Support NeoGAF

Moobabe · Jul 11, 2017

Hey guys!

Didn't know there was a thread for this!

I picked up the core set before a holiday with my mates, then played through the whole thing there.

It's really fantastic, like so fantastic after my 5 hour journey home I stopped off at Orc's Nest (board game shop), in central London, ON A SATURDAY, WHEN PRIDE WAS ON!!!! just to pick up something else.

I ended up going for the Dunwich expansion - seemed the best value for money (it was 30 and the single, standalones were 15)

My biggest criticism, though, is the out of the box storage for the expansion. In the core set you get the sealable bags to keep cards separate, but in this you get the three decks, in shrink wrap, and nothing else.

Do you guys all have this issue? Or have you all stumped up a bit of cash for storage?

Do FFG just assume that I would have bought deck boxes, or binders, before buying this? I opened the player card pack to check out the new characters and now I've got cards all over the place

XShagrath · Jul 11, 2017

Moobabe said:
Do FFG just assume that I would have bought deck boxes, or binders, before buying this? I opened the player card pack to check out the new characters and now I've got cards all over the place

Unfortunately FFG really doesn't care about storage needs. There are at least a dozen different storage options available. If you want to go the cheapest route, you could probably get some cardstock or foam and make little rows to put in the core box and use that. I believe it will fit everything released so far. Some people go more ornate and pimp out briefcases and artist cases. Others (like myself) go for just cardboard boxes intended for sports and Magic cards, since they're cheapest and easily expandable.

Here's my current storage solution. Player cards in a 3-ring binder, and each campaign in its own box.

Moobabe · Jul 11, 2017

XShagrath said:
Unfortunately FFG really doesn't care about storage needs. There are at least a dozen different storage options available. If you want to go the cheapest route, you could probably get some cardstock or foam and make little rows to put in the core box and use that. I believe it will fit everything released so far. Some people go more ornate and pimp out briefcases and artist cases. Others (like myself) go for just cardboard boxes intended for sports and Magic cards, since they're cheapest and easily expandable.

Here's my current storage solution. Player cards in a 3-ring binder, and each campaign in its own box.

Yeah I suppose you're right, if I'm gonna invest in the game I should probably invest in some storage..

Can you open up your campaign boxes and grab a shot of the inside? I'm curious as to how you've done it!

AstroLad · Jul 11, 2017

Moobabe said:
Hey guys!

Didn't know there was a thread for this!

I picked up the core set before a holiday with my mates, then played through the whole thing there.

It's really fantastic, like so fantastic after my 5 hour journey home I stopped off at Orc's Nest (board game shop), in central London, ON A SATURDAY, WHEN PRIDE WAS ON!!!! just to pick up something else.

I ended up going for the Dunwich expansion - seemed the best value for money (it was 30 and the single, standalones were 15)

My biggest criticism, though, is the out of the box storage for the expansion. In the core set you get the sealable bags to keep cards separate, but in this you get the three decks, in shrink wrap, and nothing else.

Do you guys all have this issue? Or have you all stumped up a bit of cash for storage?

Do FFG just assume that I would have bought deck boxes, or binders, before buying this? I opened the player card pack to check out the new characters and now I've got cards all over the place

Haha yeah FFG always has absolute crap boxes. This is true for I think ALL of their games, and is in stark contrast to their quality and aesthetics everywhere else. I think the solution for Arkham is SUPER simple and cheap though -- just get a card box and dividers. E.g.: http://www.hobbiesdepot.com/supplie...all-Trading-Card-Box?language=en&currency=USD

And keep the base box for all the rules and tokens (or if you don't care about having the rules around, you can probably fit everything in the card box tbh).

XShagrath · Jul 11, 2017

Moobabe said:
Can you open up your campaign boxes and grab a shot of the inside? I'm curious as to how you've done it!

I'm in the process of making dividers now, so this pic is from my old storage solution. These black cardboard boxes aren't as tall as the standard "shoeboxes" that most people use.

This image is pretty outdated, as it's pre-Dunwich. I also hadn't moved player cards over to the binder yet. Everything on the right is just empty sleeves, outside of the two PODs at the back.

Here's what the inside of my current Dunwich box looks like at the moment. I'm measuring and cutting dividers as I type this.

I've got a smaller box for Night of the Zealot, and then another small box for my pimped out tokens.

AstroLad said:
Yeah I did it on TTS just to try it out and at least when I tried it it was a really good implementation. Believe GAF's own noaloha has a walkthrough. It's pretty easy to use iirc as long as you're comfortable with TTS (which is like...maybe 30m to become if you're not). I didn't do a full playthrough or anything though, just a few turns to get a feel. I'd be up for trying a GAF game for sure.

Do you happen to know if the TTS module is up to date? I don't currently have TTS installed, but I'm pretty sure OCTGN has all of Dunwich available.

hoggert · Jul 12, 2017

Been thinking of buying one of Go7's storage solution - but looking at it, I could probably just make something similar myself if I wasn't lazy.

