Quachil Uttaus has instantly jumped to the top to my list.

Chaugnar Faugn, on the other hand, is probably the new pushover. He doesn't really do anything during the game. Tcho-Tchos/Priests are pretty rare, and the -1 on Skill checks is complete bibble. A penalty on skill checks when you have an Elder Sign is completely inconsequential. And maybe I'm going nuts here, but it seems to me that once you've got a seal down in a neighbourhood, you probably won't need to make any very important skill checks in that neighbourhood again. This holds up for most neighbourhoods (although not all of them).

Me and my friends recently got a sealing victory against Chaugnar Faugn with four players, before the Doom track reached 7. The game lasted less than an hour, including setup. And for most of the game there were no monsters on the board because we found it so easy to keep them under control. And that's with Innsmouth too. What a let-down! That's not why I play Arkham Horror! I'm not happy unless I lose!

Well, played my second game against Mr. Visage, Ghatanothoa today. Cool slumber ability, but really doesn't pack enough punch. At least not so far. And that's with him eating 1 investigator today and 2 in the first game.

Today's game started badly, with Minh Thi Phan (Minty Fun ) getting devoured upon reading her King in Yellow on the very first turn. Luckily, Akachi started in the neighborhood, so Minh unloaded all her stuff to Akachi first. Scratch an investigator with 6 Clues though. Oh yeah, and she was replaced by Dexter Drake . However, Wilson had picked up an Elder Sign during setup, so I wasn't worried. Wilson can't collect Clues until the doom track hits 6, thanks to his pathetic PS, so he jumped in the first gate, to the Plateau of Leng. OW encounter, Ithaqua! For once hairy beast didn't eat every item, left Wilson with Shotgun, Motorcycle and the ES. In 3 rounds, Wilson pumped Ithaqua full of lead. 1 Seal down! Akachi and Roland both picked 2+ Clues and drew blanks. Later they both sealed a gate each (though Roland had some trouble, he failed to seal on his first attempt and Aldebaraan Ascendant hit (Roly-Poly was sitting on an Another Dimension gate). So 3 seals down, ES still unused. Wilson hops in another gate a while later (at Devil's Reef) and Akachi dives in another at Unvisited Isle, looking for her 3rd gate trophy to pass her Prof. Rice-esque PS. Akachi's OW encounter offers her the shot at sealing the gate but with the cost of getting devoured. Despite nice equipment, scratch another investigator, hello, George. George? Crap! Wilson seals Devil's Reef with the ES, dropping the doom track to 5 and getting a free ride to the Asylum while at it . Roland clears the DOR track by calling in the Fed Raid (kinda fitting huh?). First time in 10 games I've called them in. Reason the doom track wasn't moving and the DOR was, was a tons of bounces on the early seals. George shops around, picking up the 2nd ES! Whoah, can't remember the last time I've seen 2 in a game. Dexter jumps in Cold Spring Glen and trampses through the City of the Great Race, getting an early return to Arkham (he has the ES and 6 Clues on him). Mythos opens another gate, this time at Wizard's Hill (if no new gate opens, would've also won by closing gates). Dexter seals the gate using Clues. All about the score man . Dexter had also completed Sealing the Beast's Power during the game and I still had Wilson's Motorcycle as well as the Ruby of R'lyeh (oh and an AO attack canceller). If I'd used the ES with Dexter, Ghatanothoa would've ended at 5 of 13, tied with Azathoth for the worst doom track performance by a GOO (Azzy's lost twice on seals at 5 of 14).

Maybe if Dexter had drawn an 2+ Clue encounter and gotten devoured, I'd be more worried about Mr. Visage.

Ghatanathoa's gaze is really variable as far as how it impacts. If it devours someone at the very beginning, I agree it's not that bad. But if it's at a critical juncture (say on the way to seal that last gate) it can be a real killer. It really makes you think twice about getting clues.

Off thought: imagine playing with Hypnos as guardian -- ouch!

ricedwlit said:

Which expansion does he come in again ? Not that I'd really ever use Guardians, well, maybe Bast just so I could fill in that bit as well, hate leaving empty spaces . Heralds will start appearing again after the next 6 games (for anyone actually wondering ).

Cthulhu is way too powerful to be #8 on the list.He was the most powerful in the original AH,but with the new GOO's in the expansions he's not that strong.Even Great Cthulhu is suffering from the Nyarly sindrome,considering the fact that lesser known gods are more powerful than H.P.L.'s best known characters.

