Barnes on Games- Wings for the Baron/Hunt: The Unknown Quarry in Review, WHQ Adventure Card Game, Heroes of Normandie

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Quick question---is the WHQ engage/combat system like LOTR LCG you either a) take damage b) deliver damage but can't do both in a turn? I can't deal with that.

You had to go and compare HoN to Earth Reborn? I don't need another game...

Gary Sax wrote: Quick question---is the WHQ engage/combat system like LOTR LCG you either a) take damage b) deliver damage but can't do both in a turn? I can't deal with that.

NO. Good god no. It's not like that at all. Enemies are either engaged with a hero or "in shadow". If they are engaged, they may interfere with your actions- basically, If you try to do anything they roll dice that damage you. But the action dice have shields on them too, so the combat is still two-sided. When you choose an attack action, you still roll their dice (one per baddie) but you can deal damage. There are items/gear that convert non-attack results into damage, I think.

Yeah, HoN does remind me somewhat of Earth Reborn...but it's MUCH simpler, don't go into it expecting crazytown. But it does have that kind of detail/narrative, and it has that "Continental" feeling about it. Once you start putting superheroes and werewolves in it, it may feel even closer.

One thing that is way different, largely because of scale, is that combat is SUPER deadly. It is not hard to wipe out a squad. Terrain, initiative, and cardplay are really important.

Heroes of Normandie reminds me of its less than streamlined ancestor, Frontiers.

Michael Barnes wrote: One thing that is way different, largely because of scale, is that combat is SUPER deadly. It is not hard to wipe out a squad. Terrain, initiative, and cardplay are really important.

This is my favorite aspect of Death Angel, and it instantly makes WHQ more interesting to me. I was already pretty excited anyway.

San Il Defanso wrote:

Michael Barnes wrote: One thing that is way different, largely because of scale, is that combat is SUPER deadly. It is not hard to wipe out a squad. Terrain, initiative, and cardplay are really important.

This is my favorite aspect of Death Angel, and it instantly makes WHQ more interesting to me. I was already pretty excited anyway.

Think he's talking about the other game there, Heroes of Normandy.

WHQ definitely looks interesting. From what I've read so far, it seems like the heroes have quite a few options to directly assist each other, which was one of the weakest aspects of the Pathfinder Card Game and quite a few other cooperative games. Do you think that the quests are varied enough? There are probably quests that focus on defeating enemies, while others focus on exploration, but do the quests differ in enough ways from one another to feel unique?

Gary Sax wrote:

San Il Defanso wrote:

Michael Barnes wrote: One thing that is way different, largely because of scale, is that combat is SUPER deadly. It is not hard to wipe out a squad. Terrain, initiative, and cardplay are really important.

This is my favorite aspect of Death Angel, and it instantly makes WHQ more interesting to me. I was already pretty excited anyway.

Think he's talking about the other game there, Heroes of Normandy.

Look at this guy, letting things like facts and reading comprehension get in the way of what I know is right.

Is there a Kelly's Heroes scenario in HoN? I know they have Clint in the game as he's on the box cover or one of the banners or whatever.

charlest wrote: Is there a Kelly's Heroes scenario in HoN? I know they have Clint in the game as he's on the box cover or one of the banners or whatever.

Yes there is, but the punchboards for it are only available as an add-on through their Kickstarter campains, currently for 10 Euro. Some of them might end up on eBay but probably with a premium price tag. Otherwise both Clint and Donald Sutherland are in the base game.

Bummer. Want to hit Tigers with paint rounds and yell at my opponent while calling him Moriarty.

I had long thought about snagging Heroes of Normandie but never did it. I was able to realize that I just wouldn't get it to the table. Still looks like a lot of fun. I might grab it on PC some time.

Kailes wrote: WHQ definitely looks interesting. From what I've read so far, it seems like the heroes have quite a few options to directly assist each other, which was one of the weakest aspects of the Pathfinder Card Game and quite a few other cooperative games. Do you think that the quests are varied enough? There are probably quests that focus on defeating enemies, while others focus on exploration, but do the quests differ in enough ways from one another to feel unique?

