HeroQuest Kellar's Keep Expansion (2021)

HeroQuest Kellar's Keep Expansion (2021) | Unboxing & Review

Рет қаралды 14,596

Күн бұрын

Always Board Never Boring recently managed to score copies of Kellar's Keep and Return of the Witch Lord for Hasbro's 2021 edition of HeroQuest. In this video he looks at the first of these two classic expansions, Kellar's Keep, in which our brave heroes take on an endless horde of goblins, orcs, and abominations as they attempt to rescue the king. What exactly do you get for your money with this expansion, and is it a worthwhile purchase?
Here are some timestamps to help you skip around the video and avoid spoilers for the new cards if you so choose:
00:00 Intro
01:15 A word on price (UK)
01:52 Opening the boxes
02:27 Quest book (no spoilers)
02:50 Tokens
03:39 Miniatures
05:14 Cards
07:36 Final thoughts (no spoilers)
#HeroQuest #KellarsKeep #expansion
Always Board Never Boring produces fresh content on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
If you're in the UK, you can help to support my channel by shopping at Element Games with my affiliate link, and using code KEV392 at checkout to get yourself double Element Crystals on your order:
elementgames.co.uk/?d=10189
It's also possible to contribute by using the Super Thanks button under each video (it looks like a heart) or by making a small, one-off donation to the channel using the following link or the clickable PayPal icon in the banner on the channel homepage:
www.paypal.com/paypalme/Alway...
Don't forget to sub and like, and please check out all this other cool stuff too:
www.alwaysboardneverboring.com
/ alwaysboardneverboring
/ alwaysboardneverboring
www.boardgamegeek.com/user/Re...
Music by James Lloyd. Check out his stuff at:
jnlloyd.bandcamp.com/

Пікірлер: 88

@renegadedalek778 2 жыл бұрын

Oh how I remember fondly opening my 2 original expansions 1 Christmas morning a long time ago 😊😊😊

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

I know that feeling. Finding HeroQuest under the tree is still one of my best Christmas memories.

@0sumgame541 Жыл бұрын

Same, finding both of those expansions under the tree on Christmas morning, my brother and I played Heroquest through out the holidays. Fond memories.

@JBenderP 2 жыл бұрын

I still have the original Kellar’s Keep and Return of the Witch Lord in my basement along with the Core Game. Slightly banged up, but everything is still there! Lovely review, also!

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

It's hard to beat the aesthetic of the originals. I thoroughly enjoyed fixing up my old copies, but I think these new ones are fantastic too. I also have to admit the US rules are better than the rules I played growing up in the UK.

@wesleyfilms Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the review. Me and my friends just started playing HQ, and love it.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Жыл бұрын

Glad to hear you are having fun with HeroQuest. We love it too.

@jameswhitehouse5706 2 жыл бұрын

I do like the new mini figures. They make it seem like a new game with a new art style. I do think though that the originals have the edge in terms of character.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

I know what you mean, they have a different aesthetic. Obviously, I love the originals and I was never going to like the new ones as much, but I think Hasbro did a great job with them, none-the-less.

@mike197714 6 ай бұрын

Of course Harsbro bought out the company. They redid the spells so any hero can use them. I kinda remember it’s a blur/grey haze in the ‘90s. The game originally came out in ‘89. And the thing I didn’t like about it. Was the pieces. I think I was 13 or 14 when I played. It was so long ago. I’ve seen some of the new pieces love them. It’s alot better. For now I’m working on Fantasy Flight Games/Edge studios Star Wars AoR,F&D and EoTE TTRPG. I got lot of it done. Just the tables for Weapons,gear,equipment&Armor. Then it will help be blank character sheets. In other words I’m home brew the rules. So many of the rules are redundant,Uneven exp&in game credits. Including Limiting ships: so I expanded the ship classes(Based on Era:Clone Wars/Civil War). Separated The weapons,Gear,equipment&Armor(On Eras).

@NeoNaiche 2 жыл бұрын

What's not to like about "More HeroQuest?" The ONLY thing that might be better MIGHT be... MORE SPACE CRUSADE!

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

Well there will be some more of that on the channel soon, for sure.

@iancanavan2324 2 жыл бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring are they going to reissue Space Crusade????

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

@@iancanavan2324 They haven't announced anything, and I doubt it. As it was never released in the US they may be concerned it would lack the market to be viable. I cover a lot of vintage Space Crusade on the channel, which is what we were talking about.

