Being new to AH, but also being of OCD nature, I've been looking into the expansion packs. Now, I've awed whisperings about the Dunwich Horror and some so-so mutterings about Kingsport, but this seems to be the best place to get the most informed opinions, so...

What is the best expansion?

Regards

K xx

Been doing a lot of reading lately on these boards as well as those on Board Game Geek asking that same question myself, and the consensus seems to be:

-The Horror of Dunwich is the best of the large box expansions, athough Innosmouth is a very close second (especially since it has the personal story cards for the investigators)

-Kingsport is generally considered "meh" mainly due to the fact that there are no unstable locations in Kingsport, yet one investigator needs to be dedicated to the city to keep on top of the rift mechanics and nothing more.

-The King in Yellow seems to have the most consensus for the best small box expansion. From what I can tell, it adds the most thematically, and also adds a good level of difficulty.

-Pharaoh has a strong following as well, especially if you are looking for a thematic element.

-Lurker is well liked, save for the fact it doesn't increase the difficulty very much.

-Goat seems to be the lest liked of the small box expansions.

Yeah, Jorte has summed up very well most of the opinion shared in these forums. Btw, there's an interesting point about Dunwich vs Innsmouth that should be stressed: all Mythos cards from Innsmouth are focused on Innsmuouth locations (I mean, all gate openings on Innsmouth Mythos cards happen in Innsmouth), while Dunwich increases the activity and the difficulty even of the main board. Besides, both boxes add some universal cards (Injuries and Madnesses from Dunwich and Personal Stories from Innsmouth), but Innsmouth does not add any new item / skill / ally and so on, so probably the content of the Dunwich box is the richest. Last but not least: Innsmouth is *DIFFICULT*. No way you can find a more difficult expansion. Nasty and tough Ancient Ones, and the board itself is very difficult to control. Any expansion board you'll add after Innsmouth... well, probably it'd not seem so challanging.

That's extremely helpful, thanks!

I couldn't help but be drawn by Dunwich Horror, because I love that story, but I think the King in Yellow just made it on to my 'Want' list...with maybe Innsmouth swimming up close behind.

Can't help but think 'Shadow out of Time' would be a great thematic addition to the game, no? Yithians, cone-shaped beings, time-travel, body-swapping, flying polyps, australian desert, the library city - you know it makes sense.

Regards

K xx

Mr. K said:

There's a difference between the best expansion, and the best expansion for YOU! So, tell us, what are you looking for? Fun RP? Challenging GOOs? Similar difficulty? A variable grind-house of investigator's flesh? Slightly/Heavily increased difficulty?

What do you think of just the base game so far? What do you wish you had more/less of? Do you want increased difficulty but otherwise business as usual? Lots of questions, but we can only spat out our personal favorites (mine being Dunwich, King in Yellow, and Pharaoh) and why WE like them

I'm really here as a Lovecraft fanatic rather that a game fanatic. So it's the atmosphere I get off on.

I want a game that feels like an quaint, esoteric, cosmic adventure where doom is prevalent but there is a very slight, sliver of hope...

And actually Arkham Horror does this very well all by itself. But, like the next adventure, I wonder where it might lead too.

Dunwich—heralded as the best expansion all round. Adds a bit of everything, and has some of the best new monsters and investigators and AOs.

Kingsport—brilliantly, never dilutes! Gives more of everything, but its lack of unstable locations make it better as an additional expansion board rather than the sole expansion board (unless you're fine with the way the base board's unstable locations play out). Epic Battle cards are AWESOME. And contrary to what many people fear, you don't need to leave one guy in Kingsport the whole game: just send someone when a rift gets close to filling.

Innsmouth—many investigators and AOs, but no items or Arkham-location gate bursts! No new Other Worlds! A good expansion, but not a good first expansion. Plus, all its gate cards are meant to counter dilution, which is more meaningful with more expansions. The personal story cards are great, and this is the probably the hardest expansion, if that's what you're into.

Dark Pharaoh—very little difficulty increase, and none of the gate burst cards we've all come to love. But I'd be lying if I didn't say it was the best expansion to provide theme. The encounter cards are all excellent. New item type and spells and allies.

King in Yellow—very good pervasive theme, but also the difficulty kick that Dark Pharaoh was missing. Comes with common and unique items, which DP also lacked. The Three Acts mechanic is a great risk mechanic, but it dilutes very quickly with more than a couple expansions.

Black Goat—the corruption mechanic was very promising, but it turned out never to get used, unless you use the herald, but the herald speeds the game to a quick end (which is no fun). The encounters aren't very thematic. But this was the first small-box with gate bursts and new non-spawn monsters, which made it notable.

Lurker at the Threshold—probably the best small-box. The herald was a bit of a disappointment, as it was a bit too exploitable and easy, but the rest of the expansion is very good. It's got gate bursts, double-gates, new items, replacement gate markers with cool new effects, and was the first expansion to introduce a non-thematic universal component: the Relationship cards. Many of the new items promote teamwork. Disregarding the herald (or in my case, even with using the herald but using Yog-Sothoth and the Dunwich expansion), this is a pretty hard expansion.

Want the stuff with high praise? Get Dunwich, and King in Yellow or Lurker.
Want difficulty? Get Innsmouth, and Black Goat or Lurker.
Want theme? Get Kingsport, and Dark Pharaoh or King in Yellow.