Axalara said:

He's actually not the strongest in any way in the base game. Azathoth is harder to defeat in final battle. Cthulhu might be 2nd, probably is. But he's really very easy to seal away. Once he reduces your maximum sanity and stamina, he just sits back and watches, occassionally sending out a puny, fishy cultist. Cthulhu is really quite a disappointment.

mageith said:

Dam(n), that almost like somebody quoting me ! But yeah, Cthulhu is the 2nd easist from base game, 3rd easiest from AH + DH. For me personally at least. YMMV

mageith said:

Unless you're playing an investigator with a max Sanity of three.

avec said:

Sounds like my friend is out of luck. His fav investigator is Michael McGlen.

avec said:

It's definitely more of an inconvenience. But I've done it and survived. I may even be able to find the T-shirt somewhere. However we will let Emily redraw 3 point stamina or sanity investigators in that case.

RHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN-Tegoth !!!

R-T is seriously on the top of the IH GOO pile for me. Second rotation ongoing so far, but already he's pissing me off big time. First 3 gates open okay, 2 in IH, adding 1 to the DOR, 1 Child of the Goat for +1 doomer, but Hank also kills Barnabas Marsh for -1 doomer. 4th Mythos card, monster surge, 3 monsters drawn: Triple-Cultist Whammy !!! Unsurprisingly, R-T wakes from doom track filling. I draw and pass "Good Work Undone" during the middle part, getting some UIs. Final combat begins with William and Hank Blessed (William from passing his PS on the first turn, Hank from an encounter at EOoD). William has Tom Murphy as well (gotten somehow despite the Terror level hitting 7). As far as Magical Weapons: 2x Powder of Ibn-Ghazi, 2x Enchated Blade, Golden Sword of Y'ha-talla, Gladius of Carcosa and Fetch Stick. Meaning after the first 2 rounds, one of my 4 investigators is just sitting there, doing nothing. Also using KW's suggestion on Clue usage, not that I really hurt me. Only had 2 seals, but Hank had 1 Research Material, Ursula 3 Clues, Kate 0, with only William having an effective 8 Clues (he was trekking to seal a gate when R-T woke). Rhan-Tegoth had 5 Cultists on the sheet, so 21 doom tokens .

And I got a draw !!! Hank and William were chucking around 24 dice total, just hoovering away doom tokens, despite William losing his Blessing on the 2nd round of the final combat (Hank kept his the whole way through). Best Rhan got back from it's attack was 2 hits.

Dam said:

Very mpressive (but not outstanding, when one considers the fact that you don't use Epic Battle or Sinister Plot cards)!

Solan said:

Without more house rules, the Red deck is pretty much space-waste with the EB deck (seriously, combats going into 9+ rounds???). I think this combat went 6 rounds (or 6 attacks), looking at the EB cards, only the Taint of Evil would've slowed down the investigator possible for a turn, but I still had Kate to sacrifice (with 3 Stamina left) before the big guns would've been forced to roll.

For me expansion/game should work as is, not require house rules. Without house rules, what's the point of even having a Red deck? Why not straight off put in a 16-card EB deck (both Green + Red cards) with the same back? Sure, you might get the "poof, you're dead" card first, but currently you'll never see it.

We drew our first red card ever just a little while ago. It was vs. Yibb; we were underarmed and had blessings, so kept passing our focus or die rolls. I suspect some battles will absolutely never get into Red.

Dam said:

Hitting the red deck isn't all that common, I'll admit, but when it finally does happen, it's because you've been putting up a good fight. So, naturally, the tables will begin to turn!

Kevin's suggested rule of trimming the green cards based on how many seals you have is a great rule to support sealing gates and discourage gearing up for final battle too early. That is something you should support.

Regardless of how you handle the EB cards, less predictability and more theme is a giant plus in ANY world-shattering showdown.

Tibs said:

Don't you mean putting up a poor fight? Most of the time things should be done in 5-6 rounds, even without Clue-Shotgunning, if you have semi-decent weapons.

Tibs said:

I support discouraging gearing up for sure. But like in this game, there was very little chance of that, even you were so inclined (which I'm of course not). General Store closed turn 3, Curiositie turn 5 ! Even though Kate started with Alchemical Process (and everyone's favourite spell Wrack ) I found no Elder Signs in the limited time I had to shop. Kate also losing Sanity for trying to cast the spell (yes, I'm looking at you Daisy ) meant she had to detour to the Asylum.