YES, there is an "Aid" action for each hero, which lets you put an auto-success token on another's action card. These are like charges you can store for when you need them, up to two per card. Ranged attacks (like the Waywatcher's bow) also let you shoot enemies engaged with other players.

I've only done the first quest (twice- won both with two sets of heroes but each game was pretty close), but looking over the materials there is some variety in terms of how the narrative unfolds and the hazards it puts in front of you. In the first one, it's really an exploration quest (the goal is to get to the last card, Grump's Sump, and fully explore it) but at three points Grump shows up and harasses you. If you beat him, you get four travel markers at the current location but he runs off to pop up later.

I actually didn't care that much for Death Angel...so it isn't so much "high praise", it's "this is more like it".

Yeah, there is a Kelly's Heroes scenario but like Mezike said....punchboards. There are a shitload of punchboard add-ons. Some of them are literally just one. I think most of the singletons do things like a specific recruitment group or very specialized units. I'd class them all as very optional, from what I've seen so far.

I ran the "Slaughterhouse" scenario solo last night. US starts with a Recon squad hunkered down in a country house. Nazis move in from the north (and let's be clear about it, these are Nazis, not Germans). They are bringing three squads with MG42s. From the southwest, a US Rifle platoon with a .30 cal squad attachment and an M5 Stuart approaches down a road to relieve the Recon. I ran the platoon leader (Lt. Parks) and his squad down the bottom of the map, ducking under the bocage. The other US group went up the west side of the map to try to capture tactical positions (which give you things like extra cards/orders). The Stuart headed up the road, looking to get into a big central clearing. Nazis moved down and put the three MG squads in the hedgerows, deploying their tripods and just waiting. Obfr. Hauser and a fire squad went through the forest north of the house. By turn three, it got live when the US squads were in the house and the Germans were throwing potato mashers to flush them out. They hit one squad, suppressed another, and Hauser busted in through a window and assaulted the support team in there. They would have been killed, but I had a card that just pushed/suppressed them. The M5 moved in and I planned on playing an order that lets it run over infantry, but the Nazis played a communication failure so it lost its order for the turn. They moved in and just POUNDED it with Panzerfausts, destroying the main weapon and immobilizing it. Lt. Parks and another fire squad got into an insane CQB firefight in the farmhouse- nobody was hitting shit even blowing through ammo tokens (+1 to rolls doesn't help on ones and twos) and Hauser blazing away while he had two units closing in on the windows. So it wound up with just Drake and Hauser in the house on turn 6- which means the US wins if they have a unit there. So I guess Hauser just finally ran out of ammo or whatever and threw his hands up. Awesome game.

Michael Barnes wrote: There are a shitload of punchboard add-ons. Some of them are literally just one. I think most of the singletons do things like a specific recruitment group or very specialized units. I'd class them all as very optional, from what I've seen so far.

I've had just about every bit of cardboard for this game at one time or another, some of it I've kept and some I've let go. I would say that the boxed scenario packs are nice if you like pre-made scenarios and different terrain (towns, bridges, beaches, and so on), and the Army Boxes are good if you like the idea of free-play (build you own) scenarios as they have tons of units and interesting stuff like commanders, tanks and heavy weapons. There are punchboards for Saving Private Ryan and Cross of Iron that are fun to have as the whole point of the game is this war movie angle, most of the other small packs I'd agree are completionist stuff. Oh yeah, there is this 'Gazette' that they do as well, a quarterly issue of a themed punchboard with some scenarios and a write-up. One of those is Easy Company which is pretty cool to have, the others are all advanced/unique stuff like minefields and rules for morale so of varying interest depending on what you want out of it. This definitely isn't a game you need to go all-in on.
One neat thing about this game is that you can trade out the units in the scenarios with anything else of equal points value, so you can swap in the more interesting units without having to create your own scenarios from scratch, plus you can use the scenarios available online even if you don't have all the things listed in them.

I haven't actually played this for a while, so thank you for writing up about it as it's made me want to go and set up a couple of games for this weekend!