Don't ready enemies engage automatically if there is someone in that location?
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Arkham Horror: The Card Game |OT| Cards of Cthulhu
- Thread starter XShagrath
- Start date
Don't ready enemies engage automatically if there is someone in that location?
Yeah that's right. I think what he meant is that if an unengaged enemy readies with multiple investigators in the location, you follow Prey and not normal engagement rules. No Prey you just follow normal engagement rules (Lead chooses, unless some text indicates otherwise).
PushingButtons
Member
Managed to snag the last copy at a FLGS. Lucked out too as someone behind me in line asked if they had anymore copies in stock as I was walking out.
Hoping to try it out this weekend. Anything I should I know when setting up/playing for the first time? Don't want to overlook anything.
Hoping to try it out this weekend. Anything I should I know when setting up/playing for the first time? Don't want to overlook anything.
Might be a good idea to watch this video before playing. It's a pretty good overview of the basic mechanics.
Official FFG Tutorial Video
PushingButtons
Member
Ah! I was wondering when they would put up one of those videos. I was searching for it earlier in the week.
This, and there are also a couple of other good channels, like Arkham Chronicle that did a few videos explaining things
PeterVenkman
Member
Waiting on my core set to arrive and am watching that video. Super helpful but as someone who hasn't played before, Prey sounds needlessly convoluted - thanks for the clarification!
Yeah haha. I honestly don't think it matters that hugely whether you play it right or not, as I don't think the misread of how to play it (where you check Prey even on the draw) gives a player advantage (actually might be more likely to give a disadvantage). Just remember that on Mythos the default is the player who draws the enemy is engaged with it. Prey doesn't affect that at all. Only Spawn (or some other specific instruction) does. On other phases where enemies just spawn somewhere without being drawn by a player or ready from being exhausted, that's when you check Prey.
PeterVenkman
Member
Nice, that helps big time. Now that I've finished the video, out of curiosity, do you take an investigator through multiple campaigns? Or is each campaign self contained and you restart with a beginner deck for each one? Also, Since they can die/go insane, do you just start with a dif investigator if you're on scenario 2 or 3 of a campaign and lose one?
Per the standard rules, each campaign is self-contained, though you can go on side quests during a campaign with some of the side-quest packs (Rougarou and Carnevale currently). There is an alternate rule though where you can take people through multiple campaigns, but the game isn't balanced for it or anything so it's kind of up to you, but they did build a variant to support it. For me by the end of a campaign I'm kind of ready to move on to a new character with a fresh start.
Silent Chief
Member
There's currently only the core 3 scenario campaign and most of an 8 scenario campaign out. There are 10 investigators and the new campaign will add another 6.
I got 2 trauma on Roland on the first play, so I don't expect he'll last through all of that.
Snakethesniper
Member
Bought the Core Set!
One Foul Note
Member
Just did my 2 player game of Where Doom Awaits. Liked it although my guardian didn't have a whole lot to do for the first half of the scenario, but it really lit up on the 2nd half when I drew Zoey's weakness and 2 monsters from the encounter deck. Having 3 new monsters appear between player phrases does have the habit to really changing the dynamic of a scenario.
witchedwiz
Member
question..
I would like to bit into the board game experience as well for the arkham universe...
alternatives are:
1) Mansions of Madness Second Edition
2) Eldritch Horror
3) Arkham Horror
4) Elder Sign (this seems more like yathzee with a lovecraft setting than a proper board game)
any advice gaf?
I would like to bit into the board game experience as well for the arkham universe...
alternatives are:
1) Mansions of Madness Second Edition
2) Eldritch Horror
3) Arkham Horror
4) Elder Sign (this seems more like yathzee with a lovecraft setting than a proper board game)
any advice gaf?
I finally got around to my frist play of Where Doom Awaits yesterday. It didn't go very well for us.
I was very disappointed in how they handled the resolutions.
On top of it, I think my main gaming partner is starting to sour on the game. He enjoys it when things are going his way, but seems to get a little upset when drawing the tentacle, for instance (more than the normal "shit" that's uttered when seeing that crimson monstrosity). I also don't think he's quite as much into the theme as me, and more interested in the mechanics. I really enjoy the story and visualizing my character's actions, on top of the very interesting ways that the designers bring the theme in through the mechanics and change things up all the time.
Mansions of Madness - Absolutely love this game. The app integration makes for a very rich narrative, and helps to minimize the bookkeeping that some of the other games have. That being said, because it is an extremely focused story-based game, there are only a handful of scenarios to play. There are four in the main box, with more added via in-app purchases or through boxed expansions. Once you've played through a scenario, you might not want to play it again, as while they do change slightly, they're not nearly as dynamic as the LCG. I, personally, don't have any problems replaying scenarios though.
