In my ongoing efforts to make AH even more challenging, I like to find the worst combo of 5 investigators for each particular expansion.

After I tried what I thought was a great (maybe best?) combo of 5 with King In Yellow expansion (using Hastur as GOO and KiY as Herald):

Charlie Kane (terror ability great),

Patrice Hathaway (clue ability great),

Mandy Thompson (re-roll ability great),

Marie Lambeau (removing doom token great, especially using Personal Stories),

Jaqueline Fine ('buying off' mythos cards ability great)

satisfied at that one, I tried to find the worst combo against Hastur and the KiY herald.

Here's what I came up with. Anyone have better suggestions?

George Barnaby (I love playing this guy because he can be so difficult)

Luke Robinson

Rex Murphy (because he starts out cursed, and needs to spend precious clues to pass his Story)

Lola Hayes (her swapping skills ability is usually a crapshoot)

Jenny Barnes ('cos I was looking for another slow person who needed to spend clues to pass their Story)

Well... not so sure I agree wth some of your names. Indeed, some of their PS can be crappy, but actually you're not forced to pass their stories, so...

Rex is a tremendous character, especially in a Hastur game. It's true that he starts the game cursed, but actually his ability of gaining extra clues is gamebreaking. It's enough that someone blesses him, and the game is automatically won.

Jenny, again, is an awesome investigator, and she's an inexaustible source of money. True it's only a +1, but it's always granted (huge for moving among boards).

Again, Lola is incredible. Use her to farm through the Skill deck. When there's something you need desperately, pay 8 bucks and buy it. Invest on her, and she'll repay you for.

If you want a real challenge, just play a party with George, Monterey, and three copies of Vincent

Thank you, Julia for not mentioning Dexter or Monterey ~ I love those guys!

Lol, I actually mentioned Monterey :whistles:

Yes actually I did try it with Vincent too - his story once passed didn't make it too bad though.

I still think with Hastur requiring 8 tokens to seal, any personal story that needs 5+ clue tokens to succeed (especially before the terror track reaches 4, or what have you) is a distraction.

I really WANT to like Monterey... That 3 Sanity, though, whew...

Yes actually I did try it with Vincent too - his story once passed didn't make it too bad though.

I still think with Hastur requiring 8 tokens to seal, any personal story that needs 5+ clue tokens to succeed (especially before the terror track reaches 4, or what have you) is a distraction.

Indeed. Some Personal Stories are just mental traps (to me, at least). Basically, clues are the resource that makes you win the game, so that anything that requires you to invest clues, especially in larger numbers, is something that brings you away from victory. It could be okaish invest money, even though again some PSs demand far too much money for what they give you back.

So, unless you're blessed with a Press Pass or the game is on the easy sde, probably some PSs are not worth being completed.

As for Hastur, have you considered using the revised Hastur released at Arkham Nights (maybe in 2012, don't remember the year exactly?)

I really WANT to like Monterey... That 3 Sanity, though, whew...

Yep, that's the point, he's too low on San; considering his PS requires him to kill monsters... you need to be lucky and have not-so-heavy-on-your-San monsters on the board in the first part of the game; as soon as he passes his PS, he improves quite a lot, resulting in his Archeology ability being terrific (you both farm the deck quicker and gain clues), and his +1 max San actually gives him a bigger chance of being an okaish character.

I haven't used the Arkham Nights Hastur, but if it's harder I'll try it with the George-Monterey-Vincent (+ 2 others) combo...

to flesh out the team, which 2 crappy characters (for this setup) would you pick?

The new Hastur is indeed more difficult, even if he is not requiring 8 clues / seal. Here you have the AO:

as for the last two... go with Dexter (sorry Joe...) and Tony (or Jim). Not as bad as the other 3, but certainly not A-list personalities...

If Dexter finishes his personal story, has lots of spells and nothing major hindering thru game effects, he can be pretty awesome. Still there's lots of stuff that can trip him up, it seems.

Indeed, with his PS passed Dexter is pretty decent too. It should still suffer in the first part of the game, and the revised Hastur, lowering San, should make spellcasting a little more problematic

ok, since I'm going with stories, I'm gonna try Vinnie - Monterey - George - Jim - Skids O'Toole.