@JeremiahEcks777 3 ай бұрын

@@iancanavan2324One can dream!

@Mailed-Knight 2 жыл бұрын

Great vid.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you.

@raffaellaV 2 жыл бұрын

As always, thank you very much for your videos but also thanks for having warned in advance for any spoilers 👍 As for the miniatures all the same honestly, and this is my personal thought, with a little imagination there you might think like different Clans that have come together or rather that they have been forced 😏 to submit to the power of Zargon , there you could distinguish with different colors of armor I create particular designs ... yes I know maybe they are saying something stupid but the beautiful thing about this type at stake, and how in particular in this case, in addition to interpreting the bad one interprets also the dungeon master and as such inventing some stories is a nice thing 😋👍

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching. I don't think there were any serious spoilers on the cards, but sometimes when there's something nice for the heroes to find on a quest it's good if they don't know what it is in advance, so I like to be cautious. I know what you mean about painting miniatures as different clans, but I always prefer to see as much variety as possible in the actual sculpts. Even if you are changing up the colours on identical miniatures, the parts you are painting and the processes involved in applying the paints is exactly the same, and I find that's when I start to lose interest.

@raffaellaV 2 жыл бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Yes, I understand your thinking and point of view about it, they could create something new but they decided to keep what was done with the old editions, you know, I want to keep still hope for the future, they have just started this journey in HeroQuest is already created new characters and stories but who knows in the future they could create many others that will expand this world even more, or at least and what I hope 😋, luckily on the internet you can find many different miniatures that can be used in different games from table, and many are also low-priced and well detailed, the variety is not lacking and by buying some you can create different "troops" 😊👍

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

Oh, believe me, I have hundreds (and hundreds) of miniatures already. More than I really know what to do with (and I keep buying more anyway). But when I review a product, I have to review what's in the box, and I believe it's important to emphasise there are no new sculpts here. Hasbro seem to be be planning a lot of support for HeroQuest, so it's a good time to be a fan.

@raffaellaV 2 жыл бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I can imagine it 😋 Oh yes, as it should be you have to review what you have in front of you 😊 Yes, I really think we will see some good ones ☺️👍

@wakkru 2 жыл бұрын

On the one hand it's very nice if you can see what's actually in it before you buy it. On the other hand I could bang my head against a wall when I see that everyone already has the game, in Austria it's "expected" to be released in July.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

Hopefully you get it a little earlier than that. Thanks for watching.

@DavidGreen_au 2 жыл бұрын

I did like the look of the new doors in this expansion.

@danroberts007 2 жыл бұрын

Definitely. I’ve got this expansion but haven’t opened it yet. Watching this video, I noticed the grey plastic door has a skull on it that matches the old “rabbit/skull” image on the dice for the baddies. Very cool!

@jesternario 2 жыл бұрын

The new doors were some of the first things I painted. I admit, I had a bit of a conflict about whether to make the skull bone or metal like the rest of the door. I chose the former.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

I think the skull is supposed to be the one off the new combat dice design rather than the old one. The eyes, nose and jawline closely match it.

@jesternario 2 жыл бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring well yes, but the decision was whether to paint it in bone or metal like the rest of the door.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

Sorry, I was responding to Dan who said it looked like the symbol from the original dice.

@jasonsumma1530 2 жыл бұрын

So did you buy both expansions or just Kellar's Keep? I've yet to play through the 2021 version of Kellar's Keep even though I think about doing it every day. I'm really curious how powerful my characters will get by the time they get through the expansions and three tier quest books. I did the mythic tier backing. I am one of those who fully supports the expansions coming out to retail as well as any additional content. All I am waiting on now is the knight character they released.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

Picked up both expansions at the same time, and ordered the Guardian Knight last year (the Witch Lord video will be up soon - either Friday or Monday depending on how things go). Heroes tend to reach a cap eventually - there are no more magic items to find or items to buy. If they are getting loaded up with a ridiculous number of potions you can always houserule in a backpack rule - no more than five items in your backpack at any time.

@1000jjwalker 2 жыл бұрын

I just ran kellers keep in a gaming event in the states. Its a fantastic expansion. Thow painting the same minis is a bit of a drag.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

It is really good. Painting a bunch more of the same miniature is definitely the weakest aspect. At least with Return of the Witch Lord the undead stuff is a lot quicker to paint up.

