Hello everyone

Im new to the boardgame and would like to know the order the expansions got published and in what order you recommend getting them. Im planning on playing the basegame a bunch of times before getting any of the expansions, to get the rules down and not complicate things too much if possible. It would also be fun to know what combo you guys usually play, all of them at once or just one or two? How many investigators are you playing with or do you solo? what is the optimal number of players the first few times you play? Any other hints or ideas for a firsttimer in Arkham would be much appreciated while i still got my sanity.

/Mats

AH

CotDP

DH

KiY

KH

BGotW

I would recommend getting DH and then KiY.

AH

CotDP

DH

KiY

KH

BGotW

I would recommend getting DH and then KiY.

Welcome to the forums, Mats

So first, if the above list doesn't make much sense to you, here is the complete names of the expensions in order: Arkham Horror (base game), Curse of the Dark Pharaoh, Dunwich Horror, King in Yellow, Kingsport Horror and just lately, Black Goat of the Woods.

I think your strategy to learning the game makes sense I wouldn't exactly buy the expansions in the order they were released, though. Dunwich and Kingsport are "bigger" expansions that actually adds a new board to the existing one, with added location and events on each. The 3 others are mainly add-on cards to the base game. Most here, I think, would agree that Dunwich Horror is one of the best expension you can buy, followed by King in Yellow. Most seems to play with any expansions they have bought, all together. It does dilutes the Mythos deck, so some players have come up with ways to alleviate that.

I personally only have Dunwich Horror and since I bought it always played it added in the base game. It does add a lot of flavor to the game!

When I solo, I started playing with just 1 investigator, but now usually plays 2 at a time. I don't think I would go higher anytime soon, mainly for space constraints on my table Still, usually, a low number of investigators usually leads to a Final Combat with the Ancient One (it's harder to close all gates or seal 6, but not unheard of...)

I think the optimal number of players for a game is 4. Having at least one of them who knows the rules could really help speed up play Arkham seems a bit more "balanced" with 4 investigators.

As a first timer in Arkham, I would suggest... to realize in advance that you will forget or misinterpret a lot of rules in your first few games but definitely after these few first game you'll set yourself a pace and rythm of play that will make your Arkham experience all the better! Also, don't be afraid to come here to ask questions (well, if you can, read the rules and the FAQ a bit, too )

And have fun!

CotDP and DH may have come out at the same time. I wasn't around then but I thought their release was very close.

ColtsFan76 said:

I'm pretty sure there was a gap of a few months between them. I remember adding DH support to Strange Eons as

Cheers,
Chris

ColtsFan76 said:

There was an excruciating gap between them. I got Curse of the Dark Pharaoh when I saw it was being advertised late Spring. It took until late Fall to get Dunwich. I never foamed at the mouth waiting so much for an expansion for any game. But then again, Dunwich was promising so much new awesome stuff.

Thanks for the feedback guys, so far me and my wife has gotten as far as drawing the first mythos card. The next couple of weeks we will probably get a full turn done, fingers crossed. Kids have a big inpact on any game of Arkham horror, wonder if they could add them into any upcoming expansion so you guys that feel unchallenged get a real challenge.

Fecktor said:

That's the main problem with Dunwich: the more expansions you buy and use, the less often anything happens in that board. As big box expansions go, I prefer Kingsport, since there is no diluting effect for using the board, and the Epic GOO combats add a lot to that part of the game.

Shnik said:

I think DH rules expansions and some of the game mechanics add more to the game than Kingsport, but I like the action that I see on the Kingsport Bord more than DH. I know Dam hates KH, but I play a lot of solitaire, so the KH isn't taking a player (as opposed to an investigator) and leaving him stuck just keeping the rifts down. When playing solitaire, it gives me a chance to see some encounter cards that I would otherwise bypass while trying to close and/or seal gates on the main board.

I only play with DH or KH, never both (yet.) Lately it has been a lot of KH, but I have been thinking of putting it away and going back to DH for a while. Playing one board or the other allows for a little more variety and freshens up the game when I get tired on one of the expansion boards.

Fecktor said:

First few games? That's optimistic

Personally, I have a theory that no one had every played the game 100% correctly anywhere ever, including the game designers, but possibly excepting ColtsFan76.

Also, this is somewhat hard to measure, considering there's still quite a few grey areas. Just even excluding the grey areas, it's just very hard to get it all right.

As far as expansion order goes... I don't think it matters much. If you want to trickle in the complexity, start with the small boxes and move to the big.

It's true that most people mix them all together. It can be a little time consuming to separate it all (especially since the monsters, for some odd reason, consistently don't have the expansion icons on them). Though, this does create odd situations (like, making the Dunwich board never do anything in some games, or the King in Yellow's Act cards [they create a cumulitvely bad effect if you don't take care of them] less scary).

In terms of difficulty. Adding expansions makes the game harder. Adding lots of expansions makes it harder than the base set, but easier than using them individually (due to the dilution effect).

Quizoid said:

I hate that the monsters don't have an expansion symbol. The good thing is that you can keep all of them mixed in the cup without much trouble, no matter which expansion you use. Only thing you need to do is treat orange monsters as black. And of course leave spawn monsters out of the cup, but you need to do that when playing with the expansions anyway.

efidm: It would also be fun to know what combo you guys usually play, all of them at once or just one or two?

