Hi,

I already own - and love - Arkham Horror and the Dunwich expansion.

I keep reading that mixing in too many expansions leads to a problem where the special effects and atmospherics connected to a particular expansion never come to pass. Even though I've never played a small box expansion I can kind of see this happening in Dunwhich. In the three games I've played since getting Dunwich the Horror itself has never appeared, and only got to two tokens once. If the mythos deck were diluted with more locations from other boards then the Horror would stand no chance of appearing at all.

Happily for me, for one reason or another I'm not terribly interested in most of the other expansions for the game. But I am interested in Innsmouth (partly at least because Innsmouth and Dunwich are the two expansions based directly on Lovecraft tales). I'm also far too lazy to sort through the decks before every game and take out cards I don't want to use. Any expansions I own are going into the base game every time.

So, can anyone tell me what their experiences are playing with Innsmouth & Dunwich together? Is there a dilution problem? Is it too difficult? Does ir vastly increase play time? Any information much appreciated!

Cheers,

Matt

mattdp said:

The ratio of the Dunwich Horror waking up for me is:

without the DH Herald: 6 in 82 games

with the DH Herald: 5 in 7 games

I think the DH has been fought twice in the 11 times it has woken.

I've tried a bunch of different combinations, and I'm still satisfied that one board gives me the game I want. Adding more tends to have diluting effects, but it's not quite as bad as it used to be, pretty much thanks to the Innsmouth Board mechanics.

Innsmouth almost always works. Since the Deep One Rising track is not as dependent on monsters, it can actually get MORE active as the players lay down more seals, so it remains a threat all the way to the end. And any gate in the submerged portion of Innsmouth makes any monster surge a definitive threat. Combined with other boards and cards, Innsmouth's Gate activity is always decreased somewhat, but never as much as Dunwich.

Dunwich simply cannot be saved without some kind of House Rule when you combine it with anything. If you combine it with Innsmouth, at LEAST you're almost guaranteed to have SOME kind of gate activity every turn, but it won't be in Dunwich. Innsmouth will see gates, and Arkham will see gates and gate bursts, but Dunwich will rarely see much beyond its own crickets. You might get a gate or two, but if you're anywhere close to being on the ball, the Dunwich Horror Track won't threaten to do anything.

Kingsport, on the other hand, has mechanics completely independent of monsters. But while the Rift Tracks may be active, all the extra Arkham Gates from Kingsport will really dry up Innsmouth's Gate activity. However, as stated before, all the extra Gate activity in Arkham will keep the Deep One Rising Track moving, if not accelerated. So it may still be quite necessary to visit both boards to keep all the extra tracks in check. I personally recommend trying to deal with a Rift in Innsmouth....>scratches face off<.

Sounds like I should use the Dunwich Horror as the Herald if I did try both then

Try this:

boardgamegeek.com/thread/428566

It takes care of Dunwich, Innsmouth, and King in Yellow, and works with any combination of the six published expansions. The Dunwich and Innsmouth issues are both handled with one simple rule, and the King in Yellow Next Act cards are handled with another simple rule.

jgt7771 said:

Not true, in my eperience. I use Duwnich, Innsmouth and Kingsport, and yes, sometimes the Dunwich board is completely quiet. Those occassions, however, are the exception rather than the rule. Just last game we had four gates opened in Dunwich and the Horror awakened. Granted, that's unusually active, but it's still pretty usual to get at least two gates open in Dunwich. Furthermore, in the two recent games in which we've used the Dunwich Horror Herald, he's woken up both times.

My recommendation is therefore to go with Innsmouth and the Dunwich Horror Herald before trying anything more radical.