Hi,

I've recently started playing Arkham Horror and i've got a pretty set group of friends that i play with, (about an 8-10 player pool, 5 players per game average) but with the except of the very first game when we were still figuring out how to play, the games seem like they get crazy for about 5-6 turns in the middle, and then once we've sealed about 3 gates everything tends to slow down and we work our way towards the 6 seal win. I've been wondering if we're playing right or if there is anyway way to make the game slightly more challenging with out going into league scenarios cause i don't think we're ready for that yet.

Also i'm planning on getting one of the smaller expansions soon and i was wondering what would be the best one? should i go in order of the release and get the Curse of the Dark Pharaoh or should i get a different one.

Any feed back would help.

oh, it may also be worth noting that we've never let our terror track get higher than 4 as we love our shop keepers and don't want them to move.

You're playing it right. It is entirely possible for base-game-alone games to slow considerably after a few seals. This is mostly due to the lack of unstable locations (only 11) and Gate Bursts (expansions). If you're ready to move up, almost any expansion will add a new level of difficulty: the small boxes add new card mechanics, and the big boxes do too, plus a new town with more unstable locations (usually).

You'll get every expansion recommended to you eventually, for a variety of reasons. "Best Expansion" is in the eye of the beholder. If you really love the game, and you think you're in it for the long haul and intend to get every expansion eventually, then it doesn't really matter what you start with. Dark Pharaoh and King in Yellow are both good "primers" for what an expansion can add. (I personally think you will get more out of King in Yellow; this one really MOVES the Terror Track!)

If you really think you can't add all the expansions to your collection, or don't want to, the ones you can't live without would be Dunwich Horror, Innsmouth Horror, and the latest one, Lurker at the Threshold (in that order, if you can help it).

Welcome to the Carnival, Cartoonsniper!

Thanks alot man! I'm planning to get them all someday, it's just gonna take some time... If the King in Yellow is a good place to start then i'll probably get it soon and hopefully i'll be able to get the Dunwich Horror once we're ready to up the game again.

Oh yeah, this is probably as good a place as any to ask, but the activity markers (tokens with "1", "2", and "3" on them respectively), what the heck are they for? The book doesn't really give any clue other than their names. In my last game we started to use them to mark off Rumor and Enviroment effects on locations but that was really just me guess at their use. Any clarity would be great, thanks!

No, you got it right. If you get a Mythos card that has an "Activity At" section (such as a Rumor), those markers are provided to be used as a reminder as to where you are supposed to go to deal with that Mythos card. It isn't a perfect system, just a simple cardboard "Activity is Here" you can place on the board.

In my humble opinion, the expansion you can't do without are all the large box expansions: Dunwich, Kingsport, and Innsmouth. They all add monsters, Ancient Ones, Investigators, and some "must have every game" mechanics: Injury/Madness, Epic Battle, Personal Stories. Incidentally, the order I'd recommend you get those three "big box"es are the order they were released: Dunwich first because it adds the most (more unstable locations), Kingsport adds a lot of cool stuff too and the fact that it has no unstable locations isn't such a big deal because you'll already have Dunwich. Innsmouth is the most difficult and a few of its features aren't well-adjusted for "first expansion," such as the fact that it adds no items, has no gate bursts within Arkham, and has a couple AOs whose worshipers are only available in the Dunwich and Kingsport expansions.

So far it looks like Lurker also adds a couple awesome "must have"s, but all the small-box expansions can be avoided if necessary. Though you should look into this order:

Curse of the Dark Pharaoh has excellent theme.
King in Yellow has great theme and some fun new mechanics and good difficulty.
Black Goat and Lurker add a lot of difficulty, but the theme isn't all that great. In fact, Lurker is looking to be closer to what people wanted Black Goat to be. Also, Lurker's Relationship cards are an "every-game" sort of thing.

Cool, thanks for the feedback. I've seen the Injury/Madness cards and a few of the Personal Stories which i thought were really cool, but what's the Epic Battles mechanic?

Epic Battle cards are in Kingsport. Basically you draw one before doing a round of final combat and it affects the conditions of the round (often for the worse). There are also new Ancient One-specific battle cards so that they can throw some signature moves at you. In my other humble opinion, it is the best add-on of the three big box expansions (but I couldn't imaging living without any).