For those looking for the price gouged shit at MSRP, I spent most of Sunday looking for Dunwich stuff and a second core set, I found a few places:
Roll for Crit - they have discounts on most FFG stuff and a rewards program. They're OOS of a lot of the mythos packs though.
Cardhaus - Have discounts on Arkham and have most in stock.
Compleat Strategist - stopped off at their NYC location earlier today to pick up the Mythos packs I was missing and a gift for the GF. They have boxes of all the Mythos packs just laying around on the floor by the register lol. Plenty of the core set too. They only have Dunwich up on their online store, but they have a phone order "hotline" so you might be able to order the mythos packs through there.

antiquegamer · Jul 12, 2017

Moobabe said:
Hey guys!

Didn't know there was a thread for this!

I picked up the core set before a holiday with my mates, then played through the whole thing there.

It's really fantastic, like so fantastic after my 5 hour journey home I stopped off at Orc's Nest (board game shop), in central London, ON A SATURDAY, WHEN PRIDE WAS ON!!!! just to pick up something else.

I ended up going for the Dunwich expansion - seemed the best value for money (it was 30 and the single, standalones were 15)

My biggest criticism, though, is the out of the box storage for the expansion. In the core set you get the sealable bags to keep cards separate, but in this you get the three decks, in shrink wrap, and nothing else.

Do you guys all have this issue? Or have you all stumped up a bit of cash for storage?

Do FFG just assume that I would have bought deck boxes, or binders, before buying this? I opened the player card pack to check out the new characters and now I've got cards all over the place

FFG really is one of the worst when it come to box and insert. I had a plan thinking that the box would be the same as LoTR LCG but after I saw Dunwich box I ended up making one of this with Broken Token insert. So far I have plenty of room even with sleeves and probably could be fine for next cycle of expansions.

I even spend couple dollars and got Elder Sign sticker for the wooden box from Amazon.

AstroLad · Jul 12, 2017

hoggert said:
Compleat Strategist - stopped off at their NYC location earlier today to pick up the Mythos packs I was missing and a gift for the GF. They have boxes of all the Mythos packs just laying around on the floor by the register lol. Plenty of the core set too. They only have Dunwich up on their online store, but they have a phone order "hotline" so you might be able to order the mythos packs through there.

Hahah oh man that takes me back. Lived there when I first got into board games and was SO excited to visit the one game shop in Manhattan. Too bad as it turns out its one of the worst game shops in existence when you consider their awful space and even worse staff. I think we spent about five minutes in there before we got the picture.

hoggert · Jul 12, 2017

AstroLad said:
Hahah oh man that takes me back. Lived there when I first got into board games and was SO excited to visit the one game shop in Manhattan. Too bad as it turns out its one of the worst game shops in existence when you consider their awful space and even worse staff. I think we spent about five minutes in there before we got the picture.

Yeah, I used to go there in the 90s for games workshop stuff and when I found out they were still in business I was surprised given the place was always more of a warehouse then a shop. They have shit piled up to the ~24' ceiling in their tiny ass space. Staff was professional if quirky with me yesterday, but then again I didn't ask them anything annoying besides "when's carcosa bro." They still don't even have a real register. Just carbon paper and a calculator 😂

TerminalDogma · Jul 12, 2017

I go into the city on Mondays and Tuesdays. Think Compleat Strategist would still have all the mythos packs in stock by then? I'm missing Miskatonic, Essex County, Blood on the Altar and Doom Awaits. I could order them from Cardhaus, though. Anyone ever order from them before?

hoggert · Jul 12, 2017

They had about 6-7 each of Musuem and Express, and tons of the other packs as far as I can tell.

Never ordered from Cardhaus, but I've seen them recomended on a couple of subreddits and a friend sometimes buys MtG cards from them.

Moobabe · Jul 12, 2017

antiquegamer said:
FFG really is one of the worst when it come to box and insert. I had a plan thinking that the box would be the same as LoTR LCG but after I saw Dunwich box I ended up making one of this with Broken Token insert. So far I have plenty of room even with sleeves and probably could be fine for next cycle of expansions.

I even spend couple dollars and got Elder Sign sticker for the wooden box from Amazon.

Oh man that's cool...

Do you have to manually size the Broken Token inserts? Or is there much jiggery pokery to get it all to fit?

XShagrath · Jul 12, 2017

Moobabe said:
Oh man that's cool...

Do you have to manually size the Broken Token inserts? Or is there much jiggery pokery to get it all to fit?

http://www.thebrokentoken.com/compact-card-game-organizer/

They make an organizer specifically for a box the size of the core set. My problem with these inserts is while they're beautiful and highly functional, you'll outgrow them due to the nature of an LCG. Maybe not after one cycle, but definitely after two or three. Maybe that's not a big deal, as you can always buy another to fit into your second core box.

XShagrath · Jul 12, 2017

New general article about the Carcosa campaign. I absolutely love how you never know what to expect with this game, and this second campaign looks like it's going to be even better than Dunwich!