Skids' ability is decent, but he's slow and his Sanity/Will combo is pretty harsh - even if he passes his PS....Lore 5 and 4 Sanity on success doesn't feel like a reliable long-term spell caster. Dexter looks good compared to him...

when I get around to playing the match I'll post the results here.

NEVER underestimate the school of hard knocks. that ability has saved me more than i would like to admit. I definately put skids near the upper middle part of the power ratings.

Just finished - Skids' ability did save his bacon once in a non-deadly encounter, but I totally lucked out this game. Seriously. Almost everyone had a good weapon to start and the good rolls came early - 3/5 stories passed by turn 4, and another one shortly after. Only George failed his and it's not a huge loss. Recap to come when I have time, and if anyone's actually interested:)

It's always nice to read a good chronicle And congrats for the victory

Also... if you want some challenge, have you considered joining the Advanced Players League?

Hey Julia, I've heard of it but know nothing about it really - from the name sounds like I'd be interested. How do I find out more?

OK, here's the synopsis. It's simple on the language but don't want to spend too much time fancying it up:)

***

Well, Band of Losers (v.1) against Arkham Nights Hastur, with King In Yellow as Herald and Miskatonic U. as Institution, just because I like to think it helps.

Spoiler: I didn't come close to using any benefit from MU (especially as I was only using the base board).

Other conditions: even though I was using expansion Investigators, I only used Items, Spells and Skills that were from the Base game or KiY.

Mythos Cards used were from Base, KiY and Miskatonic, so I get gate bursts!

Monsters: I have all expansions and haven't removed them all from the monster bag yet, so it's with everything but the Masks.

Also using Personal Stories for each Investigator.

Band of Losers this time around from slot 1 to 5:

MONTEREY JACK, your friend and mine. He starts with the following stuff:

Skill: Marksman. very useful.

Common: Bullwhip and Revolver.

Unique: Elder Sign Pendant and Flute of the Elder Gods.

VINCENT LEE, slowest doctor in Arkham. Takes him years to make a house call.

Skill: +1 Speed. well, well.

Common: Shotgun and Map of Arkham. Fantastic pulls. All of the sudden Vinnie is quick and at least partially dangerous.

Spells: Flesh Ward and Red Sign of Whonanny.

then JIM CULVER, love the guy and keep thinking he's better than he is.

Skill: Expert Occultist. again a good pull.

Common: .45 Automatic.

Spells: Enchant Weapon (wow, might be useful) and Yellow Mist.

GEORGE BARNABY, my personal favourite because he's slow and not great at anything.

Skill: Performer (forgot to mention in my setup I forced one random character to have this KiY specific skill from MH).

Common: Athane. Intriguing, but we'll see.

Unique: Elder Sign. Score!

Spell: Yellow Mist.

Retainer.

and finally bringing up the rear is SKIDS O'TOOLE, also slow, low Sanity and Will.

Skill: +1 Sneak, as if he needed more.

Common: Axe, .18 Derringer and Old Journal. All good pulls, considering.

Unique: Gladius of Carcosa. Fantastic!

**

Mythos Phase 0: Gate at the Unnamable. Formless Spawn and Elder Thing show up, with Spawn moving to the street.

With setup done, I'll move to the hopefully exciting game. Already I'm getting cautiously optimistic with those pulls.

TURN 1

OK so since Investigators get nailed Sanity for sealing gates, I'm trying to boost Sanity from PSs and really, seeing if I can finish as many PS in the first few turns as I can. If I can't, I'll forget them and move on. I have a bit of time now so might as well see if this works out.

MONTEREY does what he does best, which is sit in the Shoppe and buy unique crap. He chooses the Masquerade of Night. With MJ's crappy SAN, this could come in handy to finish his PS.

VINCENT runs to the Woods and picks up clue tokens to finish his PS in a few turns. He also loses 2 Sanity and gets bumped to the street.

JIM decides to get right to it and takes on the Formless Spawn with his Enchanted Automatic. Fails the Horror Check (thanks trumpet) and after a turn of getting hit he dispatches the FS, gaining his first monster trophy. Only 2 more to go.

GEORGE has money to burn, and he might as well give it to JACK. He simply shambles to the Northside Streets and sits there waiting for Jacko to take his money.

