With my Green Ronin discount (thank you Paizo!) I purchased Arkham Horror, the Dunwich Horror expansion, and the King in Yellow expansion.
After receiving the games, all I can say is WOW! There is a lot of stuff to learn. Looks like a lot of fun, but Holy cow there are a lot of parts. I plan to set the two expansions aside for now and just focus on Arkham.
Who else is playing this game? How long did it take you to learn the rules? I am thinking after a couple games it will make much more sense than I get from a quick read thru the rulebook. Any tips for a newcomer?
Thanks in advance.
Lori
It took us a couple of games to really get the hang of it, but it's niftiness extreme.
We're now waiting on Kingsport Horror (April?! Yeesh!)
Lori B wrote: With my Green Ronin discount (thank you Paizo!) I purchased Arkham Horror, the Dunwich Horror expansion, and the King in Yellow expansion.
After receiving the games, all I can say is WOW! There is a lot of stuff to learn. Looks like a lot of fun, but Holy cow there are a lot of parts. I plan to set the two expansions aside for now and just focus on Arkham.
Who else is playing this game? How long did it take you to learn the rules? I am thinking after a couple games it will make much more sense than I get from a quick read thru the rulebook. Any tips for a newcomer?
Thanks in advance.
Lori
A classic- word of advice, download the Rules PDFs from the FF site and print out a copy for each player- it'll save your rules pamphlet and everyone will pick up the game a LOT faster if they can reference their own copy during downtime.
You'll have a great summer of gaming.
Damn- now I'm all jealous...
firblog,
Thanks for the advice on the pdf - I can see those will really help everyone.
-Lori
You need the Curse of the Dark Pharaoh expansion as well! There are some really nifty relics in it.
A couple of tips with regard to game-play:
(1) Too many gates open & the Ancient One wakes up early.
-This one is a death sentence, especially with a higher number of investigators starting (meaning fewer gates maximum open at one time before the ancient one wakes) and with Yog-Sothoth as the ancient one. (investigators going into a final batle without gate-trophies are devoured). Watch out, especially early in the game; some sites have encounters which cause a gate to open at that site (unless the site has already been sealed)- ESPECIALLY WITH THE DUNWICH HORROR EXPANSION IN THE MIX.
(2) The more expansions that get mixed together, the potentially easier that the game may get, since some of the special rules inherent to expansions (EG 'Act cards', from The King in Yellow) get diluted by having many Mythos cards in the deck. (Although sparating to tidy away the components from multiple expansions, can take a *long* time, even though the investigator/mythos cards are conveniently marked with expansion symbols.) And remember that The Dunwich Horror Expansion includes Spell, Unique Item, and Common Item cards, which were intended to replace Arkham Horror counterparts from the first print-run that were discovered too powerful for play; They are identical to the versions in subsequent print-runs as far as I know.
Enjoy playing!
We played our first game over the weekend. It was a fairly slow - look up lot of rules - slog thru it, but I think we will be in good shape now for our second game. I can see a lot of interesting nuances in this game. Looks like it will be good for lots of replays.
I'll post back after game number 2.
Really Good, steep learning curve, but its nice to have a cooperative board game.
Once you get the gate/monsters/alternative dimensions/outskirts thing down expect thigns to go a lot faster.
It is excellent and huge fun - although as others have pointed out the learning curve is steep.
You also need players who don't get thrown by the basic impossibility of getting much right. Useful items are few and far between, gates open all the time, monsters end up blocking the only available path, you will end every turn in the nuthouse or an alternate dimension and so on.
With the wrong type of group, it can rapidly degenerate into no fun at all because extreme depression sets in. Just saying, don't try it out on anyone who hasn't played a reasonably challenging stuff first. It is not the game of choice for a group who regard Risk as the ultimate strategic challenge. RPG players (who on the whole are used to being outnumbered 30-1 by ravening goblins) will cope just fine.
I want to play this at PaizoCon! :O
Rev Rosey wrote: It is excellent and huge fun - although as others have pointed out the learning curve is steep.
You also need players who don't get thrown by the basic impossibility of getting much right. Useful items are few and far between, gates open all the time, monsters end up blocking the only available path, you will end every turn in the nuthouse or an alternate dimension and so on.
With the wrong type of group, it can rapidly degenerate into no fun at all because extreme depression sets in. Just saying, don't try it out on anyone who hasn't played a reasonably challenging stuff first. It is not the game of choice for a group who regard Risk as the ultimate strategic challenge. RPG players (who on the whole are used to being outnumbered 30-1 by ravening goblins) will cope just fine.
Useful items become a lot fewer and further between once you get the hang of where to expect to find them, at least in the basic set. The Dunwich Horror expansion really turns that back upside down though.
<mutters about the sudden relative shortage of Elder Signs and the ' mission' cards that always seem to be the least likely useful ones in the current circumstances that end up turning up instead....>
We have Dunwich and Yellow King expansions, but haven't really done much with them yet. Treats in store from the sound of things.
Rev Rosey wrote: We have Dunwich and Yellow King expansions, but haven't really done much with them yet. Treats in store from the sound of things. Watch out for that terror track with The King in Yellow- especially if you're playing with the blight cards and herald.