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2017/7/12/a-mind-is-a-terrible-thing-to-lose/

witchedwiz · Jul 12, 2017

welp I finished ordering all the sleeves...
crazy that to get enough sleeves for both full arkham horrog lcg (core + all expac) and full elder sign (core + all expac) I had to spend close to 70 eur...
oh well..

now back on track..

finger is itching...

new potential stuff:
legendary marvel
mage knight
pathfinder adventure card game
lord of the rings card game
descent
mansions of madness

advice?

XShagrath · Jul 12, 2017

witchedwiz said:
now back on track..

finger is itching...

new potential stuff:
legendary marvel
mage knight
pathfinder adventure card game
lord of the rings card game
descent
mansions of madness

advice?

I've played all of these, but don't have a lot of plays on some of them. You can also ask in the regular Board Gaming OT as well.

Legendary: Marvel - Pretty light deckbuilder. It plays similar to Ascension (in my opinion). I don't find it extremely difficult, and I find that the theme isn't extremely strong. Playing multiple Wolverine cards in a single turn, for example, seems a little weird, even though they are different moves or powers. It definitely didn't suck me into the Marvel universe as much as it could have.

Mage Knight - I've played this a handful of times, and I just find it to be too clunky. There are just too many moving pieces in the game and they don't all really fit together in a way that makes sense to me. The deckbuilding is extremely light in this one, so don't get it for that aspect.

Pathfinder: ACG - Hate it. Granted, I've only played the first campaign, so things may have changed. However, everything in it just felt so samey. Contrast that with Arkham, where every scenario in a campaign can play very differently and give a completely different feel. This was just "go to the location, draw a card, roll for a test" over and over. Also, the deckbuilding was still very light and I probably added/changed less than ten cards to my deck over the course of the campaign.

Lord of the Rings: LCG - This is the precursor to Arkham, which means I should love it. I was invested in this game for quite some time and I think I've got two full cycles worth of content. Ultimately, I realized there are parts of the game that really turn me off. The scenarios are very dependent on building a certain deck. Essentially, you're going to lose your first run of a scenario, then realize how it plays, and then build a completely new deck to beat it on a subsequent run. Then, you'll rinse/repeat for the next one. I much prefer Arkham's way of just using one deck with small tweaks running through multiple scenarios.

Descent - This is a pretty light dungeon crawler. I've only played it a couple of times with the base game and the Road to Legend app (to make it full co-op), and it worked well. I wouldn't mind getting this back to the table again, but I'm currently running Gloomhaven with a buddy and that will scratch our dungeon-crawler itch for quite some time.

Mansions of Madness - A very good Arkham Files game, which I'd rank just behind the LCG. The app does a very good job of telling a great story, and the scenarios (at least the ones I've played) have felt different enough to not get boring. If I have anything negative to say, it's that there isn't a whole lot of replayability without buying additional content. There are a couple downloadable scenarios you can get on the app stores, but the rest is tied to physical expansions. Just something to keep in mind. Also, the bases for the monster minis are absolutely atrocious! After I finish painting all of mine, I'll be re-basing them on something smaller and more aesthetically pleasing.

AstroLad · Jul 12, 2017

marvel legendary gets really good once you add some of the big-box expansions but the base game alone is pretty meh. now legendary encounters alien especially is amazing. these are soloable but don't feel like they'd be amazing solo experiences to me. more fun with 2-3 people.

i personally hate mage knight but people say it's an amazing solo game so ymmv.

hoggert · Jul 13, 2017

I really didn't enjoy the Pathfinder LCG the times I played it. I kept giving it another try and just not liking it. HUGE box for a card game, too much dice, chasing the boss from location to location was annoying (at least for the base scenarios I played,) and found the card interactions/combos and deckbuilding in general p lackluster. This was just the core Runelords set/digital though.

Have FFG revealed anymore investigators besides the mystic in the initial leak and the "neutral" actress for Carcosa? Can't find shit, so assume the answer is no.

XShagrath · Jul 13, 2017

hoggert said:
Have FFG revealed anymore investigators besides the mystic in the initial leak and the "neutral" actress for Carcosa? Can't find shit, so assume the answer is no.

The entire deluxe expansion leaked from a Polish publisher months ago. Here are the six investigators if you can't wait.

Mark Harrington - Guardian
Minh Thi Phan - Seeker
Sefina Rousseau - Rogue
Akachi Onyele - Mystic
William Yorick - Survivor
Lola Hayes - Neutral

I saw the entire leak when it was posted and downloaded it, as I wasn't sure if it was real or not (turns out it was, obviously). I didn't get too deep into it, so I didn't look at anything beyond the investigator cards and don't even remember their special abilities.

Since then, I've taken to trying to remain spoiler-free as much as possible. I rarely look too closely at the FFG articles that spoil cards, and I just wait until I get the pack in hand.

hoggert · Jul 13, 2017

Thanks! With the names, I was able to narrow down my search enough to find the spoilers. They all sound absolutely bonkers.

