so which is the best expansion pack to get, or is it best to get them in order...?

To put it concisely, we get this question a lot. What are you looking for in an expansion? Give us a few criteria and we can find one or two that will be a great fit.

i think added game play over board expansion... however having had a look into it a bit it does seem as though some of the later expansions need the earlier ones to work...? am i right? or can you actually get them in any order? ... so i suppose my real question is can you actually get them in ANY order or do you sort of need to get them in the order they came out in...?

The expansions are not really related to each other, you can get them in any order you like. It's just that some of them (Innsmouth, Black Goat) are perhaps less newbie-friendly than others.

-Villain

You can get them in any order. But I do not recommend Innsmouth first.

Dunwich seems to be the most popular big-box, and Lurker the most popular small-box.

I think you have to change your question to "What I would like to get out of an expansion is xxxxxxxxx. Which is the best for that?" and we'll do the best to answer. Until then, lemme try to give you my two cents:

New Boards:

While I think the things you'll find on the new boards are interesting, sending your investigators there isn't necessary to win. You'll send your investigators there in order to stop extra bad stuff from happening. They all feature new investigators and ancient ones, which the small boxes do not.

Dunwich Horror will force you to destroy the monsters that spawn on that board because they can cause the actual Dunwich Horror monster to appear. The Horror is like a mini-ancient one that's tough to kill.

Kingsport Horror will force you to have encounters in its locations to take off certain counters that, when they add up, cause Rifts to appear in Arkham. Rifts are like mobile gates and they can really disrupt the town. The set also introduces Guardians, who are on your side and offer the players help in the game.

Innsport Horror, which is my favorite of the boxes, forces you to keep tokens off of its Deep Ones track, which is a new way to wake up the Ancient One. I like it because its story comes through with a few new game elements, such as martial law and a new jail, so it's not just adding new locations. Plus, the Personal Story cards it comes with add little mini-missions for each of the investigators, and that's fun.

Small expansions:

Curse of the Dark Pharoah: The lasting impact of this expansion is the Exhibit Items deck, which are like bizarre Unique Items. Fun, but this was the first expansion and later ones offer more.

The King in Yellow: This expansion adds a few new concepts: magic effect cards, blight cards, the first-ever Herald (a bad guy who makes the game harder). It's also got a fun theme in that a play has come to Arkham which is freaking everyone out and messes with the terror track. My only complaint with the theme is that if the play gets to the third act, you automatically lose and that bugs me.

Black Goat of the Woods: Gives you a new Black Goat herald, which is okay, and the Corruptions deck, which is a lot of fun in my opinion, because it makes the investigators suffer in fun ways.

Lurker At the Threshold: I think it gives you the most of any mini-expansion, with a new set of jazzier gate markers with added effects to replace the original set, personal cards which let investigators share an ability, plus it adds Power tokens to the game, which is a whole new thing that goes alongside clues and stuff. You can spend power tokens through your Dark Pact cards and suffer their consequences with Reckoning cards. To be honest, I haven't played with them yet, but they seem really cool.

Each expansion adds mythos cards, other world encounter cards and lots more that i haven't mentioned but those are the highlights in my opinion.

cheers Douggold you're answer is very concise and helpful. One small thing that confuses me a bit (possibly i am being a bit thick here!) ... the Herald card concept that is first introduced in the 'King in Yellow' pack. Now I see you say Herald cards are also in the 'threshold' pack, therefore would i need 'the King in Yellow' before getting the 'threshold' pack in order to use the Herald cards. I have read a review but it wasn't to clear however i do really like the idea of the new gate cards that come with the 'threshold' pack... pretty close to getting that one i reckon, that is if i don't need 'the king in yellow' first...

Cheers for all your helps!!

No, heralds are completely independent of one another. They are assistants to the Ancient One (and you can pair them with almost any Ancient One.),and make the game more difficult for the investigators. Heralds are included in the Innsmouth, Lurker in the Threshold, King in Yellow, Black Goat and Kingsport expansions and there are two official downloadable heralds. The first herald was included in the King in Yellow expansion.

... i've seem on a few different websites reviews of 'the lurker on the threshold' saying it is for 'for intermediate and advanced players of Arkham Horror'... what on earth does this mean?

doomtube said:

It means: N00bs don't know how to best maximise (read: abuse; looking at you Avi ) the "herald".

It might also be referring to the fact that the new gates are both a lot more challenging and add a fair amount of complexity...not that they're confusing or anything, it's just a a lot to keep track of, much like all the different kinds of monster abilities and movement (which, in my experience, is one of the things that newer players have the hardest time with).