Oh: and the Mythos (rumour) cards in The King in Yellow don't have any rewards for 'beating' them other than you avoid bad things happening....
Show up on chat.dmtools.org , late Saturday nights. A few of us who have the game are trying to play over the internet. One of us is in England and another is in America. We are still working out the details. :-)
Second time through was much more enjoyable. We had our share of insanity, death and eventual defeat. But in Lovecraft fashion, I predict you should not expect victory very often.
Have fun gaming!
Definitely worth the $120 (Canadian) I spent on this. Keep playing, once at least one person in your group gets a grasp on the rules the game clicks and you get to discover all its unique random goodness.
I mean, each BBEG and each Investigator makes the game different, and then you have the random nature of the game progression. There are so many strategies, and sometimes you have to switch-up mid-game...
I recommend starting the game using Azathoth. You lose if he appears, but he has little effect in game and takes a long time to appear, so you get to learn the rules of the game in a good long session.
we started against cthulhu(drawn randomly)
we lost
so bad
Logos
Logos wrote: we started against cthulhu(drawn randomly)
we lost
so bad
Logos
Ummm. Yes. That happens. The cultists gaining the requirement for investigators fighting them to make a horror check to avoid sanity damage is particularly cruel. Especially in the context that Cthulhu already sabotages stamina and sanity scores before the first turn kicks off, rendering certain investigators particularly fragile in the face of some horrible things.
Charles Evans 25 wrote: Rev Rosey wrote: We have Dunwich and Yellow King expansions, but haven't really done much with them yet. Treats in store from the sound of things. Watch out for that terror track with The King in Yellow- especially if you're playing with the blight cards and herald.
Oh: and the Mythos (rumour) cards in The King in Yellow don't have any rewards for 'beating' them other than you avoid bad things happening.... I have not been playing with the blight and herald cards in my Arkham Horror games, because I was under the impression that they were part of a separate, stand-alone ruleset. Is there a way to integrate these elements into the main Arkham Horror game?
If so, what are they?
Thanks,
O
Arcesilaus wrote:
I have not been playing with the blight and herald cards in my Arkham Horror games, because I was under the impression that they were part of a separate, stand-alone ruleset. Is there a way to integrate these elements into the main Arkham Horror game?
Nevermind. I'm dumb.
O
Arcesilaus wrote:
I have not been playing with the blight and herald cards in my Arkham Horror games, because I was under the impression that they were part of a separate, stand-alone ruleset. Is there a way to integrate these elements into the main Arkham Horror game?
(Edited):
The Herald variant rules are simply played with in addition to the normal rules which you are using.
As far as I can make out, Arcesilaus, you chose to play with a herald (in this case The King in Yellow with its attendant Blight cards, Riot creatures, and Yellow Sign tokens) to make a game more challenging! :D
I see that you seem to have reread the rules sheet and noticed this already. :)
Charles Evans 25 wrote:
I see that you seem to have reread the rules sheet and noticed this already. :)
Yup. Reading the rules can sometimes help when one wants to understand said rules.
Reassuring to read this!
I just ordered this, Dunwich and King in Yellow yesterday. Looking forward to checking it out when it arrives... and until then I've got the rules pamphlet to look at. :)
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Arkham Horror story, which I've told on Board Game Geek:
At Monte Cook's house in 1999, we played a game of the Chaosium's original version of Arkham Horror. Well, I shouldn't say "We," because I played for ten minutes and then died on my second turn when I took a little walk with Ithaqua in the Dreamlands. Later in the evening, I played a cutthroat game of Scrabble with Monte's wife Sue. And then I went to bed.
The melange of Arkham Horror and Scrabble was obviously bubbling into my unconscious during the night. I woke up the next morning with a game fully formed in my head. The game had letter cards, except all the letters were rated on the number of angles they contained, and you rolled against your score to see if you lost a point of sanity. Too many dangerous words and you could go insane.
As I struggled to consciousness, I kicked over my nightstand and somehow found a pen and paper to write it down. I called the game "Hounds of Tindalos," after the nasty creatures that come out of the corners of the walls.
It quickly became a favorite at all the conventions, and of the Chaosium guys. After James Ernest and I polished it, it was published by Playroom Entertainment under license from Chaosium, under the name Unspeakable Words.
So when I say "I could design that game in my sleep!", I mean it. Anyway, that game wouldn't exist if not for Arkham Horror, so for that and other reasons, Arkham Horror is one of my faves.
Mike
Great game! The absolute favorite of my wife, and she's getting pretty good at it... Playing against the game itself is really exciting, because it's almost never too easy, and you sure must sweat every victory...
We've got all the expansion, and eagerly awaiting Kingsport Horror...
Amazing!
Waiting..... Kingsport expansion.... Maybe less than 2 months to ship to the UK now.....
My wife and I play this all the time. Either just the two of us, or with any friends we can rope into it. It does take a couple of games to get the hang of the rules. I ended up writing a bunch of crib notes on the rules to help me get the hang of it. It's almost like playing Call of Cthulhu, but with a terribly fun and malicious GM.
