I had set up Arkham Horror to be a little more user friendly a few weeks ago (to introduce a friend to the game). I was playing all the monsters and investigators, and the madness and injury cards, but in terms of items I was only using the base, KiY, and BGotW. For the encounters only the base and BGotW (I was hoping it would enable my friend to get a corruption card without having to play the Black Goat herald). The idea behind making it only base KiY and BGotW was the board wouldn't be too intimidating; however, the time limit would stil be an issue because of gate burst cards and a number of double doom token cards. Welllll... I decided to play one on my own with that set-up (I'm probably going to leave it as it is until Innsmouth comes out, after which I will add that in along with the current stuff, and finally I will combine all the sets after I play a few games with just a narrowed out deck and innsmouth stuff.

Anyways, tonight's game :'D

I played Glaaki. I thought he'd make a fairly challenging AO considering the size of the board and the likelihood that the terror track would rise fairly quickly due to monster surges since I was only using base game gates. I drew Mark Harrison, and Wendy Adams ::gulp:: 3 sanity and 4 sanity ;') however, Wendy is Wendy, so, I wasn't too worried. At first I started off with my usual strategy, get clue tokens at high frequency places, seal gates. I started off with a Cross and Lore on Wendy, and a Dragon's Eye and Sneak on Mark. I was pleased to get the cross because I thought if I could only get it to Mark, I might be able to make him not completely suck. All the high frequnecy gates opened early game, a Flying Polyp went to the sky, and I was trying to navigate around two goat Spawns, an Elder Thing, and a Gug. Not fun. Oh yeah, and they were all on different spaces... Well, Mark went insane on turn one (I sent him to the witch house for a clue token, he drew the roll a die gain clue tokens equal to it and lose sanity equal to it :') I rolled a six and went for madness— Hysteria, a pain in the ass since he was my combat character, still, considering how many clue tokens I got from it, I felt it was a worthwhile trade— I'd been willing to make it for three). On turn two I sent him to Hibbs for two clue tokens and he got the win $5 from gambling encounter. I sent Wendy into a Witch House portal on turn three I think. Mark had gone into The Independence Square (again, a portal appeared), and the turn he came out, a Servant appeared there (no way in hell he'd pass a sanity check against it) and took away two clue tokens from each investigator. Anyhoo... I managed to get my characters to sneak away and they both met up at the common item shop (I wanted to give the cross to Mark) and was willing to waste Wendy's turn to do so. I had both characters trade their items and cash prior to their encounters. Wendy drew the sell any common item for double price encounter. I sold the flamethrower :'D 12 bucks. Mark drew a Tommy Gun. I now had enough cash to go shopping for unique items (unfortunately the shop was blocked at the time, so I decided to wait a bit and try to pick up a few more scattered clue tokens). I sent Wendy through the monsterful streets to the Woods for a clue. A gate appeared :' but fine. I wasn't concerned, I had enough to seal it when I came out, despite the delays. Wendy got slashed up by a maniac (twice) in the OW before she was able to escape. Ugh. Fortunately it was nothing larger (I preferred to take a bit of damage rather than spend clues).

