Heresy Quest

[Cris R]

I wanted to have a spin off thread from this one about the future of the Heresy to see whether people would be interested in a Heresy Quest board game coming out if we're lucky to get HH 2.0 with an expanded plastic range. At this point, GW has released three Warhammer Quests for AOS and one for 40k, leaving the Heresy as the last miniatures system without one of these games. I could see them consider releasing one where plastic Knight Errants and other agents of the Imperium face off against new plastic Daemons of the Ruinstorm models. Although a game with a Shattered Legions squad facing off against a traitor legion would make sense, I think the other option would allow GW produce core plastic kits for HH that don't overlap with the game. Obviously I would prefer them to invest in HH but it's a neat idea to think about.

Edited April 3, 2021 by Cris R

[Marshal Vespasian]

Could be cool conversion fodder.

I bought and sold off BSF because I loved the minis but the game REALLY didnt grab me.

So i think I'd only get this for the minis.

But could be a cool way to insert some cool non-astartes sculpts into the game

Edited April 3, 2021 by Marshal Vespasian

[MARK0SIAN]

I’d certainly play either of the versions you mentioned although I’d probably lean more towards Knights errant if I had to pick one.

 

I know they’ve already used it but the cavern systems of Calth would also lend themselves well to this type of game. Or you could attempt to recreate something along the lines of the execution force they sent after Horus, that could be fun.

[Cris R]

Could be cool conversion fodder.

I bought and sold off BSF because I loved the minis but the game REALLY didnt grab me.

So i think I'd only get this for the minis.

But could be a cool way to insert some cool non-astartes sculpts into the game

 

It would be a great way to explore the setting with new sculpts - and conversion opportunities - that you can use in the Heresy, especially for characters who may not rise to the stature of a FW Character Series model but merits a model for both games. But I agree that they would need to go back to the drawing board to make the game meatier and more 30k than BSF, which felt 'meh' to me. Calth remains my favorite board game, so taking elements from that system could be a good start.

 

I’d certainly play either of the versions you mentioned although I’d probably lean more towards Knights errant if I had to pick one.

 

I know they’ve already used it but the cavern systems of Calth would also lend themselves well to this type of game. Or you could attempt to recreate something along the lines of the execution force they sent after Horus, that could be fun.

 

Yeah, having Knights Errant would allow the creators to explore that world a little more beyond what we see in the Garro novels. I'm not sure if you remember, but GW did release Assassinorum: Execution Force when it released the new sculpts of the Imperial Assassins. That said, it was only one map so something along the lines of what you suggest - Warhammer Quest: The Hunt for Horus - were Knight Errants and other Agents of the Imperium go after him could be a neat option as well.

Edited April 4, 2021 by Cris R

[Noserenda]

A clash of agents would be a lot more interesting modelwise i think, lets them flesh out a whole bunch of Imperial and Warmaster agent types on top of a swarm of the ever fun chaos mooks, or if they flip the usual script and the Loyalists be the opfor, a swarm of the Sigilite's minions?

[Cris R]

A clash of agents would be a lot more interesting modelwise i think, lets them flesh out a whole bunch of Imperial and Warmaster agent types on top of a swarm of the ever fun chaos mooks, or if they flip the usual script and the Loyalists be the opfor, a swarm of the Sigilite's minions?

That could be very cool. It could go for a Cold War vibe that could explore what happens on worlds during the initial to mid-stages of the Heresy that haven't taken a side but offer significant advantages to both factions of the conflict. I think offering a game where these real world considerations and machinations come at the expense of nobility and valor for both sides would be a very interesting way to explore the setting and it give even more depth. Edited April 4, 2021 by Cris R

[sarabando]

use it as a way to test the waters for militia and cults minis, make a M&C kit that can be either loyalist or wrong and give scenarios for  attacks by both sides.

[Cris R]

use it as a way to test the waters for militia and cults minis, make a M&C kit that can be either loyalist or wrong and give scenarios for attacks by both sides.

I hadn’t thought about that but it makes sense since they don’t have a release channel even though they could use some models and give us bits to kitbash. It can be part of the core game or be an expansion.