I've had this game now for over 2 years and I still haven't played against Cthulhu. He scares my wife too much.
My gaming group always draws the Ancient One randomly after choosing investigators randomly (each person gets one veto on their choice).
We've drawn Yog-Sottoth twice in a row, and lost both times when he arrived. Never had so much fun losing a boardgame.
For those interested, the newest expansion for Arkham Horror is now available, the Kingsport Expansion.
Strangely, it is not listed on Fantasy Flight Games' products pages.
Fantasy Flight Games isn't very good about keeping their website up to date.
You can see a bunch of the new material on BoardGameGeek. It looks pretty hot.
Burrito Al Pastor wrote: Fantasy Flight Games isn't very good about keeping their website up to date.
You can see a bunch of the new material on BoardGameGeek. It looks pretty hot.
Yep. New investigators, optional rules, Ancient Ones, and the lot. I laughed as a looked at the new investigators, as they look very similar to custom ones I designed after the game came out.
The Kingsport Board seem to be somewhat better at demanding attention than the Dunwich one was; a slight criticism I have of the Dunwich Horror expansion was that unless gates were popping open up on the Dunwich board, there was little incentive (except to bag stray clue tokens) to take the trip up there.
But with the Rift mechanic introduced in Kingsport Horror, there is a very valid reason (if the investigator can be spared) to have someone running around the Kingsport board....
Since there are 11 new allies for Kingsport, I would have thought it could be possible simply to shuffle all the Kingsport allies in, and have a 'two allies discarded on a terror level rise instead of one' rule; in any case I would think (since the setup rules use te phrase 'returned to the box' for the random allies, that Charlie Kane could recruit any out-of-play allies using his connections if he happened to personally have the chance to recruit a particular one.
I'm not sure that the red cards will see much use for epic battles. Against most ancient ones, I don't see a combat lasting long enough to go through all the green ones- certainly not once you throw in the likelihood that one of those green cards is going to cause an ancient one plot to happen.
And I find the 'careful reader' ability of Daisy Walker (the Librarian) distinctly funny (and slightly broken in several contexts, given some of the 2 sanity point books around which will damage even the Professor). :D
Overall, I am favourably impressed with the expansion so far.
Here's something interesting: Arkham Horror league play.
Kevin Wilson (at FFG) wrote: Atlach-Nacha, the great spider weaving the web between the worlds, as you may have heard, turns all gate openings into gate bursts, and is extremely hard to beat if he awakens. If you use your normal tactics against him, he will beat the pants off of you. However, my group has beaten him with 3 investigators by the time he had 6 of his 12 doom tokens out. Devising tactics to beat him with the group was a good time. Hmmm. I wonder how far off having to fight a final battle due to terror-level & monster overload they were though???
Further to my previous Post, if Kate Withrop's 'Science!' ability trumps gate-bursts, a combination of Daisy Walker, Kate Winthrop, and one other to explore & close gates (Gloria Goldberg?) might put a lid on the spider, if the King in Yellow expansion were in play alongside Kingsport.
Daisy Walker Livre d'Ivrons for an Arcane Insight(?) spell, then spends her time popping around Kingsport keeping rifts shut, checking where gates are going to open, so Kate Winthrop can stop unwanted ones from popping up, whilst Gloria Goldberg explores other worlds for a 'close all the gates' victory. If necessary, Daisy can retire to the Asylum for a round or so to recover sanity.
Assuming Daisy can be supplied with a reasonable number of Tomes (or Clue tokens) to boost the Arcane Insight casting, this effectively turns the game into 'shooting fish' (or gates) in a barrel; the dilution of the 'Next Act' mythos cards (from King in Yellow) with the regular mythos cards and Kingsport cards reduces their impact on the game.
For that matter, this strategy would probably nail most Ancient Ones stone dead, assuming that Kate manages to avoid drawing Arkham Encounters which would 'evict' her to the street allowing gates to pop open in the Mythos Phase.
Still trying to work out what tactic (if any) would work with only three investigators and JUST Kingsport & regular Arkham Horror resources available against Atlach-Nacha, or ones which would be viable if Kate Winthrop gets SUCKED IN by gate-bursts. Daisy Walker fetching Find Gate spells (whilst "Ashcan" Pete retrieves the Livre?) maybe combined with Luke Robinson & a gate box might keep gates approximately under control- Two investigators pop through a gate and both Find Gate (one with the gate box) to shut down two gates next turn. (Especially with occasional monster surges allowing occasional 'catch up'?) The third investigator keeps Kingsport under control and/or keeps their sanity topped up so that they can 'stand in' for an investigator looking somewhat fragile in the Stamina/sanity departments after repeated trips to other words.
Late to the thread. Sorry. AH is our favorite non-RPG, more popular even than Lupis in Tabula (the ultimate party game). This game's learning curve is steep but well worth it!! It's the best cooperative game we've found. And the art is to die for. I strongly recommend having one person learn the rules backwards and forwards, inside and out, and letting that guru step in and correct misconceptions during the first half dozen sessions of play. It speeds things along, which greatly enhances the game's enjoyment for all.