I really like Lurker, but another thing to be aware of is that it's mainly about adding new varieties of gameplay as opposed to enriching the existing ones. So if what you're looking for right now is new encounters, items, monsters, that sort of thing, you might be better off with one of the other small boxes (I'm partial to King in Yellow, but they're all good in their own way) or Dunwich.

Dam i'm rather confused by your post, what is a N00bs and what is Avi? ...Thanks though, to Subochre as it is definitely an expansion of 'gameplay' as oppose to further items/monster etc ... i think i did state this in an earlier post... cheers!

doomtube said:

N00b = newbie = fresh meat = new player

Avi = evil = nemesis = Avi_dreader nick on these forums

It's better to get the Dunwich expansion first since it adds cards to all decks, and ramps up the difficulty favorably with tougher Ancient Ones and the gate burst mechanic.

Here is my take on big box vs small box expansions:

Big box: $50, new town of crazies to deal with and explore, new Ancient Ones to make life hell, new investigators to play as, more monsters, quicker terror track movement (Dunwitch and Innsmouth), more toys to use against the Ancient ones.

Small box: $25, Arkham gets crazier due to something evil arriving, theme of the game changes, few new monsters.

To sum up, Big boxes give more but make game longer and harder to find space to play. Small Boxes just add more cards and tension. All are worth getting for one reason or another but my list to get (not the order I recieved them in) is:

1. Dunwitch - decent AOs and good cards to add to the game (big box)
2. King in Yellow- great theme and adds time pressure (small box)
3. Innsmouth - EVIL but fun (big box)
4. Kingsport - Epic Battle and ok AOs (big box)
5. Curse of DP - Exbit cards are nice and theme is cool [download herald from the support site] (small box)
6. Black goat - not everyone's fav but adds some ok elements

I am not mentioning Lurker cause I dont have it yet. Maybe for christmas or my birthday. Hope this helps a bit.

Dam said:

It's a good thing I can't throw my shoes across the Atlantic or you'd have a sore face right now ;')

Dam said:

Don't trust Dam, I mean, really. How can you trust someone who can't spell **** and who has been playing Arkham for years but still refuses to own Kingsport. I know, I know, here's where you might be thinking that that's just ad hominem, but I disagree, since I do not acknowledge or believe in the humanity of Dam. No Kingsport. I mean, REALLY! Outrageous!

Uhhh... I've been away for a few days on a mini-vacation. What is this thread about?

Okay... Now that I've actually read it instead of just skimming for **** posts, I'd have to agree with the poster who suggested Dunwich first. Although I'd say it with a slight caveat. Only if you can beat the base game with your hands tied behind your back. And yes, this means you will have to move your investigator with your nose. A true master of Arkham can do it!

Avi_dreader said:

But you throw like a girl !

Dam said:

Oh! That is IT! I'll show you! I'll hit you with a shoe thrown across the Pacific!

Avi_dreader said:

A true master of Arkham should probably be corrupted enough to have a couple of tentacles to use with both hands tied ::smiling::
Welcome back Avi, we missed you ;-) You seem to be in great shape after the vacation :-P

It's strange none has suggested that Avi was the nemesis of Mpeg ::laughing::

Hi all,

If most of my AH experience is done by solo gaming, do you think i should add an expansion (large or small) ?

If so, which one ?

Many people here play this game solo, and with many expansions at once, so it shouldn't be a major issue. If you find out the board is too big for the number of investigatoris you usually play with, then simply add one character to control and that's all. So, if you'd like to have some more areas to investigate in or some new encounters, should be a motivation good enough to expand the game (not to mention that, after you get the basic mechanics of the game, playing it with just the core set.. dunno.. it's kind of lacking in challenge, being the game too easy to beat).

There are many threads covering the issue "which expansions should I buy" (surf these forums for a while and you'll find hundreds of different points of view); my suggestion is go with Dunwich first. More board, more unstable locations, a good game dynamic (vortices and the Dunwich horror to avoid being awakened), tons of new encounters, some good monsters, tough AOs, injuries and madnesses, 2 new OWs, good characters to play with. And you'll meet the gate bursts, that finally transform the base game in something really more challenging. Other big box expansions are really good as well, but Kingsport, having no unstable locations, works very well as second expansion board, while Innsmouth... probably it's not the best big box to start with. It increases *a lot* the difficulty of the game and comes with no new items / spells for investigator and some of the nastiest AOs ever, so... very, very difficult to start with

Julia said:

It took me a second to process that. Unfortunately I got sick over my trip, so I'll not really be contributing until I recover. Hi though :')

Dam said:

I was expecting Julia to throw a shoe at you after that one.

Julia is not a girl—she is a lady. Ladies don't throw shoes.