I’ve professed my love 90’s era video games many times and as a board game enthusiast, it’s nice to see more of them being adapted into board games as time goes on. For anyone who’s never played Heroes of Might & Magic in any of it’s many installments, here’s a brief rundown of what’s going on:

For one of many reasons, you and your neighbors are at odds. Because your differences are irreconcilable, you must now try to eradicate each other and take control of your enemy’s territory. The winner is decided when 1 player successfully takes everyone else’s castles, thereby making it impossible for enemies to rally an army.

Released in 99′ through 3DO (later bought by UbiSoft), Heroes of Might and Magic III was an amazing game with several interesting factions and led by a bevy of heroes. Undead, devils, elves and magi were all at your fingertips. You’d roam the map, skirmishing with the monsters and denizens of the land. Along the way, level up with new abilities, powerful artifacts and new spells. Eventually, clash with other heroes to see who is the most mighty and heroic of all the mighty heroes.

Let’s take an early look at what the board game will look like. And, in case, you’re already sold on the game (like me) head over to Kickstarter and sign up to receive notifications when the game becomes available to pledge on.

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Heroes of Might & Magic III: The Board Game

Publisher: Archon
Players: likely 2 – 4
Time to Play: unknown

What We Know

With this game being still in the making, there’s a lot left to be discovered but we do know a fair bit about this game already. Of course, the fact that it was already a video game gives us hints as to what to expect but adaptations tend to yield some surprises.

In this case early signs look very promising, either as an original game fan or as a newcomer to the franchise.

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Miniatures and Creature Cards

Medusa. Beautiful and deadly. The miniature looks sweet too. I really like that more and more games are taking their mins seriously. In the HoMM III board game, expect to find more than 30 miniatures of good quality detail. Aside from the deadly Medusa, you’ll find figurines of Dragons, Devils and Archangles. Player heroes will also be included in the box.

As the game progresses, your army will grow and become more powerful. Ferocious minotaurs, scaly troglodytes, insidious black dragons and poisonous wyverns are all potential allies in waiting…or enemies to be bested on the field of battle!

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Terrain

Players move their heroes about on a board comprised of hexagonal map tiles. This is a great way to keep the game-changing as the board will seldom unfold the same way twice. It is also a nod to the battlefield scenes of the video game. Some of the tiles (like this one here) will have a castle of some sort featured on it. This is where heroes will gather the majority of their forces. Also on the tiles will be resources such as gold mines, wood mills and so on.

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Playing Cards

In the original video game, your heroes find powerful magical items and gain skills to help defeat your foes. The board game looks to recapture much of that by supplying decks of cards for both skills and items. We figure you’ll be drawing these at the end of victorious combat and likely will have a limit on how many you can have on your hero at one time.

Ahhhhh, spells. Who doesn’t love a game with a good dose of spellcasting? On top of a skills and items deck, HoMM III The Board Game will also include a spell deck. We’re not sure how spell casting or learning spell will work in the board game but it will likely happen when visiting cities.

Something that fans of the video game are going to get extra enjoyment out of is how they’ve stuck with the original artwork for spell, items and skills. While it’s still going to be fun for a newbie, the nostalgia kick will be a nice touch for those who’ve travelled the lands of Erathia before.

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Ubisoft will be looking to launch its Kickstarter campaign sometime in early 2022, with the game slated for release in November of next year. You can subscribe to get a reminder of the funding launch by visiting the official HoMM III board game site.