SKIDS needs clues, so he sneaks over to the Historical Society, while reading his Old Journal. All of the sudden he has 2 clues on his PS and a whack of them on his character sheet.

MYTHOS PHASE 1: Gate at the Science Building. A Shoggoth appears and runs right to JIM. A Colour out of Space arrives and hits everyone with -1 SAN. I'm starting to feel that familiar feeling of impending hopelessness.

TURN 2

VINCENT gives himself a Stamina and moves to the Witch House for 2 clues, giving him 5 already. Can pass his PS in 2 turns. During his encounter he would lose 3 Sanity, so he spends 3 clues to eventually pass the test. Good idea? Who knows. Back at 2 clues.

JIM says what the hell, and tries to off the Shoggoth. Loses 2 SAN but trumpet helps him again, and with his Enchanted Automatic he turns the Shoggy into dog food.

GEORGE drops his money off for JACK, and goes to the Train Station for something to do. He ends up making a Sneak check on 1 die and gets a Petrifying Solution. Man, I'm leading a charmed life.

SKIDS goes to the Lodge for another clue (now at 3/5 on his card). Then in his encounter he gains another 2 clues (plus now at 4/5 on his card). Yow!

JACK "shoppes" again, and from the options buys a Cryptozoology Collection (which somehow gives him a helpful +1 to one big check per turn).

MYTHOS turn 2: Gate at Indy Square, Hound of Tindalos and Proto-Shoggoth appear. ouf. Condition: if you fail a Spell check, add a doom token.

Better get going through gates now...

Is this too much information? well, too late now - I've committed!

**

TURN 3

JIM goes to DT streets to rendezvous with GEORGE.

GEORGE swaps his Athame with JIM for his Auto and Enchant spell. Then he goes to Indy Square, using Petrifying Solution to kill the Proto Shoggoth, and Enchanted Auto to off the Hound. Good rolls! Through the gate to Ry'leh.

Unfortunately, later in the gate he loses all his stamina and is LiTaS. That's what I get for jumping to Ry'leh with no clues!

Don't want an Injury card this early, so he loses Yellow Mist and Enchant Weapon. Also loses his PS, which isn't too bad: no Allies.

SKIDS gains a clue token in the Graveyard, passing his PS! Sanity shoots to 4 and he gets Call The Azure Flame spell. And boy does he have a lot of clues.

JACK shoppes one more time and scores the $8 Sword of Glory.

VINCENT doesn't want to take any chances and restores his SAN to full at the Asylum.

MYTHOS turn 3: monster surge! Ghost, Dark Young, Leng Spider, Polyp, and Cultist (NOW he shows up) all appear.

TURN 4

SKIDS has so many clues he has to get his butt to a gate. He sneaks by the Spider and Elder Thing, spending a clue doing so, and jumps in. Nothing really happens in there.

now-speedy VINCENT drops off money for JACK on the way to the Isle, back to 3 clues. He loses 1 SAN but gains a new Enchant Weapon. Missed that thing.

JIM to Hibb's for the clue, and gains another 2 in an encounter there.

MYTHOS turn 4: a Rumour! Southside Strangler. Ally killer. Well, I have about 10 turns. and don't want to spend clues yet. JACK discards his Elder Sign Pendant to prevent a surge, but a Cultist and Mi-Go appear at Indy Square anyway. Now at 8/8 Monsters.

TURN 5 (out of sequence)

SKIDS moves to 2nd area and nothing happens.

JACK is gonna push it 'cos he's cocky. He runs to the gate at the Science Building, killing the Cultist. He auto-fails Horror Check on the Colour, but handily discards his Masquerade of Night to reduce Horror damage to 0. Fights the sucker with his bare hands, losing 2 STA but succeeds! He passes his PS, and goes to the Dreamlands. There, he goes down to 1 SAN vs. the Deep One Hybrid but beats him.

VINCENT to the Witch House for clue 4/5 of his story, and in the encounter loses 1 SAN.

JIM books it to the Asylum for a $2 cure.

GEORGE pops back to Arkham and chooses the Hospital, paying $2 for full recovery.

MYTHOS turn 5: a Rumour but doesn't activate. Gate at Historical Society, Tcho-Tcho and Rat-Thing appear. one Ally gets strangled.

TURN 6 (out of sequence)

JACK moves to 2nd area, and gains $3. Not short of money this game.

