54 successes, then death ;.( slightly below average rolls. Wehhhhhh. I am annoyed :'r AND the game taunted me! The next draw in the common item deck was a shotgun! I would have won with a shotgun! I feel like I was cheated out of my rightful victory! :'r Which meaaaaans ;'D I'm gearing up for next game's final battle. Michael, Joe, and Sister Mary... VENGEANCE BLITZ! :'r I will enjoy squishing that ugly lizard. With this team, a final combat kill should be *much* easier. ... Murder. Murder. Murder.

...

After several minutes of clean up, it occurred to me, no. No. NO. I don't need Michael. Time to remind Yig why Joe is tier one, and make him cry police brutality. Sorry, Yig, but Joe is actually a P.I., in other words, no mercy for you ;'D

Well, that was horrible. The game only lasted five turns. Two gate surges at the Woods. The second one surprised me (I was expecting a few more turns to the game and had decided to go shopping again with Mary instead of spending her trophies. The turn before Yig awoke, I bought Granny Orne for Joe, I figured that'd be a winning combination, especially with his dodge skill (I figured with the two of those, I'd be able to dodge his attacks long enough to win). I had some good weapons too, two +5s, a +3 and a +4 (of course, with double resistances, that's more like two plus threes, and two plus twos). So. Yig woke up unexpectedly, cursing Mary and Joe. That triggered Mary's blessing, but Joe was quite screwed. The game was slow and brutal, and quite close (Mary would have been devoured on the next turn). But I won ;') through sheer brute strength. Had I had one more turn, the game would have ended far more easily in my favor. Still... It was close :'r A turn of bad rolling at it would have been over. Yig... I'm glad I shivved him ;')

Seems like the senile old man is back! He's BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!

Welcome back to the gaming world, darling :-) I'm glad to read your reports :-)

And... do not go for Final Battle. We all want you to put down six seals on the board. I strongly suggest you to introduce in the hard mode design a clause saying "Victory conditions: six ES on the board. Whenever the AO awakens, investigators lose the game"

You see? Now I want to play it hard too. SIGH

Julia said:

Nooooo. Some of those scenarios are a *very* bad idea going for by sealing (and believe me, it wasn't easy either time). Also, in the hard mode, it's even more of a pain, because if Mary gets killed in final battle there's a 33% chance of instant defeat. That was hardly an instant kill final battle, it took me 5 rounds of combat to get through (barely), and had I not finished Yig that turn, Mary would have died after he attacked twice. Let me put it this way, if you beat the Yig scenario by sealing, I'll be impressed, but I'll think you're mad ;') it's no problem if you don't get a gate surge at the Woods for the first few turns and can close it, but if there is a surge, oh my god... It's hell, pure hell. And I got *two* surges, *two* the first game. And one the second game. Shudder...

I think it's time to nail some Ithaqua head to my wall. This time of couse, a sealing victory would be *much* harder, since Ithaqua will be a pain with weapons removal, even without the cursing... And the fight stats will be ruined by his ability. Oh, I'm sure I could probably pull off gearing, if I were willing to risk *not* losing my weapons to the frozen winds, but... Why fight when sealing is safer? :') Time to bring out the Brute Squad. Marie, Finn, Joe, Michael, Skids, and Charlie.

Glarg... And I just realized I gave the ally to the wrong investigator yesterday (first game), Tony instead of Roland (which would explain why I started thinking that Tony's better than I remembered).

FYI Julia, if you're wondering why Charlie and Skids, it's partially because on a scenario where there are movement wreckers on the board, it doesn't matter if they only have three speed (since odds are, they will have their movement reduced to nothing while moving adjacent to one of the Cultists. Anyway, now it's killing time :'D

Aaaaand, Charlie drew Eric Colt ;') I feel kind of ambivalent about that, on the other hand, it would have been great if I drew a great fighter, but, 5 speed for Charlie at the start? Definitely could come in handy. Plus, Erica Carlyle is in the Ally Pool (I wanted her or the Messenger for him to carry over to the next game) :'D Yeeeeees. Retainer and a 7 combat investigator to start off next game ;') that should work nicely.

