Hi guys, Played my first game of arkham horror yesterday with one of my mates. It was a really cool game even though we lost because the terror level increased too rapidly and the ancient one awoke. We figured that the strategy in the game is to keep on top of the monsters killing them and to get those gates sealed asap. We were evading quite a lot of monsters at the start which we thought about after the game and realised we should have started attacking early on in the game. However I have a few questions that im not sure of and would be very grateful for your answers.

a) The outskirts: We started playing the game like this: Checked monster limit which was 5 for 2 player game. Then when a monster surge occured we had to put the monsters in the outskirts because monster limit was 5. But we are not sure about the outskirts. For 2 player game maximum monsters in outskirts is 6 right. So the monster limit was 5 on the board and there were 6 monsters in the outskirts. We then had a monster surge. MOnsters cant go on the board due to maximum limit and the outskirts was at 6 monsters so any additional monsters drawn are returned to the cup. DOes that also mean that all monsters in outskirts are returned as well and the terror track goes up 1. Example: Say there are 4 monsters in the outskirts and monster limit on board was at max and we get a monster surge and ther are 4 gates on the board. Does that mean that we draw 4 monsters and there are 4 in the outskirts so we place 2 in the outskirts which brings monsters in outskirts to 6. Any more would bring outskirts limit to 7 which means they go back to the cup. We are not sure whether all monsters in outskirts go back to the cup or whether the extra ones are placed in the outskirts. Am i making sense lol difficult to explain. Hope you get the jift of this question.

b)We are not sure about flyng monsters. It says that they move to a location with an investigator in but when i draw a mythos card and the flying monster has the symbol on it to move what happens?? If it says flying monster moves on black line do they follow the lines on the card or follow lines on card and take shortest route to investiagtor. And when do they go in the sky??

c)We had a great time when we played this game and i think this game is awesome. Ive got a really good .pdf file which has flow charts for every phase. Great for newbie players. If anyone would like a copy let me know and ill email it to you. Covers every instance which occurs in the game except for a few rules as asked above. Let me know if you want one all newbie players. I asked my mate what he thought of the game and he said he loved it. Loads of variety with the different investigators and ancient ones. Loads of random events with cards and items. Its so replayable and really enjoy this game. I have bought all of the other expansions as well but we wont play these for a while until wegot used to the main game. Im sure I will come across loads of different card instances and questions in the future.

d)And my final question is this. When rolling dice I assume it goes like this. Say i gotta make a lore or fight check. Say I have to roll 3 dice and get a 5 on one of them to pass. I roll 3 dice and get 1,2 and 3. No passes so I want to reroll 2 dice. Can i pay 2 clue tokes and then reroll 2 dice to see if i get a pass. I think this is correct but im not sure. Many thanks

e) Happy Arkham Horror playing guys. This is one of the best games I have played. Now gonna have a game once a week and get some more people involved in it. A great way to spend the day and night eating doritos and drinking beers. Hehehe

giving a shot at answering your questions.

a) any "excessive" monsters are also placed in the outskirts. lets say you are to draw 4 monsters and both the arkham and outskirts monster limits are met, picture it as you are drawing 4 monsters seperately. Meaning, the first monster of the 4 to draw makes the outskirts limit to be breached and therefore all monsters (7 if we take your example, since 7 makes the monster limit of 6 to be breached) are returned. Then 3 more monsters are drawn and added to the outskirts.

b) if a flying monster is about to move you ignore the white/black colors and just check if there is any investigators in a street CONNECTED to the current place the monster stands at. If there are no investigators CONNECTED to a street square of the flying monster, it moves to the sky. The sky is concidered to be connected to ALL street squares. Note: If the flying monster is about to move but an investigator occupies it's space, the flying monster will not move.

last question: if you are to make a skill check with 3 dice and fail, you can spend clue tokens to add more dice (1 more or 2 more if you have a skill of the relative skill check). If you have anything that lets you reroll a skill check, you get to reroll AFTER using clue tokens to reroll ALL extra dice aswell. So if we draw an example of you failing a skill check with 3 dice then spend 2 clue tokens to try and succeed, but fail on those aswell, if you use an ability that makes you reroll the skill check you now get to reroll 5 dice

a) Consider the Outskirts as a water balloon: The moment you fill the balloon past its limit, it pops and you lose all the water. Then you fill the balloon again.

In your example, once you place the 2 monsters on the 4 already in the Outskirts, you take all 6 and dump them back in the Cup. Then you place 2 monsters in the Outskirts, restarting the cycle.

Commentary: I'm not sure exactly how you're playing from what you've written, but you should get in the habit of drawing one monster at a time from the Cup. Don't just pull out 4 monsters and then figure out where they go; figure out where each monster is supposed to go, then "call your location" and draw a monster for it. This is how I do it, as an example, speaking out loud to the group: "Witch House, 1 monster...Mi-Go. Woods, 1 monster...Cultist. Hibb's, 1 monster...Gug...monster limit reached, go to Outskirts. Outskirts limit exceeded, Outskirts to Cup. Unvisited Isle, 1 monster...Warlock...monster limit reached, go to Outskirts." I know that may sound silly, but I have never gotten the procedure wrong in well over a hundred games.

b) The manual is a little flimsy in its wording, but if a Flying Monster is designated to move, it will move to any Investigator in a Street space connected to its Street space or Location space. If there is no Investigator in any of those spaces, it goes to the Sky. If it is in the Sky, all Street spaces are considered "connected" to the Sky, so the monster will "land" on the Investigator in the Streets with the lowest Sneak stat. If no Investigator in the Streets, it remains in the Sky.

d) Clue tokens do not reroll dice, they ADD dice to your total roll. In your example, you have a 1, 2 and 3. You pay two Clues, and can now roll two MORE dice in addition to your 1-2-3. You don't even have to pay your Clues all at once; you can pay a Clue, roll a die (fail), pay another Clue, roll another die (fail), pay yet another Clue, roll yet another die (success). Continuing your example as written: Let's assume you rolled your two Clue-granted dice, and rolled a 4 and a 5. Your Skill Check results are now all five dice: 1-2-3-4-5. If you only needed one success, you pass!

e) Sounds like a **** good weekend to me...until that guy spills his beer on the board. BANNED FOR LIFE!

Good Investigating!