@1000jjwalker 2 жыл бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I was honestly realizing when do we need 20 orks. After my 6th straight hour of painting.

@nicolasforte4316 Жыл бұрын

Hey! I don't know if you'll read this but in your opinion are these expansions meant to be played from scratch or do you continue with the characters from the core game

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Жыл бұрын

They are more challenging so you are supposed to keep your stuff.

@jesternario 2 жыл бұрын

Etsy has lots of people who make 3D models for board games. I didn’t even have to look further than the first link for 3D versions of the forge, dark hand thing, and four stone puzzle piece, all for $4.94 U.S.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah people have been making 3D assets for HeroQuesy for a long time, which is just another reason why it would have been nice for Hasbro to include things like that. If you buy from Etsy take care, at the moment a lot of the stuff is for the original edition of HeoQuest so will be very small on the new oversized edition.

@jesternario 2 жыл бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Well, as you've already noted in your playthrough of mission three of the remake, the furniture wasn't adjusted for the new board to begin with.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

The older Etsy stuff will be slightly smaller again, and things like stone piles and trapdoors will be sized for the old squares and will be smaller than the new tokens which fit the new squares exactly. I've seen people making 3D overlays for Return of the Witch Lord too, and the full room overlays will really look small on the new board. Just something to keep in mind when shopping for extras.

@klinktastic 2 жыл бұрын

About to transition to this quest pack after finishing the original campaign.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

Do you have the free downloadable mission that serves as a "bridge" between the core set and the Kellar's Keep expansion. Remember to play that in between!

@klinktastic 2 жыл бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I think I did download it a while back, but totally forgot. Thanks for the reminder!

@TheFatalT 2 жыл бұрын

Do you think that you’re enjoying the 2021 edition more than you expected to?

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

I expected to like it (obviously aside from preferring the setting, miniatures, and art of the original). I was always looking forward to playing the US rules which I never played growing up. It was going to be like getting a completely new game. I think part of it as well is my game group really enjoyed the game a lot more than I thought they might. If you find a game and everybody is having as much as as we've been having, you want to hold on to that (although they did all want to use the painted miniatures from my 90s set). This is never going to replace my restored original copy; but it is the copy I'm going to be playing all the time when I play HeroQuest. My original is now a collector's item and an expansion for Advanced HeroQuest.

@Valentine82 2 жыл бұрын

I’ve just bought the Kellars Keep expansion based on your review. As I don’t want to spoil anything and haven’t looked at the campaign booklet. I was intrigued what the brown and skull doors do? Are they locked doors, how does this mechanic work?

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

It’s because the new dungeons often don’t have stairway tiles. So one door is an entrance and the other is an exit.

@GoldenSunAlex 2 жыл бұрын

They also make good 'boss doors' for levels that might not use both.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

@@GoldenSunAlex I suggested the same thing in the video. It's a fun idea to make the heroes sweat a bit about what might be waiting for them - or to give them a little hint they should prepare accordingly before opening the door.

@GoldenSunAlex 2 жыл бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Must've missed that in this video then, I noticed it in the Witch Lord video, but decided to watch them in order.

@Talisman_227 Жыл бұрын

is this compatible with the 1990s core set? I noticed the enemies are different than this in the original Kellar's keep.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Жыл бұрын

The answer is yes and no. I've done a whole video on this, but here's the crib notes. The enemies are the same - the only difference is Hasbro didn't have rights to Games Workshop's fimirs so replaced them with the abominations. That's just a cosmetic reskin, though. The expansions are actually straight reprints/updates of the originals making them compatible with the original core game, with two important notes. 1. Hasbro is using the North American rules set, which is different to the European rules set. If you have a European core game, there are differences. 2. Hasbro have scaled up the size of everything, so the new miniatures and tokens no longer fit inside the squares of the original game board. You may want to check out my video on the subject so you can see how much bigger everything is compared to the original board.