I've got an eight-person gaming group. When we decide to play AH (which is about once every two months), the victim/host sets up the game (a three-to-four hour task the first time you try it if you're playing multiple expansions). We play one or two evenings that weekend, and the host leaves the game set up through the week on the same table (usually the formal dining-room table because nothing else is big enough). We play another game (or two) the following weekend. Then the host takes it down.
Set-up demands so much time it's worth playing two or three rounds before taking it down.
The Dark Pharaoh and Dunwich Horror expansions rock. The King in Yellow expansion usually spells sudden, unpleasant death without adding too much flavor. The terror track is grueling and the card for the third act always seems to come up way to swiftly. No one in my group is a fan of The King in Yellow expansion (probably because we've never survived).
We've just procured Kingsport and will add it in this weekend. I'm giddy with excitement!
Any overall strategy tips to share for the base game?
(In playing about a half a dozen games, we try to run around and pick up all the clue tokens, then work on closing gates, and then killing off monsters. This method has not served us well: Too many gates open, city full of monsters, terror track advancing, etc.)
Lori B wrote: Any overall strategy tips to share for the base game?
(In playing about a half a dozen games, we try to run around and pick up all the clue tokens, then work on closing gates, and then killing off monsters. This method has not served us well: Too many gates open, city full of monsters, terror track advancing, etc.)
The best general strategy is to have everyone assigned a different task (keep in mind this might need radical alteration based on the Ancient One in play):
At least one monster-killer. The best people for this are the ones with balanced Health/Sanity and Fight/Will, especially in the expansions. Try the Salesman, Drifter, or Handyman or similar people.
One gate closer A magic user is best for Lore and Find Gate.
One item fetcher. Drifter, Salesman, Magician or similar.
One spare if things get out of hand. The best choice for this are people who can "heal" like the Psychiatrist, Doctor, or Expedition Leader.
Alternative to a spare, you might want a specialist. These are people like the Photographer (for lots of encounters) or the Scientist.
Above all else: Pick your strategy before hand and commit to it, don't mess around or get distracted by temptation. But know when things aren't going your way. For example, if you went with "Sealing Gates" as a strategy, and the Ancient One is pretty much arriving soon, switching as soon as possible to "Final Battle" is a better option than getting caught unprepared.
Lori B wrote: Any overall strategy tips to share for the base game?
(In playing about a half a dozen games, we try to run around and pick up all the clue tokens, then work on closing gates, and then killing off monsters. This method has not served us well: Too many gates open, city full of monsters, terror track advancing, etc.)
Once you lose control of an Arkham Horror game, it can be very difficult (even for 8 investigator squads) to claw things back- a premature confrontation with the Ancient One (or in the case of The King in Yellow expansion an abrupt end to the game without a final battle chance) is the inevitable result, and lots of squished investigators.
For that reason the following investigators I find to be particularly useful:
Mandy Thompson
Not only does The Researcher start with 4 clue tokens (almost enough to seal a gate!) but that special ability is invaluable. When a bad dice roll is threatening to knock out or render insane an investigator (or worse still, lose in Time & Space an investigator who was in another World) the reroll of all dice which didn't come up 5 or 6 gives you another chance to avoid calamity.
Darrell Simmons
Some Arkham Encounter cards are BAD. Darrell at least gets the pick of two cards in Arkham Neighbourhoods.
Gloria Goldberg
Many Other World Encounter Cards are BAD, BAD, BAD. Gloria gets a choice of two, which is crucial in particularly awkward other-worlds such as R'lyeh.
Management of investigator resources
If an investigator is at The Bank of Arkham getting a bank-loan, then they are not fighting the monsters piling up on the streets. If an investigator is purchasing a flesh ward spell at the Magick Shoppe then they are not exploring another world or regaining missing stamina/sanity at the hospital/asylum. Even trips to the Curiositie Shoppe in the hope of locating an Elder Sign (and for goodness sake don't go shopping there if you don't have at least $5, as there can be few things worse than seeing one slip past because you can only afford a Nameless Cults) take an investigator away from other tasks.
In general I find getting investigators through gates into other worlds (even if just to shut an early gate) a good idea; closing a gate sends back home any monsters in Arkham with the same dimensional symbol, and sealing a gate (unless an expansion which features a mechanic such as gate-bursts is played with) is even better as it usually stops any more gates from opening at a location.
Expecting an investigator who went into another world with just five clue tokens to make it back to Arkham with those five, to be able to seal a gate, can be overly optimistic in the Arkham Horror, however....
Fighting monsters on the streets is actually useful, since it decreases the rate at which the terror level goes up, and gives investigators trophies which they can trade in for various options (allies in particular!). As a tip for trying to work out how many monster it is safe to 'leave' on the streets, the 'worst' a mythos card can usually do is generate a monster surge (monsters equal to the number of investigators or open gates, whichever is higher) and then add two more as the 'text' part of the card to one Arkham neighbourhood.
Oh: And kill those Cthonians if you have the resources (investigators with enough weaponry to have a reasonable shot at taking them down) spare. (Or their Colour from out of Space sanity eating counterparts in The Dunwich Horror expansion). They will start eating stamina (or sanity) if left around for any length of time....
