Heroes & Hexes
Heroes, familiars, demons, curses, new terrain and caves for experienced expeditions.
Short tag: [Heroes]
What it adds
Heroes & Hexes adds new expedition-card stacks, one familiar per player, a hero pile, demons, curses, cave tokens, two blockades, three double-sided terrain tiles and a hero tavern. It always uses the Caves variant. It is designed for experienced players. The publisher’s expansion page identifies the expansion; these rules follow its English rules sheet.
Setup changes
The rules sheet lists 12 new English expedition cards sorted into four piles of three; the 24 total copies include the German-language equivalents. Add the four piles beside the base game’s supplies. Give each player one randomly dealt familiar as the ninth card in their starting deck; return unused familiars to the box. Shuffle the 10 hero cards playable in English (seven English-language cards and three language-neutral cards) face down beside the tavern, put demon cards face up in a supply, shuffle curses face down, and mix the expansion cave tokens into the base cave supply. Include all three new double-sided terrain tiles in the route, and attach the hero tavern to the second terrain tile (the tile immediately after the starting terrain tile). The rules also provide six suggested layouts for the expansion: Journey into the Unknown, Demon Gorge, River Delta, Blind Spot, Across the Pass and Path of Pilgrims. The route diagram shows the lettered terrain pieces and blockade positions; copy one layout as pictured.
Suggested routes
Choose one of the six layouts shown in the expansion rules. Use the numbered legend to find the matching route name; the lettered pieces and blockade locations are shown in the figure.
Journey into the Unknown
Use the first lettered route in the picture as printed.
Demon Gorge
Use the second lettered route in the picture as printed.
River Delta
Use the third lettered route in the picture as printed.
Blind Spot
Use the fourth lettered route in the picture as printed.
Across the Pass
Use the fifth lettered route in the picture as printed.
Path of Pilgrims
Use the sixth lettered route in the picture as printed.
Familiars, demons and heroes
A familiar may use its normal power, or replace it with one of the special symbol values shown above its crossed-out-card symbol. If you use its special ability, remove it from the game; otherwise discard it normally. Demon cards have no useful action, but can be discarded for rubble or half a coin like other cards.
The first time you stop on a hero tavern space during your movement, reveal the top three hero cards, choose one and put it in your hand. Shuffle the other two back into the pile. You may use the chosen hero immediately, and each player may hire at most one hero per game. The ten English hero faces and their effects are listed in Cards & Components.
New terrain and curses
On a demon space, draw one curse token per skull and put it face up in front of you. A tunnel connects to the other tunnel on the same tile; entering the far tunnel also draws its curses. New blockades use the same curse rule. Curses with a red border resolve and leave immediately; black-border curses remain until their printed discard or token cost is paid. Lifted curses return to the box and are reshuffled as a new pile if the curse pile runs out. The rulebook groups them under seven named effects; Lethargy has three distinct symbol faces, for nine distinct face types across 20 physical curse tokens. All nine faces are pictured individually in Cards & Components from the expansion rulebook.
Component reference
Four distinct expansion cave-token faces are shown in Cards & Components: Demon Banisher, Curse Protection, Geologist’s Step and Market Access. New terrain setup, both blockade faces and the nine distinct curse-token symbol faces are pictured in Cards & Components. The hero, familiar, demon and four new expedition-card face rows are also listed in Cards & Components.