We found ourselves on a road trip to Utah this weekend, away from both our home and the streets of Arkham. (Unfortunately AH doesn't make a very good travel game when you're spending most of the time in the car.) Honestly, we're still recovering from our double defeat at the hands of Dagon + Hydra, so it's good to take a break and lick our wounds.

Us taking a break from Arkham didn't mean Arkham took a break from us though. Entirely by chance we found ourselves driving by a particular game shop. The name? Hastur Games. It was a sign. Yes, a literal sign, with an ancient one's name on it.

We just couldn't resist - we pulled a U-turn and stopped in. Elder signs and yellow signs painted on the walls? It was definitely an omen, we knew what we had to do. It was time to complete the collection. We walked around the shop like kids in a candy store, with 3 small box expansions and Kingsport in tow, looking at all the other neat stuff in the shop. We picked up some property of Miskatonic University book play stickers to add to my game notebook and a yellow sign rubber stamp as well.

So we're left with a question: how do we get acquainted with our new expansions? We had been adding them in slowly so we can get a feel for each, but now we have 4 to get to know at once. Which do we break open first if we want to save the best for last? Are there combos of big box + small box that you feel are particularly solid to mix old and new? Is one of the small boxes we picked better with just the base board?

Our new expansions:

- Black Goat of the Woods

- Lurker at the Threshold

- Curse of the Dark Pharaoh

- Kingsport Horror

The crappiest of those (I guess it's universally acknowledged to be so) is the BGotW. It's not terrible per se, but the Herald is really brutal, and the Cult Encounters dynamic is really badly designed, so that, in the end, not all content is at level.

Anyway, I think the best choice is what you did so far: pick up one, and slowly walk through it in several plays, then move somewhere else.

Where to start? Is there a theme you like the most? Really, I think you can ask 100 people and get a different answer every time: while everyone here mostly agrees that the best expansion to start with is Dunwich or King in Yellow, then it's just an individual path

therabidbanana,

That's a great story...I need to get out west again. I knew that Julia would beat me to the punch as we've secretly embedded a chip in her brain to immediately know when a post hits this forum

Anyway, Julia's advice is widely-regarded as "spot-on" and I fully-concur with the assessment that you should introduce but one expansion at a time. Even after more than 100 "all in" plays, I'm returning to my roots and playing just the base game again, with a few additions, such as Injury and Madness cards from Dunwich Horror , and all of the Investigator cards ( Common and Unique Items , Spells , and Skills ).

Have fun and Happy Gaming!

Cheers,

Joe