I'm already shuddering as I think ahead to the Rhan-Tegoth + KiY Herald game. BGotW Herald's got nothing on that combo. That doomer for Cultist's is a real killer with Rhan. If it were only +1 Terror and replacement monster, it would close down the shops faster, but wouldn't bring about the final battle any faster.

ricedwlit said:

Drifting off-topic a bit, but Hypnos wouldn't be that big a problem.

This came up in a recent game my group played. One guy started as Leo Anderson, and drew the Professor who places an extra Clue everywhere. So every unstable location started with two clue tokens. But we consulted the rulebook, and it says you may pick up "any or all" of the clues, so you don't have to pick them both up at the same time. Someone else can come along and get the second clue.

So Hypnos would still be useful against Ghathanathoa, just not quite as useful as against most AOs. In my view, Hypnos makes things too easy anyway, most of the time, so it's quite a nice complement to Ghathanathoa.

thecorinthian said:

Of course picking up only 1 Clue from a location with 2+ increases the time required to collect the Clues needed to seal. Me, I have not declined to pick up 2+ Clues in either of my 2 Ghatanothoa games, total of I think 10 or 11 Visage token flips (3 devoured IIRC).

Dam said:

Your'e a heartless Bast worshipper. This is another reason why solo play and random investigators is easier than group play. Recently we played the big G and whenever there were two tokens and player grabbed them both, we reminded him of the possible consequences they always put all but one back. Result was no devourments and only one visage token even turned over.

mageith said:

I don't think it would make a difference if those Ghatanothoa games had been played by me and my friend (2+2 investigators). I can picture him now saying: "It's worth the risk." Or "It's a small chance of picking the wrong one." Ghatanothoa is risk vs reward GOO. Me, I'll take the risk anytime I can (barring those OW trips where I'm about to seal the 6th gate and have the chance of NOT taking any Clues from an encounter).

Also, your group is a bunch of pansies ! Folding under peer-pressure .

Dam said:

Also, your group is a bunch of pansies ! Folding under peer-pressure .

Au contrair, mon ami. It your one mind for the entire group that decides to risk almost always devourment who decides under peer-pressure (peer pressure of one). Group mind is doing Group think.

For us it is not peer pressure, but the realization that discretion might be the better part of valor. As you well know, there is no real cost in the game sense to be devoured. My point is that as individual players, they identify with their characters more and are less likely to take the more efficient but riskier choice of drawing big G's gaze.

mageith said:

What do they do/feel about Quachil Uttaus then? For me, when QU is the GOO, I hope the first investigator manages to seal a gate, maybe do something else worthwile in addition before getting devoured, 'cos it's going to happen in all likelyhood. Already during setup, I'm writing off the first, most likely the second investigator from making it all the way.

mageith said:

This is the odd thing about Innsmouth - it's really brought home the fact that being killed is sometimes one of the best things that can happen to the group. Trophies, the only things which you actually have to take time and run real risks in order to acquire, are not lost. And meanwhile you get a fresh injection of items and clues, plus the new character starts in a safe location at full san/stam.

In most of the Innsmouth games I've played, a character being devoured has usually helped far more than it's hurt. I may design an AO who makes it more painful to be devoured.

thecorinthian said:

Umm, Glaaki?

Dam said:

Well, we played the Big Q yesterday and the first player quickly discarded the first two decks in two turns and then began passing it. (7 players at that point). It got to Emily who didn't have the 2 clues and was dusted along with her favorite character, Wilson. She was so upset she decided not to reincarnate. From then on every player paid his two clues until it got to me so, 12 clues were wasted in the vain attempt to remain dust free. Finally it got to me, the slimy lawyer, and I decided to take it for the team to stop the clue bleeding--but didn't have to. I think I might have lost one sanity as the cards keep restoring themselves. In short, no one but me was willingly going to give up the ghost and it could have easily cost us the game. We even had the real Patrice in the game (played by a 12 year old girl in her second game) and Roland, but clues were still hard to come by. We eventually won but it took 6 hours, a house record. If Patrice (her name was Katie and we began calling her Katrice) hadn't been there, we could not have possibly won. She helped seal 3 gates and sealed the fourth one on her own. The other two were elder signs.

Solo games are much easier and faster.