Eldritch Horror - I enjoy this one quite a bit as well, even though I've only played it a couple of times. Even though there's a lot of stuff going on, the mechanics of the game are very straight-forward. It can get rather tense, but it's not as brutal as the original Arkham Horror. Some people say that it crafts a very enriching story, but I don't see it as such. Because you are drawing random events from a large pile of cards throughout the game, it doesn't have the cohesiveness (to me) of the LCG. This (and MoM) are ones that you can easily play with non-veteran gamers.
Arkham Horror - My opinions on this one may be tainted. This was one of the first games I got when getting back into tabletop gaming, and I've never won a game. This frustration of not even getting close to a win, and not even really knowing where I went wrong makes me never want to play this again. On top of that, the rules set is extremely cumbersome. Most people who are not seasoned Arkham Horror veterans will probably recommend Eldritch Horror over this, as it is very much a streamlined version of the original.
Elder Signs - It's been several years since I've played this, and I only have the base game. It is very much a Yahtzee style dice game, but it's still a good time. I've heard that the expansions add a lot to the game in terms of difficulty and variety, but I can't speak on those.
If I had to rate the games, I would say:
Arkham:TCG > MoM > Eldritch Horror > Elder Sign > Arkham Horror
witchedwiz
Member
Thanks for the suggestion!
I already own all available arkham tcg (i'm just missing the last of dunwhich mythos and the first deluxe carcosa expansion, both to be released yet in italy), so i'll go for
MoM or eldritch horror
but I know my capitalistc self..
I'll end up buying
mom + 2 exp last day of june//early july when i get back in milan (leaving tomorrow, so no chance to go to the shop today)
and one of the other two by end of july//beginning of august
the woe of my wallet is eternal! :L
IlGialloMondadori
Member
I think this is fair. I think Elder Sign being fourth is a bit misleading here, though. Elder Sign + Gates of Arkham is an awesome experience, but yeah, I think I'd take Eldritch over it just because it's a rich experience. If I was purely solo, I might bump Elder Sign + Gates up over Eldritch.
I love, love, love MoM, but it's a beast in size.
PeterVenkman
Member
Aw bummer - I know arkham horror is cumbersome in it's ruleset but it's one of my fav games ever. If you can find someone who has played before it can be really fun to have a coach - try playing with 4 people too, as that's easiest (at 5 the difficulty bumps up). I played Eldritch after Arkham and it just felt like a sparknotes version of the latter.
On topic, my core set arrives today and I'll probs start a play through tomorrow night!
On topic, my core set arrives today and I'll probs start a play through tomorrow night!
witchedwiz
Member
my only concern with MoM is that with the app to my understanding while they removed the "role" of the physical gm (keeper), they made the scenary stale..
Basically you have 4 scenary in the base, then 1 scenary per expansion and that's that..
And i don't expect there to be any BIG replayability :/
That's why I'm sort of scared of a limited number of scenarios
Basically you have 4 scenary in the base, then 1 scenary per expansion and that's that..
And i don't expect there to be any BIG replayability :/
That's why I'm sort of scared of a limited number of scenarios
Therein lies the problem for me. I don't know any veteran players to coach me through a game, nor would I particularly want one. I love learning and exploring games on my own, but OG Arkham Horror just makes me feel stupid. I think I've only played one game through to the end. The other two or three times we've started it up, we just got to a point where we're like "Well, there's no way we can pull this one out," and packed it up, not having any idea how we could have played it any better.
On top of that, I play mainly two-player games. I don't have a reliable group of people that I can get together with often, but do have one friend who I game with once or twice a week. So, we've tried Arkham Horror with two investigators, and also with four. Neither ended up giving us an enjoyable experience.
Eldritch, on the other hand, scratched that same itch without being overly crushing. I've only played it once with him, and we lost at the very end, as we weren't able to complete the last objective. I then played it solo with two investigators and was able to take down Azathoth fairly easily, although not without a few tense moments.
Enjoy! Soak in the atmosphere and be sure to read all the flavor text. There are some moments in the core set that are absolutely brilliant!
For me, taking out the GM is the only reason I bought it. As I stated above, I play primarily with just one other person. So anything with a GM is not going to work for us. Having it pure co-op sold me on it pretty instantly. I have all the physical content (love painting minis!), but haven't played through everything yet. I've played the first scenario 3 times (took us that many to beat it), and the second scenario once. There are some different setups that the game will lay out, so it's not going to run exactly the same every time. The story though, will be.