VINCENT runs to Arkham to drop off Shotgun, Enchant Weapon, Flesh Ward and Red Sign for JIM and gains a free Sanity.

loaded up, JIM's gonna kick some butt in Indy Square. Hopefully. First, the Mi-go. Loses Sanity and the Trumpet, but offs the creature and gets the Throne of Carcosa. Yuck. Puts it on Easttown Streets 'cos it's close to the Asylum and far away from the Hospital. Passes Horror check on Ghost and spends a clue to beat that undead sucker. Enchanted Shotgun nails Dark Young, and off he goes to Ry'leh where nothing happens!

GEORGE will plan to take his Elder Sign to JIM when he gets back, but for now will hit the Admin Building for some money. Doesn't get any.

SKIDS bolts out of the Plateau of Leng, and seals the gate! His SAN goes back down to 3.

MYTHOS turn 6: Gate at Graveyard, doom to 5. Another Mi-Go and Proto-Shoggoth! 2 monsters in Uptown Streets - Dark Young and a Gug. Yuck. Strangler takes Armitage.

TURN 7 (out of sequence)

VINCENT to Black Cave for a clue. Mummy appears and has to spend a clue to sneak by.

JIM to 2nd area of Ry'leh, and he misses a chance to get an ally.

GEORGE gets a clue at the Isle and picks up a 2nd one at an encounter, losing 1 SAN.

JACK comes back and closes the Dreamlands; SKIDS has no encounter.

MYTHOS turn 7: Indy Square gate burst, monster surge. Child of Goat at Indy, rest in outskirts. Instead of a blight happening, Doom goes up to 6. Strangler gets Kaslow.

TURN 8 (out of sequence)

VINCENT gets his 5th token and a Wither spell.

JIM back to Arkham. Uses Elder Sign that GEORGE drops off this turn and seals it, losing 1 max Sanity. GEORGE loses 1 Sanity and Stamina in a trip there.

SKIDS to 2nd Area and doesn't lose any items.

JACK pays $2 at Asylum for full restore.

MYTHOS turn 8: Gate would appear at Indy Square but it's sealed! Clue at Unnamable, Standish gets strangled.

This is taking a long time! Seemed like a good idea, but I'll pause for reflection:)

Man, this is a detailed chronicle! Post it on the Geek and score some GG!

(gonna read through all of it before bedtime today)

As for your question about the league: some years ago, Avi_dreader (in my opinion, the greatest AH player of all times), after spending several years helping the community developing custom creations worth of AH, decided that it was time to create a bigger challenge, using some of the most significant creations made by fans, and preparing a series of Scenarios that were destined to give nightmares to the strongest players around.

To play it, you need to have everything up to Innsmouth Horror (no Lurker, and no Miskatonic); then, there's a series of 24 Scenarios divided into 4 subseries that tell a story of madness and pain in Arkham. You can find all the details for the League on Avi's blog, here .

Allow me to add a personal opinion to this: it's the greatest installation ever done for Arkham Horror. It shows perfectly how far the game can go, and challenges everyone to master the strategy of the game: every scenario is a wonderful riddle and you have to be good to pass to the next one.

So far, many tried, but only one completed all the Scenarios (hi! After all, there's a reason why my avatar says "I survived Avi's apocalypse"); two more guys, Eagermind and Dj2.0 went quite far into the League (around Scenario 15, I think) but it's some months that they are not posting anything at this regard. It'd be nice to have someone else trying, and be the first one to unlock the bonus Scenarios (from 25 to 28)

(ok, this is more or less what you need to know to have a general idea of the league. Any further questions: just ask me. Here or via PM)

Thanks for posting the report Krys! Its a challenge to track each turn and all the details for each investigator but do what you can - I want to know how the motley crew fares.

I've seen Avis's creations and they make me tremble. Someday we will attempt Everest but. Much Training. Required.

I've seen Avis's creations and they make me tremble. Someday we will attempt Everest but. Much Training. Required.

That's very true. Additionally, I think that starting from Avi's stuff would kill the fun of the game. In either case: if you fail the League, the experience could result in deep frustration and disliking AH. If you succeed, then your game style has changed, and all the beautiful years you could have spent boosting up, little by little, the difficulty of the game, would have been lost. So, best is enjoying the game at proper pace. And when it becomes too easy, then, step up a little bit

Thanks both, ok since I at least have an audience of 2 I'll continue:). I have no idea how to do these without spending more time writing a story around it, so simply stating the moves is the way I'll go.

