LOL. True, no need for apologize. Point is that almost no-one of the "old ones" is still active in the forum (but Tibs, who passes sporadically by and tries to help as he can); once this board was filled of people with a really great knowledge of the game that were always watching over the board, helping. Nowadays, the only remaining here are me and Joe. Leaving an interesting debate open, or a plea for help with rules and stuff unanswered for too much time really bugs me (I tend to forget that being all grown-ups, we technically have all a life, lol).

Anyhoo, case closed, I won't be apologizing with you ever again

This. Dunwich and Innsmouth have similar mechanisms behind, vortices making bad stuff happen during the game. Dunwich is the less scary: you could actually want the Dunwich Horror to wake up, it's just a hypertough Mi-Go giving you an automatic Elder Sign when defeated. It's a little bit risky, but if you stockpile items and clues on one investigator, it could be worth the investment.

Innsmouth is crazy difficult, but because of how the board is designed: unaccessible spaces, martial law, incredibly horrible Mythos (Close-mouthed anyone? Unpleasant Surprise at the wrong moment?), but the idea is the same: a track that is progressively filled during the game, and that you can clear under certain conditions. Still, you can control it: avoid sealing high-freq gates very early in the game (also because they tend to burst more often), be ready to send someone to Devil Reef when needed, coordinate the closing / sealing of the final gates. Unless you have a DOR accelerator in play (Dagon + Hydra for instance), you often win.

Kingsport works differently. There are three tracks working together and you can be forced to face all of them filling up at the same time. There's the need for you to have investigators going there and have a series of encounters when it could be too late (monsters roaming the streets and so on). The entity of danger varies from game to game and it's dependant on the frequency of the movement patterns of monsters, regardless of the Mythos deck composition (if you play all-in without Miskatonic, you can have Dunwich being the boring wastes for the amount of actions you see there), so, it's a real actual threat and it's entirely up to you to find the proper balance in when to do something without losing time / energies / forces.

I think it just requires time and patience to be seen; other boards may be more fascinating because they apparently are more difficult

I understand about the forums, and I've seen examples of your post count. I know you do this because you love the game and want to help. I'm just saying it isn't necessary to rush to answer to me quickly, though I do greatly appreciate it. I mean, I don't have a life, but maybe you do. It's great to see your passion for the game. From what I've seen, you've been a mentor and ambassador for Arkham Horror for a long time. Maybe some of us newcomers can start helping out as we get more comfortable with the game -- not that anyone could ever replace you. Still though, it's a wonderful testament to how awesome this game is. Ten years old, and it is STILL being reprinted.

It seems more and more to me that advanced Arkham play is all about finding that razor's edge of balance between gathering clues/sealing gates and dealing with all of the other catastrophes that come up. Ideally, you want to give the latter just the minimal amount of attention so that you don't lose -- living on the edge and flirting with disaster, if need be.

This is fantastic information. My brain is soaking this up.

One of the great aspects of the game, which lasts much longer than the session, is the wonderfully creative narrative it creates. I'm currently in the throes of developing several games and co-designer on one, and it's the level of theme, which for me, when blended so beautifully with the underlying mechanics, makes a good game truly great.

I would love to design a game some day. I wish you much success.

It's true. When you have a great theme and it is married to great mechanics that fit it well, people just know. The first modern board game I played was Pandemic, and I was amazed how well everything worked.

Yep, Pandemic is a classic. Great mechanisms, brilliant design, smooth gameplay. Recently we spent quite some time enjoying Pandemic: the Cure . It's a little dice game that actually has a huge replayability and each and every decision you take is meaningful. Despite being a dice game (hence: luck), there's an interesting amount of strategy

Yes, I want that one too.

Still though, it's a wonderful testament to how awesome this game is. Ten years old, and it is STILL being reprinted.

Yes. We were talking about this with Joe and some other members a couple of months ago in a different thread. After 10 years, it's still a top-seller: this officially says the game has become a timeless classic.

It seems more and more to me that advanced Arkham play is all about finding that razor's edge of balance between gathering clues/sealing gates and dealing with all of the other catastrophes that come up. Ideally, you want to give the latter just the minimal amount of attention so that you don't lose -- living on the edge and flirting with disaster, if need be.

Indeed, you got perfectly the point. And what makes Arkham so awesome is that this thin red line is so incredibly difficult to find even for the most experienced players. You can look at a game (even now, after 350 plays as in my case) and think: I should have done that better / I lost time here and there / I should have remember that. And you can improve. And the deeper you go, the more details you notice and all has perfect sense (all Arkham Horror players understands the concept of high and low freq locations; but how many have actually noticed how clues are spawned on the board in relation to the gate openings to grant a constant amount of clues available? And like this one there are countless nuances allowing the game to surprise everyone more and more)

The great background story and atmosphere is one of the reasons I went for AH. Originally I was looking for a game which could be played solo and as a group. I thought I'd settled on Eldritch Horror after watching some YouTube play throughs etc and reading that it was more streamlined and less complicated than Arkham. I decided to watch some gameplay of Arkham and instantly thought it looked better. There was better player interaction, you could actually move quickly to aid other players and it seemed easier to form a strategy. And the whole town under threat versus World just seemed better, and gave the impression of an ever creeping terror about to overwhelm this small town.

Isocoed,

I couldn't agree more...I'm much more enamored by the intimacy of these small New England towns facing horrific evils than the globe-trotting play evidenced in Eldritch Horror . I'm not saying EH is a bad game...as I haven't played it. But, I greatly appreciate the Investigators racing against time, hopping on trains or riding creaky old boats up the river to Dunwich , Kingsport , and Innsmouth to save humanity.

Cheers,

Joe

It's not a huge problem per se, since most of the components coming in small boxes that are actually needed for the League can be proxied, but it could be a problem because of the Mythos deck being different. Any chance that you could upgrade your collection? This would make everything a lot more enjoyable.

I'll check with Avi (the creator) about running with no small boxes in the mix

(also: be ready, difficulty is about to rampage *a lot*)

I've been coveting the remaining expansions for a while now. There is ... a chance for an upgrade to my collection, though I imagine I would probably need all four small box expansions and I would want to get Miskatonic also, to deal with dilution, and add variety.

There may be something else I could do. I'll look into it.

Well, I do love to dive deeply into games, so it sounds perfect for me. I'm a very analytical person and my life pretty much revolves around finding an optimal strategy for everything, which I'm sure bugs the heck out of the people close to me.

I think the difficulty level is going to punch me in the face. I'm going to grab the materials tonight and look them over.. and try not to run away screaming.

Good luck :')