Being new to the game, I have some questions that I hope someone can enlighten me on:

1) I guess I won't get very far with playing only cards from the core set. Where do I go from there? I see there are so many asylum packs, that I just have no idea where to start. Do I have to buy an entire cycle and play with cards from only that, or can I buy card packs at random and construct a deck from that? Should I concentrate on getting the new packs or do I need the old ones first?

2) So far I have played mostly a Hastur/Cthulhu deck. If my opponent wants to play the exact same combination, does that work, or do we need to play different ones?

(Styling might be horridly messed up in this post. Not my fault. Blame the sucky forum software

>I guess I won't get very far with playing only cards from the core set.

The core sets always feel a bit anemic when you focus on one faction, but it's possible to build two OK decks (at least) with a pair of factions for friendly play. Getting at least two packs help get you to 55 cards per deck. At least that's what I target, since it's just a nice enough number to get some interesting cards, and also the limit where my hands can't shuffle more (sleeves are a necessity, in my opinion).

>Do I have to buy an entire cycle and play with cards from only that, or can I buy card packs at random and construct a deck from that?

The correct answer to this is yes, no, maybe and mu. I suggest following a cycle till the end, because the distribution of cards is generally so that cards in pack 1 might work well with cards in packs 2-6. This is one of those cases where "synergy" is an appropriate word

But you don't have to. You'll have a nice selection of cards for each of the 7 factions with any random pile of packs.

>Should I concentrate on getting the new packs or do I need the old ones first?

Maybe follow a cycle to the end, but any order is fine. I think having the core set and the first expansion is the best start, though. Then choose from the cycles. If you want to plan for a better future, start backwards. The latest cycles have 3x20 cards, while the first have 3x10+10 cards. Depending on your playstyle/greed/mood you might want 2-3 of certain cards (either as "nice to have" filler which can be used for domains, or to rub it in when it's a great one). Since it looks like the old packs of 40 will be reprinted as 60-card packs, it could be worth waiting (although I end up with fun decks of mostly unique cards). Note that the cycles may add a whole series of neat mechanics, though. Night/day cycles are fun. Zoog are always cute, and add their own weird little rules.

There are also two standalone packs with some more fun cards. I'm happy with them, overall, but not every card is great. But they are made to be mixed with any deck for more options.

>So far I have played mostly a Hastur/Cthulhu deck. If my opponent wants to play the exact same combination, does that work, or do we need to play different ones?

Cultists are notoriously bad at following just one leader, in my experience. And in the game.

Well, thanks a lot! I guess I have a lot of work, and fun, in front of me :-)

Always fun, but lots of work making decks. But it's also possible to make multiple decks for some factions, if you're aiming to play casually with friends

I do aim to play casually with my friends, but when I'm at the table, I play to win. Do you have any good tips to what may be good (or great) to play (or defend) against Cthulhu/Hastur?

Well, all the lovely anti-terror stuff IS on Hastur (like Scotophobia) :/

A possible defense is to have Terror characters yourself, but they also need some other oomph to win at anything. Maybe lots of cheap character cards to swarm the stories/build domains for the big guns. Agency/Syndicate/neutrals should have lots of cannon-fodder. Agency is attachment-heavy, which can build you some neat offense or defense in stages. I think Cthulhu and Hastur are both weak on Investigation.

You can aim to mess with discard piles - your own, or getting rid of the opponent's cards. Nothing like seeing the opponent's face when you discard his Cthulhu

You really need to have a few asylum packs and look at what works together, then[1] you'll start seeing tactics for and against each faction.

[1]As per the rules, "then" is conditional based on the first part

havrepus said:

Well, using just the Core Set, Agency/Syndicate should be one of the strongest faction combos.

According to my (admittedly limited) playtests, Cthulhu/Syndicate is _the_ strongest faction combo in the Core Set.

The strongest single factions are Syndicate, Cthulhu, and Agency.

Hastur and Yog-Sothoth didn't do very well (the latter was in fact the weakest by a wide margin).

Miskatonic _can_ be good if used in combination with one of the strong three, and Shub-Niggurath was firmly in the middle-field.

Factions get a lot more balanced when adding cards from expansions. I'd recommend to get 'Secrets of Arkham' as the first expansion.

Thank you all very much! Yes, it's true that Hastur/Cthulhu isn't much on investigation, so swarming the stories with cannon fodder and messing with their decks, like getting to discard some of their big, bad ones, seems like a good idea.

Coming from another new players, thank you very much for your supportive comments and answers to questions.

Also, here's another one. Is it true that FFG will be reprinting the older expansion packs (Asylum/Chapter/etc.) in the new "full playset" format? Where is this confirmed? Will they be doing this for all three games? When will they start with the re-releases?

It's very exciting news if it's true, and it will completely change my purchasing strategy/habits as I look toward moving beyond the core sets.

Oh, and one more thing. What is the distribution usually like on the "big box" expansions? Is it generally 3 of each card, or is it a more awkward distribution?

Last things first: Core sets always go for diversity rather than quantity, although AGoT is pretty generous with some support cards, and even have more in expansions. One Cthulhu, one Yog-Sothoth etc. But there are 3x Innovation in Warhammer. The only thing we can say for sure (for now!) is that they don't include three of every card in the core sets.

To confirm what FFG are reprinting in 60-packs: Go to Upcoming at the top of every page here, filter by LCGs. OR you can go to each individual LCG's product page and look at what the sets there say. Whichever number is the highest is the real truth

From this we can extrapolate that they most likely will reprint everything as 40-card pack supplies run out. I'd say it makes business sense, since new players now can just work backwards through the cycles, and the earlier ones will be in 3x distribution by the time they get to them. I know it has put off some people who were interested in LCGs.

Note that some larger expansions have two of each card (Assault on Ulthuan for WH:I, Princes of the Sun for AGoT and Secrets of Arkham for CoC), and one expansion (Kings of the Sea for AGoT) is being reprinted while the sold-out version has one of each card and a big, useless collector's item

tjmk said:

James Hata revealed last october at Arkham Nights that Summons of the Deep cycle was going to be reprinted and revised in the 3x format. He also went on to say that FFG were planning to do this to all the older sets for other LCG's as well when the time came to reprint them.

As Evilidler noted, all you have to do is look through some of the other LCG pages for evidence to confirm this. Even for the "deluxe" expansions.

Thanks for timely responses. I looked at the products pages, but apparently I wasn't looking in the right place or the right way or something. I'll be sure to check the "Upcoming" section as well. Can't believe I missed that.

So, as a general buying strategy for the games, it sounds like buying the big box expansions opens up the game the "quickest" while moving backwards through the chapter packs will be the most efficient if I'm looking to get playsets.

Is that right? Or am I missing something?

In general for LCGs, that would be my assumption.

But for CoC specifically, the Dreamlands cycle is the only one that is yet to be reprinted and revised to the newer 3x collation. Or at least, announced plans to do so.

So as long as you buy the updated sets, it wont matter in which order they are purchased.

Starting with The Yuggoth Cycle is recommended if you want more Ancient Ones. Hastur, Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, Shub-Niggurath, Yig, Harry Houdini (half joking about that one and relevant event/support cards. The Cthulhu there is more interesting than the core one, in my opinion.