...with a closing victory against Azathoth. We decided to randomly draw for a GOO, then draw one Dunwich investigator and one random investigator. I ended up with Jackie Fine and Darrell Simmons, my girlfriend got Jenny Barnes and Diana Stanley. Our draws for items to start, and then our initial round of buying at the Curiositie Shoppe were as good as you could possibly hope: between four investigators, we had three Elder Signs, a Tommy Gun, the Sword of Glory and an Enchanted Blade! Anyway, after only a few turns and some new Mythos cards, a bunch of monsters have been sucked into vortices, the terror level has rocketed upwards and the Dunwich Horror has appeared. Jackie had had some incredible luck in encounters, had 3(!) Allies (Legrasse, Dean and Ammi Pierce), a Tommy Gun, the Sword of Glory, 2 sets of Brass Knuckles, a Blessing and a couple of Clues, so she got nominated to go and slay the beast. So I drew the Dunwich Horror card and got the one with Physical and Magical Immunity...and figured I might still be able to waste the ugly bastard. I rolled 4 successes, picked up the final die and rolled a three, and was promptly devoured by Wilbur Whatley's twin brother.

Anyway, we managed to pull a win by closing - several monster surges and Mythos cards on Sealed locations lead to us have a collection of gate trophies, and Darrell managed to pull the Science Building Encounter and close the remaining gate.

Overall, I'm impressed by Dunwich, far more so then Kingsport. It seemed, right from the beginning of the game, that we were going to have to deal with Dunwich immediately or be swamped. Injury cards are great risk / reward choices, and there's some really great new items. I also didn't know that killing the Dunwich Horror gives you a choice of anything in the game - so I'm interested in those of you that have actually killed the bugger - what do you like to take as your reward? I'd lean toward a Skill, but what about you guys?

Congrats.

Btw how many small box expansions do you have? Just wait till you have all expansions- the dunwich board will remain asleep for most of the game and the horror will almost never awake, which is why I think Kingsport is much better- the way it is build is pure genious. It can never be watered down. Also, imho, epic battle>injury/madness.

Anyway, I have slain the beast many times, and you only have one option and one option only: Elder Sign, unless the game is doomed in which case prepare for the final battle: A good weapon if you don't have any, the skill "Fight", or a sweet ally (prevent the ancient one's attack/prevent being devoured etc) all depends on the situation.

Have fun.

p.s. Innsmouth>All Expansions Combines

kroen said:

It's already so watered down, it's almost impossible to water it anymore. Meaning rifts of course. And watered down as lacking a punch. Their method of being tied to the Mythos cards might be nice, but the way you keep them down .

WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot - when the Dunwich Horror gives you the choice of anything in the game, it is a tricky decision. There's little point taking Allies since you can guarantee getting those anyway (well, with a bit of work) so it makes more sense to choose from one of the random decks. The skills 'Grapple' and 'Martial Arts' are definite candidates. Depending on your situation, the Time Bomb, Milk of Shub-Niggurath or Blue Watcher Of The Pyramid can be life-savers. Eltdown Shards and Elder Signs are good standbys too. Failing that, you're really just asking what the game's best item is - which is a tricky question. I like the Mi-Go Brain Case, the Ruby of Rlyeh, the Healing Stone and the Press Pass.

kroen said:

Kingsport waters itself down. It takes ages to do anything, and all it does do is provide additional monsters and Doom tokens. At least the Dunwich horror has a unique threat (the Horror itself) which can't appear any other way. The way it is built isn't "pure genious". It's a timing mechanism which is (if anything) a bit messy and fiddly, since it involves small non-reversible counters occupying particular positions on the board.

And stop going on about Innsmouth! Yeah, it's probably going to be good! But you haven't played it yet! It might be rubbish!

Dam said:

It's already so watered down, it's almost impossible to water it anymore. Meaning rifts of course. And watered down as lacking a punch. Their method of being tied to the Mythos cards might be nice, but the way you keep them down .

"Like he would know."

"Wait...I thought Dam was boycotting Kingsport."

"He's knocking it without trying it!"

"HEY!"

"And that's how we found him, officer..."

"Yeesh. Someone get a towel."

jgt7771 said:

Dam said:

It's already so watered down, it's almost impossible to water it anymore. Meaning rifts of course. And watered down as lacking a punch. Their method of being tied to the Mythos cards might be nice, but the way you keep them down .

"Like he would know."

"Wait...I thought Dam was boycotting Kingsport."

"He's knocking it without trying it!"

"HEY!"

"And that's how we found him, officer..."

"Yeesh. Someone get a towel."

Most amusing!

Another thread where I don't have any idea what it's about any more.

thecorinthian said:

Besides I'm sure Innsmouth will be watered down. But then again, that would be thematic.

thecorinthian said:

Blasphemy!

"You're witnessed to a blasphemous chant. Pass a Will (+0) [2] check to resist succumbing into darkenss. If you fail, draw a Corruption card and you're Cursed ."

Play against the DH printout Herald for a more exciting Dunwich Experience. I really like DH herald, even though strictly speaking he isn't the hardest by any means. But it does force you to worry about the Horror waking up, and if he does, you can't just leave him be.... you really have to take him down! And I like that.

Our group has slain the DH many times as well... what to take. Well, We almost always take an Elder Sign. Chances are that the DH has added some doom already and to make up for the loss, and Elder sign is good. Although, since we play without Kingsport, perhaps Eltdown Shards or William Bain would be as effective. Still, the seal on a gate + 1 less doom is hard to pass up, almost always take this.

