So I have played this game a few times now and have a few questions I can't seem to find answers to. When battling the ancient one, say Shub-Niggurath, it says that "successes are cumulative." So in my last game, player one rolls 4 dice.(fight was 4, magic weapon +5 to combat) If that player rolls three fives and a two, is that 3 successes or 1? If it's 3, is one doom token removed and the other success still around for player 2 to add to? The next player rolls 3 dice and gets one six and 2 misses. Is then another doom counter removed? What about spending clue tokens when rolling against the ancient one? any help would be appreciated, esp. since I want to know if I did the counting right, because if I did, Shug was defeated!!

Depends on how many players are playing, but it goes like this: 4 Investigators, and Shub has 12 Doom Tokens. 4x12=48, so he has 48 "hit points" so to speak. The doom track removal thing was just a cute way to keep track of his hit points that FFG made up. So anything that is a 5 or 6 (unless blessed/cursed) makes his "hit points" go down by 1. Some people just use a calculator or scratch pad instead of using the doom track method.

EcnoTheNeato said:

I do the same thing. I snag 4 heart tokens and use those, so I think we do it the same way :-D

I use heart tokens for "fractional" health too. Or, if I don't have enough, brood tokens will work.

I also use power or yellow sign tokens to mark how many rounds have gone by, to indicate how hard a base game AO's defense check is. The first such token is placed on the sheet, and all others are placed in a line underneath (negative one, two, three, etc.).

Yeah, I grabbed money tokens (since I knew it wouldn't be involved at all in the final battle). I used 1s to keep track of how many successes we had towards removing the next doom token (turning them vertical to start and horizontal for each success), and 5s to track how many rounds had gone by for purposes of the ancient one attacks.

Scratchpad would probably work just fine as well.

jhaelen said:

I use clues since there there tend to be lots of them laying around (I don't rebag mine until after the game) and a few on the board. Plus if someone hoarded a bunch, they're usually available after the first round of combat. Memory or fingers work fine until then.

And I use extra Doom tokens.

I just remember them, out of everything in battling the AO it seems I don't really have a problem with that aspect.

I use the Activity Markers: 1 Hit, 2 Hits, 3 Hits, Remove Doom Token. Works for 1-4 players.

My two cents... I use the Yellow Sign tokens and instead of removing doomers, I flip them on the other side. The idea is sealing away the AO :-)

I'm actually quite glad that they gave us those "useless" Yellow Sign tokens. Sure I NEVER use them for their intended purpose, but I use them in every game. Basically, whenever it says "put a clue/stamina/sanity token from the bank on this card" for things like rumors, multi-use items, and Task/missions, I use Yellow Signs!

Exactly. Yellow sign tokens are the most useful useless tokens out there. Lately I've been using the Power tokens a bit more often though, since there's so many.

I'm using the Yellow Signs to indicate when an investigator's Max Health or Sanity is reduced. Likewise I've been using the Bast markers to indicate increased Max Health and Sanity. I still never bother to use the Activity Markers. I just put down the cards on the affected locations.

I've also put Yellow Signs on the Forest/Island/Cave locations to remind myself of drawing from the 1000 Young Cult encounter deck after someone has joined. Otherwise I keep forgetting it

I never forget to draw a Cult encounter, because they're so rare that it feels like a privilege to have one.

so thanks everyone for the input. Lost in my original question is the side question of: can you use clue tokens against the AO, to re-roll one attack die or to give you a die roll in late rounds when the ancient one attacks you and the modifier gives you no dice?

yep, clues are save your bacon funky like that.

dj2.0 said:

DJ. I don't see you in a while, and then I notice you've begun a page with this comment. And all I can muster is:

?

A lot of people "blow their wad," so to speak, of clue tokens in the first round. You can certainly use your clues in either case, and it's up to you what you think is worth it. If you have 7 dice or so to attack, and you'll die if you fail the roll, it may be a good idea to have a clue token or two in case of an unlucky roll, so that 1 clue token essentially means 7 extra dice to attack with. But if you only get 2 dice a turn and will die next turn unless you spend clue tokens, you may as well use all your clues to get in as many successes as you can!

Some investigators (Joe, Mandy) prompt people to use them for attacking (or in Mandy's case, other people). As do some skills like any of the Fight related ones. Also, some items like the Shotgun spark people to want to use their clues to attack. Similarly, Mandy and some skills related the the roll of the Ancient One make clues for the Ancient One's attack round a bit better.

So it's more about the give-and-take, and where you feel at the moment your clues will be worth it.

I don't know what are the most common strategies adopted, but usually I spend all my clue tokens in Final Combat all in offense. Dice onslaught!!! I have little reservation for my mortality.

Go big or go home, they say! Even if you're sent home in a tiny bag, because that's all that's left of your remains o_O

I usually play "pass the shotgun" if I have one, with people that have a decent amount of clues. It's good times. Depending on the situation, I also pass the Azure Flame, if I don't have a shotty, since it gives a +1 to cast it!

I usually spend my clues on defense, but only when I'm at the point where one more hit will do me in.

By the way, another couple things I need to check if I'm doing properly.

During the battle with the AO, am I right in assuming you cannot trade items because you never get a Movement phase?

Am I also right in assuming that you are effectively all treated as being at the same location, and therefore abilities that work during upkeep if investigators are in the same location still work? (i.e. Vincent's ability to give someone else 1 stamina)

To answer your questions Sdrolion:

Yes, abilities that work if you are in the same location do apply in final battle. However, you CAN trade items in final battle. Don't have the manual in front of me, but I'm sure it allows you to trade before, during, or after movement.

I think it was FAQ'd that you can only do trading in the movement phase to prevent confusion and other things. However! It specifically says in the manual that you can trade items in the new "upkeep" phase of the Final battle. So even if what I said first is (or isn't) true, you can still trade in the final combat, by the rules

EcnoTheNeato said:

Yeah...that's how I read it (since it specifically mentioned "movement"). However, I totally missed that bit about being able to trade the items in the final battle. Just found it. Thanks!

(Wow, that would make it a bit easier if one guy went in woefully unprepared and someone else had good stuff.)

It did seem odd to me that you couldn't trade equipment then, but I just rationalized it as you being too busy dodging tentacles and such.