I own the core game and I am waiting for the new expansion (The Lurker...) and would like to ask all hard core players a question.

Which expansions could you live without and which expansions would you recommend adding to the core game as the game played much better?

I know this may bring up some controversial points but I would like your opinion as I can’t see myself affording every past expansion for this game with all the other games (and expansions to come) I have...

I could live without Black Goat, but I'd still prefer to have everything. The best expansion to fortify the base game is Dunwich. Generally, Dunwich is considered the best large-box expansion and King in Yellow the best small-box expansion.

Each expansion introduces something new.

Curse of the Dark Pharaoh added dual-colored Outer World Encounters.
Dunwich Horror added Madness/Injury cards.
King In Yellow added Heralds.
Kingsport Horror added Epic Battle and Guardians.
Black Goat of the Woods added.......Difficulty Cards......
Innsmouth Horror added Personal Stories.
Lurker at the Threshold is adding new Gates and Relationship cards.

They all add something new and I couldn't be without any of them. Of course, I don't really play any other game (except Zombies!!! with my parents), so getting them all was really no big deal. I still haven't played Kingsport or Innsmouth yet (tomorrow!) or Lurker of course, so I can't fairly tell you which ones I live without. So consider this post for my own amusement.

Must have expansions (and why):

• Dunwich (No way I could do without Injury and Madness, also adds some much appreciated items)
• Innsmouth (Personal stories a big plus, also the use of the board with deep ones rising)
• Kingsport (For epic battle cards; board itself is so so)
• King in Yellow (has my favorite herald to date)

Note: for the big expansions, the investigators and ancient ones are also a big draw.

Would be willing to do without (and why):

• Black Goat (all in all, I really want to like the corruptions, but they're too rare. The herald is over kill ... just a fast track to waking up the Ancient One)
• Dark Pharaoh (some neat things, but nothing that I would lack if missing)

Of course, all said and done, I don't regret getting any expansion. It's just a matter of which ones I use more often.

rice's post is a more flushed out version of my feelings. I have sentimental attachment to Dark Pharaoh but it doesn't bring much to the table when combined with multiple expansions.

I tend to disagree with ranking the goat very low. The corruptions/cult mechanics is very fun. But you definitely need to use a non-official scenario or herald to enjoy them fully. There are several (to say the least) and many of them make a good job to enhance this very neat game mechanics.

Though, I know some people are not willing to use any non official component... I really cannot understand why ??? but taste and colors... :-))

QUOTE efidm=348202]
I own the core game and I am waiting for the new expansion (The Lurker...) and would like to ask all hard core players a question.

Which expansions could you live without and which expansions would you recommend adding to the core game as the game played much better?

I know this may bring up some controversial points but I would like your opinion as I can’t see myself affording every past expansion for this game with all the other games (and expansions to come) I have...

Okay, here we go . . .

1. Dunwich Horror-This expansion is 100% essential. The five additional gates it adds to Arkham's eleven is necessary in order to make both the Doom Track and the too many opens gates condition real threats to the players. The Common Items, Unique Items and Spells are, card per card, more useful than those found in any other expansion, and the swelling of the Unique Item deck makes Elder Signs thankfully rarer. The new characters are good and all four of the AO's introduced are top notch; two of them are my first and second favorite AO's in the entire game. The Dunwich Horror is an exceptionally enjoyable menace and the Vortices also make the Terror Track more of a threat. The monsters are wonderfully frightening and the Madness and Injury cards are considered by many to be the best feature of the expansion; personally I don't think they are really needed until you add in Kingsport and Innsmouth, when the difficulty truly shoots up, but mine is a minority opinion. I simply can't imagine playing Arkham Horror without this one.

2. Innsmouth Horror- Innsmouth contributes an enormous amount to Arkham Horror, but because of the difficulty and complexity it should not be added until Arkham+Dunwich seeks to be a real challenge. The Innsmouth board is without question the coolest and most deadly of the small boards and arguably presents the greatest threat; many times we've lost when the Deep Ones awakened the Ancient Ones. The number and quality of both AO's and Investigators is staggering in this expansion, and I would submit that it contributes the best Mythos cards of any expansion. It only adds fourteen Other World cards, but each of them is for a specific Other World and gives you a full card text for that world. The Personal Stories are fantastic, giving each Investigator a highly thematic mini-Rumor of their own. Again, I can no longer imagine playing Arkham without this expansion.