Usually, when we *dont* take an Elder Sign.... it turns out to come back and bite us in the butt later on. Still there are other options. Press Pass, Healing Stone are compelling, Directors Dirary vs certain AOs and/or Heralds. Elder Sign Pendant , Arcane Insight, Alchemical Process, Shotgun, or Necronomicon can all be very interesting choices. True Magic or Illuminated Manuscript or Puzzle Box can be a nice clue generator as well. A lot of this depends on what point in the game the DH is defeated. Probably it is mid to late game, in which case, if it's close, almost always go with an Elder Sign. If it's not, than these other things become a bit more interesting.

Mythos Lore....

Best skill in the game!

johnwatersfan said:

No item is best item... all depends on the situation. In the Final Battle, for example, Fight is the best skill there is. Simple, yet its efectiveness is unmatched. Also if I draw Elephant Gun as my starting equipment and I don't have enough money, I would probably want Credit Rating to go along with that. But yes, Mythos Lore is overall the best skill. It's alway useful.

kroen said:

Fight is pretty much dependant on the Clue tokens you've hoarded until that point. If you got none or the GOO allows none (hello Tsathoggua), Grapple (IIRC, that's the +1 on die result in Fight checks) kicks SO much more ass.

I've very rarely taken the DH out. Checking my stats, DH has woken 10 times, I'm thinking he's been killed twice. One time I'm sure of, Carolyn Fern got 5 successes on 7 dice (no Blessing). As Elder Signs are so rare these days, probably would pick that. Especially since I prefer a win (close/seal) to a draw (final combat "win").

jgt7771 said:

Imaginary dialog, KH expansion in play:

"Man, I have to draw an encounter card to investigate the rifts? Crap, I really hope I don't draw a gate and a monster appears."

"What are you talking about? This is KH, all the locations are stable, no gates."

"Huh, oh, right."

"Darn, I have to move to that location next turn to investigate that rift, I hope no monsters are blocking my path."

(group laughter)

"Dude, it's your turn. DUDE!"

"Oh, sorry, I dozed off, this KH board is SO exciting."

Enough with the blasphemy! The Kingsport board is the most interesting board so far! The encounters are amazing and the most interesting and theme-dripping encounters in the game! Kingsport is ingenious! If was asked what do I prefer, AH+all current expansions besides KH and I'm unallowed to buy KH or AH+KH and I'm unallowed to buy any of the current expansions I would easily pick KH over all the other current expansions!!!

kroen said:

That's an astonishing sentence.

The theme in Kingsport is alright I guess - you get lots of glimpses of spooky ships with white sails, and every single item in the town seems to be hidden in some sort of sea-chest. But in terms of what actually happens, the actual encounters are fairly bland, and many of the locations are basically re-runs of Arkham locations.

Well to each its own I guess.

Dam said:

Yeah except that one time I was blocked by two monsters moving in Kingsport. A Witch and a Gug, and I had no real weapons. That was fun

kroen said:

We've got all the expansions, and I have to agree with the majority here - Kingsport is my least favourite. There's some good items and allies in the expansion, and some great investigators and GOOs, but the actual "game" aspect is a little lacking, especially compared to what the small-box expansions bring, and even more so after experiencing Dunwich. The lack of unstable locations, and the dull mechanic for keeping the Rifts in check just seem to make Kingsport a way to play Arkham with three investigators that have to do the work of four (with the fourth guy loafing around Kingsport, getting drunk in the tavern).

I am looking forward to Innsmouth - 16 new investigators could have sold me on the game without all the other stuff.

Too bad the Dunwich Horror Track isn't as well designed as the Rift Track.

Imagine the if the Dunwich Horror track would be like the Rift Track, except there are no rifts near the rift track; whenever a matching movement occurs, a rift-progression-sized token with the pic of the current dunwcih token is placed on the matching pattern, and when all 12 are filled, the dunwich horror awakens. Would have been awesome and would have assured that the Dunwich Horror would alway be a threat. Vortexes=Fail.

kroen said:

Just use the Dunwich herald. Problem solved.

Vitus_Prem said:

Not quite. The terror level almost never reaches 3. Not to mention 6. It doesn't solve anything.

kroen said:

Our group uses Kingsport and Dunwich, and the Terror Level frequently goes above three. It is also quite common for at least one monster to make it through a vortex. If we used the Dunwich Horror Herald, he would be waking up about 50% of the time.

Solan, that is my experience as well.

Sometimes nobobdy can realistically go up and kill that Star Vampire that comes out of Dunwich. Sometimes a gate opens and spawns a dimensional shambler who moves on the wrong color. Sometimes you're simply not fast enough to get up to Dunwich and deal with the threat in time.

And there are plenty of Mythos cards that raise the terror level without you being able to do anything about it. Family found Butchered, Old Debts come Due, Next Act Begins, or any of those unfortunately timed ones where you return monsters of X type to the cup and raise the terror by 1. A combination of these and one monster eluding our clutches is almost always how the DH wakes up in DH herald games for us. Usually we do a pretty good job of keeping the Outskirts under control.

Dam said:

::Shrug:: I don't mind a game dynamic that actually forces players to visit locations. I still think the way the KH tracks were designed was a good idea (and will be even better once there are more aquatic monsters that can come to town from Innsmouth).