I ended up chickening out about selecting Skids (well, not entirely chickening out, I decided having Amanda to deal with the san/stam damage in the streets might be a good idea since she can have 6/6 stats or even 5/5 would be good, plus I figured she'd get at least one decent skill. Ironically, she drew wrestle (the most reminiscent Skids skill I can think of). Joe drew mythos lore again. Heh. I guess that skill really likes him. Got some decent weapons (okay, a flame thrower and an axe, hello again Skids). Two withers on Marie, aaaand, an Elder Sign. Shouldn't be to hard to win this one ;') I hope. Essentially a 14 doom track, even with this frozen hell of a city... I'll try to hunt for another ES and make it a 15 doom track. Slow but steady wins the brute squad.

Avi_dreader said:

Challenge accepted.

Julia said:

::Laughter:: you and called *me* a masochist.

In the meanwhile... Ithaqua's doom is at two I've used Marie on him twice, and an elder sign, and got two gate surges... Unfortunately I'm at the monster limit now, and some of the things that should have worked (statistically), didn't. So, I am hanging on to this game with my teeth. Even though I managed to clear out the initial three cultists, a Yithian has continued blocking my unique items :'r Two attempts to destroy it have failed. And there is a cultist on Witch House and on The Unnamable (freezing my movement when I try to go through the board). However, having my investigators LITAS is now about to pay off as Joe (I took a risk a couple turns ago and he's Dagon blessed too) and Michael return to Arkham. Michael is going to die now. He has served his purpose, and shall be rewarded by a relatively painless death by laying him down in the snow (his max sanity is at one right now). Joe was supposed to take out a gate at Devil's reef, and I thought he'd make it too, good sneak, mythos lore, enough clues to seal, but... He drew the OW card that required him to make his san and stam equal (i.e. bring them down to one), and he was surprised by a gug. Oh good, overwhelming. But here's the bright side... :"D I got a Book of Anubis, and oh my hell am I going to abuse this card! Say hello to my quadruple healing stone (which will also let me teleport clues to Joe). All my weak and naked investigators shall feed him with their flesh. New life shall be born from death, thus has Anubis spoken!

More food for the Joe monster! ;'D

By the way, Amanda's been doing pretty well :') but she hasn't even gotten close to passing her mission ;'D

Hmmm... Given the new strategy, do I get Roland to feed Joe? Or do I try to money blitz with Jenny and go for another Elder Sign? Errr... Desperation calls for clues first. I need to speed up :')

Well... I should be able to win this, Ithaqua's only at 5 doom. I'm not close to the gate limit, DOR is at zero, I still have an Eltdown shards, and I have enough clues for three seals... The problem is every gate is guarded by a cultist ;') the solution? I have a carcosan page, book of anubis, astral travel, call friend, and gate box, i'm going to trade for a patrol wagon next turn. I'll use the patrol wagon to get my ally for next game :') then I'll have charlie kane patrol wagon onto a gate with +1 to spell casting, call friend, and gate box. The only problem with this plan is he's at 1 sanity, but if I drive him insane to get full sanity this turn, and get the patrol wagon, I can get the ally next turn, am into the gates the turn after, and should have a win by sealings three turns later :'r 5 more turns... That's a long time... Then again, at least two of the coming gates are new gates (so nothing to risky coming up, thanks arcane insight). Take the extra risk and go for Erica Carlyle, or go for the easier safer win and regret it once I have to face the Rat Things :'/ eeeee.... Decisions...

Avi_dreader said:

And he picked up Amnesia...

Anyaway, I'm not masochist, but I love when somebody says something challenging ::laughter::

And... it's a pleasure reading of the way you play. *Finally*. It's like watching to 8th dan beating the Hell out of their asses. It makes me file the urge of playing :-)

I'm pretty sure this game is almost over. What a horrid slog :'/ I'm probably going to win, but I think my biggest mistake was waiting to clear the monsters from the Curiosity Shop before shopping... I think I would have been much better off focusing entirely on common items and spells this game. By waiting several turns, I let more cultists manifest and set up a blockade on movement. It has been a *nightmare* getting around it. Fortunately, it's almost over. I wish it were on easy mode ;') it would have been over loooong ago. But, yeah, common items and spells... I should have just focused on those at the beginning, would have won by now :'r guh. Not used to playing six investigators. Playing too conservatively is actually hurting me since I have more resources than I'm spending effectively, and I'm playing a bit too slowly (got a bit closer to the gate limit than I'm comfortable with).

