Hi. It's my first post and thread so I want to say hello before make dumb (or not) questions about Arkham Horror.

I ordered today the base game (Ordered because here I can only find it in spanish) and while I'm waiting I start to read reviews, back part of boxes, articles and so on about expansions. Yes, Innsmouth, Dunwich and Kingsport add,beside new cards, a new board so the game experience is way different than with the main board. But what adds the small expansions? Yes, one adds the Act cards, other adds a Herald (whatever is this) and so on....but, without adding a new board, just with new weapons and enemies, what ths improve of the game with those 3 small expansions?

What order should I follow buying them? And why?

I want to know what add the 3 expansions and what is the best to buy it first, second and third (Or don't buy it)

The best small expansion is The King in Yellow.

It adds a Herald, blight cards, and the next act. Definitely go with that one first. My opinion is that the Black Goat of the Woods is the least interesting small box expansion. Curse of the Dark Pharaoh is great that you can add in the Exhibit deck, but some of the cards are a bit confusing. If you download the Herald from the website, it does make an interesting box to get as well.

Definitely King in Yellow. It adds some teeth to the terror level and makes it fun and tense every time it goes up.

Dark Pharoah just adds a deck that's pretty much just unique items, only they never get used.

Black Goat adds a deck that's fun, but never gets used.

First things first, so thanks GrooveChamp and johnwatersfan

JWF said:

It adds a Herald, blight cards, and the next act. Definitely go with that one first. My opinion is that the Black Goat of the Woods is the least interesting small box expansion. Curse of the Dark Pharaoh is great that you can add in the Exhibit deck, but some of the cards are a bit confusing. If you download the Herald from the website, it does make an interesting box to get as well.

I understand the core of Arkham Horror (I already read the manual) but, when you say that KiY because adds a Herald, blight cards and next act, I don't get the whole point of it. Can you explain me what are that new cards in one line? (Or less)

A herald is a card that you fight against that helps the Ancient One awaken faster , in KiY it is The King In Yellow herald , he adds the blight deck which are basically the allies that you encounter but are "evil" versions that impact gameplay differently. The next act deck is the "story" of KiY , there are 6 mythos cards that say "The Next Act Begins" and you flip over act 1 , 2 then 3 but if Act 3 comes into play you lose although you can stop the acts from getting played by discarding clues ect. the herald for instance adds a "blight" counter when the terror level increases , you can place it on the AO doom track for a faster awakening or for instance if terror goes to 1 you can put the blight on 0 and put a blighted ally into play. Plus you get new mythos cards and OW encounters based on the theme. All in all KiY is good , Black Goat is good although the herald is extremely difficult , and Curse pretty much just adds a little to the basic game (although there is a downloadable Pharoh herald) so its pretty much your oppinion of which 1 is the "best" because they all add something different to the game.

"Blight" is just the name for the special ability of the King in Yellow. Every time the terror level goes up 1 you have a choice of adding another doom token or flipping over a "blight" card that has some sort of negative consequence for the rest of the game (ex. lose a stamina every time you restore sanity at the asylum). Turns the terror level into a tense situation instead of the big safety net it was in the base game.

The King in Yellow is the only small box expansion that works properly. If played alone with the Base Set, the Terror Track can really move FAST, which feeds into the Herald, which is still one of the most enjoyable Heralds to play because of the nasty Blights. The Act cards lend major theme to the game as Arkham goes collectively insane around you. Commons, Uniques, and Spells are very interesting and very fun, especially the new Magical Effect spells.

Curse of the Dark Pharaoh...as objectively as I can...got tedious for me. The Exhibit Deck is neat, but wore off quickly; my cultists all agree they would rather have Unique Items. Same with the Benefits/Detriments: it's only eight cards, and the novelty wore off. "Barred from Neighborhood" isn't fun, it's annoying. And though the Egyptian theme is neat, a LOT of cards are just poorly thought-out or written. I do like some of the Spells (which, when originally released, a lot of people hated), the Allies (which a lot of people wailed were too powerful), and the dual-color Gate cards (only three of them). In the final analysis, I just don't think it's worth it; the initial shock value isn't enough.

Black Goat of the Woods is kinda broken. You either use ALL of it, or else none of it really works, or works detached from its other parts. When using the Herald, the Cult deck, and Corruption deck together, along with the Hexagon Monster Cup working with the BG Mythos deck, you might have an extremely hardcore game. The moment you remove the Herald, the Cult and Corruption decks vanish, the Hexagons revert to "just monsters", and the Mythos cards blend in with the rest of the deck somewhat unremarkably. I like the BG Items and Spells--quite a bit actually...except for two "cheap-win" ones--but the box turns out to be even more disappointing than Dark Pharaoh: at least the DP cards show up during the game.

I agree with johnwatersfan and the other posters - King in Yellow is the best.

KiY, for all the reasons well put by jgt7771.

Thanks for the replies, guys