ZackieChan · Jul 13, 2017

Finally played the first core campaign last night with two friends. We failed miserably. Won't happen again 😉

Good times. Now I'm on my own again, so I'll do a two investigator solo campaign. Should be fun.

witchedwiz · Jul 13, 2017

In the end I bought descent and all it's big expansion available (in Italy we're still missing chains that rust and the mist one)..
Might actually indulge in one more game//serie in august..
If I go for a serie, it's eldritch horror or mom..
If I go for the single one, mage knight + dead of winter + a third one

End of ot

Back in topic.. carcosa in italy is still nowhere to be seen...

Moobabe · Jul 13, 2017

witchedwiz said:
In the end I bought descent and all it's big expansion available (in Italy we're still missing chains that rust and the mist one)..
Might actually indulge in one more game//serie in august..
If I go for a serie, it's eldritch horror or mom..
If I go for the single one, mage knight + dead of winter + a third one

End of ot

Back in topic.. carcosa in italy is still nowhere to be seen...

To chime in on this - I'm not crazy about MoM at all.

Maybe it's the group I've played it with a few times but it's SUPER easy to be quarterbacked in it - and I feel like allowing the turn order to change really promotes it.

People decide "as a group" what the best course of action is early and then, before it's even your go, the team has already decided what you should be doing.

Again, maybe it's the group I've played with...

witchedwiz · Jul 13, 2017

Moobabe said:
To chime in on this - I'm not crazy about MoM at all.

Maybe it's the group I've played it with a few times but it's SUPER easy to be quarterbacked in it - and I feel like allowing the turn order to change really promotes it.

People decide "as a group" what the best course of action is early and then, before it's even your go, the team has already decided what you should be doing.

Again, maybe it's the group I've played with...

well that's just "sort" of a concern..
consider that, as strange as it seems, I'm one of those gamers that can appreciate playing solo board game

I can play them with me girlfriend, and with a few friends every now and then, but if she's unwilling and I can't setup a proper "table", heck if I feel like playing I can go solo no problem, so far that the game allows it..

AstroLad · Jul 14, 2017

What do folks who've played a decent amount of 3 and 4 player feel about those two counts? I've played mostly 3 player but we're thinking about whether to maybe do a 4p runthrough of Dunwich now that we finished it with 3.

Moobabe · Jul 14, 2017

witchedwiz said:
well that's just "sort" of a concern..
consider that, as strange as it seems, I'm one of those gamers that can appreciate playing solo board game
I can play them with me girlfriend, and with a few friends every now and then, but if she's unwilling and I can't setup a proper "table", heck if I feel like playing I can go solo no problem, so far that the game allows it..

I can't say I've ever played a BG solo. I always felt that the joy in most games I've played - be they card, board or whatever - comes from playing with other people.

My first playthrough of Arkham, for example, was with my best mate. We had a damn blast, but I can't imagine it would have been the same playing on my own.

witchedwiz · Jul 14, 2017

antiquegamer said:
FFG really is one of the worst when it come to box and insert. I had a plan thinking that the box would be the same as LoTR LCG but after I saw Dunwich box I ended up making one of this with Broken Token insert. So far I have plenty of room even with sleeves and probably could be fine for next cycle of expansions.

I even spend couple dollars and got Elder Sign sticker for the wooden box from Amazon.

I like your solution..
how large is that case?
I'll try to get my hand on a similar one :X

witchedwiz · Jul 14, 2017

Moobabe said:
I can't say I've ever played a BG solo. I always felt that the joy in most games I've played - be they card, board or whatever - comes from playing with other people.

My first playthrough of Arkham, for example, was with my best mate. We had a damn blast, but I can't imagine it would have been the same playing on my own.

as I said, to each his own..
doesn't help that a LOT of my friends aren't much into gaming//videogames or evena at all

getting a 4 player table every week would be impossible, thus i rope my gf into playing with me..
but as both of us have demanding jobs (i'm a sw tech lead in a fairly large company, whereas she's an auditor) at times we just want to spend time relaxing together instead of going out or anything, thus she indulge me

next month (august) i'm also considering (as in, i'll buy)
1) wyrm lair + some other small content (lieutenants or small quests)
2) mage knight
then the choices!!!
3a) mage knight expansions
3b) gloomhaven (if i manage to get one with all addon//stretch goals included)
3c) mansions of madness + at least one espansions
4) citadels
5a) dead of winter
5b) pandemic legacy (i like the almost storytelling approach of the game)
whelp i got again into board gaming it seems, and I'm playing catch up for the last 15 years where i went starving

september instead will most likely be eldritch horror month...
i've postponed buying it long enough!

XShagrath · Jul 14, 2017

witchedwiz said:
...

You really don't need to cross post your boardgaming purchases over here. That way, the focus can be on the LCG. Most (if not all of us) read/post in the general boardgaming OT, so we'll see it over there and can comment on your posts or answer your questions there.

