and it is playing against Atlach-Nacha.

Wow, I knew it would be rough, and I had a plan and everything, but I had no idea just how it would go. It was a Kingsport/Dark Pharoah game.

Ultimately, of course, that **** spider ate the world, but I'm very pleased with what I did. I had a plan going in - I would seal a few low-frequency gates, and then rush for either a simultaneous seal or close, depending on what seemed better. You know how plans work out. I lost track of how many gates I sealed trying to keep the doom and monster limit down. Hank, Kate, Amanda and Pete were tirelessly chugging on, even though I couldn't keep any seals (except, oddly, the Witch House). I had to seal the Historical Society three times. That was fun.

By the end of the game, all four were complete badasses, with the piles of (spent-for-clues) trophies to prove it. Amanda had a credit rating, Elephant Gun and 12 effective stamina (don't ask). Hank had a Magnum and Kerosene, in addition to a couple of allies and a large pile of money from an awesome retainer. He tore through monsters, and then spent them with an amazing Spirit Vessel. Kate had Inner Beast, Storm of Spirits, Bravery, and some nice guys at Hibb's kept giving her whiskey. Pete had little more than a STL membership and his own chutzpah, but it was more than sufficient. I'm confident in saying that these guys would have sealed out any other Ancient One very easily.

Amanda seems much better with the KH skills in. Hank continued his stellar-but-cursed performance for me, as he is quite good, but can't seem to be in a game that I win. Pete was hindered by speed, but very capable. Kate disappointed me, even without the IH board. Her story is just flat awful, and even lost me a Parchment of the Elder Sign roll, with 8 clues staring on helplessly. Considering that there's not even official word on if she can block the effect of a Gate Burst, it all just makes me sigh.

They hung on for more than 30 turns, and did sizable damage to A-N in the fight. It took three rumours and three double-doom cards to finally take the group to Epic final combat. Without those, they probably could have kept it up for a while. However, passing Cursed Relics and Good Work Undone is expensive. If I had to point to a moment of truth, though, it would easily be failing Mistrust halfway through the game. Because of my (possibly erroneous) passing of Cursed Relics, I had nothing to turn in for Mistrust. Though not being able to trade items or move sliders certainly sped up the game...

The future won't be nearly as bad, since I know what to expect now. Of course, in the future, I may be playing with other boards or heralds, so I might just go have nightmares about that.

If Kate's on a seal when it bursts wouldn't the gate destroy the elder sign then fail to open? Reasoning being the bulldozer can tear down the wall only to fall in a vat of lava. Or whatever.

And if it applies to questionable heavy machinery locations, must it apply to Arkham Horror? People can see this going two ways, hinging on whether the gate opening is contingent on the seal being removed.

1. The gate burst removes the seal, and the gate does not open.

2. Kate's flux stabilizer prevents the gate opening and protects the seal.

Honestly, I could even see a 3, which is Kate actually gets drawn into the gate because her flux stabilizer works in the same way that a seal does. But most people probably don't see this one.

I think most people prefer to play 2, to give Kate some extra utility and to improve on a rarely-used ability (except where Arcane Insight is concerned). The more hardcore players would prefer 1. Personally, I prefer to avoid the question. We are awaiting an answer to this, and many other questions, in the mythical promised FAQ document.

A while back, someone (I forget who) made a good point. We could just as reasonably ask whether Kate prevents a doom token from being added to the doom track each time Kate prevents an ordinary (non-burst) gate from opening. The rules for the mythos phase are:

"If there is neither an open gate nor an elder sign marker at the location, a new gate opens and a monster emerges from it. This means that the following things happen, in order:

1. The Doom Track Advances...

2. A Gate Opens...

3. A Monster Appears..." (AH, p. 9)

Kate's Science! ability is: "Gates and monsters cannot appear in Kate's location due to her flux stabilizer."

It doesn't say anything in her ability about preventing a doom token from being added to the doom track. However, the rules imply that a new gate opening is what causes the doom token to be added. Therefore, if no new gate opens, a doom token is not added.

These are the rules for gate bursts:

"A gate burst works the same as a normal mythos card, unless the listed gate location has an elder sign token on it, in which case the gate bursts open, causing the elder sign token at that location to be removed from the board. A gate then opens at that location and a monster appears there as usual" (DH, p. 6).

It specifically says that the gate bursting open is what causes the elder sign token to be removed.

In the first example (the non-gate burst), the gate opening is what causes the doom token to be added. If Kate prevents the gate from opening, she also prevents the doom token from being added. In the second example, the gate opening is what causes the elder sign token to be removed. Again, if Kate prevents the gate from opening, doesn't it logically follow that she also prevents the elder sign token from being removed?