For Christmas my girlfriend got me Arkham Horror along with some other games to add to our collection. We have a boardgame night(just me and her) once a week if we can and sometimes her younger sister and boyfriend will join us. I had been interested in this game for a couple of years but never really took the jump. After she got it for me I thought I would do myself a favor and read up on some Lovecraft and was sucked in. After opening the game and looking at the investigator cards I ordered myself some matching minis that I plan to paint to really set the mood. Now after reading and rereading the rules I finally got it on the table last Friday night for me and her to play. I thought the ride and story this game brings you on was phenomenal but alas we were devoured by Yog-Sothoth after a epic four hour game. Now heres the twist I can take a loss without any problems but my girl is super competitve. She thought the game sucked since we got handed a brutal finish. Now my question is without any expansions is this game still ubuer hard or does it take a few plays(which I may only get one more) to get the hang of how to win. I get it that in Lovecraft that the investigators are pretty much on a hopeless journey but is there any advice any of you vets can give me to keep this game in my gamenight rotation? I know for a fact I missed one rule which is that you can close gates without sealing them. This led us to not chase gates but only clues until we had five to seal a gate. Does the win/loss ratio on your tables pretty much always fall in favor of the Ancient Ones or do you regularly win? Should we use two investigators each or just stick to one each? Thoughts, advice, similar stories are all welcome and thank you.

First of all, the game without expansions is actually uber easy. It'll just take you a couple plays to really catch on to the winning strategies.

Second, Yog-Sothoth is arguably the hardest Ancient One in the base game. EVERY possible way to win the game is rendered harder!

Third, did you remember that Yog's ability is that the difficulty of closing a gate is increased by 1? This does not mean that a gate with a -2 modifier goes to a -3 modifier: it means that every gate requires two successes in your closing roll to close the gate. Ouch!

Fourth, I assume that each of you used one investigator? Using fewer than 3 investigators total isn't all that great. You should each use 2 investigators. That would allow more strategy and a better chance at winning by seals.

Fifth... losing is part of the fun

Next time try Yig or Nyarlathotep. Yig's game is much faster, and Nyarlathotep is pretty much the easiest to beat all-round. If it helps, my girlfriend doesn't like the game either. Our games take 2.5 to 3.5 hours, usually. Oh, and my win ratio is close to 50/50, and I use all expansions.

Welcome to the carnival, gamemaster81! Tickets to your left, refreshments to your right

Tibs said:

Fifth... losing is part of the fun

Oh, and my win ratio is close to 50/50.

I see a connection between these two points .

Dam said:

Tibs said:

Fifth... losing is part of the fun

Oh, and my win ratio is close to 50/50.

I see a connection between these two points .

Oh yeah, totally. The Kingsport rifts and Epic Battle deck really stretch me thin, man!

Yig and Nyarlathotep are easiest? Personally, I find Ithaqua the easiest to beat.

I guess I include Ithaqua too, but if you get really unlucky with his Start of Battle, he could murder you. So I don't want to say that he's so easy, to have someone lose all their items and spells except "Enchant Weapon" and "Cultes Des Goules."

If you're playing only with you're girlfriend I suggest playing with one investigator per player. It's less strategical and you have less possibilities (but still a lot!) but, in my opinion, there is more mood. It's similar to role-playing game. And of course it's a way to make Arkham Horror without an expansion harder. Sealing is difficult then and closing (almost?) impossible, so you should prepare to final combat, but final combat is really a dramatic and emotionful moment. Enjoy!

Tibs said:

Fifth... losing is part of the fun

As he said. I usually disagree with the guys here, because these vets as you say they are, they forget the simple mortal beings we are. I've played not a lot, something like between twenty and thirty games of AH, and we never know if we ll win our next game because we usually die more often than we beat the big baboo. So I think you should try to make your woman learn to loose with joy, or just try another game. Or another woman... just kidding

Oh, btw, it happens to me to play with my woman only, sometimes, and I definitely recommend you to try as the guys said : two investigators each. It's funnier, and works better, got all your chances to beat yig, itaqua, or nyarla.

The thing you have to remember about a game like Arkham Horror is that all the players are cooperating against the game. The game does not have a rational, intelligent player who can react to what the investigators do. As such, once you figure out the mechanics it becomes very easy to win. And really, once you win a game like this a few times hands down, it becomes a lot less fun.

That's where the expansions come in, breathing new life into the game, making things harder and generally less predictable. Hopefully you can convince your girl to give it another shot, maybe when there are four or more people to play (that will make things easier), but you should try to make her understand that once you've beaten this game, you're done. As such, looking for the silver lining in the losses is a big part of the game. Like Tibs said, losing is part of the fun. That's more true with a game like AH than it is for any other type.

If she really craves competition, then she would probably prefer a game with player on player action. There may be variants out there that allow one person to play the Old One (I don't know - I've never looked for such) but if such a thing exists it might make the game more interesting to her. Ultimately though, this type of co-op game isn't for everyone. Personally, I prefer the non-competitive gameplay - win or lose I get to work together with my friends, without worrying about them screwing me at the last minute. That's something I appreciate, but it doesn't seem like the sort of thing your girl likes.

If she's just sore about losing then it's pretty easy to come up with some house rules to make things easier, though like others have said the base game is pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

Thanks guys for all of your responses and I did manage to get the game on the table just yesterday since I was in a boardgame mood. To clear things up a bit we play alot of games together L.N.O.E. is probably her favorite game because its so cheesy and fun followed close by Warhammer Quest. Its not her first themed game is all im saying but with that said AH is a different animal all together. Something about this game makes you tense up knowing your in a constant race against death and lots of build up to what you know may be a bad ending. Anyway we drew two investigators each which was easy to manage since we are used to using more than one character in most games we play. I was a bit weary since the first game we played we only used two investigators and it took a hell of a long time but we had all of sunday so who cares right. She pulled the Sales Men Bob Jenkins and the Scientist Kate while I felt confident with my pull of the Ashcan Pete and The Psychiatrist. Our Ancient One for this evening would be Nyarlathotep. We were off to a good start with closeing a gate with Pete and Sealing one with my quack doctor. The salesmen was buying everything that wasnt tied down and my girl was happy with the scientist even though she didnt do much early on. I think this was due to her painting this miniature earlier in the day but I digress we were doing well collecting clues and killing monsters when the Ancient One had enough I guess and put the hammer down. My psych got caught in the other world and was subject to unspeakable rituals and torture which even though strong of mind she never quite recovered from. The more sanity she regained the faster she lost it. Ashcan Pete continued to seal gates but got caught off guard in the streets my some flying monsters. If it wasnt for a valiant effort by Duke(the dog) who gave his life for Pete's sanity who knows what may have been the outcome. The second half of the game really showcased Bob and Kate as they worked hard to collect clues and heads in Bobs case as he single handly cleaned up the Miskatonic streets of 6 monsters. In the end we sealed the gates and won the game before the Ancient One was awakened and fun was had by all. After the game Alice(the girlfriend) admitted to having a good time and as I feared would not want to play if we got destroyed badly. I however like the game so much that I believe expansions and soloplay may be in my future. Thanks again guys.

But you're *supposed* to lose! ::Sigh::

....

;') Seriously.