Don't take this as being negative. I am happy you got back into boardgaming after such a hiatus. I was in a similar boat when I reintroduced myself back in 2006-7.

witchedwiz · Jul 14, 2017

XShagrath said:
You really don't need to cross post your boardgaming purchases over here. That way, the focus can be on the LCG. Most (if not all of us) read/post in the general boardgaming OT, so we'll see it over there and can comment on your posts or answer your questions there.

Don't take this as being negative. I am happy you got back into boardgaming after such a hiatus. I was in a similar boat when I reintroduced myself back in 2006-7.

sumimasen, senpai!

antiquegamer · Jul 15, 2017

witchedwiz said:
I like your solution..
how large is that case?
I'll try to get my hand on a similar one :X

It's the wooden artist case by Hobby Lobby (yeah, not a fan of them because of their shitty corporate policy). If you don't want to buy from them, Broken Token sell the case also (but with mark up). I got the case from Hobby Lobby sale for $14.00 and then bought the insert from Broken Token.

http://www.thebrokentoken.com/unfinished-wooden-artist-case-and-organizer-set/

If you are in Europe, there is a company in England that make awesome Arkham Horror suitcase.

http://oplaser.co.uk/shop/arkham-antique-assembled.html

Really spendy but it will hold 4500 cards.

witchedwiz · Jul 15, 2017

antiquegamer said:
It's the wooden artist case by Hobby Lobby (yeah, not a fan of them because of their shitty corporate policy). If you don't want to buy from them, Broken Token sell the case also (but with mark up). I got the case from Hobby Lobby sale for $14.00 and then bought the insert from Broken Token.

http://www.thebrokentoken.com/unfinished-wooden-artist-case-and-organizer-set/

If you are in Europe, there is a company in England that make awesome Arkham Horror suitcase.

http://oplaser.co.uk/shop/arkham-antique-assembled.html

Really spendy but it will hold 4500 cards.

Uhm, it's nice but not 75 pounds nice..
I'll do a quick roundup of old piled stuff in my grandad villa, I might find one old..
Alternatively I'm eyeing this one..
https://www.amazon.it/dp/B007C5MOQE/
I could use having two in one as I would also need one for elder sign..
The only thing is that I'd have to build the custom trays and all..

XShagrath · Jul 15, 2017

witchedwiz said:
The only thing is that I'd have to build the custom trays and all..

Building custom trays with foamcore isn't that difficult. Here's a good tutorial on them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hfKaDX2P2k

witchedwiz · Jul 15, 2017

uhm..
i introduced a friend to the game..
i learnt to play it via an online tutorial, thus i started with a custom deck, custom char etc etc..
and even when i played solo, i played using two chars..

him.. well he preferred to play the tutorial, so i just acted as a big brother and tried to correct just "illegal" plays or turn skip//forgetting action, and acted basically as a bening game master, handling both enemy turns and myth turns myself..

he played the roland default deck at difficulty hard, as i was coaching him into proper choices while playing..
well i cannot understad the default deck during the tutorial played solo with one investigator at hard...
basically

he ended up doing the "transition" from the study as his third action thus triggering the new "chapter" and the ghoul priest (or whatever he's called in the eng version) being spawned in the study..
in turn, after the third action, the ghoul priest turn started in the hallway, as exhausted, thus he had at least one single spare turn..
from there on, it was a stroke of failure after another.. (i'll skip the "management phase" for brevity)
TURN N
myth phase
the "bad card" that requires to be cleared of three clues token.. bad but not too hindering...
player phase
1st action --> recruit lita!! yay
as he could not change room fast enough and since the ghoul priest is a hunter minion, he would be chased anyway even if he escaped, i adviced him into drawing cards to pimp his hand..
2nd action --> get card
3rd action --> get card
enemy phase
nothing

TURN N+1
myth phase
the "bad card" was swarming rat.. still fine...
player phase
1st action --> attack, 3 base attack roland + 1 attack lita + -2 modifier.. fail..
2nd action --> attack, 3 base attack roland + 1 attack lita +skull modifier.. fail..
3rd action --> attack, 3 base attack roland + 1 attack lita + -3 modifier.. fail..
enemy phase
ghoul priest attack, 2 health and 2 horror chipped

TURN N+1
myth phase
the "bad card" was swarming rat.. still fine...
player phase
1st action --> attack, 3 base attack roland + 1 attack lita + -1 modifier.. fail..
2nd action --> attack, 3 base attack roland + 1 attack lita + 0 modifier.. success.. --> 2 dmg with lita
3rd action --> attack, 3 base attack roland + 1 attack lita + -1 modifier.. fail..
enemy phase
ghoul priest attack, 2 health and 2 horror chipped

TURN N+2
myth phase
the "bad card" was something not so bad, cannot even recall it
player phase
1st action --> attack, 3 base attack roland + 1 attack lita + -1 modifier.. fail..
2nd action --> attack, 3 base attack roland + 1 attack lita + 1 modifier.. success.. --> 2 dmg with lita, ghoul priest dead..