Collecting clue tokens from the board is useful (since clue tokens represent flexibility and safety margins for investigators in many situations, besides offering a means to seal gates even after all the Elder Signs are gone), but risky from some locations. In the base set the Woods and The Witch House in particular have encounters which can open a gate and suck the investigator into another world if the site has not already been sealed (or Kate Winthrop is not present with her Science! ability). (Darrell Simmons, of course, gets a chance to pick from two cards when visiting these sites, giving him options.)
Watch the speed of all your investigators by the way. Investigators who have a maximum speed of 3 are severely inhibited in their ability to respond to gates opening or monsters needing slaying. Even if you draw them there are only so many motorbikes & maps of Arkham to go around. (And shopping for those at the general store is much cheaper than fishing for a certain Unique Item ruby or a Speed Skill at the Administration building).
Spell-casting is not a viable solution to many problems since it depletes sanity which most monsters threaten to deplete with horror checks. It is best saved for situations where it can be most effective or is the only reasonable solution (find gate cast to shave time off trips to other worlds or a bind monster to try to get rid of a Dhole which keeps getting in the way on the streets).
Locations & Allies.
At most Arkham locations (with just the base set) you can predict what sort of checks an investigator might be called upon to make. For example the Woods usually calls for sneak checks (to avoid Sheldon Gang members) or luck checks (to find useful items). There may be one or more encounters which deviate from the general trend (for example the encounter with a holy man in the woods which calls for a lore check) but if you play enough yopu get a general idea for wha a location is likely to call for.
It is worth keeping in mind what the requirement to pick up the ally 'based' in that location is, when heading for that location. Most allies provide valuable boosts to abilities, and some offer items or other resources upon recruitment as well.
Base set allies:
Have to go now, as I have other things to do. I may post more later, or if you have particular matters you would like my thoughts on....
Charles Evans 25 wrote: [Spell-casting is not a viable solution to many problems since it depletes sanity which most monsters threaten to deplete with horror checks. It is best saved for situations where it can be most effective or is the only reasonable solution (find gate cast to shave time off trips to other worlds or a bind monster to try to get rid of a Dhole which keeps getting in the way on the streets). On a related note, the Librarian is the best new character in the Kingsport expansion.
1) Ability to reduce the sanity cost of all spells by 1.
2) Ability to negate all sanity loss from Tomes.
At the start of the game, my group traded her all the spells and tomes, and she turned into a clue-token factory and ally recruiter. We would have lost the game without her, as she was able to kill some very tough monsters using spells.
EDIT: Should Arkham Horror even be in the boardgames section of the boards? After all, the subtitle says ...all the games you can WIN.
Jal Dorak wrote: Charles Evans 25 wrote: [Spell-casting is not a viable solution to many problems since it depletes sanity which most monsters threaten to deplete with horror checks. It is best saved for situations where it can be most effective or is the only reasonable solution (find gate cast to shave time off trips to other worlds or a bind monster to try to get rid of a Dhole which keeps getting in the way on the streets). On a related note, the Librarian is the best new character in the Kingsport expansion.
1) Ability to reduce the sanity cost of all spells by 1.
2) Ability to negate all sanity loss from Tomes.
At the start of the game, my group traded her all the spells and tomes, and she turned into a clue-token factory and ally recruiter. We would have lost the game without her, as she was able to kill some very tough monsters using spells.
EDIT: Should Arkham Horror even be in the boardgames section of the boards? After all, the subtitle says ...all the games you can WIN. Given that Charlie Kane, the politician, is the only investigator able to access those 11 (or more, if expansions other than Kingsport are added) allies returned to the box at the start of a game, and that he can keep the terror level from rising, I rate him fairly highly alongside Daisy Walker.
So far (Y'Golonac and Yibb-Tstll under investigation still; also the impact that the two Kingsport heralds can have upon play) Yog-Sothoth (especially with Dunwich Horror expansion in use) and Atlach-Nacha are the only Ancient Ones to pose me much difficulty in winning in solitaire play, and even these can be usually beaten off by my optimised investigator selection 'Anti-Yog Squad'. Having more investigators makes some of the rumours unpleasant, but otherwise usually offers a safety margin for 'Close all the Gates' or 'Seal the Gates' victories. I quite like the Kingsport expansion because it actually stretches a party of 8 investigators, by requiring the attention of one (or more) of them on the Kingsport board keeping rifts from opening.
As an observation, it seems to me that the more expansions that you play with at once, the easier the game gets, as the expansions dilute one another's down sides. Dunwich Horror's Gate bursts and almost useless (in my experience) Mission cards get drawn less often with the addition of extra mythos cards and Unique items; King in Yellow's acts cards show up less frequently with the addition of extra mythos cards; other world cards which specifically mention Kingsport Horror's 'Unknown Kadath' show up less often.... Of course the flip side of the mixing more than one expansions is that you are less likely to get a slice of Dark Pharaoh's goodness (those wonderful Exhibit Items or combat helpful allies), and that the allies you really want to be in play are more likely to end up being returned to the box.