I guess the same thing could be said for the card game, but the different branching paths between scenarios can craft a vastly different experience from campaign to campaign, even when running through the same content.
Phil N DeBlanc
Member
Well, you could track down first edition copies of MoM, but you'll have kind of the same problem. Sure an actual person could do a better job of describing the horrors, and deciding which horrible events are the worst to throw at players. However, as someone who owned the first edition, you still have a limited number of options for each story, and then a limited number of stories. So they're going to end up going stale with replay as well.
The first edition also has a lot more setup time, and it takes forever to explain the rules. The app just makes things so much easier on both those fronts.
The first edition also has a lot more setup time, and it takes forever to explain the rules. The app just makes things so much easier on both those fronts.
witchedwiz
Member
no one is even trying to replicate the app ?
I mean, I'm trying to document myself here and there are plenty of custom scenarios for 1st edition..
technically you need to implement an app
1) displays text from a text file formatted in a certain way
2) reads the related text (either via TTS or supposedly you can also provide the audio pre-loaded)
3) randomize the factor (draws and whatnot)
yes it seems a lot of work, but it's a lot less than most people would assume..
My only concern is that you should either
1) build it hybrid (apache cordoba or similar)
2) build it native, but in that case I'd go android first, the publication process is much less painful..
yeah I know it sounds entitled, but really for me this type of issue is sort of a deal breaker..
I like to play the game at least a few times, else the value of "bang per buck" is completely out of the field
nevertheless, I'll go for it early july
Doing a quick search on BGG, I ran across this thread about custom scenario generation.
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1772065/homebrew-scenarios-now-available/page/1
witchedwiz
Member
wonder if it will be "playable" so to speak when using localized MoM//expansions...
Phil N DeBlanc
Member
Lemme put this way, the length of the setup time, along with the rules explanation for 1st edition was a huge deterrent to actually playing the game. It wasn't something I could take to board game nights unless the purpose of the night was to play this specific game. So yeah, if I played enough that the scenarios start to go stale, I suppose I could start looking for custom scenarios. But I was never in danger of playing it enough for me to start looking online for custom material to play.
PeterVenkman
Member
Those are totally legit reasons for not liking Arkham Horror. I've got friends who dislike it for similar reasons, but the biggest one is how long your specific investigator can just be doing nothing. Like maybe investigating that location for clues is important for the team, but it sucks when you get stuck there because a strong monster is waiting outside.
I just love how quickly it can spiral out of control. Like getting a ludicrous mythic card and a couple terrifying monsters can wreck you. The moment you mention though is the worst - where you're hours into the game and you determine look, we just probably won't win this, and it'll take another two hours to lose officially.
Maybe I've got a soft spot since it was my first Arkham game. But yeah, super excited about this card game, especially since it's tailored for two players. Much easier for me to et one friend as opposed to three.
Ooh Arkham Files talk
I've played all the Arkham Files game 10+ times, except MoM which I've only played twice. My completely personal ranking would be:
ALCG>Eldritch>Elder Sign>Arkham>MoM
But this is largely idiosyncratic because I'm not super into the role-playingy stuff of MoM, and I absolutely love the four games above it (the first three there are all probably in my Top 20 board games).
-If you've only played Elder Sign with the base game (or even first expansion), I would strongly reiterate the advice above to try it out with Gates of Arkham. Probably the best expansion in all of gaming with how much it improved the base game (which would easily have been at the bottom of that list for me otherwise).
-Arkham is really an amazing experience that has still not been entirely duplicated. A lot of people say Eldritch replaces it, and that's not a terrible point, but I think Eldritch really takes it up to a global level, improving mechanics while losing a touch of the intimate feel that Arkham has. I love Eldritch, but you don't really feel like you're in Australia or whatever when you're having an encounter there, whereas in Arkham you really feel like you're at the Train Station or bank or whatever. The monsters in Arkham are also way scarier (mechanically) and have more of an impact on the game, whereas usually in Eldritch they're more nuisances at most, and often totally inconsequential. But I don't play Arkham much anymore just because setup is a huge pain and it is a little overlong. The expansions also don't integrate with each other super well if you're playing with multiple (Eldritch does a way better job of this).
-One note about Arkham and Eldritch, and I think of this every time I see playtime comments -- I know the box says you can play with >4 (8!?!!?!?!???) but do not under any circumstances do this unless you want to break the balance of the game (especially Arkham) and make it a miserable experience for anyone wanting to be there <4 hours. I think both games are OK with 2, perfect with 3, and pretty good with 4, but would not play them with any other number of investigators.