the end..
-----

was there something I could have suggested him to play differently?
my idea is that he could have done an avoidance check during the investigator phase, so effectively the ghoul priest would stay exhausted in the cellar again.. but i don't know how feasible it is, as roland has a 2 movement skill, whereas he needs 4.. considering that even if you use the card that allows you to spend 1 resource to get 1 additional movement bonus, it woul mean that unless you get neutral or positive chaos modifier, you would fail it anyway...

opinions? I've never used roland as investigator, so i don't really if i should focus with him at bruise or not..

sneaky77 · Jul 16, 2017

why didn't you play it co-op? That seems to make more sense, also on hard.. I cannot imagine if in normal was already pretty hard. After reading the spoilers, I am not sure I understand the questions, but maybe some of the more experience people will.

witchedwiz · Jul 16, 2017

sneaky77 said:
why didn't you play it co-op? That seems to make more sense, also on hard.. I cannot imagine if in normal was already pretty hard. After reading the spoilers, I am not sure I understand the questions, but maybe some of the more experience people will.

the guy wanted to play it and just give him some pointer when (if) he missed anything.. which is fair, i mean it's his call

my point is..
technically the game should be solo-able..
but the introductory mission, played with the default deck leaves VERY little to the "imagination", as you for example you literally have at hard close to zero chances to escape the ghoul priest..
did he misplayed (and i, by not giving him further instructions) the scenario or it's actually like that?
and this is the case, why did the "engineer" the introduction scenario into roping you into a situation with no "realistic" alternatives apart from fighting?
i mean, the game should encourage you to play creatively, but with the base deck (adviced in the manual) and while playing roland, you're basically a slave to events for most combat and evasion check....

AstroLad · Jul 16, 2017

playing roland solo on hard with the basic deck like that is just so ridiculous that the rest of the issues aren't even worth engaging with. lesson learned i guess. anyone in here or on bgg would have warned you against doing that fwiw. that's like me going into dark souls without any experience, cranking up the difficulty and being like yoooo wtf how broken is this game

in terms of the "imagination" points, this is an lcg not an rpg. so yeah you'll have forks in the road but you're not gonna be able to like natural 20 your way into some arcane spell to create a time portal to prevent the ghoul priest from being born or something. that said, the intro scenario is really basic in terms of the paths you take, so if you just wanted a few more paths each turn remember that it really is intended to be a tutorial just to show how fighting, investigating, and movement work basically. but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not go into the second scenario on hard solo with the basic deck. it's way harder than the first and if you thought your experience with the first scenario was bad, this will make you quit board gaming altogether if you go about it the same way.

hoggert · Jul 16, 2017

the second scenario in the base set is hard enough on normal duo, damn lol. Daisy or Wendy?

Grady Durden · Jul 16, 2017

AstroLad said:
playing roland solo on hard with the basic deck like that is just so ridiculous that the rest of the issues aren't even worth engaging with. lesson learned i guess. anyone in here or on bgg would have warned you against doing that fwiw. that's like me going into dark souls without any experience, cranking up the difficulty and being like yoooo wtf how broken is this game

in terms of the "imagination" points, this is an lcg not an rpg. so yeah you'll have forks in the road but you're not gonna be able to like natural 20 your way into some arcane spell to create a time portal to prevent the ghoul priest from being born or something. that said, the intro scenario is really basic in terms of the paths you take, so if you just wanted a few more paths each turn remember that it really is intended to be a tutorial just to show how fighting, investigating, and movement work basically. but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not go into the second scenario on hard solo with the basic deck. it's way harder than the first and if you thought your experience with the first scenario was bad, this will make you quit board gaming altogether if you go about it the same way.

Yeah my first couple of play throughs with Roland I did on easy. Really enjoying this game. I'm about to start dunwich expansion but I want to play the Night of the Zealot with Agnes first I think.

Noaloha · Jul 16, 2017

witchedwiz said:
he ended up doing the "transition" from the study as his third action thus triggering the new "chapter" and the ghoul priest (or whatever he's called in the eng version) being spawned in the study..
in turn, after the third action, the ghoul priest turn started in the hallway, as exhausted, thus he had at least one single spare turn..
from there on, it was a stroke of failure after another.. (i'll skip the "management phase" for brevity)
TURN N
myth phase
the "bad card" that requires to be cleared of three clues token.. bad but not too hindering...
player phase
1st action --> recruit lita!! yay
as he could not change room fast enough and since the ghoul priest is a hunter minion, he would be chased anyway even if he escaped, i adviced him into drawing cards to pimp his hand..
2nd action --> get card
3rd action --> get card
enemy phase
nothing

TURN N+1
myth phase
the "bad card" was swarming rat.. still fine...
player phase
1st action --> attack, 3 base attack roland + 1 attack lita + -2 modifier.. fail..
2nd action --> attack, 3 base attack roland + 1 attack lita +skull modifier.. fail..
3rd action --> attack, 3 base attack roland + 1 attack lita + -3 modifier.. fail..
enemy phase
ghoul priest attack, 2 health and 2 horror chipped