Using only investigators from the base set, my current 'optimised pick' of 8 is as follows:
Kate Winthrop
Darrell Simmons
Carolyn Fern
Joe Diamond
Gloria Goldberg
Harvey Walters
Mandy Thompson
Amanda Sharpes
Harvey and/or Carolyn need those maps or motorbikes to up their movement allowance (although you can always just max out Carolyn's fight and leave her to wander around the streets, a weapon in each hand, looking for monsters to kill- unless you have Shan(s?) and Yithnians on the loose where her ability to recover sanity points (including those resulting from failed Horror checks) is of little use).
Amanda Sharpes is especially useful for those expansions where there are skills that you want to cherry pick.
Joe Diamond, whilst somewhat fragile on the Will front, has the advantage of being able to deploy fast to almost any emergency, and gets maximum effect out of clue tokens for skill checks.
If I were going outside the core set, I might consider swapping Daisy Walker for Harvey Walters, and Charlie Kane maybe for Joe Diamond. I like Diamond's Hunches and starts-with-three-clues, but I like Charlie Kane's ability to stop allies from leaving town & shops shutting, whilst not having to worry that John Legrasse has been returned to the box when he goes to the Unvisited Isle on the off-chance that he might recruit him.
I prefer to use Ithaqua as a 'control' Ancient One for assessing new expansions; his ability to cancel annoying environment (weather) mythos cards (especially those ones which reduce movement) is much more helpful than the damage his freezing winds ability potentially deals, I feel, and it's actually possible to beat him in a fight unless you roll really badly for equipment loss.
Charles Evans 25 wrote: I prefer to use Ithaqua as a 'control' Ancient One for assessing new expansions; his ability to cancel annoying environment (weather) mythos cards (especially those ones which reduce movement) is much more helpful than the damage his freezing winds ability potentially deals, I feel, and it's actually possible to beat him in a fight unless you roll really badly for equipment loss.
Poor Ithaqua, we once got the mission card that reduces the Ancient Ones combat rating. He was bare-knuckle-boxed to death by the Mobster. My favorite line about Ithaqua: "Aren't the Ancient Ones supposed to be hard?"
Jal Dorak wrote: Poor Ithaqua, we once got the mission card that reduces the Ancient Ones combat rating. He was bare-knuckle-boxed to death by the Mobster. My favorite line about Ithaqua: "Aren't the Ancient Ones supposed to be hard?" 'Sealing the Beast's Power'.... One of the few Mission cards that is workable, given that the sacrifices aren't too strenuous or the places too hard to visit in order....
Hmmm. Actually I'm wondering now if Walking the Leylines might be viable against Atlach-Nacha, for a 'Close all the Gates' victory for a small party (unfortunately Close all the Gates still requires you to have some gate trophies to win, and Walking the Leylines requires sacrifice of Gate trophies to rack up those progress markers, and itself discards from play (not awards as trophies) the gates which it closes); although Atlach-Nacha as the Anicent One and with a Walking the Leylines mission attempted would imply both Dunwich Horror AND Kingsport Horror expansions in play (with both boards), which could be difficult for a small squad to handle. (Plus there is the problem of still finding that specific mission in the first place.)
Now that I think about it the Captain of the White Ship (& The White Ship which goes with it) help carry out two of the Dunwich Horror Missions: The Light of Reason (which requires a trip to The City of the Great Race) and For The Greater Good (which requires a trip to the second areas of several Other Worlds- okay, so you have to work your way around them to make those 4 clue token sacrifices, since The White Ship will only get you to the first area).
The Crystals of the Elder Things are handy for those spell casters who aren't Carolyn Fern or Daisy Walker- especially so for final battles, given that at least one of the Epic Battle cards in Kingsport Horror eats your sanity, irrespective of attacks by the Ancient One.
My favoured method of shuffling mythos cards from different expansions together (or Other World cards for that matter) is to spread them all out face down on the floor (or a tabletop) and mix them all together that way. I find regular shuffling can lead to unpleasant 'clumps' of cards from an expansion remaining together, which is not funny when a couple of monster surges in quick sucession caused by a gate on Wizard's Hill is the end result.
Charles Evans 25 wrote: Hmmm. Actually I'm wondering now if Walking the Leylines might be viable against Atlach-Nacha, for a 'Close all the Gates' victory for a small party (unfortunately Close all the Gates still requires you to have some gate trophies to win, and Walking the Leylines requires sacrifice of Gate trophies to rack up those progress markers, and itself discards from play (not awards as trophies) the gates which it closes); although Atlach-Nacha as the Anicent One and with a Walking the Leylines mission attempted would imply both Dunwich Horror AND Kingsport Horror expansions in play (with both boards), which could be difficult for a small squad to handle. (Plus there is the problem of still finding that specific mission in the first place.)
I have been pondering Atlach-Nacha since I opened the box. It is brutal, even without gate burst cards. I haven't yet faced it in the game, but I would plan on having Daryl Simmons sit on the Science Building and hope for the gate-closing encounter. This might require some luck with skills and clues, but it could be workable.
