I recently tried to play Arkham with Dunwich and the Lurker, and I chose 6 investigators. I guess that was a mistake.

I tried the game with three different GOOs (Abhoth, Nyarlathothep and finally Azathoth), and I never even got started. I tried to close a gate or two, and everytime when I was ready to seal three or four gates, the sixth one opened (in one case, the sixth and seventh at the same time). Is it possible in this combination to keep the GOO from waking because of too many gates and what did I do wrong? I couldn't enter every gate at once because not very investigator can defeat the monsters sitting on them, and taking even two rounds to collect clues seemed to be too much.

Is there a chance of sealing such a game? I ask this question because my group and I have logged - in different combinations - about 60+ games of Arkham since the spring and we usually manage a seal. But we usually play with four investigators, so maybe I need a different kind of tactics. Though I fail to see how that one gate earlier can make such a difference, but I don't know.

Ideas, anyone? Thank you very much.

Although I don't have much experience beyond 3 - 4 Player. (Or the Lurker expand) but I will say do not give up all hope. It surely is possible to do!

I find that one of the things to remember is that one very Lovecraftian theme is inevitability and quite often, failure over all. So to be honest, I've never played the game to win. Just to enjoy it

if you play with many investigators you have to close gates right from the start, without sealing them.

Thought so, and tried it. But I have a feeling that the Lurker changes the gate opening distribution, and with Dunwich in the mix you don't get a breather. 7 rounds, 7 gates, one monster surge (one double gate courtesy of a Lurker Mythos card). That way, you need absolutely everyone hopping into gates and closing them, and the doom tokens pile up. Sealing won't work because you don't have a chance to collect clues. I'll try the same mix again with four investigators. Maybe that will work...

Just have people take a pact the turn they're about to exit a gate, and spend the power on sealing it. it's cheap, but that's the solution.

if everything goes well you need exactly 3 investigators to close gates as fast as they open. that leaves another 3 to collect clue tokens. we know, things never go well in arkham, but if you have 3 investigators closing gates you shouldn't get to 7 open gates that quickly.

games with 6 investigators are alot easier than with 4, at least in my experience. our last game with 6 investigators (using innsmouth board as the only expansion board) was almost to easy.

Uhhh... With six investigators the game should actually be much easier once you get the hang of it. You just have to adapt to a 1-2 instant closes. You can also abuse the pacts mechanics for an easy win.

My rule of thumb is to use one investigator for every 1/3 of the base game board. With Dunwich in play, that's 4/3rds total, so you should be using 4 investigators. This will increase the gate limit by one and may be your saving grace.

That's a fair point, Tibs, and I usually play with four, even with an expansion, but I was actually trying to bring it off with six. Seems I picked on something quite difficult. I'll try the Lurker and Dunwich with four investigators soon..

Thanks for all the input!

bluepirate said:

I don't think it's difficult, I think it's easy, you just need to alter your tactics. I think that if you just persevered and continued playing it, you'd learn how to do it.

Hah, maybe it's something about that combination. I just played a game with Dunwich and the Lurker and it was one of the fastest losses I've ever had. The game just chose to hit me with every dirty trick in the book, including 3 investigators LiTaS in the second areas of Other Worlds. Lost through too many gates being open during the Mythos phase of turn 5, and just to make sure I had no chance in final combat, 2 investigators were LiTaS at the time. Throw in Norman and Vincent's top speed of 3 (and Norman with an injury lowering his speed by 1), and you have Ghatanothoa devouring them messily before they could so much as scratch him.

Ah well, time to try again

The worst combination? Lurker with Yog-sothoth...

The difficulty to close or seal a gate increases by 1 + Herald ability (They Shall Break Through Again Investigators receive –1 to all Fight and Lore checks to close or seal Gates).

We played last week but it is impossible to win without elder sign.

gpfanta said:

No it isn't. I tried this with a friend, we bludgeoned it to death pretty easily. Again. Using the pacts as clues is *extremely* overpowered. You just need to actually abuse it properly.