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Dan’s 2025 Board Gaming

Dan’s 2025 Board Gaming

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Project Blog by danlee Cult of Games Member

Recommendations: 42

About the Project

My hobby goal for 2025 is to play more board games again, having taken a break from them in 2024. I play solo, long content board games, such as Aeon Trespass Odyssey, Tainted Grail, and now Heroes of Might and Magic 3. This project will cover thoughts, reviews, playthroughs, etc.

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Fortress expansion - scenario two

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Fortress expansion - scenario two

This was another scenario with a slightly different win condition – flag all mines and dwellings rather than defeat all enemies. The last mine was defended by an army though, so it still led to a final battle. The scenario just forced me to fully explore the map first.

 

In the past game and this one I’ve paid more attention to the ability deck you build up for your hero through the game. You can have heroes of might or heroes of magic, and by focussing on picking up the corresponding ability cards you can build up some good synergies. For the first couple of campaigns I just took every ability I could, but that leads to diluted hands.

Fortress expansion - scenario two

Fortress expansion - scenario one

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Fortress expansion - scenario one

This expansion adds another faction and some random event mechanics. The random events are designed for multiplayer games, so I won’t be using them.

The first scenario in this expansion’s campaign was a bit refreshing as it’s objective wasn’t simply to defeat the enemy. It included an element of resource accumulation too. Also, I didn’t start with a Town so had to race to capture one in the first few turns. These two twists made the game quite different from the ones I’ve played so far.

I’m also impressed by how the different factions continue to feel different to each other. It seems to have been achieved by the stats of each faction’s army, as well as subtle differences in what the buildings in each Town can do.

Fortress expansion - scenario one
Fortress expansion - scenario one

Rampart expansion - scenario three

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Rampart expansion - scenario three

Today I finished playing the third scenario, which is the final one in this particular campaign. Again, a fun three hours or so. This one was also a bit more challenging, which is fitting for a final scenario of a campaign.

 

I forgot the AI cards again for the first enemy her fight, but I kicked myself then remembered more or less correctly for the rest of the fights.

 

Next I think I’ll move on to the Fortress expansion…

Rampart expansion - scenario three

Rampart expansion - scenario two

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Rampart expansion - scenario two

This is the scenario setup as it was at the beginning. This was a 13 turn scenario where I used the full turn limit. Setup, play and pack-up took three hours.

 

Lots of fun, and I keep being struck by how well the board game matches the look and feel of the PC game.

 

I was much better at remembering to use the AI deck in combat, and so far I haven’t realised I forgot anything else either. I did have to “cheat” a little bit. In my first enemy AI hero battle it came down to us having a unit left each, both only on one health. There was a 1/3 chance the enemy killed me, and if I survived I’d certainly kill them and win. They got their 1/3 chance so it was game over. I cheated and re-rolled the dice as I had no intention of throwing away two hours of gaming and then repeating the scenario next week.

 

Below is the map right before the final battle that ended the scenario.

Rampart expansion - scenario two

The Rampart Expansion

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The Rampart Expansion

Today I got stuck into the Rampart expansion. This adds the ability to do four player (irrelevant to me), support equipment (i.e. the ballista, first aid tent, and ammo cart), and, of course the Rampart faction.

The Rampart Expansion

There’s a pair of hero models, as well as a model for each troop type in the faction. The troop models are only really used with the hex based combat expansion, but that doesn’t work (supposedly) with single player. Maybe one day they can be a nice painting project. Since they’re not essential though, I’m not worrying about painting them up before I play.

The Rampart Expansion

The expansion has another three scenario campaign. The first scenario took me about four hours to play and I really enjoyed it again. I realised I’ve been getting a few mechanics wrong so far and corrected that. I still keep forgetting to use the AI deck when fighting an enemy hero. I’m sure I’ll remember everything in another couple of games.

First solo campaign finished

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First solo campaign finished

This morning I completed the third and final scenario of the solo campaign. This one added in the last element of the AI, which was the enemy heroes wondering the map. The story of the campaign followed the same story as the PC game’s first scenario – which served as both story intro and tutorial scenarios.

 

Next I’ll be looking at an expansion and adding that in to the mix.

Second game played

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Second game played

I refined the layout a bit to make the combat board more accessible during play. This setup worked much better.

 

This second scenario brought in the full rules (the first scenario didn’t have base control and development) and had a longer turn limit. As such, it took about three hours to setup, play, and pack away. I’d guess this is a more realistic play time for typical scenarios.

 

There were a few rules I kept forgetting. Remembering to use the AI deck when fighting the AI heroes kept slipping my mind, an I played the entire scenario and didn’t level up properly once. Still, only game two.

 

Looking forward to scenario three next weekend.

Heroes of Might and Magic 3 - First thoughts

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Heroes of Might and Magic 3 - First thoughts

So the first game on my play list for 2025 is Heroes of Might and Magic 3. Back when I was a teenager this was one of my favourite PC games. It was a fantasy strategy game with run based map exploration and turn based combat. A year or two ago there was a kickstarter to turn it into a board game which I backed to the hilt. It arrived a few months ago but apart from quick glance at the contents, I haven’t touched it until today.

 

Today I got the core box out, read the rules, and then setup and played the first scenario of the solo campaign. The first scenario had an eight turn limit, and I finished in seven, taking about an hour of play time. I’d spent a couple of hours this morning setting it up and reading the rule book, but that’s hardly a fair statistic as every element of the game was new to me and I spent a lot of time identifying components.

 

As you can see below, the game easily fits on a single dining table without being terribly crowded. Having played it now I’d move some of the bits around for easier access, but otherwise I should be able to setup other scenarios and play them much faster next time.

 

The game very much captured the feeling of the old PC game, which is great.

 

The plan is to play the remining two scenarios of the solo campaign, then start adding in expansion content one at a time.

Heroes of Might and Magic 3 - First thoughts

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