Oh, and I have always ruled that Kate's gate-prevention ability negates even a gate burst (since a gate burst explicitly negates an elder sign, but not other powers that prevent openings) so she would help as well.
Jal Dorak wrote:
I have been pondering Atlach-Nacha since I opened the box. It is brutal, even without gate burst cards. I haven't yet faced it in the game, but I would plan on having Daryl Simmons sit on the Science Building and hope for the gate-closing encounter. This might require some luck with skills and clues, but it could be workable.
Oh, and I have always ruled that Kate's gate-prevention ability negates even a gate burst (since a gate burst explicitly negates an elder sign, but not other powers that prevent openings) so she would help as well.
Sending multiple investigators through one gate, with find gate spells and one of them having the gate box in theory allows a brutal, unsubtle, whittling down of gates for a 'close all the gates' victory, if the sanity scores of the investigators in question hold out. Trying to fight Atlach-Nacha in a Final Battle gets messy- especially with the Epic Battle cards involved. You still have to seal some gate locations (even if they're going to get burst open again) to slow doom token progression (gate bursts at sealed sites do not add a doom token to the track) and allow time for recruiting as many allies as possible, in case of a final battle versus Atlach.
My anti-yog squad has (narrowly) pulled out a close all the gates in solitaire play against Atlach, by frantic find gate activity, and sending multiple investigators through some gates as fast as they open. (I erred on the side of caution, and assumed Kate Winthrop would get sucked in by any gate burst, given that this is the Cthulhu Mythos we're talking about here, who don't usually (Ithaqua excepted) stack the deck in your favour.) Swapping Luke Robinson in (as he starts with the gate box anyway) is tempting, but he's so slow on the Arkham board (without motorcycle, etc) that he can't always reach another gate fast enough to be effective after closing one, and his maximum fight of 4, low focus score (only 1, severely restricting his adaptability) and the fact that for most other world areas it's optimal to keep your luck score in the 4+ zone if possible all conspire to make him fairly ineffective without allies to boost his abilities and elder signs to shut gates to places like R'lyeh or Yuggoth. (Rolling only one or two dice to attempt to shut one of those by fight checks can take a long time to get success.)
Turn one, I piled as many investigators as possible into The Newspaper, I think, (besides those necessary to get someone through the first gate open, to attack that straight away) in hope of acquiring retainer cards (or clues if retainers failed to show up) so that later on I could blitz the curiositie shop for elder signs and the gate box. Later on, occasional trips to the asylum/hospital to top up sanity/stamina (playing safe- nothing like losing a couple of sanity in R'lyeh when you were already low on it to wreck a good plan) for my other world investigators were occasionally made.
I don't recall using The Captain of the White Ship cards properly in my Atlach-Nacha tests, either; combined with find gate spells, that should help to pick off gates fairly fast (especially ones where there are too many monsters in the way for regular approach by investigators.
I am hesitant to sit Darrell Simmons in the Science Building in the hope of getting either of the two gate closing cards available there (the original set Lore-2 and then success needed for each gate one, or the Lore-2, then flip 3 mythos cards one from Kingsport) as Lore checks are not usually his strong suit. Unless clue tokens are piling up there on a regular basis so that he could at least be collecting those, I would much rather have him up in Kingsport, keeping control of the rifts and bagging allies, or knocking off monsters that are roaming the streets (since he has a reasonable total Fight+Will scores). As a last desperate gamble to attempt to put off a final battle and/or win by other means I might send him to the science building, but sending Silver Twilight members off to hope for a gating ceremony (Lore-2 & sacrifices) or look-at-and-rearrange-the-top-five-mythos-cards (no checks needed if this encounter comes up) are also possible options.
Having disposed of Y'Gonolac tonight, I would recommend avoiding the unique item deck (and especially the Curiositie Shoppe) like the plague if he is the Ancient One. The odds of a single unique item being a Tome with the Kingsport and Arkham Horror base sets involved are somewhere between one in three and one in four, which means practically every trip to the curiositie shop trns into a doom token for Y'Gonolac. There are some means to search through the deck for elder signs specifically (which will not trigger the tomes power of the Ancient One) and if you start off with a high proportion of the tomes already in your investigator's hands as starting equipment through luck of the draw, the odds shift back in your favour.
As a final general observation for now, I will comment that with eight investigators, if they have not won before turn 17 or 18, they are usually either reaching breaking point (or have snapped already) or are stringing the game out to max out a final victory point count, with everything under perfect control.
Oh, and that 'mistrust' rumour from Kingsport Horror is a real killer if it comes out early. I have had it wreck one game, force another one into a final battle with Eihort to avoid it (fortunately, the 'rise & shine Ancient One' massa tome had shown up, so this was possible), and almost destroy another one. Normally I like Rumours because they have nice rewards when you remove them, and are relatively easy to deal with (a couple of the Dunwich Horror and the King in Yellow ones excepted). 'Mistrust' has a nice payoff (a random ally for each investigator) but is awkward to deal with if it comes up early in the game, almost impossible to stop (a particular Mission from Dunwich Horror excepted) if not dealt with straight away, and particularly nasty if it does go bad.
