I had planned to play my first (solo) game of Arkham Horror tomorrow night when I would have more hours to devote to it as I had read that it tends to play long especially for new players unfamiliar with the rules. To my surprise, my planned solo game turned into a 2 player game when the seductive power of the mythos (or vast numbers of high quality cardboard components) lured my usually reluctant spouse into the fray.

Speaking of high quality components...let me just preface this report by stating how absolutely blown away I was by the quality of this boardgame. This is the first Fantasy Flight game I have ever purchased, but after unboxing and playing Arkham I can promise you it certainly won't be my last. I had read a bit about the game on the forums and in reviews, and expected it to be a nice game..but nothing really prepared me for the craftsmanship evident as soon as I even touched the box. Enough gushing about how awesome the bits are, on to the report !

We finished dinner around a quarter to nine and during prep and cooking phases of said meal, I had carefully punched all of the cardstock components and arranged everything as per the manual suggestions. I had not been expecting the wife to join me and had some reservations about starting a game so late as I had only really been planning on getting the components prepped and taking a few mock turns around the board solo. She seemed really interested in playing and I was not going to pass up an opportunity like that, so I agreed.

I took a few minutes to introduce her to the basic concepts and read the intro paragraphs from the manual aloud, as well as a 5 minute primer on the Cthuhlu Mythos and H.P. Lovecraft. I explained to her that the Ancient Old Ones were great and terrible and that our odds of successfully saving Arkham were slim to put it mildly. I was a tad concerned about driving this point home as my wife is HIGHLY competitive and does not like to LOSE at all, and can get quite strumpy when things are not going her way. She agreed to try to tone it down a notch on the competitiveness scale and not to throw any pieces or burn any ancient one cards in effigy if things were to go against us during the session.

I am a big fan of randomness, especially in a game set in the Mythos so we agreed to randomly choose our investigators from three choices each, delt randomly. She drew the private eye (can't remember name), Jenny Barnes, and Ashcan Pete. I had expected her to gravitate right to Jenny but after a minute of pondering she picked Ashcan Pete. It suprised me so I asked her why she didnt choose Jenny she replied "seems like a bit of a snob," I laughed. I can't remember exactly what my choices were, I remember having a gangster in there but I ended up selecting Monteray Jack just for the pure comic value of the name and I am a big fan of the Indiana Jones movies. I had my also draw our Ancient One at random from all available selections, she revealed Nyarlathotep...we remembered to add the Masks. We were also playing with Mr. Launius' house rule of hidden gates that are only turned over when an investigator moves through them, I felt it was more thematic this way.

My wife ended up with quite the set up in starting items, she got the pallid mask +2 evade checks as her unique item and Speed +1 speed skill as her starting skill. The first or second turn she got the ally (don't remember the name) who adds to your speed and prevents nightmarish on monsters. So she had +3 to speed and +2 to evade checks on Ashcan Pete who already seemed to have decent stats in that area making her basicly able to move through the board with impunity. She spent the first few turns running around to the double clue locations as gates were opening snagging quite a pile of clues. In contrast I was wishing I could do better than the 2 or 3 speed I was getting with Monteray, but I did manage to get an Elder sign in my starting unique items so I went about the business of trying to get a gate closed early.

I had actually read the rules two or three times prior to even purchasing the game thanks to Fantasy Flight's downloadable PDF rules files ( I can't tell you how great I think this is) so we were not having much trouble at all with keeping track of what was going on as I had a good handle on how to keep things flowing and I drilled the phase system and correct order of execution on the Mythos cards to my wife as we played. I have to say though as the night wore on slight mistakes were made here and there, like forgetting a doom token that had to be added the next turn, or not rolling once for curfew check for a player in the street. I think this was more of a function of the lateness of the hour, instead of a problem with complexity of the rules..but my wife did remark towards midnight "the madness is in keeping everything straight."

