A Tomb for Heroquest

Home decorating has taken up most of my free time recently, but I've managed to squeeze in this quick project.

At my daughter's urging I've been putting together a workable set of HeroQuest, MB Games' 1980s foray into fantasy gaming (with assistance from Games Workshop).

HeroQuest is the ancestor of many modern dungeon crawling board games, Dungeon Saga not the least. But I wanted to go back to the original.  I bought several sets when the game first came out, and I thought I had just about every supplement produced as well.  My recent research shows that the US market had a slightly different base game, and even two special supplements.  I should admit that my purchasing was mostly for the minis, many of which ended up in various Warhammer armies or RPGs at the time, though I enjoyed playing the game, especially with my kids when they were younger.

The decades (and conditions at the back of the loft of shame) had not been kind to the box I found, but a bit of rooting around turned up nearly everything I needed for a basic set.  In fact, the only thing missing was the tomb.  I know I have at least one, and that it will turn up (probably when I'm looking for something else) so I decided a quick XPS replacement would do for now.

XPS tomb coated in mod podge

The tomb is simply a block of XPS glued to a thinner, wider plinth which is stuck to a card (chipboard) base for strength.  The knight, shields and other decorations are lightly drawn on with a sharp pencil, then a craft knife deepens the cuts.  I used various improvised tools, including a blunt pencil and a matchstick, to press the foam in to give a sense of relief to the carving.

Completed tomb flanked by HeroQuest undead

It might not match the original, but its obvious what it is, and it will do for a few games.  Once the proper tomb turns up it will make a nice bit of scenery for D&D games.

This was a nice quick job. I think I'll put together a 'travel set', as apart from the board, everything needed for the base game fits in a 4 litre Really Useful Box.  In the past I've had a go at painting many of the minis, with various degrees of success, so I'll finish painting a set and then, perhaps, look at the supplements.