Great feedback!!! I look forward to trying out your shared wisdom.
We have been playing 2 person games with each of us running 2 investigators. Looks like we need to find some more players, or try playing with more investigators per person. It looks like our biggest disadvantage is the reduced number of options and added turns that comes from 4 investigators, rather than 8 investigators, running around Arkham.
Lori B wrote: Great feedback!!! I look forward to trying out your shared wisdom.
We have been playing 2 person games with each of us running 2 investigators. Looks like we need to find some more players, or try playing with more investigators per person. It looks like our biggest disadvantage is the reduced number of options and added turns that comes from 4 investigators, rather than 8 investigators, running around Arkham.
With four investigators some monster spillage onto the outskirts ends up being inevitable, which is just about manageable as four investigators are allowed more gates open without waking the Ancient One, the outskirts limit is higher, and monster surges (unless the gates open situation is really bad) are more limited in numbers released. Or at least it's manageable until a Cthonian ends up on the outskirts, where you can't kill it, and the thing starts taking stamina off everyone in Arkham every other time a triangle comes up on a Mythos card. That's the point at which you find yourself hoping for a City of The Great Race gate to close (to send the Cthonian back to the bag) or even the outskirts overloading raising the teror level by 1 simply to be rid of the thing. :D
Charles Evans 25 wrote: Having disposed of Y'Gonolac tonight, I would recommend avoiding the unique item deck (and especially the Curiositie Shoppe) like the plague if he is the Ancient One. The odds of a single unique item being a Tome with the Kingsport and Arkham Horror base sets involved are somewhere between one in three and one in four, which means practically every trip to the curiositie shop trns into a doom token for Y'Gonolac. There are some means to search through the deck for elder signs specifically (which will not trigger the tomes power of the Ancient One) and if you start off with a high proportion of the tomes already in your investigator's hands as starting equipment through luck of the draw, the odds shift back in your favour.
My group also finished of Y'Gonolac this evening, using the Scientist, Politician, Soldier, and Dreamer. We chose everything randomly, so it was sometimes a scramble to keep up.
Although the Dreamer was relatively weak in the early going, he ended up winning the game by acquiring a Find Gate and gaining clue tokens every time he went off world (very useful in the mid-game when clue tokens are rare).
We almost lost, the doom track was up to 11 of 12, but we pulled off a gate seal victory, entirely with clue tokens. We relied heavily on skill bonuses and allies to improve our chances, and did not touch the magic item shoppe. Unfortunately, the first unique we drew as an encounter result was a tome (fortunately one that reduced the doom track, but got several other less useful ones later on as well).
Overall, it was probably the closest I have come to entering a final battle but stilling pulling out a victory. Very satisfying.
Jal Dorak wrote: My group also finished of Y'Gonolac this evening, using the Scientist, Politician, Soldier, and Dreamer. We chose everything randomly, so it was sometimes a scramble to keep up.
Although the Dreamer was relatively weak in the early going, he ended up winning the game by acquiring a Find Gate and gaining clue tokens every time he went off world (very useful in the mid-game when clue tokens are rare).
We almost lost, the doom track was up to 11 of 12, but we pulled off a gate seal victory, entirely with clue tokens. We relied heavily on skill bonuses and allies to improve our chances, and did not touch the magic item shoppe. Unfortunately, the first unique we drew as an encounter result was a tome (fortunately one that reduced the doom track, but got several other less useful ones later on as well).
Overall, it was probably the closest I have come to entering a final battle but stilling pulling out a victory. Very satisfying.
Ah. Sounds like Eltdown Shards (the doom token reducing tome).
If you were using Mark Harrigan (the Soldier), who is a Dunwich character, were you playing with all three boards (Arkham, Dunwich, and Kingsport) and Dunwich's injuries/madness rules? In a pinch, the injury/madness rules are useful, because although that's the end of a character's turn and a potentially crippling effect incurred, it can sometimes be preferable to losing half your clues and equipment.
Edit:
Have defeated Yibb-Tstll; whilst I was slightly concerned about the increased horror damage from the nightgaunts, fortunately none showed up, although that limit on clue tokens/investigator was annoying. Also had a run-out against Nyarthlotep, to test the Kingsport Mask monsters, and that clue-eating, elusive, 'shadowy figure' is a pest; the more so because it's endless, so your only hope to get rid of it on a permanent basis is with an investigator who has recruited Legrasse, or by drawing it as a monster tropy from 'the cup' (or plastic bag in my case) as a result of an Arkham/Other world encounter. The fact that it was one of those evenings where 'Mistrust' showed up relatively earlier, and the dice conspired to consistently roll badly against a star-spawn (which was eventually defeated) and a werewolf (which was not) made it a lot harder than it should have been. Oh... and the dhole parked itself outside of the hospital, having slithered out of a Woods gate, just after several investigators had been sent there unconcious, trapping them until Amanda Sharpes (who had acquired both Professor Armitage AND a brazier of souls- don't you love it when you get a decent magical weapon and an ally who cancels magical resistance?) could be sent in to 'fumigate' it.
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