TURN N+1
myth phase
the "bad card" was swarming rat.. still fine...
player phase
1st action --> attack, 3 base attack roland + 1 attack lita + -1 modifier.. fail..
2nd action --> attack, 3 base attack roland + 1 attack lita + 0 modifier.. success.. --> 2 dmg with lita
3rd action --> attack, 3 base attack roland + 1 attack lita + -1 modifier.. fail..
enemy phase
ghoul priest attack, 2 health and 2 horror chipped

TURN N+2
myth phase
the "bad card" was something not so bad, cannot even recall it
player phase
1st action --> attack, 3 base attack roland + 1 attack lita + -1 modifier.. fail..
2nd action --> attack, 3 base attack roland + 1 attack lita + 1 modifier.. success.. --> 2 dmg with lita, ghoul priest dead..

the end..
-----

was there something I could have suggested him to play differently?
my idea is that he could have done an avoidance check during the investigator phase, so effectively the ghoul priest would stay exhausted in the cellar again.. but i don't know how feasible it is, as roland has a 2 movement skill, whereas he needs 4.. considering that even if you use the card that allows you to spend 1 resource to get 1 additional movement bonus, it woul mean that unless you get neutral or positive chaos modifier, you would fail it anyway...

opinions? I've never used roland as investigator, so i don't really if i should focus with him at bruise or not..

As you've described it, there're a bunch of rules problems with the above. Possibly just errors in description or slightly misremembered inceidents but I'll go through them just to make sure the game is being played as intended:

The "transition" from the study (flipping from Act 1 to Act 2) doesn't spawn the Ghoul Priest.

You said the GP started in the Study -- this can't happen. The Act which spawns the GP and Lita (Act 2 to Act 3) has to be triggered in the Hallway and only at the very end of a turn (between Upkeep and Mythos). The Study is no longer in the game at that point.

You then said the GP started in the Hallway, exhausted. This sounds wrong also (you exhausted the GP when transitioning from Study to Hallway?).

You said that you drew a "bad card" (the encounter deck during Mythos phase) which required clearing three clues -- that's Roland's unique weakness card, which shouldn't show up in the Mythos phase -- it's a player card in Roland's deck.

Then you said that Lita was recruited and it sounded like Roland was in the Hallway at that point -- this action can only be taken if you're in the Parlor with Lita.

witchedwiz · Jul 16, 2017

Noaloha said:
As you've described it, there're a bunch of rules problems with the above. Possibly just errors in description or slightly misremembered inceidents but I'll go through them just to make sure the game is being played as intended:

The "transition" from the study (flipping from Act 1 to Act 2) doesn't spawn the Ghoul Priest.

You said the GP started in the Study -- this can't happen. The Act which spawns the GP and Lita (Act 2 to Act 3) has to be triggered in the Hallway and only at the very end of a turn (between Upkeep and Mythos). The Study is no longer in the game at that point.

You then said the GP started in the Hallway, exhausted. This sounds wrong also (you exhausted the GP when transitioning from Study to Hallway?).

You said that you drew a "bad card" (the encounter deck during Mythos phase) which required clearing three clues -- that's Roland's unique weakness card, which shouldn't show up in the Mythos phase -- it's a player card in Roland's deck.

Then you said that Lita was recruited and it sounded like Roland was in the Hallway at that point -- this action can only be taken if you're in the Parlor with Lita.

1) this was a mistake of me doing a summary.. I made it spawn correctly into the hallway
2) see point 1
3) should he have been born "active" and should it have used the enemy phase in the movement from all way to dining room?
4) I'll recheck the log, I think I'm again reporting the wrong card, I don't think I've put Roland's own bad card in the event deck... the solo back of the card must have given it away.. most lilekly I've reported the wrong card again..
5) nope he was in the room where he transition after leaving the hallway.. it's salotto in italian, so i guess it's living room or something similar in english

Thanks for the correction...
Making him learn the rope by acting as a controller is actually becoming beneficial to me, as it can lead to me discover some misunderstanding about the rules! By all means noaloha, indulge me!

Noaloha · Jul 16, 2017

Cool, sounds like it was mostly just problems with the summary!

For clarity, your salotto would be 'parlor' when I'm describing location names for the game. 'Study' would be the very first little room that you start in (which disappears). 'Hallway' is the central connecting location, with 'attic' and 'cellar' being the little rooms that have the clues.

witchedwiz said:
3) should he have been born "active" and should it have used the enemy phase in the movement from all way to dining room?

I'm not sure I fully follow the question, so I'll run through that turn in excessive detail to catch any uncertainty. I think I see how it might be (mostly) fine, but it involves Roland succeeding an important evade check which wasn't mentioned.

Roland has 3 clues picked up previously from the cellar and attic. At the end of the turn (once upkeep/'management' phase is complete), he's in the hallway and spends those 3 clues to flip the Act 2 card (as required on Act 2's special Objective text).

