I have been playing the iPad version of Omens, have purchased the three expansions and am loving it. Now I'm thinking of getting the physical game just to have it and maybe get the family to join in. My question is: does the physical game contain all of the gods and features (e.g. allies) that had to be bought as expansions? If so, how do they handle the different locations (museum, desert, ocean, etc?).
Should I buy the physical game?
The boardgame is very different in a lot of ways. Until the most recent expansion (Gates of Arkham), there was nothing outside the museum. The base game and first expansion have a (justified) reputation for being very easy, primarily because of the wimpy mythos deck- no '3 doom at midnight' mythos events here. I think it's still fun, but nowhere near as challenging as the app. Allies are present, but also play differently. More 'gods' to choose from, each with their own special abilities, and you get to battle them if the doom track fills up by rolling a unique task repeatedly.
I would recommend starting with the base game and the Gates of Arkham expansion. Unlike the app and base game, with GoA the adventures are hidden to start with, they take you outside the museum to Arkham locations, and all those adventures are currently new and not available as an app. There are no ocean/desert/arctic adventures in the board version at all. You'll have the option of playing with the base version in the museum if you want, too (most all those adventures will be familiar from the app). You may want to look at the Elder Sign boardgame forums for more details.
Personally, I hope they have plans to turn Gates into an app version, too. Would probably need to be a completely new game, rather than an expansion, but who knows....
Thanks, xfoley8!
Wow, I thought the boardgame and app would be more similar! I will definitely check out the boardgame forums for more information. I really hope they continue development on the app -- it works so well -- adding new monsters and levels should be easy money for FF. And a GoA game would be awesome. Take my money...Please!