@knghtbrd 2 жыл бұрын

More of the same enemy isn't necessarily a bad thing though, honestly. If you can work in flavor for why they're there and give them reason to be where they are and reasonable motivations … it can make for quite the epic story. HeroQuest isn't really the right game for that, being a board game, but Kellar's Keep tries and does it better than many board games do. If you follow D&D related content, I suggest looking up DungeonCraft on KZfaq. The Professor is an old grognard who twists 5E to play a low fantasy game inspired by Moldvay and WFRP. Magic users face bigotry and persecution, magical items (made with moonstone) are tolerated because they're useful, but are dangerous. Most encounters with intelligent beings will be with humans … or creatures like greenskins who were human before moonstone mutated them. You can tell quite the tale for a game with less diversity than is found in HQ's base game (since you've got an elf and a dwarf), but it's hard to work that flavor into a board game, which is why it can sometimes feel like a slog.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

I don't disagree with that, but it's not really relevant to a review of a HeroQuest expansion. HeroQuest is a pretty simple game, and by the time you have played through the first two expansions and the extra missions online you have played in excess of 30 missions facing the same enemy groups. Additionally, with the exception of a few special enemies, those enemy groups all operate in the same way. An orc is almost always just an orc. It's not like other games where the same enemies may be armed differently or have different motivations. For example, Advanced Heroquest puts the heroes against predominantly skaven, but you get warriors, sentries, plague monks, gutter runners, jezzails, warpfire throwers, different types of champions, and so on. So, you are facing the same creatures, but they all present different challenges. Of course, you can add house rules to make your HeroQuest enemies more varied, but I'm not reviewing house rules. However, the missions in Kellar's Keep are quite well thought out, as I said in the video, and there are a few set pieces that help to shake up the formula. Finally, it can be a disappointment to see all the same enemies again because you are also getting all the same enemy sculpts. I don't enjoy painting large numbers of the same thing, but that's what you're getting here. Hasbro's edition is slightly less of a problem as they had more varied enemy designs, but it's still a lot of the same stuff.

@toferkrz946 2 жыл бұрын

I never had Heroquest. I never played Heroquest. I have no interest in Heroquest, neither the old one or the new one. I am letting this play on my phone while doing the dishes, liking this and leaving this comment because I like your channel and enjoy your videos.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

Well thank you for the support. I appreciate it.

@TresTravers Жыл бұрын

Nice video - stop biting your thumbs!!!

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Жыл бұрын

I've never bitten my thumbs in my life. What do you mean?

@johnmiddleton4291 2 жыл бұрын

Well there goes the Eldar Attack budget.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

Shhh! The first rule of trying to buy Eldar Attack is we don't talk about trying to buy Eldar Attack. Actually for what I paid for these two expansions, I might have been able to get an original copy of the Eldar Attack rules book!

@johnmiddleton4291 2 жыл бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Luxury! When I was young I had a corner torn off the cover of the Eldar Attack rule book...

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

When I was a kid, I just had a thumbnail picture of the cover of the Eldar Attack box ripped out of a mail order catalogue!

@johnmiddleton4291 2 жыл бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Ha. We should probably stop there. Did you see the latest KDM update? Not even the normal defenders can manage much response on BGG.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

I saw it had come in but I didn't bother to read it. I'm assuming it was just some more stuff that was shown before and then pushing the GC back again!

@MahkyVmedia1 Жыл бұрын

They really should've put the alternate sculpts for the Abominations Zombies and skeletons like WTF the fact that you can't buy those is kinda bs

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Жыл бұрын

I understand why they didn't, but it would have been nice. Now they are releasing stuff from the crowdfunding campaign like the Prophecy of Telor, those who didn't back may eventually get the chance to own the alt enemy sculpts.

@squick1842 2 жыл бұрын

Are the quest's the same as in the old expansion?

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

Hasbro's edition of HeroQuest is basically a straight reproduction of the original US version of the game with new art, graphic layout, and some slightly tweaked wording here and there, so it's all the same missions across the core game and the two main expansions. But the US missions are different to the ones that were in the original European version of the game.

@squick1842 2 жыл бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I own the originals. I do not want to cut out the cards, so i was thinking on buying just the expansion packs. But they are a different size. Do you think its possible to play these on the original HQ board?

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

@@squick1842 There are only 14 cards in each expansion pack, and quite a few of them are duplicated (the potions are the same in each, and so are five of the spell scrolls). You would be paying a premium for the sake of a few cards. The tile overlays and miniatures in the new expansions are sized to 1-inch squares so they don't work well with the original board. I'm actually working on a video about this subject!