A bit of newbie comedy occured when the Mask, God of the Bloody Tongue game into play. We both realized this was going to be a tough monster as it was a Mask but neither of us had the sense to flip it over and check out the stats. In retrospect I don't know why we felt the need to try to kill the thing and the best plan was probably to just avoid it, especially since it had Endless ability and couldnt be made a trophy. My wife charged in and quickly realized after one round of failed combat against a 4 toughness monster that it was futile. She fled second round and then easily evaded next movement phase and ran into Arkham Asylum for some R&R, electroshock therapy style. I had the powder of Ibn-Ghazi the +9 to combat check discard after ultimate monster killing utility compound, so I figured I would go avenge the Bloody Tongue's viscious assault on Ashcan Pete, I thought with that powder I'd have the battle sewed up tight. I didnt however take into account my maximum of 3 sanity and fairly low willpower, as I was focused only on the combat check. Needless to say I was driven insane in short order, despite spending my two remaining clues to try to prevent it. I kept the powder after discarding half my other items and waited until next turn to trade it to my wife who had a higher sanity. She defeated the mask, leaving us both wondering why we tried so hard to rid Arkham of it in the first place.

I drew another elder sign towards the end of the game that allowed us to barely edge out a 6 sealed gates victory, with terror level at 10, 3 doom spaces left on the AO, and 9 monsters in Arkham...only 1 away from the double monster limit which would also awaken Nyarlathotep. The end of the game was quite hectic and we really did not think we were going to be able to pull it off, but it was quite satisfying for our first game. I tallied up the score and we came out with a +6 only, not very impressive but seeing how I didnt even expect to win it felt good. In fact, I felt more relieved that the ordeal was over...the game does a good job of providing tension and atmosphere.

I look forward to many more evenings with Arkham Horror, my wife says she will play again (amazed by this) I just hope to start a bit earlier as we didnt get to bed until after 1 AM !!!

I rate this game a 10, and if anybody reading this is on the fence about purchasing it...BUY THIS GAME ! It does not disappoint.

Thanks for reading,

-Vax-

Wow! thanks for sharing.

It's funny that you chose Monterey Jack as your first character.

Some people think that he is one of the worst investigators in the game. You found out yourself when he went insane trying to fight a monster...

Keep at it! I'm sure you'll have more great games!

Vaxsythrakul said:

Just to play devil's advocate here for a moment. "Big fan of randomness", yet you choose from 3 ? My investigator choice is say a number, that's the one you play (soloing I use 3, 7, 13 and 21). Choices-schmoises .

Vaxsythrakul said:

Did I miss it, or was Nyarlathotep being the GOO not mentioned in the intro? As that's the only time you'll puts Masks into the cup (DP Herald notwithstanding).

Very nice report and an amazing victory for your first game. I too amazingly pulled my wife into becoming a regular player. Maybe your TV will last longer now.

Narly has a short doom track and to play with only 2 players and seal him is difficult, even in the base game. In addition, you were running with pretty average investigators. All in all an impressive triumph. You had talked earlier about randomizing the Mythos. Did you do that?

One down and 29 to go.

Dam said:

Look closer, it was mentioned. ;-)

GOOs should be bolded by default !

Dam said:

Dam said:

I like a lot of randomness to a certain extent, but within reason. I felt dealing 3 randomly and having a choice was a better way to go than pure randomness as what is to stop me from drawing say, Monteray Jack for two or three straight games. It would be more "random" that way but not very fun...have to strike a balance.

Dam said:

I know its a long post but I actually mentioned Nyarlathotep (how do you pronounce that anyway) twice.

@Mageith

I saw your other post that you roped your wife and even little daughter into playing, how old is she and how well does she do lol ?

I actually didnt randomize the mythos as you suggested since I had two players, that is something I will probably do on my solo games (if the wife ever gets bored of it). We did skip one mythos phase though on the shuffle the deck card I forget the exact name I think its "the story continues" it said to draw another mythos card but since its the only card I had seen that didnt have a gate I house ruled it on the spot to be shuffle and skip a mythos phase.

Other than that and the Richard Launius' house rule of face down gates until entry, we played it by the book.

It was a great game and a very satisfying victory but totally down to the wire, 1 monster away from AO awakening and honestly I doubt we would have survived a battle with him. I just got hammered all game as Monterey Jack and without the luck of getting two elder signs for sealing we would have most assuradly lost.

Great fun though, probably the most fun I've had with a board game in my life.

