Tips for a Newcomer

[MAJBrown]

I just purchased AQ on Amazon for my 10-year old son and I to play and was wondering if any vets had some pointers to start out. Play a skirmish or jump right into a campaign? Best guild makeup for a younger player?

We play Rivet Wars pretty frequently and we're ready for a new game to add to the mix. We like CMoN and Tom Vasel nearly peed his pants reviewing this, so we figured we'd give it a shot. It's a shame we missed the launch, but I really only discovered Kickstarter when RW came out and missed AQ.

 

[rrrrupp]

Welcome to the game!

I'd suggest playing a solo mission (one of the outside missions) first to get the rules/basic strategy down first. This will lessen the amount of poor choices made early on in the campaign that may snowball a bit into making you play catch the leader the entire campaign.

As for heroes for you son... Seth, Spike and Wisp would be a good guild. There aren't any poor choices in the base game heroes though so if he wants to pick his own guild (based on looks or whatnot), he'd be okay.

 

[growlley]

Also all the information for the KS heroes and villains are on the web site so you can allways proxy them if there s one you like.

The exclusive KS campaign; booklet is the same as the KS one except for a few very minor tweaks to use the figures that came with it.

 

[MAJBrown]

Thank you for the replies. My kids and I have watched the Watch it Played videos and my daughter is trying to lay exclusive claim to the girl heroes...

 

[Wieisdemol]

my daughter is trying to lay exclusive claim to the girl heroes...

Personally, I'd let her if your other kids don't really care. I think it's more important she enjoy the game if all it takes is not properly doing hero drafting. My girlfriend was the same way we first played, and she loved it, and now she'll play with any heroes. I think it's more important your kids have fun the first time they play it so they'll wanna play it again and again and again, and maybe even introduce it to their friends! The more people that play AQ, the better. =]

Let us know how it goes.

 

[MAJBrown]

I agree Wieisdemol, I'm going to let them both pick whomever they want for the first campaign. We're all pretty excited, it should arrive later this week (we live overseas and Amazon is a 10 day delivery...)

 

[rrrrupp]

That works! Diva is actually pretty friendly towards younger players because she doesn't require advanced tactics to excel. I hope they enjoy the game!

 

[Trigoras]

The only adjustment I would make for new players is that if you are not playing with 4 players then you could remove the amulet of retribution for the first campaign play. It can make it difficult for players to enjoy the game if another player is just running around and dominating everything. It's a level 2 item if I remember correctly.

If you are playing a single scenario of level 3 or lower than you could probably keep it in the game.

Also, for a starting scenario I believe the book suggests the District of Hammers if you are playing your first campaign.

 

[MAJBrown]

That's a nice one, thank you.

My son asked if we could play 4-hero guilds if there were only three of us playing. Would this break the mechanics?

 

[rrrrupp]

That's a nice one, thank you.

My son asked if we could play 4-hero guilds if there were only three of us playing. Would this break the mechanics?

Assuming you are playing a campaign... the one thing that would be difficult is that you wouldn't have enough gear to outfit all of your characters. Your characters will all feel very lacking and not powerful (or you'll simple have 1 character with 0 equipment... which means all they can do is run around the map).

I personally would not suggest using 4 hero guilds unless you mess with the draft rules as well... but in that case... you might as well just make your own game Just my 2 cents. It's a very well designed game... I'd enjoy it as it's designed (although I would suggest not using the ammy of retribution or using some of the house rules posted here to nerf it).

 

[MAJBrown]

That's what I suspected. He wants to distribute items from the guild we're not using to a 4th hero. I think I'll insist on playing by the rules for the first campaign, then let him freestyle a bit.

 

[Trigoras]

you could use a 4th hero per guild if you increase the purchase limit, probably to 4 instead of 3 per upgrade phase. That would need play testing though as I don't think anyone else has done that yet and posted about its results on these forums.

 

[Arydis]

I'd enjoy it as it's designed (although I would suggest not using the ammy of retribution or using some of the house rules posted here to nerf it).

For your first play of the game with children, I'm not even sure you need to nerf the amulet of retribution. It is one aspect that can be exploited but unless you were the one who bought it, I wouldn't anticipate it being exploited on the first campaign your family plays.

 

[MAJBrown]

We talked about it and we're going to play at least 1 campaign by the rules. I explained play testing and game balancing to him and he acquiesced.