Shortly after however, is where the game started getting tricky. Gates opened at The Black Cave, The Graveyard, and The Unvisited Island. The rumor One Thousand Young appeared next to the Woods at Uptown. Not good. Cramped board, swarming with monsters. Oh yeah, and it's a double doom token of course :') If three monsters entered Uptown, all my investigators would be devoured. Very not good. Two red monsters on the board. I was thinking about sending Wendy down there and trying to get rid of it, but I was worried that the reds would converge on her (and the Polyp would come down— killing both my investigators and raising the terror level by four, I'd basically be screwed because Glaaki would wake up). Soooo... I decided to use Wendy as a blockade. I stuck her in Mishkatonic U. and had her blocking the Elder Thing, a Goat Spawn, and a turn after, The Flying Polyp. The Gug was in Southside, and another Goat Spawn was in French Hill. I had Harrigan tommygun the Goat at the price of sanity :') Fine. I used Wendy to bog down the monsters while Mark was able to spend a few turns shopping at the unique item shop (and more clue tokens spawned). Second turn of shopping, he drew a gladius of carcossa. Great. No. An environment came up that brought down will in Arkham by -2 ;'D So, I sent Harrigan to the Unvisited Isle. I kept Wendy in the Mishkatonic Streets for six or seven turns. If anything else came into One thousand Young, my investigators would be dead, however, I wasn't too worried, since the nearest gates were in the Riverside neighborhood and the monster limit had already been reached, so I didn't expect anything else to manifest (however, the gug was still two moves away from uptown, potentially. Fortunately, it didn't make it by the time Harrigan made it out, it was still in the same spot. However, another servant of glaaki appeared, and guess where? Yeah. At the Isle (I swear, they just wouldn't leave Harrigan alone this game), and this time it knocked out the skills (his sneak skill, ugh) and drove him insane— I had him take another madness, though I worried about amnesia or a second Hysteria— Delirium, phew. What else had happened in the meantime? Another double doom token card appeared. Yeaaah... And so did a gate at The Unnamable. Doom track was at 10, and the rumor was making me very anxious. The next turn I sent Mark to Rivertown, because Bloodmagic appeared and he had six stamina (I thought it would probably get me three clues, maybe six, a good deal, although I was a little worried about the possibility of the Polyp moving over), I abandoned Southside with Wendy and went to the Science building to trade for two clues and pick up two (bringing her up to five). Then I wasted a turn with her to heal her stamina to two, she had one stam, two san (I was planning on using one san for Dragon's Eye in case of emergency in an OW). A mistake. I should've gotten Mark blessed first. The Polyp moved onto him, and the elder thing and a Goat Spawn were now on One Thousand Young. A Yithian *also* appeared and moved onto Mark... Heh... :') He took out the Yithian, barely. One stamina left. I had him dodge the Polyp though, and decided I'd throw him into a gate (he had exactly 2 sanity, 1 stamina, and five clue tokens) and I blessed him that turn. The next turn I had him escape the polyp (even easier once he was blessed and go to City of the Great Race) I sent Wendy to The Plateau of Leng on the same turn (unblessed, with 2/2 san/stam and 5 clues). Heee... And did I mention that a Star Spawn had made its way to Merchant Districts and another Servant had appeared at the Witch House (the spell killer, fortunately, the unique item killer would have screwed up Wendy by destroying The Dragon's Eye— it saved her from a -2 sanity encounter for the low low cost of one sanity). :') cultists appeared on The Graveyard and Black Cave gates (where I'd sent my two investigators). I was petrified of a screwup (since wendy might fail an evade against a cultist and her stamina was so low, and she was competely weaponless, she might die).

But wait, there's more :'D Three Servants of Glaaki, walking towards the One Thousand Young Card. Anyone arrives, and it's game over for me. The Star Spawn is also heading in that direction :'D two characters walking on a razor thin tightrope through other worlds simultaneously, any slip ups and they'd be lost in space and time, or worse. And considering how weak and ill equipped they were, there was no margin for error. Mark draws an obsidian statue on his first encounter. Got a lucky roll ;') although the blessing might've helped with that. On his second encounter. Lost one stamina. YES! I thank the blessing for having him draw the Obsidian Statue :') it was a smart blessing. He soaked up the one point. Wendy and Mark came out the next turn and both passed their rolls. Six gates sealed. Sweet. One or two more turns and both investigators would've been screwed (I peeked, the next two cards were gate bursts). HOOOOOOO!

Also, I got a bit lucky/unlucky. Because I had that rumor out most of the game, I was able to block several other rumors for emerging. Five, to be exact. Yes. In a short game I drew six rumors (and as a result had a clue token shortage even though I'd sealed all the high frequency locations). Yeah. It was a sweet game though and a terror to play :') I finished with my pulse rushing.

::Laughter:: my situation kindof reminded me of a Godzilla Herald (AO?) I read recently, except it was more like I was playing against *three* Godzillas at the end ;'D (two of them were too far away to be a major threat). Scary. Fun :')

Another thread convincing me never to buy KH ! Seriously, sticking Wendy to a street to collect all the monsters to her, never worrying about them. Lame. If you throw in Time Bomb or Flute, free kills because you had an invisible investigator.