3. Kingsport Horror-Here we arrive at the last expansion that I regularly use. Kingport adds the usual nifty mix of Investigators and AO's, not to mention some good monsters. It also has some terrific Arkham location encounter cards. The board, while never suffering from the dilution that could plague Dunwich and, to a lesser extent, Innsmouth (the only cards that open gates on an expansion board are the cards in that expansion), is unfortunately also much less exciting than either the Dunwich or Innsmouth boards. In fact many have complained that the Kingsport board is boring and they do have a point, since there are no unstable locations and hence no gates in Kingsport. As a result monsters rarely appear there and Kingsport is the one expansion board I would possibly consider removing on a trial basis someday. Kingsport is an essential expansion for the AO's, Investigators, monsters and above all, the Epic Battle cards! This is the best contribution of Kingsport in my opinion. The Epic Battle cards and their attendant Sinister Plot cards make the final fight with the AO far, far more enjoyable and thematic than would otherwise be the case. I can imagine doing without the Kingsport board; I cannot imagine going without the Epic Battle and Sinister Plot cards. Oh, and this one is really best added before Innsmouth, for several reasons.

4. Curse of the Dark Pharoah-This one is my favorite small box expansion. I love the Exhibit Items, in spite of the fact that many are too strong, and I especially enjoy using the free Dark Pharoah Herald with this one. It introduces three dual-colored Other World cards that can actually lead to you face in combat an AO other than the one you're using for the game, and the rest of the Other World cards it provides are also good. It has some great Mythos cards, and the Benefits and Detriment cards are enjoyable. Now for the bad parts: the Spells are definitely subpar, the Banned from the neighborhood cards are annoying, and the Allies are so frigging powerful that you feel like you should be THEIR sidekicks while they save Arkham. Fortunately using this expansion with multiple ally expansions limits the number of CotDP Allies in the game and the Dark Pharoah Herald balances the Exhibit Items. If you're using multiple other expansions, this one is best played in the Visiting Exhibit mode. I like it quite a bit, but I don't use it regularly (except for the three dual-color Other World cards) and could live without it.

5. The King in Yellow-Many people say this is their favorite small box expansion, but to me it seems to have many more flaws than Curse. The Common Items it adds are mostly useless and only a few of the Unique Items are much good. The Other World cards are average at best and the Mythos cards mean you'll be getting a lot of monster surges, which slows down the Doom Track tremendously, especially since there are no gate bursts in this one. It is also VERY susceptible to being diluted, since there are only six Next Act Begins cards. Why do so many people love this expansion, then? I think because of the Herald. The King in Yellow Herald is arguably the most interesting and challenging Herald in the entire game. I can't say a word against him, he's tremendous fun, but you could do without this expansion. Oh, and this one also has great Spells!

6. Black Goat of the Woods-Far and away my LEAST favorite expansion: The Mythos cards are very uninspired, the Other World cards are dull, the wonderful Corruption cards are almost never seen unless you use the Herald, and the Herald is absurdly difficult. The Items and spells it adds are certainly nothing to cheer about and I would argue the only really exceptional thing about this expansion is the Dark Druid monster. Needless to say, that's hardly enough to jusify purchasing it. Run, don't walk, away from this one.

I hope the above helps you make your choices.

Thanks guys...I am a little more clearer now and have a good idea whats next on my want list...

I can only afford a few here and there and because I like a few games it does get expensive...which is my own fault for liking so many games really...

Everyones opinion of Dunwich is very high and I intend to get this first (along with Lurker).

Thank you everyone who replied and if anyone would like to add to this post I would be delighted as any advice is welcome...

meggypeggs said:

I disagree, it's the publishers fault for making all the fun games.

meggypeggs said:

I prefer having everything... If I had to pare down my collection, I'd say that the big box expansions are all essentials. The small boxes, not so much.

Dunwich is definitely number one, I'd go for Innsmouth second, and Kingsport third.

Have to concur with the consensus here. Dunwich, then Innsmouth, then Kingsport.

Re: Not having the funds to buy everything at once. There are a good selection of Ancient Ones, Heralds and Guardians in the Fan Creation forum and on BGG. Find some that you like, print them out and mount them on cardboard.

i'd go with innsmouth. it has no items, spells etc, and no injuries/madnesses. but it offers many new GOOs, investigators, personal stories, a board that actually gets used, and it adds difficulty. i like the mechanics of innsmouth alot. it also includes 2 heralds if you want an even harder game.

dunwich has items, spells etc, which is the good thing about it, but you can also get that with a small expansion. it also has GOOs and investigators (though less). i don't think injuries/madnesses are that great, they often make running out of sta/san negligible and the dunwich board can often be ignored. it also adds difficulty, but mostly (or only) because there are more locations that you have to take care of. the dunwich horror is rarely a real issue and also gate bursts don't happen that often. a dunwich herald can be downloaded and self-printed, but it's not included in the expansion.

one problem with the basegame is, that after a few seals in important locations the game slows down alot. dunwich tried to solve this (with gatebursts) but failed. innsmouth successfully keeps pressure on you. that's why i prefer it. maybe it's connected to our playstyle: we usually try to seal 6 gates. if you don't seal gates and go for the fight, dunwich my be the better option. in that case the Deep Ones rising track (from innsmouth) isn't that important and you'll need more effort to prevent the dunwich horror from appearing because there will be more monsters.

we never used dunwich board again since we have innsmouth.