I'll definitely check out Avi's blog Julia, thanks!

****

TURN 9 (out of sequence)

JIM gives the Yellow Mist to Sanity-happy GEORGE, then goes to the Asylum to get $1 from JACK, then pay $2 for Sanity restore. This is becoming a trend.

GEORGE skips to the newspaper to hopefully get a new Retainer, and he does. Luck is still with me.

SKIDS returns to Arkham and fails the close on the gate, even after spending a clue token.

time for JACK to get macho, and use the item I never seem to use in this game. Now that his SAN is 4 (at least at the moment), he can use it, too; he runs to the Uptown Streets and blows on the Flute of the Outer Gods. I was always confused about this because it talks about Combat Checks, but presumably you have to make one Horror Check first anyway. So he goes for the +0 modifier Dark Young, feeling lucky. Makes it. Then, he spends 3 STA and SAN to blow that Flute and discards it, gaining the Dark Young, Gug, and Rat-Thing as trophies. Good swap!

VINCENT runs to the Merchant District Streets and hangs out.

MYTHOS turn 9: no gate but 2 doom tokens added (now at 9). Clues at Isle and Docks, it's a MH card. Mi-Go flies to Monterey. The strangler kills Duke. Duke!!

TURN 10 (yes, from here on out of sequence when it comes to OW encounters, for the most part)

During upkeep, VINCENT pays 5 tokens and passes his story. Maybe not such a good idea; he isn't going to fight anything anytime soon. But I couldn't resist. Anyway he gains 2 more movement points. This means with his Skill, Map and PS bonus, he can move 7 SPOTS per turn. The guy is on performance-enhancing drugs. Time to drop off that Map to another slowpoke.

GEORGE runs past VINCENT, gets the Map and hits the 2 clues at the Isle. There he loses 1 SAN and STA, again! At least he's consistent.

SKIDS seals the gate and his max SAN is now at 2. Keep it cool, champ.

JACK takes out the Mi-Go in the streets and chooses an Ancient Tablet from the options. Clues will still be useful.

VINCENT dispatches the Tcho-Tcho, and picks up a Time Bomb...hmm...wait 'till you see what happens here...

JIM goes to the Admin Building for some money, but ends up losing $1.

MYTHOS phase 10: Gate would appear at the Historical Society, but it's a monster surge. It's the only gate on the board. Observers might be intrigued at the possibility here; wait until you see what shows up. It's a Dark Young, Dark Druid, Leng Spider, Star Vampire, and Shoggoth. Death incarnate. Shambler goes to outskirts. The Servitor of the Outer Gods in the street boxes JIM into the Admin Building. Strangler kills Thomas Malone, a favourite.

TURN 11

2-SAN SKIDS goes to the Lodge for a clue; since he has money he should be able to buy a membership if one is forced on him. In the encounter he would have gained Ruby Standish as an Ally, but she's strangled! Instead he gets Holy Water.

JACK goes to the Hospital for a $2 restore and uses the Tablet. He gains 2 clues and the Voice of Ra - yuck, would have preferred 4 clues. But at least I'm continuing to roll well.

OK, sexy moment: VINCENT is going for it with the Time Bomb. He slides his Sneak all the way to 5, and thanks to his 3 movement points from Skill/PS, he can move the 1 to the Historical Society. Can he Sneak by and set the Bomb???

- He puts 1 token on the Bomb. No point in waiting!

- Sneaks by Shoggoth and Dark Druid no problem. For the Dark Young he has to use his last clue token, but makes it.

- This leaves the Leng Spider - he makes it - and the freaking Star Vampire with 2 dice...success! Can you believe it, Vinnie the Snake is through to Another Dimension, leaving the short-fuse Time Bomb behind him.

- in the OW he avoids being LiTaS.

JIM stays in the Admin Building and gains $5.

GEORGE loses his Retainer again, but gains 2 clues at the Docks.

MYTHOS phase 11: Gate at Witch House. 2 monsters to Outskirts; we're full there and on the board. But no monster moves from the Historical Society! Pickman gets strangled.