We now play with one expansion and one herald at a time. Sometimes we have a guardian. I like to keep the feel of the expansions intact.

How many investigators are you playing with or do you solo?

Lately, most of the games are with three players, though last night we played with six. However, we usually play 3 player games like they are four player games and skip every 4th Mythos Phase.

what is the optimal number of players the first few times you play?

Wow, I don't know. Usually a smaller number because of down time. However I've taught several dozen to play at conventions. The players are motivated there and I've had as high as seven with over half as new players. I no longer talk people into Playing Arkham Horror. The game is much better than its description.

Any other hints or ideas for a firsttimer in Arkham would be much appreciated while i still got my sanity.

Don't spend too much time on looking up rules. Go with your gut. Look up the rules later. Re-read the rules as soon as possible after each game until you are really familiar with them.

mageith said:

This is not something I'd recommend. If you cannot find anyone who already knows how to play the game, play a couple of solo games and take your time looking up the rules to get the basics right. For me it took three games to memorize 95% of the rules.

THEN, if you cannot find the rule quickly, go with your gut and make a note. After the game look at your notes and try to find the rules and/or utilize this forum to get your answers.

If you try to play the game by gut, you'll get frustrated in no time. I know of at least two friends who put the game away after their first attempt and never touched it again because they tried to play by 'gut'.

Someone above said most people play with everything mixed together. I do not. I'm getting in about 4 games every 3 weeks. When I first started getting the expansions I did mix the items and monstors all together. But after just a few games I took them out. We're now playing at least a couple of games with just one expansion that includes only items and monstoers and encounters from that expansion. The injury/madness cards are always in use. And all the investigators are available. (Those who start with starting equipment from an expansion not being played get those items.)

At some point I may mix the items and monstors back into one collective pile. It may take even longer before I toss all the encounters together. And I will always keep the mythos cards seperate.

mageith said:

This is not something I'd recommend. If you cannot find anyone who already knows how to play the game, play a couple of solo games and take your time looking up the rules to get the basics right. For me it took three games to memorize 95% of the rules. THEN, if you cannot find the rule quickly, go with your gut and make a note. After the game look at your notes and try to find the rules and/or utilize this forum to get your answers. If you try to play the game by gut, you'll get frustrated in no time. I know of at least two friends who put the game away after their first attempt and never touched it again because they tried to play by 'gut'.

Just a little context here. I don't recommend playing the game by gut. The OP said he read the rules (IIRC), but the rules are so jumbled that looking up rules while several other players are sitting around, can ruin the mood. The organizer should know the rules as well as possible, but when you come to those unique situations, just don't take the time. You are trying to create an atmosphere of enjoyment of horror, IMO.

I've played the game well over 200+ times and in my last game I had to refresh my memory on Jail time, since its happens so seldom. I knew right where it was. A new horror master might not.

When to look up rules is a judgment call IMO. But don't do it more than you absolutely have to. Of course, check the rules out later for future clarification.

The Harsher the Better.

Yeaaaah... Playing the game without knowing the rules well... Seems... Um... Well :') I'm not going to express my opinion of it, but let's just say it's a negative one.

mageith said:

Yeah, I've played a lot and I still look up Jail every time it happens. I always forget exactly what you loose (I remember that you loose a turn).

It's all your money.... right

I ALWAYS play 2 players each playing 2 investigators. The sweet spot in this game is 4 investigators. Anymore then you are dealing with more spawns, etc... Any less then you dont really get enough done in a turn to control everything. I also find that having 2 investigators tro control is alot more fun than only running one.

I also play base plus one small and one large expansion (mostly...mostly).

Bravo McWilley said:

I think I found another sweet spot in my last game with two expansion boards and five players. In this case, you still don't have extra spawns, but enough is going on to need that extra person, so it was well balanced.

We tend to get killed if we do two boards and 2-3 people.

My cult and I are pretty devoted to 3-5 Investigators. Two-player games get 2 Investigators each (or I get 2 and my Initiate gets 1), and when I solo, I play with 3 or 4. For the most part, we are also devoted to "Only 1 Board Expansion and 1 Card Expansion", with a few exceptions, like playing a new Card Expansion with the Base Game only, with the "starring" Ancient One and Herald.

That said, we mix almost all the smaller Investigator cards from all Expansions for every game; even if playing without Dunwich, we would never dare leave behind the Madness/Injury deck. Only the larger Ancient One cards (Encounters and Mythos) are Base + Board Exp + Card Exp. With a few exceptions: no Dark Pharaoh, except for Allies, the Arkham Encounter cards that name those specific Allies, the 3 Dual Color Gate Encounter cards, and a few Spells (2 Feeding the Mind, 2 Markings of Isis, 1 Astral Travel, 1 Premonition). Merits or demerits of that expansion aside, my cult just doesn't like to play with it, so we don't.

I normally play with *all* the expansions (although I haven't added in Black Goat yet). I like to (okay, do) solo with 3 investigators normally. With other players I'm willing to do up to 4 player games. I get really annoyed if there are more people than that though. I think if another occasion like that comes up, I'm going to do my best to Join The Winning Team ;'D heh, that'd serve the newbie bastards right.