So far you have seen some of the creatures and heroes that will populate the world of HeroQuest Classic, but isn’t high time that we showed you the arena where they will face off with each other, the Alfa Model game board. It has been very clear to us from the beginning that our board should be compatible with the original adventures and the huge collection of fan-created material produced over the last two and a half decades, but we didn’t want to miss the chance given by this edition to improve it either , broadening the game possibilities and flavor.
The solution was simple: create a double-sided board with the classic dungeon on one side and a new ruined terrain witha completely different design and distribution on the other. We will talk about this second scenario next week, for now we will focus on the A side, the one you all know.
If there is a key illustration in this game, that would be the board design. You, as players, will spend hours in front of it until you know it like the back of your hand, so we are taking our time and doing it right. The following image represents only two thirds of the board as we still have to work on the contrast in certain areas, give volume to each room adding shadows to help with telling apart walls from tiles. Not to mention the best part, adding even more details to each room like the ones already done (the crumbling pages of a thread bare magical volume, some forgotten shackles or an ominous skull).
What you can deduce from this image are some of the changes in the distribution of the rooms that, while keeping that compatibility we talked about before, give the whole picture a less “square” look and allow some new possibilities in map designs. Take a look for example at the cluster of rooms in the upper right corner, and you will find that the options for connecting them through secret doors have just multiplied.
As for the board’s physical specifications itself, it will be slightly bigger and wider than the older one. Its measurements are 700 x 513 mm (with a single central fold) and each square is nearly 27 mm on each side, so you will be able to put all the scenery elements more comfortably onto the board without hindering the miniatures. By the way, we would like to ease your minds by letting you know that the dwarf has had his feet put back inside his base (with a diameter of 20 mm, as we are talking about measurements) and although the barbarian is still a special case, we have been very carefully making sure he will have plenty of room to move around without tripping over nearby miniatures.
One last detail. We have decided to forego any board edge to facilitate the connection with other boards (this is not called Alfa Model for nothing) or another modular tiles. The Level 3 backers of our Lánzanos crowdfunding campaign already have three new double-sided rooms to put next to or over the board, and one of the first optional add-ons we will offer you in the future (fingers crossed) will be the gameboard splitted up into individual rooms, corridors and corners. The limit is yours to decide.