Dam said:

::Forehead smack:: You've got to be kidding me ::rolls eyes:: Btw, I had a flute that game, but I couldn't use it because both my investigators would've gone insane or unconscious (in Wendy's case) from using it. The game was amazingly close and only played the way it did because Wendy was in it. It would've gone very differently if I had drawn a different investigator (because I might've had cash, and have been able to shut down the rumor easier). If you think sacrificing an investigator in a two investigator game for 6-8 turns is a *good* thing, you're off your rocker ;'D but we already know that.

Thing is, she single-handedly pretty much nulled the Rumour which could've/would've caused your loss (both devoured, Terror up 4, Glaaki wakes up, right?). Thus, she contributed heavily to your win. All "thanks" to her ability. I can totally see people abusing her ability in a similar manner in other games, have her collect all the monsters to her, leaving paths to gates open. Investigator comes out of the gate, Wendy moves over, gives him the ES and moves back to her zoo. Who cares that there are nasty 3-toughness, double-immunity monsters on the board when they'll never move off Wendy?

Too lazy to check, but what's the pass clause for One Thousand Young?

Dam said:

If I had another investigator I wouldn't've been broke and underequipped. I also could've taken out two bank loans if necessary. The situation would've been very different.

http://www.arkhamhorrorwiki.com/One_Thousand_Young

I won't deny that Wendy can be used to exploit game mechanics, but she wasn't this game. She's a complete nonfighter, and she doesn't really come with equipment besides the Elder sign. I was in deep **** last game because of her inability to contribute to a team fighting effort (coupled with the horrible 3 will 3 sanity Mark Harrigan), but she was able to keep me alive just long enough, due to her ability.

Dam, I think I have to side with Avi on this one. Wendy isn't good because you can occupy monsters for several turns with her ability with no chance of failure. She's good because she usually avoids that situation. I think that was quite an innovative use of her ability. Congratulations on a game well played, Avi!

flamethrower49 said:

Thanks :') Heh... I still can't believe how close that game was... :') Wendy's Roadblock ability should be renamed "Doorstop" ;')

Tomorrow I'm going to play against the Black Goat herald for the first time, I'm going to couple it with Shub, I randomly selected Rita and Dexter buuut... I think I'm going to toss in a third character (otherwise I'll be too tempted to go for the combat victory— because let's face it, getting a sealing victory against The Black Goat with only two characters is a little implausible). On the other hand, at least the town won't get overrun like it did last game. I find that spawn monsters have led to some of my most interesting games. I still remember a KiY game I played over a year ago where the riots came out, and I'd managed to knock the gates down to two, but the beecher blight came out so I couldn't buff my characters to break through the gate easily with allies. It was a pretty brutal game ;') lots of fun though. I think I eventually managed to bust through the gates with blessings. But, um, yeah, that was a while ago :') ::sigh::

Innsmouth... Drool...

That was an awesome idea, to "doorstop" the rumor with Wendy. It's a good thing you were clever enough to use Wendy that way. If you had gotten any other of the countless available rumors, then you might have been screwed and Dam might have been forced to point out some other thing that was turning him off from Kingsport.

Good show. A little specific though... do you actually remember all these details after the game?

Dam, did you actually read through Avi's entire story too? I think someone's jeeeallllouuussss...

Tibs said:

I did read the entire thing. But my focus always goes straight to either a) rule errors (pretty sure Avi's got rules in check ) or b) lame exploits (Daisy, Wendy, etc.). Story takes a back seat to those things for me.

It's kind of funny, but looking at the statistics page...

The expansion that causes the highest percentage of losses is actually Kingsport.

Hmm.

johnwatersfan said:

KH has the hardest GOOs (all in top-7). If you use nothing else from KH, you'd still check the KH box in the report card if you used a KH GOO?

Easy answer. Epic Battle cards.

The Kingsport AOs are all hard, but most are on par with Dunwich AOs. Hoever, with the introduction of Epic Battle, all final battles are MUCH harder. And since all players have the base game and AOs, and not everyone has Kingsport and the Epic Battle, all the Kingsport AOs are going to come out higher on the list. Therefore all games with KH are going to see increased difficulty compared to other expansions and expansion AOs.

