LEGO GAME: Heroica (Dungeon Crawl)

[Agent Minivann]

That looks pretty cool. I'll have to put that on my list.

[MrWookiee]

ZOMG JAW DROP THIS IS GONNA BE AWESOME! I hope...

[Manatee]

Despite not appearing anywhere on Lego's own pages, the games are available at Toys R Us, as one of my sons brought home two of them today. We haven't had time to really get into them yet, but the variety of weapons/objects (plus the ability to build your own) promises a lot of replayablility. I was surprised to find that the castle set offered three possible builds for the basic rooms.

[nyys]

Please let us know how you like the game(s). I really want this to be good.

[ZBeeblebrox]

Originally Posted by nyys

Please let us know how you like the game(s). I really want this to be good.

[EyeOfSauron]

Realizing that not all of you are BGG-ers, here is my review reposted:

Spoiler Alert!

Here's a review of a much anticipated game in our household: Heroica!

We've know about this game for awhile - ever since my 11 yr old (now 12) had the privilege of being a play-tester through a local research firm. His love of LEGO and my love of the dungeon crawl genre combined into the perfect combo.

We happened to be in the local LEGO store yesterday when they were beginning to put them on the shelves...needless to say, we changed our original plans and picked up Fortann.

Presentation:
No doubt LEGO is great at creating and building themes. This game is no different, delivering enough HeroQuest-ish design elements to lure you in with ease. With a great looking box, thematic building instructions, and rules that provide tantalizing background nuggets; Heroica Fortann promises a whole world yet to be explored.

We were a bit disappointed the world map of the Heroica "lands" which was included with the prototype didn't make it into the final product...maybe in a future expansion...

Pieces:
The first thing we had to get used to was the microscale size. Just getting over the wasted opportunity of leveraging the tons of existing minifigs and expanding them even further with dungeonesque bits took awhile, but now that we've accepted it, the microfigs (I guess that's what they're called) have grown on us. (by the way, see BrickQuest for a fan-created minifig dungeon crawler)

True, the figs themselves can't "do" as much, but with the addition of mircroscale weapons and even a microscale helmet in this set, it feels ok.(btw, the micro weapons work with regular minifigs too. yeah!)

The real payoff in using microscale is that the castle/dungeon takes a lot less pieces to build. I've always been a fan of Lego miroscale in general because of the unique uses people come up with for pieces, and this is no exception. In addition there are pieces specifically made for the game. I've already mentioned the weapons and helmet. In addition there are special doors in this set and presumably other bits in the expansion sets.

Rules:
Rules are pretty basic. Of all the games in the recent Lego games line, up until now we've thought only a couple were actually worthy to be in a gamer's library (Minotaurus & Hogwarts for example), and those just barely.

Unfortunately, this game goes only a little further into gaming territory. Don't expect RPG style concepts...just board game mechanics, but they are passable. As a reference point, were talking Basic Heroscape here not Advanced .

There are plenty of tension points that allow this cooperative/competitive game to be fun, but nothing that is going to knock your socks off. Get from point A to point B by rolling for movement, picking up items, using the items, fighting the monsters, rinsing, repeating.

The characters having different skills is a plus, and the ability to buy weapons (not in the playtest) is a great improvement. Treasure chests, gold, and potions are nice touches as well. A favorite little thing is the "Hero Pack": using Lego bricks to visually indicate the character's winnings and health stats.

Expandability:
Seems like a no-brainer, but one of the features of Heroica is that the game lends itself to expandability on many levels. As delivered, the game has building instructions for several different missions and rules for "Epic Heroica" (ie campaign mode) where missions are strung together and players build gold/equipment over time.

Also, the rules suggest/encourage making your own rules extensions and variants...something we were doing by the second play. Plenty of tweaks are possible to make it more competitive and more fun.

Finally, the real expandability for us comes in the building our own missions, themes, and items with the millions of LEGO pieces in my son's room! Of course, it's microscale so it takes a little more creativity, but we're looking forward to some cool modular dungeons.

Final Thoughts
Overall we are happy with Heroica. It delivered a lot of things we like, if not all the things we hoped it would. It is not a replacement for our favorite dungeon crawl games. It is not an expandable system for character vs. monster fighting. It is not an RPG for kids. But, it is a fun little game with LEGO bits that will keeps dads and kids engaged.

[Scaper Nerd]

Awesome!!!!!

[Killometer]

Originally Posted by EyeOfSauron

Realizing that not all of you are BGG-ers, here is my review reposted:

Oh well. At least you just saved me 25 bucks.

[Manatee]

The strategy threw me a bit, as it seems like you're better off splitting up rather than sticking together (as in most other dungeon crawls). Most of the passageways only allow one hero through at a time, so it's hard to team up to take out the baddies. Granted, that's only after one play, and obviously the board can be rebuilt to allow for all sorts of approaches.

We combined two different sets (castle and bay) and so had four heroes to choose from. The range is ok; a thief-type to deactivate chest traps might be nice.

The basic game is ok; having one player control the monsters is better. Otherwise, the stationary monsters just become obstacles to be dealt with rather than genuine foes.

[MrWookiee]

It seems the best bet would be to create your own game version, by expanding and tweaking the rules. Other than that, I was somewhat disappointed by the review.

[REGULUS]

I just go the Fortaan game yesterday - you can read my review here so I don't have to rehash it: http://geeksincebirth.wordpress.com/...ortaan-review/

[Manatee]

We played again today, adding the caverns. The game is beginning to grow on me. Admittedly, part of the appeal is that I'm a Lego junkie. But it's also a dungeon crawl that my five year-old can get into, too (Heroquest is a bit beyond him; Dungeonquest works because there are fewer options).