[MegaVolt87]

There would be enough scope for legionaries to be included in a HH quest. Starship bridge assault, escape to boarding craft with a "boss" blocking the escape at the end, sabotage missions, deactivate comms/ teleportation jammers in each area etc. A mixed unit of models drawn from the elites slots would work great for that as the aggressor against defenders. 

 

EDIT- corridor chase, pursuer- a primarch, objective- survive. 

Edited April 7, 2021 by MegaVolt87

[Noserenda]

Oh definitely, id expect Legion elites to be the weakest heroes tbh and probably some among the opposition too.

[Cris R]

Oh definitely, id expect Legion elites to be the weakest heroes tbh and probably some among the opposition too.

Which Legion elites haven't had models produced for them? That's where the game would be interesting: fleshing out elites without models that exist in the rules for folks to finally explore in the game. Of course, the game could just create new elite models with rules or do something big like three Saturnine Terminators in an expansion, so that's an option too. Edited April 8, 2021 by Cris R

[Noserenda]

Well there are plenty of current models that could do with an upgrade, though thats a separate topic :D 

But its a quest game, so the sides arent going to be 5 Headhunters v 5 Templars or something, id expect a mix of legions on the hero side and a handful of more mixed units on the opfor. It might even be interesting to play up minor themes or obscure units.

For example: 
Sons of Horus Leader, An Alpha Legion Sniper (Exodus?), A World Eater Triarii, A Night Lord Raptor, Thousand son Demo guy (Still psychic obviously), Possessed Emperors Child, Death Guard Heavy Weapon specialist, Iron Warrior Trench raider, Word Bearer Diabolist and Dark Mechanicum Techpriest could be one hero team.

A Dozen of Malcadors Stormtroopers; A Squad of Imperial fist breachers; A Handful each of tech priests, servitors, Sisters of silence, white scars and blood angels and then a couple of Custodes and/or Chosen as bosses could be the opposition. (Gone for a vague Malcador/Battle for Earth theme)

Expansions could then bring in Warmaster agents as more heroes and, well there are a whole bunch of potential Imperial defenders obviously! Id always err towards cool sculpts rather than backdoor plastic untis tbh.

[Lucien Eilam]

Different flavours of Space Marine on a mission is Deathwatch Overkill really, not Warhammer Quest.

 

For me, a Warhammer Quest game needs a varied cast of heroes, preferably highlighting a few archetypes that wouldn’t otherwise be exposed by the core game, and a theme of exploration.

 

The War in the Webway would be my pick. Custodians, Sisters, Mechanicum and a few unique Imperial agents exploring the Daemon-infested Impossible City, with scope for a few Traitor Legionaries and dormant Wraithbone constructs mixed in to vary the encounters.

[Cris R]

Different flavours of Space Marine on a mission is Deathwatch Overkill really, not Warhammer Quest.

 

For me, a Warhammer Quest game needs a varied cast of heroes, preferably highlighting a few archetypes that wouldn’t otherwise be exposed by the core game, and a theme of exploration.

 

The War in the Webway would be my pick. Custodians, Sisters, Mechanicum and a few unique Imperial agents exploring the Daemon-infested Impossible City, with scope for a few Traitor Legionaries and dormant Wraithbone constructs mixed in to vary the encounters.

This. A marine-focused Heresy Quest game is neat but Lucien's idea is more ideal because it would allow GW to produce unique minis that allow the players to explore the setting beyond the Legions. That's why I said earlier in this conversation that a Knights-Errant versus Deamons of the Ruinstorm game would be interesting; Lucien's idea is even better.

 

Now if GW and FW wanted to revive the Betrayal at Calth board engine for one on one games between Loyalist and Traitor forces - basically, a Calth version of Warhammer: Underworlds - the suggestions from MegaVolt87 and Noserenda would be the perfect place to start. I love Calth, so it would be another way to expand interest in the setting and system.

Edited April 9, 2021 by Cris R

[Marshal Vespasian]

Man a heresy version of underworlds with warbands ('strike teams') for every legion would be great

[Cris R]

Man a heresy version of underworlds with warbands ('strike teams') for every legion would be great

I know. It would be easy to have multiple seasons where you cover some Legions and other elements of the Loyalist and Traitor forces like Custodes or Daemons every year. While others may disagree, I actually think the Warhammer: Underworlds sculpts have given painters an awesome canvas to paint over. I can only imagine what we'd be capable of doing if given some really good flavorful sculpts that capture the essence of the Heresy.

