Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Board Game does nostalgia right

The recent spate of board game adaptations of video games has led to some great successes and some infamous failures, but the unique pitch of Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Board Game cannot fail to capture the attention of a particular era of gamer. Rather than simply adapting the often complicated mechanics of the video game directly, Archon Studio has created a nostalgic treat that doesn’t get overly caught up in faithfulness over function.

Heroes of Might and Magic III was a tactical turn-based strategy game released in 1999 as part of a spinoff series in the Might and Magic franchise of computer RPGs. Through rich storytelling, challenging campaigns and finely-tuned strategy, Heroes III, as it is known, managed to capture the imaginations of multiple generations of gamers. Players could choose from a wide range of monstrous settlements for their starting base, each with their own evocative art and unique units. They were motivated to explore a world filled with crystal mines, griffon towers, and witch’s huts through a wide array of solo campaigns, skirmish modes and multiplayer options.

Heroes III stands out as a particular success in the franchise, as subsequent installments in the series failed to capture the same satisfying gameplay loops and fan loyalty. The board game adaptation from Archon Studio is a triumph of nostalgia without being overly loyal to the often-automated original mechanics of the video game. The core set comes with three factions (Castle, Dungeon, and Necropolis), and a series of expansions add fan favorites such as the Tower, Rampart, Fortress, and Inferno. Each faction has its own strengths and weaknesses and gives a slightly different experience of play, as well as its own heroes who gain unique benefits as they level up.

Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Board Game has utilized the wealth of recognizable art from the video game and also boasts new art that fits perfectly with the aesthetic. Fans will undoubtedly feel a warm glow of nostalgia looking at the hexes and city boards.

Combat is hugely simplified for ease and speed, and considering how many early fights end within a couple of actions, this is a boon to gamers who do not want to spend their whole day trying to work out how to split their horde of gargoyles into different stacks of troops. One of the things that made Heroes III so interesting was that you controlled groups of soldiers rather than individual models, a ‘few’ griffins and a ‘throng’ of pikemen, which indicated how many hits they could take before being removed from the fight but also how much damage they would do when they attacked. The game’s resource limits forced players to make strategic choices about whether to buy more cheaper, weaker units, upgrade existing units into stronger versions, or focus on a few more expensive units. The board game has simplified this down to a more binary system: units start on the ‘few’ side and can be upgraded to a mechanically superior ‘pack,’ which is knocked down to their ‘few’ side when they take sufficient damage. For those who favor a more complex combat emulator over exploration, the Battlefield expansion provides an experience closer to a classic war game.

In the video game, heroes found or purchased artifacts and spells and gained skills as they leveled, but the board game draws these elements together to make an engaging deck-building experience. Each player starts with a deck of cards that has basic abilities boosting attack, defense, magic, one or two magic arrow spells, and one unique ability card. As heroes level up by fighting, exploring, and building, they draw from expansive sets of spells, artifacts, and skills to build their hero deck. From powerful exploration skills like Diplomacy and Logistics to artifacts like the Black Shard of the Dead Knight, these are reworked for the board game mechanics and offer a wide range of tactical options.

Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Board Game has a satisfying gameplay loop at its core that not only draws on the nostalgia value of the original Heroes III experience but also remixes familiar elements into something that suits a tabletop game a lot better. There is an undeniable joy in the process of playing, whether you are revealing a hex filled with exploration points, slotting your latest structure into your growing city board, or rolling for a climactic fight with a Crystal Dragon. In some areas, the game has lost tactical depth through its simplification (for instance, instead of a different building for every type of unit, you now have a single building for all units of a particular power level), but the trade-off in terms of streamlined gameplay is undeniable.

My main complaint is that there are only a few cooperative scenarios in the many mission books, meaning that gaming with friends in a non-competitive way is likely to get boring quickly. However, the richness of the gameplay still means that each game has its own variety. If you loved Heroes of Might and Magic III, prepare to restore Erathia once more!