Julia said:

I wasn't worried about that possibility A) I have book of anubis, so his clues wouldn't be wasted, B) I have carcosan page, so I can teleport him a research materials if necessary. :'D don't worry, I thought it through ;') I have a pretty powerful combination of items... It's just... Well, it's a pain street sweeping and killing time while the sealers finish off the game.

Julia said:

I have no idea what this means ;'D

Avi_dreader said:

Ehm... TWO, not TO... anyway...

Avi_dreader said:

::laughter:: not saying you don't have good items with you. Anyways, Book of Anubis does not protect you if you have to discard clues because of Amnesia: it works on clues discarded when driven insane. In your case, you're driven insane but, instead of discarding items and clues, you pick up the Madness. Hence, no Book of Anubis if the Madness card forces you to discard clues :-P

But yeah, Research Materials do work ;-)

Julia said:

Oh. Ee. Well ;') no matter, I didn't draw an amnesia. Will carry over Erica and a couple trophies into the next game. Blaaaaarg. Thinking about doing 7 investigators next time. I mean, if I'm going to have to deal with the extra monsters, I don't think one less thing in the outskirts will really matter (especially if I have Charlie in the game). Plus with Charlie (Erica Carlyle), Jenny, and Roland, I should be able to general 4 bucks a turn for the first several turns.

for scenario eight's hard mode, "When the doom track reaches 5, each investigator in Arkham rolls a die and on a failure, a random rat-thing is drawn and placed on them; investigators in Other Worlds roll a die and on a failure lose all their items." That's not going to affect Jenny for obvious reasons ;'D (Otherwise it'll be necessary to kill her every game, and that's not quite where I wanted this to go).

Heh... I already have my plan for getting around this ;'D I'm going to blitz it :'r and then... Heh... Circumventing a rat swarm will be a pain, but I can afford to lose three turns for most of my team, 12 is a long doom track.

On second thought, I'm not really in the mood for another long game. I'm going to finish this one off with another two investigator team :') Charlie and Jenny, Ninja assassins :'D Shouldn't be too hard. And I'll still generate 3 cash per turn. Might end up being easier than Yig ;'D probably will since I should have six or more turns against it.

Avi_dreader said:

::scratching her head:: almost 2 AM here... no idea of the Jenny thing, my brain refuses to connect something more complex than: "Rat-things. Offer them cheese, it should work" (zzzzzzzzzzz)

So, you managed to pass Scenario 7 in the Hard Mode? Congrats :-) I still believe I have a long way to go to play like you ::laughter::

Julia said:

I haven't been that tense in an AH game since scenario 2 :'/ It was very unpleasant, but it did get me thinking about managing my game strategy a little bit tighter. And evaluating whether the general item store and spell shop might make adequate substitutes for the curiosity shop. Haven't quite decided yet. I think with Marie on the team, it's not a bad idea (since you can get another 4 spell drawn, i.e being able to keep 4 out of 8 of the top spells is a pretty good deal for 10 bucks).

Heh... I'm still debating whether I want to cheese my way through scenario 8 or not ;') I think either way it'll be anti-climactic compared to scenario 7. The Rat thing swarm can be nasty, but... It's nothing compared to those armies of Ice cultists :'/ they froze up the map so horribly. If I were to replay the scenario, I'd go for much more aggressive tactics since it seems like anti-movement is the real biggest threat there (not monsters). But if I did try to seal it... Hmmm... Relying on spells would be a horrible idea. Hmmm... I think... Common item shopping spree first two turns and then sprinting for seals would be the best strategy. Especially if one investigator was brought up to five clues each of the first two turns. Hrm... That would be an annoying scenario to play fairly ;'D good thing I'm going to shamelessly play unfairly.