-Funny enough set up a game of Eldritch to play w/ my wife this week. This is the setup without 10+ encounter decks of full-size cards (using the app for those):
I've played all the Arkham Files game 10+ times, except MoM which I've only played twice. My completely personal ranking would be:
ALCG>Eldritch>Elder Sign>Arkham>MoM
But this is largely idiosyncratic because I'm not super into the role-playingy stuff of MoM, and I absolutely love the four games above it (the first three there are all probably in my Top 20 board games).
-If you've only played Elder Sign with the base game (or even first expansion), I would strongly reiterate the advice above to try it out with Gates of Arkham. Probably the best expansion in all of gaming with how much it improved the base game (which would easily have been at the bottom of that list for me otherwise).
-Arkham is really an amazing experience that has still not been entirely duplicated. A lot of people say Eldritch replaces it, and that's not a terrible point, but I think Eldritch really takes it up to a global level, improving mechanics while losing a touch of the intimate feel that Arkham has. I love Eldritch, but you don't really feel like you're in Australia or whatever when you're having an encounter there, whereas in Arkham you really feel like you're at the Train Station or bank or whatever. The monsters in Arkham are also way scarier (mechanically) and have more of an impact on the game, whereas usually in Eldritch they're more nuisances at most, and often totally inconsequential. But I don't play Arkham much anymore just because setup is a huge pain and it is a little overlong. The expansions also don't integrate with each other super well if you're playing with multiple (Eldritch does a way better job of this).
-One note about Arkham and Eldritch, and I think of this every time I see playtime comments -- I know the box says you can play with >4 (8!?!!?!?!???) but do not under any circumstances do this unless you want to break the balance of the game (especially Arkham) and make it a miserable experience for anyone wanting to be there <4 hours. I think both games are OK with 2, perfect with 3, and pretty good with 4, but would not play them with any other number of investigators.
-Funny enough set up a game of Eldritch to play w/ my wife this week. This is the setup without 10+ encounter decks of full-size cards
(using the app for those):
^
Good comments. I still enjoy playing Arkham Horror over Eldritch sometimes. I prefer the town setting over the globe trotting and the monsters are much more interesting. I would almost like to see a 3rd edition, but with the card game I'm not sure it is necessary? Plus I already own a lot of Ah.
Good comments. I still enjoy playing Arkham Horror over Eldritch sometimes. I prefer the town setting over the globe trotting and the monsters are much more interesting. I would almost like to see a 3rd edition, but with the card game I'm not sure it is necessary? Plus I already own a lot of Ah.
Hmm...that would actually be really cool. Especially if they differentiated it from Eldritch in the reboot. The one thing that would stop me though is that FFG reuses their art so much to the point where it's frustrating if you play all their games. The only Arkham game I'm actively buying for now is ALCG, because Eldritch (through Mountains of Madness) and Elder Sign (through Omens of Ice) feel pretty 'complete' to me, and also I don't want to see the same art across four titles.
CSI put up pre-orders for Carcosa today. They've got it with a release date of August. If that's the case, then there's no gap in between campaigns and we'll just jump into the next one right after Dunwich completes.
Also, it's sounding like the last scenario pack is coming out on July 6th, if Team Covenant is to be believed (and they are). Unfortunately,
Also, it's sounding like the last scenario pack is coming out on July 6th, if Team Covenant is to be believed (and they are). Unfortunately,
I won't be able to play it for a while because all my investigators are dead.
It's absolutely the ones you ordered. I went with some cheap capsules for another game (Orleans) and they popped open all the time. The ones I ordered for Arkham have been pretty much perfect. I've only had one pop open in about 30 games, and that could have just been that I didn't have it fully closed. Here's the ones that I ordered.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H28MP3M/?tag=neogaf0e-20
One Foul Note
Member
I use Lighthouse coin capsules (these things) and they've never popped in like 25+ games, never even got close and I am pretty violent with the chaos bag.
Thanks.
I got some good glue some good liquid cement so I'll just give that a try first.
Silent Chief
Member
That doesn't sound like a problem that time will fix.
FFG has updated their upcoming page to make the 7/6 street date official for the last Dunwich mythos pack.
Since a bunch of us are general Arkham Files fans, the new Eldritch Horror expansion is coming out the same day. Also, a new Mansions of Madness expansion, Streets of Arkham, was announced today. New tiles, monsters, investigators, and looks like new puzzles as well.