[Noserenda]

I mean i focused on Legionnaires because its hard to come up with a more iconic brand of hero types, especially with the Warmaster's forces. You could probably invent something whole cloth but then you are losing the chief attraction of the Heresy setting, Marine on Marine violence :D Exploration is straightforward over something like the lower levels of the palace, though the webway war works well if you want to keep to the shifting maze setting half the quests have, i just think that setup limits yiour heroes quite sharply to just Talons and Mechanicum support though. Even though Lord knows id love some more Sister models :P

Imperial forces once the war kicked off were way too hard pressed to care much about exploration though. That said, Horus sending a crack team in through the Webway could be interesting, with Talons/Mech/Daemons/Webway gribblies as antagonists. 

Dammit i really want this game now :D 

[Lucien Eilam]

i just think that setup limits yiour heroes quite sharply to just Talons and Mechanicum support though.

The military operation in the Webway was limited to Custodians/Sisters/Mechanicum, but I don’t think it would be a massive stretch to have Malcador send a few guys in, plus the traditional WQ “what’s he doing here?” hero.

 

Mimicking the model count and variety of Blackstone Fortress, it could look something like:

 

Explorers:

• Custodian
• Sister of Silence
• Magos-Explorator, with a cyber-familiar or servitor
• Sicarii Protector
• New, character-level Lorica Thallax variant
• Knight-Errant
• Mortal agent of the Sigillite (like Yasu Nagasena, Khalid Hassan, an Elucidator, etc.)
• Mysterious, ostensibly human outsider with a hidden agenda, possibly Perpetual (the Moriana, John Grammaticus, Oll Persson, etc. type)

Hostiles:

• 1x Named Daemon boss
• 2x Daemon Chosen
• 4x Daemon Brutes
• 14x lesser Daemons
• 2x Possessed battle-automata
• 4x pre-Fall Eldar Wraithbone automata
• 4x Warp spider swarm (these guys, not Aspect Warriors)
• 4x Word Bearers

 

I think that would represent a real variety of sizes, shapes and colour schemes, that I’d expect from a game released under the Warhammer Quest brand.

 

A Deathwatch Overkill or Warhammer: Underworlds facsimile would be awesome too, but that’s a totally different presentation in my opinion.

Edited April 9, 2021 by Lucien Eilam

[Doctor Perils]

I also much prefer the Webway War idea. I wonder if one of those mini-knights (armigers) may be small enough to work either as a hero or a boss.

WRT the good boy/doggo mini, Lucien, I think you're missing the easy pick: rather than the Magos, give it to the sister of silence, they've yet to receive models for that dog-handler unit (IIRC)

I also think the good guys need at least one psyker: perhaps the knight errant and the mystery guy?

 

What kind of role would you see for the agent and the mystery guy? I imagine the custodian would be mostly a beatstick, the SoS a beatstick/anti psyker, the Magos a mostly support shooty person, the sicarii, thallax and knight errant would probably have mostly beatstick roles, so I think we'd still be missing some support and utility roles that could be filled by the wild card characters

 

I do really like that enemy line up though, you've potentially got a good amount of psykers that make the SoS useful, and some flavourful wildcard enemies. Not sure about the possessed automata: it sounds awesome but not sure how well it would integrate in practice without a Dark Mech mini-boss to "lead" them? Overall, I wonder if you should be basing the enemy lineup more on cursed city as opposed to BSF - the mini-bosses seem to have garnered as much hype for the game as the protagonists, something that could be recaptured for this thought experiment

[Dagoth Ur]

Honestly, I could also see a Heresy Quest game where the PCs take control of various Knights Errant and the backdrop being a protracted series of missions - would also allow for easy expansion via additional target/enemy box sets.

 

Could even be an easy option to explore a bunch of interesting concepts: a psyker Death Guard, a Breacher Blood Angel, Raven Guard Techmarine, apothecary Dark Angel, Alpha Legion Saboteur etc. The options are practically limitless.

 

As enemies you could go anywhere from traitor auxilia to various heretics, add some xenos beastsbor cybernetica, maybe a dreadnought as a boss a la Space Crusade.