Vaxsythrakul said:

Only change to the random draws is if investigator X was used in the previous game, shuffle back to the investigator "deck" and redraw. Thus, no investigator will be in 2 consecutive games, yet you can go 20+ games without seeing a particular one (I had that stretch with Carolyn Fern).

Now the real question, can my sanity stand to play another game tonight ?

I have ample hours this evening as does the wife since she isnt at the Salon today.

I feel like I want to get another game in but honestly I felt strained last night like the Mythos was eating away at my grey matter.

Mageith was right, I wasnt prepared.

If I do go again tonight I'll take Narly-O-Tept out and random amongst the remaining old ones.

And you learned some very valuable lessons: (1) Speed is one of the more important Stats. (2) You can be armed and armored to the gills, and it won't mean squat if you can't pass the Horror Check. (3) That Jenny girl is so full of herself.

I have quite a few competitive cultists myself. Did you notice how much cooler it was when your wife's fervor was working WITH you, instead of AT you?

Thanks for that excellent report!

One thing you can be sure of when getting away with a close victory: Every single boardgame of Arkham horror is cursed so the next time you play you will get pounded into the dirt, but that's the beauty of it. It seduces you into a calm feeling that the game is beatable but then it will haunt, taunt, distract and lure you into the mythos and the madness.. forever.. and so you are consumed by it.. buy all the expansions just to slip further into the void.. but what a beutiful void it is..

Yeah we always do 100% random draws. What you get it what you get, with the exception that if you played the character in the last game, you can call a mulligan.

Sometimes I will refuse to play Jim Culver because I hate the investigator so much if I get him in a random draw. Or I'll move to another chair and make someone else play him! ;-)

jgt7771 said:

Hah !

I don't dare play many games with my wife she is a feisty thing when it comes to games...I mean she gets pissed off playing PEGGLE of all things. It is so strange, she is the nicest, quietest little thing until you put any sort of game in front of her. It is like Dr. Jekel / Mr. Hyde.

I actually am looking forward to losing a game of AH, as long as she isnt playing

I would have picked Jenny had I been delt her, trust fund for the WIN !

Yeah you don't get a full appreciate of just how important sanity is just by reading the rules a few times, once I was in the Arkham Trenches fighting it out with the many formless horrors, with every other card chiseling away at my precious brain...I discovered just how much it matters.

I now value the Whiskey common item much higher.

Vaxsythrakul said:

I played face down gates from my first game, and only switched to face up gates recently. I'd recommend using face up gates for your next game. It gives you more strategic choices, as you can choose to go for gates to remove particular monster types from the board, and save the really hard '-3' gates for those who have a decent chance of closing them.

Thanks for the report, very fun reading :-)

Two elder signs ;') and a double speed ally for Pete. Quite lucky. Try it again ;'D (also, Nyarlethotep is a wimp, even though I was amused how you charged into the God of the Bloody Tongue ::grin:: thrice?)

As for playing with gates upside down... Yeah... It can be fun, but it's really very problematic from a strategic point of view because it removes several aspects of the game. First of all, it's hard to use gate closing or sealing to assassinate a monster you can't otherwise handle, second, you're going to end up having wasted trips through OWs, because some will essentially be too difficult for your investigators to seal (particularly if you play against Yog-Sothoth). ::Shrug:: thematically it makes just as much sense to have some idea where you are travelling to based on your prior research ;') after all, you *did* go to the location. Anyways, I wouldn't be willing to use that rule (except on special occasions, perhaps with a custom herald... Hooo.... I think I just got an idea for a herald post) because it undermines key game strategies and essentially replaces them with luck (it's dumbing the game down for the sake of theme— true, it also makes the game a bit more difficult, but there are ways of adding to the game's difficulty without cutting out elements of strategy ::grin:: one of these ways is drawing your starting character *completely* randomly, perhaps making an exception for ones you've already played once or twice :'D only because you're still new).

Vaxsythrakul said:

Just explain to her that in Arkham, the winners are the losers ;') because you are thwarting the will of the Elder Gods by surviving. They eat worlds when they're in good moods ;') you don't want to make one of them pissed by forcing them to procrastinate their meal.

-

Oh, I also had fun reading the report. It's enjoyable reading about the game from someone else's perspective.

