroes not being able to search if enemies are adjacent...I could probably get a unit or two over there with the right card.

In any event - I LOVE the Heroes Expansion and look forward to picking up Creatures and, especially, Dragons. Great game with great support!

Second play of Witch Hunt adventure after Mr. Borg's clarifications and advice:

This was a completely different game. I (the Scottish player) rolled enough lore to go first. I advanced three units (including my hero/leader) on the left wing with two units adjacent to the witch's hut and one unit of archers on the hill in support. I had no attacks on the first turn but I prevented the opposing hero from swooping in and collecting the treasure on the hut hex. The English player responded by occupying the witch's hut with his hero (but could neither attack nor search for treasure since an enemy unit was adjacent) and battling with two other units on the left wing. The remainder of the game was fought largely on the left wing as the English player tried to dislodge my troops so that his hero could claim the treasure and escape. There was some skirmishing on the opposite flank but nearly every center command card played was used to move center units to bolster the fighting on the left wing.

I ended up winning the game (7 - 2; and his hero suffered a casualty on the last turn) but it could have easily gone the other way. The English player must have offended the dice gods because he couldn't buy a hit for two turns. More importantly, I drew mounted charge early in the game (and used it to devastating effect) and then was able to play two lore cards late in the game (healing mist and field command) to bolster my forces and then drive his forces off the witch's hut.

All in all, a great game. Battlelore is awesome. Thanks, again, Mr. Borg!

Last night I played this scenario as my first game with Heroes.

And the first thing I did was send the leader with his unit to search for treasure and ofcourse i got the 4-trap token and my hero was wounded.

But the rule book did not clarify what happens to a wounded hero by a trap. Does it go to the victory track of the opponent and if so what happens to the equiped artifact.

IMHO it is not realistic to have the wounded hero go to the opponents victory track as it was wounded among its units (army) and there was no enemy unit in sight.

Please clarify this point.

Thank you

P.S. my hero had to take another wound after the adventure for ill treatment by my opponent as I didn't have any treasure to pay the ransom. This gave my friend/opponent great joy and ofcourse he had to act out beating my hero and humilating him before handing him over ... We had lots of fun.