I've played this twice now, and the first time I didn't stumble across a single location in Dracula's Trail. Jonathan Harker helped a little bit, but an Evasion card made the rest of the game pretty bad for me. The second game I got a Hypnosis card and just as I was cornering Dracula, he got that damnable Evasion card again. Luckily I was able to get that Hypnosis card back, Sense of Emergency a hunter with two stakes and garlic and kill him, but if not for the Hypnosis cards, I would have lost.

Is there some strategy I am missing for moving Hunters around, or do you really just bumble around until you stumble upon a location? Even in the second game I only ran across two encounters. I just feel like I'm doing something wrong.

How are you planning your Hunter moves? Just going where the impulse takes you? Or planning, like say, cutting from north to south with one Hunter, east to west with another? Also, it is unlikely that Dracula gets the Evasion through his own efforts (Desecrated Soil is the only way Dracula can actively draw Event cards?), so it's down to the Hunters whether they want to keep drawing Event cards, possibly allowing Dracula to get Evasion. And Hunters also have Event-cancellers that can be used for Evasion IIRC (though Drac has his own counter-cancellers).

I don't really have a plan when moving. I start spread out and then just move around. Is there an optimized pattern I should be using?

As for Evasion, the first game he got in around the 3rd turn, and the second game he did get it later. At what point do I stop drawing Event cards? When I am full up and have a decent spread?

Brine said:

FoD is a deduction/guessing/meta-game through and through. What do you think the Dracula player will do, what approach does he normally take, is he a wild card or set in his ways player? What would you do if you were Dracula once you see the Hunters spread out?

Doubt there is an optimized pattern, but I do think you do need a plan right from the get-go. Don't go around the map just randomly, each Hunter should have their initial placement and subsequent turns very much planned ahead as to where each will go. Do you do a 'W' in Spain for example, that should find a location on Dracula'sTrail if he's been there. Sideways 'W' in Central Europe? Ireland/British Isles are easier to remove from the picture by having a Hunter start there and spend the first few rounds looking there. Eastern Europe (and Spain) can be cut off from the rest of the map for Dracula with Heavenly Hosts and Consecrated Ground.

Brine said:

It's one of those questions where intuition and experience will tell you. If he gets Evasion early, no need to stop drawing until the deck exhausts, with all the Newspaper Reports, etc. that will reveal locations in Dracula'sTrail, you should get a sniff of his tail sooner or later, then it's just a matter of hunting him down. If the Evasion doesn't come early, if you have locked Dracula down to a particular area of Europe (Spain, Central, Eastern, etc.), I would stop drawing and close the net around him. Have Stormy Seas ready in case he hits the seas (can really hurt him if his is in the Black Sea).

Thanks for the advice.