Hey all, quick question about card icons that is probably obvious to some. I'm pretty clear on the one-shot skill cards like "Guts", with 2 Willpower icons on it. You discard that card, it gives you +2 Willpower for your next Willpower skill check, and if successful you draw another card.

But what about cards like the Dr. Henry Armitage Ally card, with 2 Wildcard icons on it? Do those icons refer to +2 on any roll you make, or do they refer to the special abilities on the card itself?

The first Beat Cop card has a Fight icon on it, and the text says it gives you Fight +1, so that seems pretty obvious. Not sure about the Armitage and cards like him though.

Finally, I'm assuming this isn't like Eldritch Horror but is like Arkham Horror, where you get to add all the "+" signs together - so if you had a .45, a Knife and a Beat Cop, you'd get base +3 to hit if you used all the actions?

thanks

You don't discard a card to get the +skills, you commit them to a skill test. So if you're doing a skill test of willpower, you would commit Guts to that test. Once the test is complete, THEN you discard the card. If the test was successful, you draw a card for Guts. Dr. Henry Armitage can be used just like Unexpected Courage and you can commit him to a skill test if he's in your hand. Whatever skill you're testing, the Wild icons can be used for to give you +2. But if you play Armitage as an ally, he's not in your hand and you can't commit him to a skill test.

For items like .45 or Knife, you have to play them in order to be able to use their Fight ability. And you can only use one Fight ability at a time. So you can't use both .45 and Knife in the same attack. Beat Cop on the other hand just give you +1 Combat when he's in play - it's not associated with an action. So you just take his +1 Combat to your base. Then use either .45 or Knife to fight and get another +1 Combat.

Now, if you had played .45 and had the Knife in your hand, then you could use the .45's action to Fight and get +1 Combat, then commit Knife from your hand to the skill test and get +1 Combat (because of the symbol on the card, not because of the text), and then another +1 Combat from your Beat Cop in play.

For assets and event cards, when you commit them to a skill test by discarding them from hand, you add the matching icons, but you don't get the ability on the card. So when you commit Armitage, you get +2 to whatever test you are taking, but the card abilities are irrelevant. Similarly, when you commit Beat Cop, you get the +1 for the icon, but nothing for the ability, for a total of +1. The icons only matter when you are committing them to a test, so once you put one of these cards into play as an ally, the icons are irrelevant.

Skill cards, like Guts, however, can only be used by committing them to tests, and they get both the icons and the card ability, so Guts works exactly as you say.

When you take an action, you have to complete it before beginning any other action. So if you use the action on the .45, you can't also use the knife, since that has the arrow and is a separate action. However, the Beat Cop is different and has an ability that is always active, adding +1 to combat, so it does work with either the .45 or knife.

Hope that's helpful.

Great, thanks gang - appreciate the clarification.