Avi_dreader said:

That one I will remember! For me, it's all about theme.

Anyway, we put our gates face down but I let players know they can look at them any time. It's mostly for bookkeeping, Gate up, someone's in it. Gate down, no one's in it. Just like I leave the ally deck face up, to emphasize that players can look at it if they want to.

Even though Narly is a wimp he's not really a wimp to seal with his short doom track. Two elder signs help a lot, of course. That's the base game for ya!

@Avid Reader and Scotherns:

You guys bring up valid points on the face down gate thing, I think for our 3rd game I am going to try it with gates face up as they open. I don't really like the idea of it though for some reason, it does not make much sense thematically that you would have any idea half way across the board that a gate opened to Ry'leh vs. to Dreamlands. I know sometimes you have to sacrifice realism or theme for the sake of gameplay, I don't know if I want to in this case though. I feel though that at least a playthrough with face up gates is warranted just to see how it feels, and to open up some more strategic options. Perhaps, I might find a happy medium...like turning a gate face up when you visit a location that has a face down gate, as you're on location investigating where it might possibly lead with the option to enter vs. being automatically sucked in.

What do you guys think?

We played our second game last night, I am busy with work right now but I'm going to write up a shorter session report in a few hours when things slow down...made a major mistake during the final battle though which tainted the resulting victory, may replay it tonight or just discard the session (sucks being a noob sometimes).

Vaxsythrakul said:

Thematically, there seem to be problems with many tactical things in the game. Primarily, how would Pete Downtown know that Jack in Uptown has a monster problem and needs him to come and kill it? How do they coordinate themselves without cell phones? That's the mystery. I can easily envision their research leading them to the names and specifics of other worlds or monsters, enabling perfect knowledge and preparation. But cross-town communication baffles me.

As far as the rule goes, I think gate-flipping is fine for the base game. That's what we did when we were looking to make the game harder when we couldn't get expansions yet. Once we got the expansions, we turned them face up again, occupied as we were with other things.

mageith said:

::Laughter:: I spent a bit more than three hours last night designing a herald to flip gates face down. So ;') here's some theme for you.

http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=113&efcid=1&efidt=17002&efpag=19

flamethrower49 said:

Agreed. Kindof. Although I don't really like house rules too much because they lead to wierd habits when trying to play with other people ;') although I'm tempted to incorporate Kevin Wilson's suggestion about discarding green epic battle cards for non-seals. When there's a house rule I *really* want, I make a custom herald or AO incorporating it ;'D that way I can get to play the house rule without other players thinking it is a permanent aspect of the game.

As for thematic reasons to know what gate you're flipping. Um, perhaps the effects on that neighborhood are indicative of the other world. Who knows?

flamethrower49 said:

Arkham is a small town (20,000 or so). Salem is only 40,000 now. It is 8.1 sq miles. I'll tell you more after I've visit there next month.

Many alien monsters are large and probably loud. About 25% of people had cars. Motor cycles appear to be available. Certainly it doesn't take all day to get to the Curiositie Shoppe and shop. I envision them working together.

Hows does Leo,the leader prevent, Sanity and Stamina damage. How does Mandy give out re-rolls both in this world and the next? Why can't Leo and Carolyn give some on the spot first aid?

mageith said:

Don't burn any pedestrians, even if they are witches, the Salem Police won't side with outsiders ;')

flamethrower49 said:

What's the phrase? Quoted for Truth. As our win ratios went up, we started throwing our own wrenches at the rulebook to increase the difficulty. Then Dunwich came out, and you could see a lot of those "difficult" House Rules just wither away. I played with Hidden Gates for a while...then suddenly there were Ancient Ones activating on Monster Surges, flooding the board with creatures, and I NEEDED to know what Gates to close just to help clear the board.

But hey, have your fun! You'll know if and when it's time to stop.

Vaxsythrakul said:

That's exactly the same reason I started playing (from game One) with face down gates. Having now played it many times both ways, face up gives you more strategic options, and is more fun, so thats the way I always play it now. Now my investigators quake and when a gate to R'leh opens, and only enter when they are ready for it, rather than jumping in blindly and hoping for the best :-)