Warhammer Quest

Warhammer Quest is a co-operative dungeon-crawling board game first published in 1995, and revisited since in games such as Silver Tower and Blackstone Fortress. The details differ between versions — the newer boxes use custom d6 printed with symbols rather than plain numbers — but the spirit is constant: a small party explores a randomly built dungeon, one tile at a time, never quite knowing what waits beyond the next door. This guide stays general across editions; always defer to the rulebook in your box.

The dice & how you roll

The classic game runs almost entirely on the humble six-sided die, thrown in quantities that vary with the task. Whether you’re measuring movement, striking a foe or discovering what a new room contains, the answer usually starts with a d6.

That D66 trick is worth knowing: one die is the “tens” digit and the other the “units”, giving 36 evenly spread outcomes from 11 to 66 without needing exotic dice. It is a staple of Warhammer’s random tables.

How to play

Each session, the party enters a dungeon assembled from board sections and cards. Play proceeds room by room: the group moves into a new area, the tile is revealed, and events or monsters may be triggered. The turn structure typically opens with a power phase (the roll that dictates the dungeon’s mood), then the warriors’ phase where each hero moves and fights, and a monsters’ phase where the enemies strike back.

Combat is a two-step dice affair: roll to hit using your Weapon Skill, then roll to wound using Strength against Toughness, with armour and special rules modifying the result. Wizards and priests channel power to cast spells, and warriors gain gold, treasure and experience that carry between adventures — the game has a light role-playing progression under its board-game shell.

Because rooms and events are drawn as you go, no two delves are alike. The party wins by completing the scenario’s objective — reaching the final chamber, defeating a boss, escaping with the loot — before the dungeon grinds them down.

Strategy

• Stay together in the doorway. Monsters often swarm as a room is revealed. A tight formation in a chokepoint lets your front-liners tank while ranged and magic hit from behind.
• Protect the spellcasters. Wizards are fragile but decisive. Keep them shielded so their power is spent on winning fights, not surviving them.
• Mind the power/exploration roll. A bad result can flood the room with enemies at the worst moment — don’t over-extend before you know the way is clear.
• Bank healing and one-use items. The dungeon escalates. Hoard your best potions and scrolls for the boss room, not the first skirmish.
• Play the averages. To-hit and to-wound are chained rolls — more attacks that need modest numbers usually beat one big swing that needs a lot to go right.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting hits must also wound. Rolling to hit is only half the job — a successful hit still fails if you can’t beat the target’s Toughness.
• Reading D66 as a total. A D66 roll is two digits (tens then units), not the sum of two dice — “53” means five-three, not eight.
• Splitting the party. Scattering warriors down separate corridors gets the isolated one surrounded and killed.
• Spending resources too early. Blowing potions and power on trivial monsters leaves you empty-handed at the finale.
• Mixing up editions’ dice. The custom-dice boxes and the classic numbered game handle rolls differently — check which rules your set uses before you play.

Curious how streaky a fistful of d6 can be? Toss a pool of six-siders in your browser and watch how often the numbers you need actually show up.

Keep reading: the modern take on the crawl, Descent: Journeys in the Dark.