I'll second the Innsmouth expansion . I especially like the personal story variant that the game introduces. Note however, that the game ramps up in difficulty significantly with this expansion, the AOs are brutal and sealing victories are harder to achieve.Dunwich is a close second for me.

In general. the big box expansions all add a great deal of content and new gameplay mechanics, so I'll recommend getting all of them over time.

Isn't there some way to make this sticky? Considering the forumites get asked this question about once a week, it would be nice to have this thread permanently attached to page one.

Solan said:

I know, tell me about it.

I wish I would have read this 3 weeks ago when I picked up a few expansions. I picked up Dunwich, King, and Goat although I would have probably picked a different selection instead.

I was dissapointed that I didn't see the corruption cards getting used in our game.

Eh, those aren't bad picks, really. Goat's a lot better than everyone says; sure, its central mechanics could have been implemented better, but it's an inexpensive way of adding variety and difficulty, and it comes with the second-best Herald. And IMHO Kingsport and Lurker are mainly just for completists (in fact, I kind of feel that way about everything post-King-in-Yellow, much as I do love some of the things that Innsmouth and Lurker add to the game)

shadowwot said:

There are some good custom heralds making use of corruption cards, and hopefully some of the scenarios I'm making implement them well also (and will give people ideas about how to distribute corruptions even more).

Board expansions

1. Dunwich (Good increase to all stuff, plus Injury and Madness can alleviate the loss of items)
2. Innsmouth (Deep ones, keep coming)
3. Kingsport (rifts are a hazzard, but can just tie up one player)

Small boxes

1. King in Yellow (Good building drama and definate end game)
2. Dark Pharaoh (goes well with just the base game, nice theme spin on it)
3. Black Goat (corruptions are great temptation, but slow to occur)

Whenever new AO, investigators and heralds are in the box, it is all a bonus.

They all add new elements to the game and change the play from base game.

This makes it one of my groups fav games, just on sheer replay as never is a game the same.

I prefer Innsmouth as best big box, the place is just so dang threatening I'm scared to go there. Plus I love the personal stories addition the most out of any new mechanic. Dunwich is nice but it really never seens any action in our games and I hate the Injury and Madness cards. I never take one, I always have enough crap cards to lose instead. Kingsport is terribly boring. I'm really considering removing it from our games and I NEVER remove expansions.

I'm the minority in LOVING the Black Goat expansion. I think it's just all kinds of neat and I love the Corruption cards. A simple fix for the rarity of corruption is just to start everyone with one corruption card and an extra clue. The rest of the small boxes are ok; I really don;t like the Exhibit items from DP, they've been completely useless every time we've gotten one. King in Yellow doesn't really seem to add anything notable either. I really like what I see in Lurker although I haven't played a game with it yet.

I enjoy Kingsport to an extent. The rift mechanic is cool, and the Epic Fight cards are great. As for the board, it certainly could've been better. No unstable locations means less clue tokens and not enough action. I'm, now playing a Kingsport+base set+all small expansions session against Glaaki. We're losing just because there aren't enough clue tokens on the board to make it to sealing victory. Although I suppose we could defeat him in final battle.

Magic Pink said:

Why an extra clue?

I like the idea of starting everyone with a corruption though. I might add that in as a house rule :') Skill, relationship, corruption :'D (I'd feel less guilty playing with relationships if I added corruptions).

My group just tried out the Goat...and I don't understand how corruption doesn't come up for people? Whenever you kill a hex monster you get one, and those hex monsters will fill up the board quick.

One of our group got a corruption card that had him draw more cards...and it just took off from there. He had close to half the corruption deck by himself towards the end of the game.

I think the main complaint is that corruption only comes up when playing against this herald. There had been proposals to alter Y'golonac's Corruption Text ability to include the corruptioin mechanic when he's the AO in the game. I.e. "each time an investigator draws a Tome, add one doom token to Y'golonac's doom track and draw a corruption card."-something like that:.

Stalker0 said:

That's only with the Herald and most people here cry "fowl" when it comes up. about "doom token for monster surge" and all that nonsense. Me, I love the BGotW Herald, you absolutely need to bring your A-game to win (as in close or seal, none of that final combat doodoo).