Since a bunch of us are general Arkham Files fans, the new Eldritch Horror expansion is coming out the same day. Also, a new Mansions of Madness expansion, Streets of Arkham, was announced today. New tiles, monsters, investigators, and looks like new puzzles as well.
agree on EVERYTHING said about Arkham Horror.. I really don't think it's been replaced.. and because of the gulf between the setting of AH and EH, I really don't see EH as the perfect successor to AH as some feel (I know I have buddies at work that feel the same way).
Some things I think that really help AH are:
As Astro said... play with 2-3 players.
Get stands for the gates and monsters. It MAJORLY declutters the board
Get a rules reference (or modular reference) from BGG
Know the setup.. it really isn't that bad when it's broken down into big parts
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/663324/set-time-less-5-mins
If you are playing with players (there's only 1-2 besides you, right!?!?!) who suffer from analysis paralysis, use a chess timer or hour glass or something. be regimented about it.
doing all of the above.. honestly it really does take less than 10 minutes to setup, and you can pretty easily get through a game in 90-120 minutes.
I would LOVE to see an update. I have played this version SOOO many times. The only expansion I don't have is Miskatonic.
ok, done. So we are likely getting Carcosa in August. Word.
Some things I think that really help AH are:
As Astro said... play with 2-3 players.
Get stands for the gates and monsters. It MAJORLY declutters the board
Get a rules reference (or modular reference) from BGG
Know the setup.. it really isn't that bad when it's broken down into big parts
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/663324/set-time-less-5-mins
If you are playing with players (there's only 1-2 besides you, right!?!?!) who suffer from analysis paralysis, use a chess timer or hour glass or something. be regimented about it.
doing all of the above.. honestly it really does take less than 10 minutes to setup, and you can pretty easily get through a game in 90-120 minutes.
I would LOVE to see an update. I have played this version SOOO many times. The only expansion I don't have is Miskatonic.
ok, done. So we are likely getting Carcosa in August. Word.
Awesome, I've been wanting a new MoM expansion. Finally almost done painting all the monsters.
In MoM, I would love to see a connected campaign. That could be amazing.
God I swear the design of the bases in that game is just one of the worst things ever. I was going to try to glue them on but then got frustrated trying to do even that (tbf I'm not a minis guy -- prepainted and assembled all the way
) FFG is just straight up not vg at minis. (Look at their terrible Arkham ones that they sell for like ten bucks a pop.)Edit -- 200 bucks lol
This is what they look like up close and to be clear this is the approved image. I think the ones out in the field are sometimes way worse:
The rare bling that seems to actively DETRACT from the play experience when you consider how awesome the art is.
God I swear the design of the bases in that game is just one of the worst things ever. I was going to try to glue them on but then got frustrated trying to do even that (tbf I'm not a minis guy -- prepainted and assembled all the way
Edit -- 200 bucks lol
This is what they look like up close and to be clear this is the approved image. I think the ones out in the field are sometimes way worse:
The rare bling that seems to actively DETRACT from the play experience when you consider how awesome the art is.
I have rebased the monsters on to clear bases. Looks sooooo much better. The FFG painted mini quality is poor. I think I have done a better job and I'm an amateur. Also my buddy who has helped me paint has definitely exceeded their work.
One Foul Note
Member
It's weird cos I find their xwing stuff to be very well painted (with the exception of perhaps the first few packs). I know machines are generally easier to paint then humans but I wouldn't have thought that alone would cause such a gulf in quality between two products from the same company.
Actually you're right. All their Star Wars stuff is quite good. Must be different teams or something?
I got in a rut of not painting for a while, but am back into it. I got an airbrush earlier this year and have improved with the few minis I've painted recently. It almost makes me want to go back and start re-painting some of the guys I did last year. Realistically, I should just continue with the unpainted stuff, so at least everyone has some color on them.
I've started with my Descent figures, since I've been following some tutorials on Youtube, and they look amazing so far. I'm hoping that watching those will help me become more comfortable in my techniques, so that when I get back to the MoM stuff, they'll look better.
That really would be awesome!
They're actually not too bad so far. The more detail just means washes make them look that much better.
Reading the article for the Mansions expansion, the three scenarios included are eerily familiar to me..
1. Astral Alchemy - Set at Miskatonic University. Strange beasts roam the halls while players get help from the staff.
2. Gangs of Arkham - Solve a murder to prevent a war between the Sheldon and O'Bannon gangs.
3. Ill-fated Exhibit - Set at Miskatonic University. Investigate several exhibits and try to destroy a cursed artifact.