“HoMM III: The Board Game” Naval Battles

The Pledge Manager was opened by us at the beginning of last week. You may have noticed an option to order the “Naval Battles” expansion as well. Today, we’ll provide a closer look at the contents of this expansion.

Let's start with the additional scenarios. As expected, they will also be available online on our website like the others, but these will be based on new elements that we’ll discuss further.

Returning to the scenarios, you can expect three in total, including a brand-new solo scenario. This will be the first solo scenario not part of a campaign, and we hope it opens up new possibilities for the future.

In addition to the solo scenario, you’ll also receive a cooperative and skirmish scenario.

Since we’ve covered the scenarios, we can move on to the new mechanics—of which there are three.

We’ll start with the new location tiles. These tiles feature locations familiar from the video game, where you could encounter varying quantities of specific units. We aim to bring this experience into the board game. These location tiles can replace blocked spaces on the board, and players can choose to swap a blocked space with a new location when revealing a tile.

In these cases, the locations are defended by specific unit sets, shown in a separate deck. Depending on the visited location, you’ll always encounter the same set of units. For example, in the "Imp Cache" location, you can expect to face four Imp units.

Since we know what we’ll be facing and in what quantities, two additional challenges come into play. First, as in the computer game, you’ll be surrounded by enemies, so you’ll be set up in the central spaces on the combat board, while enemy units will be positioned on the edges. The second challenge involves changes in enemy units, making battles more varied. In short, the tougher the battle you face, the more rewards you’ll receive after victory.

The second key element is Empowered Ability cards. If these remind you of the Inferno Empowered cards, you’re correct—this is a similar concept. After the positive feedback we received, we decided to create something similar for abilities. In short, they grant a stronger effect without additional costs.

Mechanically, players will have opportunities to obtain Empowerment tokens at various points in the game, which they can use at their discretion. When you have an Empowerment token and receive an ability card, regardless of the source, you can spend the token to obtain the Empowered version of that ability card, provided it’s still available.

There is a slight restriction: each Empowered Ability card is unique, so if one player obtains an Empowered Offense, they prevent other players from obtaining it. Whether you wait for the right ability or choose to empower one early for an immediate effect is up to you.

The last components in this expansion are two neoprene mats and additional attack dice. Their purpose is to provide extra comfort during gameplay. On one side, you’ll find the new naval combat board; on the reverse side, there’s the familiar combat board.

The naval combat side differs slightly from the standard board in that the two central spaces are blocked, changing combat strategies somewhat. With the central spaces blocked, some units will need to move around to reach the enemy.

As for the side showing the regular combat board, it serves as a replacement for the existing board.
Many have asked why we decided on two boards instead of one. With two boards, experienced players can take their turns simultaneously, which can save significant time—especially in 1v1 games, where each player can use their own board without constantly moving units. In cooperative games, players taking turns at the same time can finish the scenario much faster.

We hope this gave you a clearer picture of this expansion and answers any questions you had about it. A reminder that new Legacy Shipping pledges can only be made until November 19th.