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Heroes of the Shire

Writer's picture: Lee WinderLee Winder

I love games like Heroes of the Shire.


They look good, they're complex enough that you feel that you have enough things to work with but they're not so complex that you feel lost as soon as you open the box.


And it has a dedicated solo mode, specifically built as a solo/cooperative part of the game rather than being bolted on.


It's All About The Characters

In total there are 20 possible characters to play with in Heroes - split across two different versions (10 in Fire and Ice, 10 in Earth and Water). The variety in the characters I played with (I was shooting "Earth and Water") was broad - each plays differently enough that it genuinely felt different when playing with, and against, each one.


With this in mind, the characters we're always going to be a focus of the shoot, and I really wanted to highlight the uniqueness of each one using the character cards, chits and custom decks to create something special for each.


I also wanted to show the player board - the key focus of the game as you progress in both vs. and cooperative modes.


Druid - The Shapeshifter

The Druid focuses on shape shifting using multiple forms, with the ability to specialise her magic in a number of different directions for specific builds.



I wanted to make sure the forms were the key highlight of the Druid with the power of the Bear and agility of the Hyena to either side, while her Hawk forms soars overhead.


A single health modifier chit - highlighting the ability to modify her attributes as she changes form - is a subtle add to avoid taking attention away from the cards.


And by lighting the box art on the background more towards a green hue really brings together the nature aspect of this character.


Engineer - Gadget Tinkerer

The Engineer couldn't be any more different to the Druid, relying on a significant number of mechanical and technical contraptions and machines to take down his opponents.



There is a real reliance on gadgets for the Engineer, so I wanted to make sure they took centre stage by positioning them slightly in front of the character card, showing how he needs these to succeed.


The addition of the chits, especially the Cog and Electrical tokens, really push the story that this character is reliant on technology rather than his natural skill.


The background is still the box art - as it is with all the character shoots - and using focused orange lighting brings the set together nicely.


Warrior - Melee Brawler

Most people will instantly recognise a warrior class, on who relies on fighting stances to control what he can do and when. However there's a real choice to be made here, when do you lean back and prepare to defend, or when do you put it all out there and strike fast.



It was important to really highlight the difference between the Defence and Brawl stance with the Warrior, showing to very different sides of the character.


The shield tokens providing a barrier on the left and the bleed tokens falling to the board on the right provide a real contrast, almost splitting the image it two to show off both sides of the character.


Blood Mage - Dark Demonic Magic

The Blood Mage, a character that - unsurprisingly - focuses on the dark side with blood magic and personal sacrifice while summoning Blood Demons as his personal army.



The Blood Mage shows the dark side of Heroes of the Shire, which needed to come through in the photos. By having blood falling around him, and a highly contrasted image to hide details in the shadow it really pushes the darkness of the cards.


The oppressive red, and off centre nature of cards pushes the Blood Mage to be an unsettling and dark character.


Dedicated Solo Campaign

As someone who plays a lot of solo games, I'd be remiss to not include some of the campaign shoots that also came together as part of shooting Heroes of the Shire.


The fundamental idea of the solo/cooperative campaign is the players are exploring a map (two maps per edition), drawing events that could result in treasure or combat, and aiming to fight dedicated bosses for that map.


The boss fights are great fun, the AI decks play nicely against the characters the players are controlling, and the ramp up of difficulty as you go through the bosses is nicely balanced.


For me, this was a great edition to the game and really helps open it up to different kinds of players.



With these two pictures I really wanted to highlight the cooperative exploration the players go through - by showing the map and the route they've taken - and the way in which the boss comes into play.


And in both I really wanted to bring out the Warrior Goat - because who wouldn't!


This Is Big Box Games At Their Best

Heroes of the Shire is a big game - this blog only shows a small amount of the content that comes in just one of the editions of the game. If you pick up the Ultimate version, you get everything and honestly, it's keeping you busy for a long time...

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