Hey everyone!

Lately, I've been playing loads of AH with my girlfriend, and therefore I started purchasing expansions, to prevent the game getting predictable. A few years back I purchased the base set (hungarian) along with BGotW (english). I now have DH, with KH arriving this week. I was just wondering....Innsmouth is currently unavailable in Hungary, with only a few copies available for purchase on amazon, but the shipping price would make it extremely unfeasible. Miskatonic horror is widely available, but I only want to get it when I already have everything else, as 50-ish euros would be a bit tougher than I'd like for something I won't be able to use every part of. KiY does not really cut it for me thematically (but eventually I'll get it), so CotDP and Lurker are the ones I'm left thinking about. I really like the new gate mechanics and pact stuff in Lurker, but people seem to like Dark Pharaoh better. What do you guys suggest? Should I wait until the game stores in Hungary get a shipment (underway, according to ffg) of Innsmouth, and get that (thematically I really, really like it) or should I get a copy of Lurker (again, new shipment next week I think) until I wait for innsmouth? Would Lurker add enough to the base game to warrant a purchase? Thanks

I'm not particularly fond of the Lurker, to be honest. The gate mechanic is cool, and so are the new items, but often I think that that expansion was written with a scheme in mind without caring too much about the theme (many elements of the "Lurker at the Threshold" novellette are not present in the game) and also the Mythos and the OWs cards are a little... bizarre. Additionally, in the Mythos deck you have double gates which can be fun, but can also cost you the game (just imagine a double monster surge resolved in the same round with Dagon or the Black Goat as Heralds).

The best small expansion around (according to many here) is KiY. Sorry if the theme doesn't click on you. But encounters are great, items cozy and the Herald is extremely elegant.

I agree about not getting Miskatonic Horror at this point of your "Arkham evolution". The best way to play MH is after you had enough of all the rest, so that you can start adding bit by bit the last expansion to the game, and re-discover everything.

So, long story short, if the itch isn't irresistable, wait for Innsmouth

Thank you! Will probably get Lurker I think, until IH arrives, as I'll get in sooner or later either way, so might as well do so while it is in stock. Another question, if you allow I keep reading a lot about the "dilution" problem with using more expansions. I'm generally an all-in type of player, but I was wondering: Would the "theme dilution and sleepy-boards" issue be solved by keeping everything except the mythos cards integrated, and always shuffling only the mythos cards of the expansions I'm using into the main deck? I'm not too fazed about resolving "other" scenarios on the gate cards, neither about redrawing one arkham location card in ten, because it refers to a non-used location. But the mythos issue keeps bugging me Thanks in advance

If you are going for theme, it sounds like you would just be using that set of mythos from that given expansion, and then just use whatever boards you are using. Having just one small expansion mythos to go with your board expansion mythos doesn't make dilution TOO noticeable. if you find a board to be sleepy, remove the mythos cards that spawn gates in arkham.

As for the theme: well, the thicker the deck, the more problematic the dilution of cards and theme. Some of these problems are "kinda" solved (with solved I don't mean a mathematical resolution of the issue, but a good compromise) with Miskatonic Horror: that expansion introduces different triggers for the Act cards of KiY and dual gates so that if the exp board is in play, you resolve the specific gate opening, otherwise you resolve the alternate gate opening (always hitting the main board)

Nonetheless, playing all-in introduces other problems, and the game becomes less appealing (at least, imho). It usually becomes a rush against time and the game becomes easier (once you are good at administrating the board, clearly). So, my fave AH combo is always a big board chosen between DH and IH, always KH in and one small exp at the time. And by that I mean Mythos and OWs, small cards and Arkham encounters are all in because in this case I do want dilution, so that I know that it's not granted thatn Newspaper = retainer, and removing doom by visiting the South Church can become a less easy laundry.

Basically, I will be using a single pre-selected board expansion at most, and perhaps one or two small ones. My reason is partly table size, partly not wanting to pay attention at so many mechanics at once. So I guess leaving all-in except the mythos cards should be a decent solution, or is there a better setup for this sort of gameplay? The reason why I am somewhat opposed to separating mythos decks is that in every expansion, there are loads of mythos cards that enrich the base game, so I would be stripping those out as well, leaving only the base arkham+ one xpack mythos cards in, arguably making the game too predictable.

It's 100% ok if you leave out both Mythos and OW encounters (simply by checking the exp symbol and disregarding the card if it presents a symbol not matching the components you're playing with). No need to separate anything in this way.

CotDP before Lurker in my opinion. The street encounters are nice addition. It's also gotten quite a lot support (See https://neilscuriosityshop.wordpress.com/arkham-other-material/exhibit-items/ and https://neilscuriosityshop.wordpress.com/arkham-other-material/exhibit-whispers/ )

Miskatonic: the more you have the more you'll get from this expansion, but if IH ias a long way off, it may be worth adding even without it. There was a post on BGG summing up what you get in relation to each expansion you have.

Thank you both a ton! It is so awesome that such a large community of AH players is available online, and that the game is customizable to such an extent. To be frank, I have had it for years, and never had anyone to play with really, but recently I realized that my GF is quite into this kind of stuff, so we have made it a regular evening programme to play a few rounds of AH My only beef with the game is the price of the expansions, which combined with the hefty shipping price, even within hungary, is fairly huge. I guess it is not such a big deal overseas, but have no first hand experience To be frank, it isn't horrible. If we go to the cinema with my girl, and calculate everything including fuel and a dinner after the movie, it costs about 2/3 of the price of a board expansion, and Arkham gives way more in terms of price/fun time spent I guess we'll follow the great pieces of advice you guys have given us

Have you checked amazon.co.uk? They used to ship for free to Hungary for orders over 25 £!

Another good alternative is bookdepository.com, they have lower than average prices, and free shipping worldwide

Unfortunately, Bookdepository only has expansions I already have/ordered, and CotDP, which can wait Also, I checked Amazon.co.uk before ordering from Hungary, as the base price was lower, but it automatically calculates the sum at the end of the checkout process, and shipping pushed the price up to almost two and a haf times that of the Hungarian retail price, so I guess amazon is no longer an option But it's fine, I'm not sure I can get any cheaper than the hungarian price (45-ish euros for a big board expansion) TBH I only need Innsmouth and Lurker (Already have DH and KH is on its way), KiY and CotDP can wait until I get some more money to invest

Sorry it didn't work! But yeah, you should have enough cards to have some serious fun coming

so I guess amazon is no longer an option

I'm not surprised by that. A week or so ago Amazon.co.uk changed some of their delivery charges. Even for a UK resident, like myself, they have doubled the amount you need to spend in order to qualify for free delivery in the UK alone. Free delivery overseas has probably been dropped.

so I guess amazon is no longer an option

Free delivery overseas has probably been dropped.

Yes, it has.

Necroing the thread I ordered Kingsport (last one in the webshop) and while I was in the capital earlier this week, I managed to find a used copy of Innsmouth for significantly less than a new copy would cost (if it was available to begin with). Moreover, it is of pristine quality, I reckon it was only used for one or two games. The previous owner was also kind enough to leave a home-printed monster sheet in the box, to make separating them easier (I won't though). I have not tried them yet, but will probably play a solo game with one of the new boards tomorrow, and proceed from there

Enjoy the new goodies then! Sounds like you had a very good deal with IH!

Thanks! Now I have all board expansions (I care about these most) and black goat The added location cards from Miskatonic would not hurt, but for now, I'm really looking forward to trying what the new boards bring to the game

So how did you like the new boards and expansions?