Mr. K said:

I couldn't agree more.

I just asked this question a few weeks (a month?) ago and got similar answers. I ultimately bought pretty much everything because I managed to find a local store having a 30-40% off sale, which allowed me to get Dunwich and Pharaoh (both largely missing from Amazon).

I will say that Dunwich is a must have, even if you aren't going to use the board (which I can't for space reasons). King in Yellow is an excellent small box expansion. We've had fun the two times we've tried it (using a modified, Pandemic-style mixing in of the six act continues Mythos cards).

Kingsport is useless to me because I only use some of the cards and the investigators.

I haven't tried Innsmouth or mixed in Pharaoh yet.

I would say get Dunwich if you can find it. And after that, I would recommend King in Yellow if you aren't dying to get 8 or 16 new investigators.

Tibs said:

Tibs, why don't you copy and paste this on a "suggestions and advices" page on the arkhamwiki? This question pops up quite frequently, and it would nice to have a reference for all newcomers asking for help / advice

Julia said:

Does such a page exist? I think there are only a few people on the Arkham wiki who can create new sections. Still... It'd be really nice if we could post this somewhere.

Avi_dreader said:

I don't think it exists, I was simply wondering whether it would be possible to create such a section. Anyway, not knowing at all how a wiki can be updated / expanded, maybe I've said something impossible to do

Julia said:

It is possible. In fact wikis are notoriously easy to modify and change, adding an extra section which comments upon the relative quality/worth of the expansions would be child's play. As to whether it should be an extra section or just a sub-page of the "Expansions" page on the wiki, well it's for others to decide (wiki admins).

Maybe some knowledgeable people here could discuss the relative strengths and weaknesses of the expansions, and then add them in a simple and concise form to the wiki?

PS: Had my doubts about the Kingsport expansion, but after reading this topic I moved it ahead of the Innsmouth Horror due to the strong theme.

Arag said:

The board itself is somewhat blah. But the supplementary components are great.

For difficulty, it ups it probably as much as Innsmouth (maybe just a smidgen below?). Epic battle, Rifts, and the undisputed most difficult AO in all existence! Also adds some nice "investigator" cards, including skills, allies, and items. While Innsmouth lacks all of those.

Though, personally, I'm getting Innsmouth first because I like AOs and Investigators more!

EcnoTheNeato said:

Well... I said board. Not AOs. The rifts can be dealt with by about 1/2 an investigator. Not that big a deal. DOR track is much more of a pain regardless of how many investigators you have :'/

Plus the doom track accelerates.

Tibs said:

http://www.arkhamhorrorwiki.com/The_Black_Goat_of_the_Woods_%28herald%29

Agreed - The herald does indeed speed the doom track up and every game played with it for me has ended up with the AO awakening. I love a challenge but I also want a chance of winning.

"Each time a monster surge occurs, add one doom token to the doom track."

But then.. playing without the herald means you hardly ever get corruption cards, because with the herald:

"Each time an investigator defeats a hexagon monster, he or she draws a Corruption card."

My solution: Ignore the Pagan Rights section of the Herald.

I have some very good Black Goat games, with plenty of corruption and an increase in difficulty.

Yeah, but I want to stay as true to the herald as possible. Clearly, when people mention the Black Goat herald, the first thing that comes to mind is the "Pagan Rites" ability.ouble

On the other hand, the Lurker herald is so exploitable that it seems like that was an oversight, so I don't have much issue with tweaking its effects slightly to make it less exploitable. Specifically, I'm changing the pact cards to fit my liking.

Oh, true, you did say that :-D In that case, yes, the board is "blah." I would gladly buy the box sans the board for half-price if I could :-p But then my collection would be incomplete, and I'd feel dirty...Plus! I'd never be able to play the true 10 investigator game, the one and only!

All of the board expansions are fairly blah, in my opinion. Innsmouth's is definitely the most interesting, though about 2/3 of that is because of the Deep Ones Rising track...which honestly is fairly peripheral to the board itself, at least as compared to the Dunwich and Kingsport boards' mechanics. The remaining 1/3 of the Innsmouth's board's appeal is that it's not at all bashful about devouring you.

(Still, combined with the personal stories, that's enough to make IH my favorite big box overall.)

I was sold on IH when I read an Arkham location encounter that Devoured you (and no, not a "Jail" encounter, either!). After that, I was sold...

EcnoTheNeato said:

An interesting situation, especially when you pass a Cover-up rumor and discover that FFG didn't consider the chance you play in 10, even if rules allow you to do so

To me the best big board expansion was Innsmouth Horror because it came with the most investigators and Ancient Ones along with a board that is equally fun and hard. If I could do it again that would have been my first expansion purchase followed by Dunwich and then Kingsport.

For me, Devil Reef is about 90% of what makes Innsmouth a great expansion. The fact that it's adjacent to a vortex, that you can't easily return from the reef, and that if the DOR track fills up it doesn't produce a rift or a boss monster, it just flat out kills you. I like martial law, but it usually isn't a factor. The Innsmouth Look cards and Y'ha-nthlei are both mildly interesting, but mostly duds (no one in my group has ever, ever gotten the Innsmouth Look). I've even a bit meh about the Personal Stories, since they can make the game feel bloated. But it doesn't matter because Devil Reef makes up for everything. That, and Quachil Uttaus.

avec said:

Heh... Quachil and Ghat are just wonderful AOs...