For those closely following the development of Heroquest then this expansion is old news to you. You probably all ready know all about it. Heck, you may even own it at this point. I am a bit behind. I was trying to paint up my expansions as I went and holding off on the next until the earlier was painted. Late in 2025 I threw that plan out the window. Instead, I bought up all the expansions with Heroes in them. That left me a bit of a Pile of Potential to work through for painting and reviewing.
So, let's not waste a ton of time and just get into it then. First off, this is a re-release of an older Heroquest expansion. As such, Hasbro/Avalon Hill pretty much kept the original content in these expansions but updated the miniatures that went with them. I appreciate that, but in the past has led to some odd wording or contradictory rules in the various expansions. We will have to see if that is the case in this expansion as well.
So, let us heft our broad sword, don our fur-lined loincloth, and gird our loins and get into this review.
Things I LikedWell, first off I wanted the Female Barbarian sculpt. I have been interested in getting all the heroes and their alternate sculpts. I like to have an inclusive party and my family likes female versions of factions, armies, and individual heroes. Amazingly, they want representation on the game board! Who would have thought! Therefore, I was excited and happy to get this model for them. I made sure to get it painted up right away. Mechanically, it is no different than the core barbarian. However, aesthetics matter too.
I think this was the first expansion to make use of Mercenaries. It is an indication that the game is getting much tougher when they started to include additional non-heroes you could add to your retinue to help soak damage and spread the damage output. There are four types that broadly align with the types found in the Rise of the Dread Moon expansions. These are a mix of models and represent scouts, crossbow folks, halberdiers, and great swords.
Like Mage in the Mirror this expansion has a handful of solo adventures for the Barbarians. This allow them to pick-up some special gear. Like the Elf special missions, this could be a good way to get a single Hero "up-to-speed" after a death.
The Frozen Horror gets its own special miniature! Yeah! Like I said, I wish they would have done it for the Return of the Witchlord, especially as some of those named baddies also get name checked in other Quests. However, here Hasbro/Avalon Hill have done us a solid and made the Frozen Horror in miniature form!
Things I Do Not Like
Hasbro/Avalon Hill try to build each boxed set as a stand-alone effort. I.e. you only need the core game rules to use them. Therefore, the new magic cards and others are mostly either duplicates or unique to the Frozen Horror. There is not going to be a ton of utility for some of them in other adventures. However, new equipment and board tiles are always useful for homebrew as well.
I did not need the Blue and White themed character sheets. However, I keep my characters on the App instead of on paper. However, if you use paper maybe you have gone through a lot of Heroes? Seemed like that could have been used for something cooler, but I am not sure what.
There are some rules clarifications that you can find in other expansions at this point. However, as mentioned they assume you only have the core rules for these expansions.
Meh and Other Uncertainties
This expansion comes with another set of dice. I am okay with this as you can then have a set for Zargon and a set for the Players. Less passing of dice and faster game play with extra sets. Plus, if you have other expansions you will reach a point where all the players will have their own set of dice. Not sure I like that the made the movement dice blue as they are often referred in the rules as "red dice" but I doubt people playing
Heroquest will get hung-up on that.
This is a difficult Quest Pack. It is for hardened adventurers. The exact location of this Quest in relation to others is kind of fuzzy, but it seems likely to be after
Keller's Keep and
Return of the Witchlord. That means the monsters had to be tougher, the traps more deadly, and the number of foes greater. I think they manage to make it very, very difficult. Therefore, this is not a Quest pack to be taken lightly! It is so tough, they made the Mercenaries mechanic to help you out!
How exactly do they make this harder? First, the new monster have a lot of special effects that are tough. Yetis can hug you, warbears attack twice, and gremlins steal your stuff. There are a variety of traps including instant death situations. There is a Fog room that voids your attacks on a bad roll, icicles that fall while you are fighting, and ice slide traps. There are some tough wandering monsters too. I will say, this Questpack does a lot to try to make you feel like you are in an Ice and Snow-soaked environment. A good change from the usual dungeon exploration.
As always, this is a great expansion to the core gameplay. However, this one does not seem to be as "essential" as an expansion like
Rise of the Dread Moon or
Against the Ogre Horde. The main add is the Mercenary rules, but you can now find those in other expansions now. That said, I think it is still a good value for money with a lot of solid minis that could see use in a variety of games.
Frozen Horror expands on the
Heroquest world and adds interesting, unique elements but they maybe too niche for many players and Zargons.
Until next time!
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