This spawns the Ghoul Priest, Lita and flips the parlor location. Lita's in the parlor. The Ghoul Priest spawns in the hallway. It immediately engages Roland. The Ghoul Priest is not exhausted (he's 'active'). It will do opportunity attacks as normal on actions which trigger them and its Retaliate keyword will trigger on failed attacks.

Turn begins and you resolve the Mythos phase.

Then it's Roland's investigation phase. Looking back at your summary, you wrote here "in turn, after the third action, the ghoul priest turn started in the hallway, as exhausted, thus he had at least one single spare turn.." This part isn't clear - it's possible it was handled correctly. Did Roland use 'evade' against the Ghoul Priest (agility 2 versus difficulty 4) during this phase, exhaust the enemy, then move from hallway to the parlor? If so, that's cool and good and fine! Otherwise, if Roland moved into the parlor without successfully evading the Ghoul Priest, the enemy would follow Roland into the parlor (it stays in Roland's threat area) and would trigger attacks of opportunity, etc.

If Roland did get the evade off before moving away from the Ghoul Priest, then in *that* turn, the Ghoul Priest would stay in the hallway during enemy phase (no hunter movement and no attack), but it would lose that exhaustion during the upkee phase.
At this point in your description I think we're at 'Turn N' when Roland recruits Lita and draws two cards. You say that nothing happens in the enemy phase -- the Ghoul Priest should be ready in the hallway during this enemy phase - as such, he would hunt into the parlor and then attack.

hoggert · Jul 16, 2017

Did a test run of Night of the Zealot on OCTGN this morning. Single hand Roland starter deck on easy. It was pretty good! A lot less keyboard finagling then TTS once I taught myself the hotkeys for adding resources, although checking the rules script I think I didn't take advantage of some of the scripting. I much preferred it to TTS, but I think I really need to watch or read a decent tutorial on the mods for that.

As for the game itself, after clearing everything else super fast with no spawns, got bogged down in cellar with obscuring fog and cover up. Even with a flashlight and hyper awareness drew one too many auto-fail tokens and Roland's low horror threshold fucked me over lol.

XShagrath · Jul 16, 2017

I'm itching to get back to the game. I haven't played since WDA came out. I've been busy basing and painting minis for Descent and Mansions. I'm hoping I can convince either me wife or my gaming partner to take a couple days soon and run through Dunwich again

and hopefully not die at WDA like last time

.

hoggert · Jul 18, 2017

We still can't beat The Devourer Below. Either get screwed by bad pulls from the encounter deck in Midnight Masks (jump of 3 doom in two draws! yay!) or the worst possible bag pulls trying to get clues

in the more shitty woods locations

.

One "win" through throwing Lita to the boss though lol

but some day we'll get a R1 or 2 ending! Love how even when we get completely destroyed (despite knowing the scenarios already) we're still planning our next run through.

Izayoi · Jul 18, 2017

Do we know when this will go back into print?

My group is interested in it but I'm not going to be buying enough cards for four players for anything more than MSRP...

Fury451 · Jul 18, 2017

Izayoi said:
Do we know when this will go back into print?

My group is interested in it but I'm not going to be buying enough cards for four players for anything more than MSRP...

I would imagine the next 2-3 months since demand seems pretty high. I picked one up for above MSRP because I'm impatient, but only because I already bought the entire Dunwich line.

I'm waiting for the reprint before getting a second set.

Thankfully they seem to rotate new printings every quarter or so.

MattKeil · Jul 18, 2017

Izayoi said:
Do we know when this will go back into print?

My group is interested in it but I'm not going to be buying enough cards for four players for anything more than MSRP...

It just got a reprint a month or so ago so it'll be at least 4-6 months. I do suggest looking around at local game shops, though, because the base set isn't generally that hard to find offline.

XShagrath · Jul 18, 2017

Izayoi said:
Do we know when this will go back into print?

My group is interested in it but I'm not going to be buying enough cards for four players for anything more than MSRP...

I don't know where you're located, but this US site seems to have it in stock for retail. Don't know what shipping is like. As mentioned, also try local game stores, as I've seen several around town that have it in stock.

https://us.zavvi.com/toys-games/ark...gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CNbI_6G-ktUCFYwZgQodbFMECw

https://www.thehut.com/toys-games/a...gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CNu8j9q-ktUCFZANgQodWeUDjw

ZackieChan · Jul 18, 2017

MattKeil said:
It just got a reprint a month or so ago so it'll be at least 4-6 months. I do suggest looking around at local game shops, though, because the base set isn't generally that hard to find offline.

Found a copy of the core set at a Barnes and Noble a month or so ago.

Support NeoGAF

Arkham Horror: The Card Game |OT| Cards of Cthulhu

Member

Member

Member

Hail to the KING baby

Member

Member

Member

Hail to the KING baby

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Hail to the KING baby

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Hail to the KING baby

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Hail to the KING baby

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Banned

Banned

BIGTIME TV MOGUL #2

Member

Member

Similar threads