... My only worry is if there are several rat things on the board, they can't be removed, and this might bring up Rlim's combat modifier a bit... But hey, what's a worst case scenario if I'm careful? (Famous last words). Hrm... Maybe this idea isn't as good as I thought :'/ Five investigator team? Joe, Jenny, Charlie, Marie, and... ? Roland. That could work. Pretty good starting cash there, extended doom track. The only major threat will be the rat swarm at five, but even that can be dealt with, probably. And only one monster per new gate ;'D Not two monsters and a cultist from hell. Oh, yeah, that'll be nice.

I might just skip the rat-thing scenario. I'm sure I can beat it, but I honestly don't want to spend the time doing so :'/ I'd rather go straight to Shudde :')

Avi_dreader said:

::Shudde-r::

SCENARIO 22 - CRAB PUFFS

Innsmouth, Kingsport and Dunwich boards in play

Investigators: Amanda, Ursula, Silas, Mary, Norman, Tommy

Really, there is not much to report abot this game. With a Mi-go brain case, a Find gate, a Healing Stone and a Press pass carried over from Scenario 21, clues weren't an issue, nor movement a problem. Poor Basatan tried to create some troubles to my intrepid investigators but, as soon as Ursula shopped a Carcosan Page knew he was doomed.

All Mythos opened new gates in different locations. All but the last one (a Strange Sightings, which was prevented thanks to a Yellow sign pendant): this allowed me to close with Norm the very last gate.

Checkmate in 7 Mythos, while Bokrug's doom track was at 6.

So, the next one? Hastur and the Phantom of Truth? I can see the light at the end of the League... ::laughter::

QUESTION:

A) exactly when, during the Mythos Phase, the Tsunami happens? I'm asking becuse of some possible interactions with some monsters moving. And because of an Environment (cannot remember which one, sorry) I drew (not that the game would have changed, anyway). By "aquatic locations interested by the Tsunami" you mean "locations and streets", right? Or only locations? (if the latter, I'd have had even an easier game)

B) you say "all streets and unstable locations become aquatic". What if an unstable location is sealed, later in the game? Does it return to "non aquatic"?

Julia said:

I'd say no re: becoming non-aquatic... At least that was the intent, it might be easier (and not game effecting) to just go with the rules as written and say yes. Is it really relevant when during the Mythos Phase the Tsunami happens? I suppose it might interact with Colors and Cthonians. I'd say since it wasn't specified, you can choose the timing (as the rules say).

And yes, I was using older ambiguous terminology where streets and locations aren't clearly differentiated, I'll have to fix that later. I did want it to refer to both though.

Heh... You should replay the scenario on the hard mode ;') I feel like all this stuff is too easy for you now.

Avi_dreader said:

Ok, they stay aquatic. Good. Especially because I risked the second tsunami (blocked by the Yellow sign pendant) with three investigators in three different locations just sealed.

Ok for both streets and locations. Thx. Otherwise I'd have been really easy to avoid it. Plus, since they are aquatic, it seems to me logic they have water. So the tsunami should hit.

Also the wording "lose a round of combat to a monster" leaves a big loophole: you try to evade the monster but fail, you're damaged, gain an injury but you're not devoured (combat technically starts after you're dealt the first damage as a consequence of a failed Escape roll). Is this ok for you? With lowered maxima both in Sanity and Stamina, you can use very easily this trick to avoid combat

As for the difficulty level... yeah. I guess, after Scenario 16, I've found all the remaining ones rather easy (I've always won by closing in a very short time), so probably you're right. Sensei Avi said I'm ready for the tough ones! Gu!

(man, what have ya done)

Julia said:

Well :') the next one should be... Um. More challenging ;'D Hastur's baaaAAAaaack ;'D and, oh God, with a vengeance!

Hm. What I meant to say earlier was fail a combat check. I'll change that.

Just that one, and one more. One horrible horrible final battle ;'D hopefully you'll be up to the challenge. Although I expect it will be hellish and terrifying. The annihilator of reality approaches!

Avi_dreader said:

::laughter:: 23 is good, to me. I just figure out how to beat it, anyway. Let's see if this works. But... I'm really excited! ::lusting for battle::