I dont know if this is really possible or not, but a few days ago, my freinds and I got together to play some Arkham Horror, and as far as im aware of, beat the game on the first turn... one player went to the science building and drew his event card or whatever its called, and it was about a ray gun thing that can close gates. he rolled a 6 and got the gun running. then rolled a 6 to see if he closed the only gate. and it worked. gate closed and game over.

is that possible? We didnt play with any expansions or anything either...

Guess you missed the part about having unspent gate trophies equal or greater than the # of investigators. Unless you played with 0 investigators .

First turn win is possible certainly. Mainly in 1-investigator games, but with Akachi 2-investigator is possible. With some really lucky draws, with Akachi and De Vermiis Mysteriis, I'd say 3-investigator is also doable on the first turn.

Dam said:

Wouldn't there be just one gate to close on the first turn? (or am I missing/omitting something here?)

Yeah. Akachi (from Innsmouth) starts with a gate trophy. The "De Vermis Mysteriis" tome closes a gate and gives you the trophy.

Then again, if you play with both the Innsmouth and Dunwich boards, then the game counts as having one investigator less. So Akachi could do it in a 3-player game without the aid of De Vermis.

I see. Forgot about the more expansions - easier on investigators rule

Hmn.

I'd really like a clarification on what is affected by the modified investigator number... and what is not.

As far as we know, the rule was made to help the investigators covering larger areas. Therefore, i.e. the monster limit is linked to the modified number (since there should be less investigators in arkham to take care of all the monsters), but not within the final battle, since everybody's there anyways.

What about rumors that state things like "place x tokens on this card, where x is the number of investigators"? Would make kind of sence there, since these kinds of rumors usually make the investigators gaver in certain street locations to spend.. things. Therefore, it would be pretty hard to get everyone back from Innsmouht, Dunwich and Kingsport to prevent the rumor from running wild.

How about the closing gate winning condition? Has this to do with covering more ground? I'd say: no. But as I said, as far as I know, there's still no clear rule to that.

Tibs said:

Tibs said:

I thought that only counted for calculating the Gate and Monster limits. It'd make Final Battle a bit easy for a three-Investigator team if it didn't.

Jedit said:

The "fewer investigators" handicap is for everything EXCEPT final battle. I thought we were talking about a first-turn win by closing all open gates?

While we're on the topic: If Akachi is in a 1-player game, and the first Mythos card is the one from Dunwich that closes any open gate of your choice, then that's a Turn 0 win!

Tibs said:

Wow, that's neat. I'm tempted the next time we set up a game, to stack the deck and choose Akachi just so that can happen and watch their reactions as it happens. Of course, I'd then have to confess, but I still think it would be funny to see how they react.

Cimmerz said:

Hmm. You'd have to do it with a 3-investigator game or fewer. If you use Dunwich, Kingsport, and Innsmouth, you could put the Strange Waves Subside! mythos on the top, and make sure someone has Akachi. Game over, man

Hmm, and what about a situation when you play a 1-investigator Akachi game and the first drawn mythos card is for example "The next act begins" ?

There is no open gates in Arkham and you've got gate trophies equal to the number of players. Another win in turn 0

Anvilek said:

I thought a Gate had to opne on the first mythos card. Although I can remember to good reason why I thought this. It probably just seemed right and became a subconscious house rule.

- Mariana the ex-nun cultist

Anvilek said:

Sadly the "win by closing" condition only gets checked when a gate is closed. (Otherwise, you'd win in that situation as soon as Akachi got the gate trophy in the setup phases)

Mariana: No, I think it's just rumours that are forbidden. Double-doom, Next Act and Intermission might throw your normal starting routine off a bit, but all seem reasonable things to start with (indeed, with KiY visiting exhibition, Next Act or Intermission as the first card is fairly likely). Strange Sightings is a bit more dubious - monster surge on no open gates - but that situation could also occur during play, so it can't be entirely wrong.

Tibs said:

Is that so? Where was that one stated?

What I've seen as a clarification so far, final battle is not included since it has nothing to do with covering larger areas. But was there a mentioning that final battle was the only thing that's not affected by "fewer investigators"?

"The rules are unchanged when using more than one
expansion city, except that the number of players should be
counted as being one less for each expansion board in play
beyond the first. So, if six players are playing a game using
both Dunwich and Innsmouth (for a total of two expansion
cities), they are counted as having one less player, for a
total of five players. This modified number of players is
used for such things as the monster limit and the maximum
number of gates that can be open at once, and it reduces
the level of difficulty for the players since they have so
much more ground to cover." (p. 6, IH rules)

(emphasis added)

Final Battle is the only exception specifically mentioned (the KW answer's thread I think).

Dam,

I'm very glad that you used this particular text. I believe this is another example of editing problems at FFG. The rule clearly states that the "number of players should be counted as being one less for each expansion board in play." The example continues by identifying both of the Dunwich and Innsmouth expansion boards ~ two of them ~ but the rules continue, with ". . . they are counted as having one less player, for a total of five players." Am I missing some type of new math or has everyone resigned themselves to bad editing on the part of FFG.

The Professor

The Professor said:

Actually, you left out the last part of that sentence "... beyond the first". Meaning first board doesn't alter the limits in any shape or form, only when you go beyond the first does this kick in. It's pretty much a C&P from the KH rules, only with KH being replaced by IH.

The Professor said:

And here's your problem: The rule states "the number of players should be counted as being one less for each expansion board in play beyond the first."

Still, even though the "epic battle" rule was the only exception specifically mentioned so far, I wouldn't be sure that it actually is the only exception.

The "closing gate winning condition" doesn't seem to be affected by larger grounds. And, while we're at it, what about the final scoring? You gain one point per survived Investigator, is that counted one less per board beyond the first, too? I wouldn't think so.

Dam & Vitus_Prem,

Thank you both ~ and to think that I work with linguists.

I appreciate your notes.

The Professor

Mariana the Ex-Nun Cultist said:

The rulebook only tells you that the first card can't be a Rumor - any other type is fine. It may have been errata'd though, since there are now quite a lot of cards that don't open gates.

Even if not, it's a good house rule that you should draw against until a gate opens. The rules for the pre-game Mythos phase were clearly written on the assumption that the card would definitely result in a gate opening. It says "The mythos card will indicate an unstable location where a gate and monster appear."

thecorinthian said:

So would you re-draw if it showed Science Building and Kate Winthrop was in the game ?

I'm pretty sure I probbaly just pl;ayed this way as it made sense to me rathert han because I'd read it was correct somewhere.

Otherwise the investigators all just look at each other as the first turn starts shrug and say well I'm off down to Hibbs for a drink, what about you guys?

I think some direction to the game is needed to get started and a gate appearing provides this.

I'm convinced that this if officially wrong now that it has been pointed out. If cat the only thing I can remember reading is the rumour prohibition on turn 0

- Mariana the ex-nun cultist

I love the Dimensional Beam machine! We had one game where we closed like 4 gates in one blow and immediately won. Sorta cheap, but it was incredibly funny.