Tibs said:

The game was very short and memorable. It's possible that a detail or two was changed in the retelling, but it's probably at least 90% accurate. I looked at the mythos cards on the bottom of the deck afterwards to remind myself what had happened in earlier terms, and alot of the game was so memorable this time, I didn't need to remember much. Keep in mind, I only actually had maybe 9 or ten encounters with Wendy. Mark had a bit more, but those extra ones were mostly related to combat (three turns). Shopping, (three turns). And desperately scrounging for clue tokens :') and being driven insane twice. Soo.... :') Neither character had *that* much to remember about, and, no, I don't normally remember games as clearly (but quite a bit of this was based on a reconstruction from memory and review of mythos cards). Also, remember that monsters on the board were fairly static because I was avoiding them (mostly) rather than fighting— well, at least on *one* side of the board, and I managed to paralyze three out of five (really seven because of the servants) for quite a bit. I woke up a few minutes ago :'D and the first thing I was thinking of was last night's game. Heh... I actually remembered something from yesterday that wasn't included in the report. The first Servant was actually an evade failure ;'D even though Mark had five dice. I had to waste a clue token to get him past (he had sneak though, so he got double dice). ::Shrug:: anyways, I included most of the salient details, other than a bunch of the other world encounters (but those are harder to review, so I didn't bother).

Tibs said:

Ooooo, busted ;')

Although I do think Atlach and Y'Golonac are fairly difficult.

Mark reduced to 0 sanity from his maximum. 6 clues are no use to a dead man.

sulphurea said:

Well that's okay. He's neither dead, nor has to give them up (avi used Madness cards). If I was going to go insane from that encounter, I would have at least asked for a 6.

Madness cards are restorative of sanity and prevent item/clue loss when an investigator is driven insane. If an investigator's max sanity is reduced to 0 the character state of the investigator is not 'driven insane', but 'devoured', therefore a madness card is not an option. Anyone who gainsays me is wrong and a wuss to boot.

sulphurea said:

Ummm... That's great, Sulphurea. But sanity losses do not reduce your maximum sanity. Maximum sanity reduction is extremely rare, and really only becomes an issue if you're playing against Cthulhu. Or if Cthulhu pops up in R'lyeh from the CotDP encounter. Permanent crippling. Lovely :')

Alternatively, you can be devoured if your maximum sanity and stamina are reduced to zero simultaneously, but that's a fairly rare occurrence (although it has happened to me a few times, once inadvertently!) If you have doubts about this, go check page 9 of the Dunwich Horror manual.

Avi_dreader said:

When your maximum sanity and stamina hit zero simultaneously, you are super-devoured!

... however, when your temporary sanity and stamina are reduced to zero at once, you are devoured as well ;P

Vitus_Prem said:

Whoops ::laughter:: you know what I meant.

If your maximum sanity and stamina hit 0 at the same time, you're...

Well, just pick one of the buttons on a blender. You're that.

Tibs said:

Oooo! Smoothies for Cthulhu!

Black Goat + Shub Niggurath vs Rita, Michael, and Dexter= pain. ;'D Michael actually got devoured from a double madness ::laughter:: he had ten clues at the time ;'D He drew the corruption that causes two sanity loss for clue tokens, and kept going insane :' guh. :'r I'll rematch tomorrow. I've already picked out my characters (randomly— excluding the just devoured). Got Jenny, Luke, and Jaqueline. I think this game will go muuuuch better :') even though I am stuck with two one focus gimps.

Avi_dreader said:

Did you use the total Goat? I keep reading about people ignoring the "doom for surge" bit.

Also, you were doomed from the word go. Why? Come on, you had Dexter !

Dam said:

Ironically, I thought he might save my ass (he drew two find gates at the beginning. Too bad my other characters both had max lore of 3 ::laughter::

Of course I used the Goat correctly. Why would I misplay a herald on my first try? That would be pretty pathetic, don't you think? ;') I think coupling it with Shub is a *really* bad idea, but I'm going to do it again anyways ;'D