@squick1842 2 жыл бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I see :) But i still think i see no other alternative than to buy the whole package. Mostly because the barbarian quest pack release. Which is insalely expencive as original. Hopefully they are going to make more expansions (elf quest).

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

@@squick1842 They have already shown artwork that I am convinced is a tease for Elf Quest. I talked about it previously on the channel, but it shows the elf tracking something and she has a child's doll in her hand. It fits the story of the Elf Quest pack exactly.

@lukewalker1197 2 жыл бұрын

When is the next rangers of shadow deep coming 👏👏😁

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

Sorry. The honest answer is, at the moment I don't know. I need a dedicated day to get the shots I need for a Rangers video, and every chance I've had recently I had to use for other videos that I considered a priority. I wish I had more time to make videos, but this is still only my side hussle, and until I can justify working on videos rather than... working... I have to just muddle through doing what I can when I can.

@lukewalker1197 2 жыл бұрын

Haha don't stress just looking forward to the video 👍

@joelvandam Жыл бұрын

I don't get why they made the exact same orcs as in the base game. Feel kind of reluctant to paint the exact same miniatures again...

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Жыл бұрын

I guess it was a few reasons. Firstly. it's a remake of the original Kellar's Keep expansion from MB Games, which reused the sculpts from the core game, so they have just kept that consistent. Second, it's just more orcs, goblins and abominations, so there's no reason beyond aesthetics to have new sculpts (admittedly, aesthetics is more than enough reason!). Finally, by reusing sculpts they were able to keep these expansions at £25, which is really incredibly good value for everything you get in the box. I would definitely have liked to see some alternative sculpts, especially as they made some during the crowdfunding campaign, but I do understand why they didn't.

@M-E_123 Жыл бұрын

Definitely a missed opportunity to include some variant models - either the alternate sculpts from the Mythic edition, or more interesting, things like an Orc Boss, Orc Shaman, Orcs & Goblins with bows, maybe some with spears (to attack diagonally) - essentially something to mix up the combat encounters so the Greenskins get some new tricks after the base game quests (and a couple of these idea's like the Orc Boss & Orc Bowmen do turn up in a couple of quests in the base game or this expansion, just without models to represent them - the Orc Shaman could have swaped in for a Dread Sorcerer that appears in this quest book for example), or as you suggest the Dwarf Forge could be a plastic model now. These a just small things that could have made this expansion more appealing to new players - I've seen some comments from people deciding not to buy this & Return of the Witch Lord based on them containing repeated models from the base game instead of "new monsters" - especially because they're now on the shelf next to the Frozen Horror and the Mage in the Mirror for people buying in now their perceived value has been reduced by staying too close to the original releases. Real shame because I loved these two expansions back in the day (mainly for the story, I admit) and I can see with a bit more thought and planning the perceived value issue could be fixed really easily.

@mikolajwitkowski8093 2 жыл бұрын

Nothing makes reviews as pointless as fear of spoilers... This is HeroQuest, in the old days you would hear every detail about it and that made you more excited about it. Giving spoilers is good and not bad.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring 2 жыл бұрын

The only thing I didn't show were the map layouts. HeroQuest relies on the heroes not knowing what's coming. This is a review for the 2021 edition, there will be a lot of people who never played this expansion before. Those that have may have played the European edition which is different to this edition. So of course I'm not going to show the maps and reveal the surprises that happen along the way. Thanks for calling my review pointless though, it's always nice to hear.

@e32b61 Жыл бұрын

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoringThank you for not spoiling it. So bummed about the repeated sculpts, however. Scratch that, not bummed, annoyed. It really turns me off buying it as I would just replace them with something different and $25 for a quest book and two doors isn’t worth it.

@smartgenes1 Жыл бұрын

Literally everything exists already and could be printed at home, and the miniatures are the same. Hasbro are totally lazy.

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Жыл бұрын

They've presented the expansion exactly as it was back in the 90s, when it also had the same miniatures. It would have been nice to have alternative sculpts, but I understand the reasoning, and I would say this expansion is pretty much what anyone who grew up with the original would expect. I think the retail price of £25 is excellent value. While I see where you are coming from saying Hasbro are lazy, I can't agree because of the rate they are putting out HeroQuest expansions, supporting it with regular app updates, offering free downloadable content on their website, and creating brand new expansions like Rise of the Dread Moon due in 2023. Thanks for watching.