This is a visual reference for HeroQuest 2021 Edition using the World of Warcraft The Board Game (2005) by Fantasy Flight Games. As with most of their board games from the early 2000’s, this had a large quantity of highly detailed plastic miniatures, chits, and cards.
The hero miniatures range from 25 mm to 28 mm scale, while the monsters occupy a slightly wider scale range. The quality of the miniature casting can leave something to be desired on some figures. In my most recent box, I ended up with a severely malformed owlkin and a worgen with its right arm nearly amputated. Warping of this plastic is prevalent.
There are 130 miniatures in the box, consisting of a mix of single-piece and preassembled multi-part figures. There are 29 unique sculpts, representing 13 monster types and 16 heroes. All monster sculpts are produced in three color variants: red, green, and blue.
The World of Warcraft board game was released with a hefty price tag for the early 2000s and had two expansion releases. Today, it can be found complete or in parts, on sites like eBay. Be prepared, expansion prices can be prohibitive, and the core game typically sells for roughly twice its original MSRP.
Because I prefer the female elf miniature from the 2021 edition of HeroQuest, I have chosen it as the scale reference miniature for all images in this article. Only 10 representative samples are shown here. A link to a downloadable PDF containing all 29 sculpts is provided at the end of this article.
Each playable culture represented in the World of Warcraft board game includes both a male and a female sculpt. These figures are not always the same class; some are casters, while others are martial characters. In the case of the tauren caster female and the tauren hunter male, the size discrepancy is massive.
This elf caster works well as a wizard, druid, or even a warlock. While it towers over the HeroQuest elf, the base is much smaller, making it a little unsteady. In my opinion rebasing is required on many of the miniatures in this box.
Female orc miniatures are far more common now than they were in 2005, making this sculpt a welcome inclusion. As a caster, it offers numerous reuse options and serves as a solid replacement for a named orc hero or villain. It is also closer in scale to the HeroQuest elf than the previous comparison.
Trolls in World of Warcraft differ greatly from trolls in other fantasy games. With exaggerated pointed ears, oversize tusks, and elongated limbs, they are difficult to proxy as other creatures. Both troll miniatures also feature oversize bases, requiring rebasing to a 1×2 square base to function properly in HeroQuest
The female tauren caster is intended to represent a druid. However, the caster attire allows it to be repurposed easily as a priest or wizard. With that staff, a martial monk is not out of the question.
World of Warcraft is well known for exaggerated armor design, particularly oversize pauldrons. This miniature reflects that aesthetic. Although intended as a paladin, it can readily serve as a generic fighter or a named villain that feels the need to over compensate for something.
The owlbear originates in Dungeons & Dragons. This sculpt represents Blizzard’s reinterpretation, referred to in World of Warcraft as a wildkin, despite clearly retaining both owl and bear characteristics. I refer to it as an owlkin, allowing it to have one hairy-feathered foot in each of the games from which it spawned.
The term “werewolf” is not copyrightable, this prompted Blizzard to coin the term worgen for its lupine humanoids. The sculpt works well as a physical replacement for the lycanthropy chits in HeroQuest. The availability of three color variants is especially useful when multiple heroes are affected simultaneously.
My second-favorite sculpt in the box. I painted twelve of them, some of which appear in this article. The ogre’s bulky frame, and relatively small head really conveys massively powerful, and minimally intelligent. It is a clean sculpt without distracting amounts of detail.
The gnolls, armed with short swords and leather armor, function well as generic orc or goblin replacements. They integrate easily with existing HeroQuest miniatures, allowing quest designers to vary encounters without additional rules.
The murlocs are the primary reason I purchased my first copy of this game. Having played World of Warcraft for many years, these creatures are permanently etched into my memory as early-game terrors: fast, numerous, occasionally ranged or magical, and always eager to overwhelm. Including them allows players to experience that same chaos on the tabletop. Fortunately, the box contains plenty of them.
With the exception of the heroes’ inconsistent internal scaling, the contents of this box represent a homebrewing goldmine. The three-color monster variants support clear role differentiation—minions, champions, and bosses—making encounters easier for players to read at a glance. The sheer quantity of miniatures also contributes to a strong sense of scale during play.
The greatest drawback to acquiring this game today is the cost. That said, for painters, it provides a substantial volume of practice material. It should be noted that while Fantasy Flight Games produced this title, their original promotional materials are no longer hosted on their website.
I am very happy with the content of the box. Even though some of the miniatures were warped they were easy to return to their normal shape with hot water. I have posted a PDF file of these reference images for download.
– Dru
Dru's Den of Ill Repute 